Chinese-English Translation Of Public Signs: Functionalist Approach

As China becomes more internationalized with the coming of 2008 Olympic Games, appropriate translation of public signs from Chinese to English becomes more and more vital. However, the present level of public signs translation is still far from satisfaction, the errors or mistakes in the translation often cause confusion or misunderstanding among foreign guests, China's international image is thus affected to some degree. This thesis aims to tentatively offer a solution by employing German functionalist approach in the C-E translation of public signs. The Skopostheorie of the functionalist approach has three key rules, namely, Skopos rule, coherence rule and fidelity rule in which Skopos (purpose) is the core. Public signs are purpose-oriented; correspondingly, the translation of pubic signs shall also give high priority to purpose. By applying functionalist approach to the actual analysis of public signs translation, this thesis aims to provide some key effective translation strategies and better translation versions to improve the overall language environment.This thesis is divided into five chapters. Chapter One first introduces the concept of public sign, then the significance of public signs translation. The current study on the translation of public signs is also reviewed. Chapter Two focuses on the functionalist translation theory.Chapter Three and Chapter Four are the main body of the thesis. Chapter Three touches upon the errors in the translation of Chinese public signs through examples. The analysis is based on the three rules of the Skopostheorie.Chapter Four puts forward the translation strategies for the public signs translation following the functionalist approaches.Chapter Five concludes the major views of the whole thesis. It also discusses the limitation of this thesis and trend of study in this field.