A Study On Chinese-english Translation Of Public Signs From The Perspective Of German Functionalist Approach

With the deepening of China’s reform and opening up and the increasingly frequent communication with foreign countries, an increasing number of foreign friends set foot on China with intention of travel, investment and other activities. As a vital means to convey information, public signs are playing an increasingly important role in promoting China’s international image and foreign exchanges. Nevertheless,there are some problems in the Chinese-English translation of public signs, bringing a lot of unnecessary confusion and troubles to foreigners, and also affecting China’s international image in the world. To facilitate mutual communication between China and other countries and set up a good international image of our country, it is essential to conduct further systematic study of this topic.This thesis attempts to give a systematic research on the C-E translation from the perspective of German functionalist approach. German functionalist approach, whose core is Skopotheorie, is a big breakthrough that is quite different from the traditional equivalence principle, for it provides a new research perspective for the whole translation theory and practice. It points out that every translation has a purpose, and purposes determine methods. The target readers play a significant role in the translation. This thesis analyzes common errors in C-E translation of public signs by listing examples. It then expounds how to apply German functionalist approach to C-E translation of public signs and puts forward some feasible strategies from linguistic,pragmatic and cultural perspectives, such as borrowing, imitation, etc. In addition, it gives some suggestions to standardize the C-E translation of public signs.Through the study, this thesis comes to the following conclusions: Firstly, German functionalist approach is more effective in guiding C-E translation of public signs and solving the practical problems in the translation and translators need to adopt various kinds of translation strategies to produce target texts which conform to the intended purpose. Secondly, three rules in Skopotheorie include Skopos rule, coherence rule and fidelity rule. They play a positive role in guiding Chinese-English translation of public signs. Skopos rule stipulates that translators should determine the translation process according to the translation purpose. Coherence rule requires that translation should be readable and acceptable and can be understood by receivers. Fidelity rule means that there is intertextual coherence between the source text and the target text. Skopos rule is the most important one. Fidelity rule is subordinate to coherence rule and both ofthem are subject to the Skopos rule.