Study On English Translation Of Chinese Public Signs In Fuzhou City From The Perspective Of Skopos Theory

Public signs play an important role in people’s daily life. The proper translation of public signs can influence not only the image of a place but also the development of a country in some aspects. With the rapid growth of economy and internationalization, the coastal city of Fuzhou has caught the attention of the whole world with her unique charm. However, in contrast with the economic boom in the city, the English translations of public signs here are less than satisfactory. Meanwhile, there is no blinking the fact that few researches focus on the translation of public signs of this city.Based on the Skopos theory, the thesis is a discussion of English translations of public signs in Fuzhou City from the perspectives of language, culture and administration. On the linguistic level, errors in spelling, punctuations, capitalizations, dictions, grammar and word for word translation are illustrated. On the cultural level, the cultural discrepancy, cultural default and misunderstanding of the two cultures and their influences on the translation of public signs in Fuzhou City are deliberated on. Also discussed are problems related with administrations, i.e. inconsistency, the mixture of languages, letters missing, the absence of translation and the meaningless translation.All the samples adopted in this thesis are the first-handed materials collected from the parks, scenic spots, hotels, hospitals, supermarkets and other public places in Fuzhou City. After a systematic analysis of the data, it is concluded that related translators need to be improved in both linguistic and cultural competence, and administration concerned needs to be strengthened, meanwhile the language learning environment in the city needs to be ameliorated. In order to resolve the issue some translation strategies are proposed in the thesis i.e. borrowing, imitation, free translation, adapted translation, literal translation, explanational translation and communicative translation for the translation of the general public signs and the signs with Chinese characteristics.