C-E Translation Of Public Signs From The Perspective Of Functionalist Approaches

From the perspective of functionalist approaches, this thesis is to provide some practical translation strategies for C - E translation of public signs.Since there are more and more communications between China and other countries, English is playing a very significant role in cross-cultural communication. As an important part in the daily life of foreign people living in China, translation of public signs has close relationship with the image of China in the world.Public signs have informative, instructive, regulatory and warning functions. The signs are usually concise, conventional and convenient.However, due to language and cultural differences, there are a number of problems in the translation of public signs such as spelling mistakes, lexical and diction problems, grammar mistakes, unconventional expressions and improper tones.According to text typology put forward by Reiss and Skopostheorie by Vermeer, the function of public signs and the purpose of translation are to transfer the information, call people's attention and ask them to take an action. Therefore, in the translation the target text readers' communicative needs and their conventional expressions should be put in the first place. In the translation of some public signs, we can borrow the English equivalents directly or indirectly. While in translating those with typical Chinese characteristics, we should take the function and purpose of translation into consideration, and translate them accordingly.Through the analysis of various problems and their improvements in the translation of public signs, the author has provided some practical translation strategies. However, public signs are in every corner of life, the thesis cannot cover all the problems in this area.In conclusion, some suggestions are put forward to further research such as more attention should be paid to target text receivers, more regulations on translators and management of translation of public signs, more cooperation between experts at home and abroad, and more combination of translation theory and practice should be made.Translation of public signs should be paid more attention to and the various problems should be solved by the efforts of all the society.