An Exploratory Proposal Of The Principles For The C-E Translation Of Public Signs

The current situation of C-E translation of public signs is far from satisfactory.Mistaken translations of public signs, ranging from careless mistakes in spelling andgrammar to more serious problems such as redundancy, inconsistency andunreadability can be found almost everywhere. In view of current situation, this thesisfirst reviews the classical expositions on translation principles in China and in theWest as well as some relevant studies on public signs translation, only to find thatthese principles are not applicable to public signs translation and the relevant studiesmainly focus on the language features of public signs and practical translationtechniques, not many discussions aim at the principles of public signs translation.Against this background, this thesis intends to make some tentative studies in this area,aiming to put forward some principles for C-E translation of public signs.Then the paper expounds those basic concepts related to public signs andanalyses the functional and language features of public signs. On the basis ofNewmark's text typology, the author tentatively proposes "three-C" principles forpublic signs translation, namely, conciseness, consistency and comprehensibility. Theconciseness principle holds that the translated version should be pithy and brief,without any unnecessary words and also easy, with simple words and sentencestructures. The consistency principle requires that the translation be consistent with 1) the habitually practiced version in English-speaking countries if there is such anidiomatic expression to borrow, 2) the established version if the translated name orterm has already been fixed and accepted and 3) the English version on officialwebsites, in dictionaries or newspapers if there is neither idiomatic expression toborrow or established one to follow. The comprehensibility principle states thattranslated signs should be readable and understandable, free from Chinglish ortranslationese. By applying them to representative cases of mistaken translations andcomparing the original with the version under the direction of the principle, this thesisproves that these three principles are quite applicable and bear certain theoreticalsignificance as well as guiding values for the C-E translation of public signs.