A Study On English Translation Of Public Signs From A Cross-Cultural Perspective

With the rapid development of our economy and intensification of our reform and opening-up to the outside world, China has accelerated the pace of communicating with other nations and developed good relationships with them. Moreover, Beijing 2008 Olympic Games is approaching nearer and nearer, and people from other different nations of the world will come to China. In this case, cross-cultural communication will be much more frequent than ever. Communication materials, such as public signs, will inevitably constitute a more important part. Nowadays, many large cities, like Beijing and Shanghai, quicken their steps in connecting with the outside world, especially in the aspect of improving bilingual public signs which have attracted considerable attention from both the government organizations and the citizens.Public signs refer to verbal or non-verbal (picture or image) languages shown to the public, and offer directing, prompting, restricting, and compelling information. The English translations of them bear at least two functions: First, they can bring direct guide and convenience to foreigners in China. Second, specific Chinese culture will be transmitted and accepted by the world via those signs. But the existing problems or mistakes of public sign translation destroy not only the functions they perform but also our international image. So it is of great importance to make a study on English translation of public signs both in theory and practice. This thesis aims to do research on Chinese-English public sign translation from the perspective of cross-cultural communication so as to make a bit contribution to public sign translation.This thesis consists of six chapters:Chapter 1 introduces the development of public signs' research. Since the 1980s, many essays concerned with public signs were published in some translation journals and magazines. Research groups have also been set up in some universities in Beijing and Shanghai, and in 2004 their members were sent to 8 European countries and there they collected various foreign public signs, for many professors in those countries also did a lot on public sign research from different angles. Chapter 2 gives an overall survey of the functions and stylistic features of public signs. Public signs perform at least four basic functions: directing, prompting, restricting and compelling. The style of public signs is characterized by conciseness and abbreviation, and has unique features both in diction and tense. They are easy to understand, and most are a combination of letters with pictures.Chapter 3 is a theoretical explanation of public sign translation from the cross-cultural perspective. Cultural approach considers translation as a process which occurs between cultures rather than simply between languages because cultural differences, instead of linguistic features, cause bigger challenges in translation. Vermeer also holds that translation is an intercultural action with translation purpose (skopos) - the readers in the target culture. Since English public sign translation serves foreigners or those who are not familiar with Chinese, its readability should be given the priority concerned with foreigners' reception. Moreover, because public sign translation belongs to the domain of cross-cultural communication, cross-cultural pragmatics, which studies L2 in communication, also provides effective theoretical instruction for Chinese-English public sign translation. Besides, public signs bear the features of vocative text, and this text type decides the appropriate choice of some translation principles and methods.Chapter 4 proposes some translation principles of public signs based on both the theories mentioned above and the demands of cross-cultural communication. The author of this thesis thinks that at least three principles should be followed: faithfulness; cross-cultural pragmatic equivalence; conciseness and "eyeball-effect". Besides, many translation errors are mentioned and analyzed so as to make the translation principles well founded, more viable and applicable.Chapter 5 lists four methods in the English translation of Chinese public signs. They are Chinese-English replacement, adding and omitting, pinyin plus free translation, mutual transformation of affirmative and negative expression. And examples are given and analyzed under the guide of these methods.Chapter 6 is the conclusion of the whole thesis. It tentatively states the possible conclusions of the thesis and meanwhile points out limitations and suggestions for further study. The author holds that since Chinese-English public sign translation concerns cross-cultural communication, much more factors should be taken into consideration. This paper cannot exhaust or solve all the problems in public sign translation. It needs more time and more efforts from the society to fulfill this arduous task.