A Receptor-oriented Study On The Chinese-English Translation Of Public Signs

English public signs as the simplest guide or information "carrier" are obviously essential to foreigners' traveling, studying, and doing business in China. However, the improper and nonstandard English translations of public signs have been a pressing problem because they have defaced China's international image and have given rise to troubles and inconvenience to the foreigners in their daily life.This thesis is focused on the Chinese– English translation of public signs from the English receptor's perspective, which is composed of five parts:The first part is the general introduction of this thesis, including the present state of C-E translation of public signs, the focus of this thesis and the structure of this thesis.The second part is focused on the literature review. The definition of public signs is first put forward, and then the features of English public signs are analyzed respectively from the functional stylistic and structural aspects. Meanwhile, the theory of reader's responses is mentioned. Finally the author proposed that receptor's responses should be taken into account in the Chinese-English translation of public signs.In the third part, the author first sums up factors that influence the quality of C-E translation of public signs considering the translator and the receptor; then three typical kinds of errors caused by ignorance of the receptor's responses are discussed. As we know, different cultures produce differences in contents of public signs, different language families lead to different aesthetic concerns, and different value ideologies result in different thinking modes. Therefore the receptor's criterions for C-E public sign translation influenced and determined by these factors, should be different from the translator's. Ignorance of these differences in receptor's culture, language and value ideology will inevitably cause errors in language contents, forms and aesthetic concerns in translation. So that taking the receptor's responses into consideration can improve the quality of translation from another angle.In the fourth part, the author discusses how to realize the effective translation of public signs from perspective of receptors, in which the suggested translation principles, translation methods and translation process are discussed respectively. Four principles are put forward: the principle of consistency, the principle of conciseness, the principle of comprehensibility and the principle of conformity. In C-E translation of public signs variety of methods can be employed, namely: borrowing, imitating, rhetorical means and shift in perspectives. Finally, the author generalizes the process the translators should follow. Besides the common accepted three: analysis of the source text, transfer from source to target language and restructuring in the target language. The author holds that referring to the internationally accepted practice and testing of the translated text with monolingual native speakers are more essential steps during the C-E translation of public signs.Conclusion of the thesis is drawn in the fifth part.