Public Sign Translation And Cross-Cultural Communication

A public sign refers to a language-based message carrier used in public places to inform the public what they are supposed to know, including identifiers, destination boards, street nameplates, slogans, bulletins, cautions etc. Used as a communication tool, it is supposed to convey necessary and adequate information to the public. It not only serves as an indispensable aid to foreigners staying in China, but also carries a certain cultural connotation of a nation or of a region. Nowadays, as our country's economy is developing very prosperously, our opening-up to the world is deepening and expanding very quickly. The exchange and cooperation between China and other countries or areas in various fields are increasing at a progressively accelerating rate. Contacts with the outside world and cross-cultural events are becoming more and more frequent. Therefore, more and more publicity materials and information appear in foreign languages, especially public signs in English.Public signs are widely used in such areas as government offices, commercial services, institutions and enterprises, public traffic facilities, public administrative institutions, sports and recreational locations, medical and sanitation institutions, cultural and pastime facilities,, and so on. They are normally presented in Chinese, but more and more are given with English equivalents. It is important to make sure that Chinese public signs be translated properly and precisely into English, for it will affect not only the function of these public signs themselves, but also the national reputation of our country and the image of our cities. So we must pay sufficient attention to it.As people from different countries or nationalities differ in their cultural backgrounds, religions, sense of values and ways of thinking, and are inclined to learn and judge from the angle of their own culture, which, inevitably leads to divergences, misunderstandings, or even conflicts. Translation serves to mediate communication between cultures, to promote understanding and avoid conflicts. A translator, therefore, must have a good awareness of the culture of both the source language and the target language. No one can really master a language without a proper knowledge of its culture. Language is part of culture and is influenced and shaped by culture. Whether a translator's task is successful largely depends on his learning about relevant culture. Learning a language is a kind of learning the culture and tradition of the nation whose language is employed for communication. The major problem with public sign translation is that the translators are often unconscious of the cultural elements in public sign information, but focus their attention only on difference of languageThis article analyzes the problems found in the the translation and application of English public signs, studies the influence of those translation on cross-cultural communication, and finally makes some suggestion and proposes possible ways of improvement.