A Study On The Problems And Strategies Of The English Translation Of Public Signs

With the development of economy and the improvement of China’s International position, more and more foreigners come to China to do business or tour. Under this circumstance, public signs become the "windows" for their access to Chinese culture. However, we do not pay adequate attention to the translation of public signs. Also, because of the linguistic and cultural differences, it is not an easy job for a translator to translate the signs correctly. Therefore, it is an urgent and significant task for us to strengthen the translation of public signs and take effective measures to improve the translation quality.According to Lv Hefa (2005), 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, and even compel the public. Public signs are of great significance 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.As a particular variety of English, public signs have their stylistic characteristics. It is directing, prompting, restricting and compelling in terms of function; it is terse, conventional and intertextual from the perspective of style; as far as purposes are concerned, they have the evocative effect and perlocutionary force; according to structure they are also grouped into "static" and "dynamic". Nouns are often employed for the "static" public signs and verbs for "dynamic" ones. They also use abbreviations and photographs to attract the readers.In fact, many errors are made in the translation of public signs. This thesis sheds light on the linguistic theories in this field such as Error Analysis and Language Transfer. The author attempts to explore the deeper reasons of the errors in the public signs translation. The factors such as language, culture and thinking habits exert an influence on the second language acquisition of translators. Selinker notes that most of L2learners (perhaps as many as95percent) fail to reach the target language competence (Ellis,1999:48). Thus, it is inevitable that those translators who learn English in the Chinese classrooms for years will make errors. Of course, translators should be responsible for those errors made because of their carelessness.The thesis begins the analysis of different types of errors from the perspective of language and culture by extensive examples including some photographs. Linguistic errors are made on the level of vocabulary, grammar, syntax and semantics, such as misspelling, wrong parts of speech, wrong word order, dangling modifiers; whereas cultural errors tend to be made due to the lack of the cultural background knowledge, such as misused words, inharmonious tone, and pragmatic failure. The translation of cross-cultures should not stay on the level of semantics, but should take the differences of cultural background between nations into consideration. In order to achieve the best communicative effect, we have to respect different cultural customs. The ignorance of them and "dead" translation tend to bring about cultural conflicts (Luo Xuanmin,2006). The thesis also expounds the reason for that, that is, the cultural differences between Chinese and English, and the translators themselves. Chinese emphasizes the group orientation while English prefers the individual orientation; Chinese pays attention to the interpersonal harmony while English attaches much importance to assertiveness. All these differences will influence translators.Under the guidance of the translation theories at home and abroad, the author puts forward the "receptor-centered" principle, that is, the translation version must be readable and as close to the original as possible and the four necessary steps in the process of the translation of public signs, i.e. analysis of the source text; transfer from source to the target language; restructuring in the target language and testing of the translated text. In order to achieve the evocative effect and perlocutionary force, a translator can employ various techniques to polish his version on the basis of faithfulness to the original, such as literal translation, free translation, amplification, omission and restructuring. In the translation of public signs, Chinese pinyin should be employed to translate locality names in order to conform to a single Romanization system.Finally, the author once again claims the significance of the translation of public signs and provides suggestions for translators. A conscientious translator should develop various abilities, such as language sensibility, contextual analysis and logical thinking.Generally speaking, the study of public signs is dynamic rather than static, practical rather than theoretical. It is important to study the theories in translation, and it is equally important, perhaps even more important to study the translation practice. As far as public signs are concerned, what translators have to do is to find problems, and analyze them thoroughly till they find feasible solutions. Translators may guide the practice with the theories and develop the theories in the practice until an interaction is formed between the translation theories and practice. Therefore, it is hoped that all the people including scholars and translators, should identify the errors and make a contribution to the improvement of the translation of public signs.