On the Translation of Public Signs From the Functi

Sino-US English Teaching, ISSN 1539-8072
June 2012, Vol. 9, No. 6, 1246-1252
On the Translation of Public Signs From the
Functional Perspective *
ZHU Ji-feng
Ningbo Dahongying University, Ningbo, China
With the rapid development of Chinese economy, more and more foreigners have been attracted to China to invest,
work, study, and travel. To help the foreigners better understand China and facilitate cross-cultural communication,
bilingual or even trilingual public signs spring up in every part of China. As is known that public signs, usually in the
form of a few words, pictures, or words accompanied with a picture, function not only as a “face” of a city and a nation,
but also as a first calling card given to the foreigners. Moreover, public signs have definite functions—informing,
warning, or directing. However, to our disappointment, mistranslations of the public signs are often presented in some
places. As a special text whose function is strong and communicative purpose is quite clear, the translation of public
signs should be based on the text’s functions and the translator’s purpose. This paper classifies public signs, compares
Chinese signs with English ones, and comes up with the principle for its Chinese-English translation, namely, an
A-B-C approach (Adapt-Borrow-Create approach) which is based on the Skopostheorie.
Keywords: public signs, translation, principle, functionalism Introduction
In recent years, frequent communication has been intensified both in business and culture between China and the West. More and more foreigners come to China. They want to know more about Chinese culture, customs, economy, and so on. Therefore, the Chinese-English translation becomes a significant way of communicating with foreigners. Besides, to build an international metropolis, we need good international language environment. Since the reform and opening, the international language environment has been improved greatly in such large cities as Beijing. There is no doubt that good language environment is the key point to hold the 2008 Olympic games in Beijing successfully to some extent. Public signs in English mean a lot to alien tourists. Translators should carry an in-depth study of functional features and language style of public signs in order to reproduce the profiles in light of functionalism. However, at present, many translators or translation researchers mainly focus on how to reproduce the public signs in a faithful way, hence fail to take the functions of the placards into consideration while offering their own way of sign translation. Furthermore, most of the examples cited by the researchers are restricted to a certain region.
*
This paper is one of the research results from the program “On the Problems in the Translation of Chinese Public Signs in Tourist Attractions” (No. CF112415).
ZHU Ji-feng, lecturer at School of Foreign Languages, Ningbo Dahongying University.
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Definition and Classification of Public Signs
Public signs are generally referred as “signs” in English, and have been defined in various ways. It is defined in Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary (1977) as “a posted command, warning, or direction”. According to Macquarie Dictionary (Butler, 1987), a sign is “an inscribed board, space, etc., serving for information, advertisement, warning, etc., on a building, along a street, or the like”. The Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English (1997) defines a sign as “a piece of paper, metal, etc. in a public place, with words or drawings on it that give people information, warn them not to do something, etc.”. Or according to Oxford
Advanced Learners’ Dictionary (2010), it is defined as “a piece of paper, wood or metal that has writing or a picture on it that gives you information, instructions, a warning, etc.”. According to these definitions, signs can
contain words, pictures, or drawings used for giving information, warning, etc.. With regard to our Chinese, “signs” are often referred as “public signs”, for such signs generally appear in public places.
Sign is a broad term, widely used in public facilities, ranging from traveling, catering, accommodation, recreation, shopping to medical service, educational institution, and financial service. It includes words of caution, public notices, bills, posters, slogans, outdoor advertisements, traffic notices, and so on. Specifically speaking, it covers street signs, road signs, road markers, parking signs, school signs, construction signs, non-smoking signs, signs at scenic spots, slogans, etc.
Practical Functions of Public Signs
Signs perform the following four basic functions: indicating, promoting, restricting, and compelling.
As its meaning suggests, indicating is to indicate or guide readers. Signs as such are also called Rights Reserved.
instructive/directive/guiding notices which give readers detailed information with no prohibition and restriction.
Indicating is the most basic function performed in sign language. Indicating signs generally give readers relevant
information about what it is and what service it provides.
Prompting has no striking difference from indicating except that the former carries the tone of warning. It aims at reminding readers of paying considerable attention to signs.
