A Survey Report On The Problems Of And Solutions To The C-E Translation Of Public Signs On Streets And Roads In Yinchuan

Public signs are to provide information to the public. As we all know, Yinchuan City, the capital of the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, serves as the political, economic and cultural center in Ningxia. And it is also the venue for China-Arab States Expo. With the increase of foreign communication, more and more foreigners like to come to Yinchuan to do business, study, travel and settle. However, the errors of C-E translation of public signs on streets and roads are found here and there, which bring inconvenience to the foreigners and cause adverse consequences. Therefore, the author carries out the survey aiming to draw attention from the relevant management departments, public and experts so that they would make efforts to improve the quality and the present status of C-E translations of public signs in Yinchuan.The method of field investigation is adopted and the representative streets and roads are chosen in Xingqing District, Jinfeng District and Xixia District of Yinchuan City to collect the C-E translations of public signs, which are classified and analyzed by the author. Some problems are found in C-E translations such as Chinglish, only Pinyin, inconsistency, grammatical errors, spelling errors, mistranstralation, wordy expressions, words missing, imprecise expressions, English mixed with Chinese, backward construction of C-E translations of public signs, etc. Accordingly the author puts forward some suggestions: adopting different strategies according to the functions of public signs; adopting communicative translation strategy; using the translation principles such as accuracy, conciseness and intertextuality; using translation strategies such as adaption, borrow and creation; understanding the importance of the translation of public signs and translate more; strengthening supervision of C-E translations of public signs; participating in studying English-Chinese Expressions on Public Signs’Research and Service Online by International Studies University; providing online services; correcting the mistakes with the experts and citizens together.In a word, after the survey, the author finds the problems of C-E translation in Yinchuan, and accordingly puts forward the translation principles and strategies of C-E translation of public signs and some suggestions to solve the problems. As a result, the research attaches great significance to improving the present status of C-E translations of public signs in Yinchuan, enhancing Yinchuan’s international image and strengthening its external propaganda and communication, etc.