An Analysis Of Mis-translation Of Public Sign From The Perspective Of Communicative Translation Theory

With the accelerating process of globalization and the rapid development of China, more and more people start to pay close attention to China. A great number of foreign businessmen and tourists come to China to seek opportunities for business cooperation or to enjoy the mystery charm of the East. Therefore, for the convenience of foreign visitors, many Chinese public signs have been translated into English. However, the situation is far from satisfaction. With so many mistakes existing in the English version of public signs, these improper English public signs do not help our foreign friends but cause a great damage to China's international image. To improve the situation and provide foreign visitors with useful and necessary information in daily lives, a deep analysis on the public sign translation is badly needed.On the basis of an extensive research, this thesis will provide the readers with a detailed knowledge about the current situation of public sign translation, and also the definition, characteristics and functions of public sign. What's more, the author will use some examples to demonstrate the problems existing in current public sign translation, and then give a careful examination on the public sign translation from the perspective of Peter Newmark's communicative translation theory.After a close analysis of those improper English public signs, the author concluded that the problems could be studied from two aspects which refer to linguistic aspect and cultural aspect. Errors from Linguistic aspect mainly include spelling errors, grammatical errors, lexical errors, etc. While errors from cultural aspect mainly refer to Chinese-style English, poor acceptability, and harsh tone, etc. According to Peter Newmark's communicative translation theory, the choice of proper translation method depends on three factors which are type of text, readership, and the purpose of translation. In the light of this theory, most of the public signs are informative and vocative public signs, and with the consideration of both readership with different cultural backgrounds and translation purpose, the translator could provide proper English version of public signs.At the end of the thesis, the author gives some useful suggestions on public sign translation from the cultural level include the principle of consistency, the principle of faithfulness and the principle of maximum. Though there are a number of translation methods for the translator to choose from, the translator could use these methods freely only if the translator adheres to the three principles for public sign translation. In addition, the author also offers some other suggestions like the establishment of some special organizations and websites in the wish to contribute to the public sign translation.There are six chapters in this thesis. The first chapter is introduction, the second chapter is a brief introduction of public signs, the third chapter is literature review, the fourth chapter is data analysis, the fifth chapter is discussion, and the final chapter is major findings of this thesis.