Functionalist Approaches To Public Signs Translation

With the development of China,the ubiquitous Chinese-English bilingual public signs come into being.However,many of the English translations on Chinese public signs are not standard,which seriously influences the international image of China.Public signs use terse and explicit words,sentences,and even photographs that are closely related to daily life,production,ecology and.professions so as to direct, prompt,restrict,warn,or even compel the public.They play a very important role in regulating social behavior,adjusting individual relationship,enhancing productivity and some other social aspects.Therefore,countries and organizations all over the world attach great importance to their regulation and application.Although the study of public signs translation has got some achievements,it is far from satisfactory.The public signs translation needs systematic theoretical studies and feasible theoretical guidance.Taking functionalist approaches as the frame work,the thesis seeks to open up a new perspective for public signs translation.The functional translation theory mainly refers to German Functionalism,which came into being in the 70s in 20^th century in German,and the most influential theories are Katharina Reiss's Text typology,Justa Holz-M(?)ntt(?)ri's Theory of Translation Action,and Hans J.Vermeer's Skopostheorie. These theories share a common feature that is they all study the translation from the perspective of the function of languages and texts.This thesis combines the Functionalism with the text type of public signs,applies descriptive and comparative methods,and aims at seeking for theoretical guidance for public signs translation.Through analysis,the author finds that functionalist approaches are more practical and effective in directing public signs translation,and can help produce functionally appropriate translations.