The Chinese-English Translation Of Public Signs And Its Relevance To Adaptation Theory

With the rapid development of our economy and intensification of our reform and opening-up policy, China has developed good relationship with outside world. More and more public signs are appeared in cities, which are applied extensively.Public signs, which are an important unit of communication and play an important role in our daily life, have been attracted considerable attention. Canonical and standard public signs can offer correct and useful information. They influence the impression of westerners towards our country. Therefore, the research of public signs has a great value. Unfortunately, at present, the translation of public signs in China has a lot of mistakes, such as inappropriate words and stiff usages. This is not only do the harm to the honor of China, but also do the harm to the image of the whole country.Standard public signs can show a city's internationalization degree. In order to construct the internationalize metropolis and track the developed countries, to have a good international language environment, improvement and exaltation of the translation quality of public signs is our urgent important mission.The style and function of the public signs are analysed firstly. In the meanwhile , the cultural differences of Chinese-English public signs are analysed. Besides, the reader's thinking habit was always considered at first. And make sure the expression and diction match the English language's habit. Adaptation theory is used in translation of Chinese-English public signs , which is the way to get the correct translation, to have a more standard English environment, to have an active function in extending our reform and opening-up policy. And with a brand-new feature to welcome the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing and 2010 World Exposition in Shanghai.