Chinese-english Translation Of Public Signs In Wuhan From Functionalist Approaches

Nowadays, the world is on the way to be a global village, and the international exchange and economic cooperation between China and other countries increase rapidly. A great many of foreigners come to China in resent years, not only for working, but also for learning, traveling and living. English has played an important role in every aspect of life.As an important language phenomenon, public signs are widely used in people's daily life. It is a kind of language used in public places to transfer important information to the public in a very brief way. In most cities in China, bilingual signs are provided in order to bring convenience to the increasing foreign people. The English translation of public signs is a crucial component of the language environment and humanities culture environment of international cities and international tourist places. However, Chinese and English public signs have their own characteristics duo to the differences of culture and thinking pattern, which cause many problems and errors during the process of translating. The research on public signs in China started late, and the problem of the translation exists everywhere. Therefore, the emergency of how to improve the quality of the English version draws more and more attention of Chinese researchers. Many researchers have been conducting in searching the problems and the causes of problems from the translation in the English public signs up to now.Therefore, the thesis attempts to choose Wuhan City as the range of research and analyze the problems of the C-E translation of public signs from the perspective of theory and practice. On the basis of functionalist theory, especially Vermeer's Skopostheorie, the author collects a great number of public signs in Wuhan, summarizes the features and functions, classifies the existing problems, and explains the causes of the translated public signs. In the end, the author also puts forward corresponding C-E translation strategies of public signs.This thesis is composed of five parts. Chapter One is introduction, in which the background of C-E public signs translation is given and research significance and method are explained. Chapter Two is mainly dedicated to the overview of public signs, in which the framework of public signs are presented, including the definition, classification, functions as well as features. Chapter Three illustrates functionalist approaches, which serve as the theoretical basis of the whole thesis. Chapter Four focuses on problems in present public signs translation in Wuhan and suggests some practical strategies of public signs translation by adopting the functionalist approaches to sign translation. Chapter Five is conclusion of the thesis, including summary and limitations of the research. The enlightenment and prospect of the research are also analyzed in the conclusion chapter.