Unlike the two functions mentioned above, signs that perform restricting function put restrictions and constraints to readers, who are expected to abide by certain rules in the interest of public. Restricting signs are to
keep or confine within limits.
To put it simple, compelling signs have great power and potency to induce action or brief. With its tough tone, negative words, and comparatively uniform sentence structures, there is slight possibility of any alternatives.
Comparison Between the Chinese and English Public Signs
Both share similarities, of which, the language styles are concise, convenient, and conspicuous; moreover, the figures of speech are often adopted. Yet, a series of differences still exist. Such stylistic analysis focuses more
on its functional significance in the sign translation than on the formal features of texts for its own sake.
Word Order
As thinking modes vary in two cultures, the centre of power reflected in Chinese and English is strikingly different. The Chinese sign is highly implicit by placing the focus at the end of a phrase; on the contrary, the English
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TRANSLATION OF PUBLIC SIGNS FROM THE FUNCTIONAL PERSPECTIVE sign emphasizing the point at the beginning. For instance, “油漆未干Wet Paint”; “无汞(电池) Mercury-Free”.
Diction Practice
Differences are also seen in diction practice. Verbs are usually employed in Chinese to perform such functions as warning, restricting, and compelling, whereas the nouns and gerunds are quite common in English.
For instance, “严禁穿行No Trespassing”; “不收手续费No Commission Charge”.
Mood Unlike
English signs which sound euphemistic and implicative, Chinese signs are more direct and straightforward, even with a touch of authority. English signs often display the allowable aspect instead of aiming at the prohibited audience. For instance, “闲人免进Staff Only”; “送客止步 Passengers Only”.
Voice
English signs generally use passive voice; Chinese signs, however, are more of active voice. Hence, sign translators should take into account the target reader’s acceptability and identification. For example, “禁止携带
犬只入内Dogs Not Allowed”; “戴好防护镜和安全帽Safety Glasses & Hard Hats Required”.
The Translation of Public Signs Under the Framework of Functionalism In 1970s, there was a new theory named functional translation theory in Germany. Skopos theory, as the most important theory in the field of Functionalist Approaches, is proposed by Catharina Rice and Hans Vermeer in 1970s. It is “a technical term for the aim or purpose of a translation” (Vermeer, 1996, p. 221). Skopos theorists assert that any action has an aim and a purpose. From their standpoint, translation is considered not as a process of
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transcoding, which usually adopted by earlier non-functionalist approaches, but as a form of human action which has its own purpose basically decided on by the translator. The skopos of a translation, Vermeer explains, is the goal or purpose, defined by the commission and if necessary adjusted by the translator. Vermeer (1996) defined commission as “the instruction, given by oneself or by someone else, to carry out a given action (which could be translation)” (p. 201).
According to the skopos theory, all the translation works should obey three rules: the skopos rule, the coherence rule, and the fidelity rule.
The skopos rule is the primary one of the three above. It suggests that human action (and its subcategory: translation) is determined by its purpose (skopos), and therefore it is a function of its purpose. The rule is formalized using the formula: IA(Trl) = f(Sk). The main point of this functional approach is the following: It is not the source text as such, or its effects on the source-text recipient, or the function assigned to it by the author, that determines the translation process, as is postulated by equivalence-based translation theories, but the prospective function or skopos of the target text as determined by the initiator’s, i.e., client’s needs. Consequently, the skopos is largely constrained by the target text user (reader/listener) and his/her situation and cultural background.
The coherence rule stipulates that the target text must be sufficiently coherent to allow the intended users to comprehend it, given their assumed background knowledge and situational circumstances; the starting point for a translation is a text as part of a world continuum, written in the source language. It has to be translated into a target language in such a way that it becomes part of a world continuum which can be interpreted by the recipients as coherent with their situation.
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The fidelity rule concerns intertextual coherence between translatum and source text, and stipulates merely that some relationship must remain between the two, once the overriding principle of skopos and the rule of (intratextual) coherence have been satisfied (Vermeer, 1996, p. 100).
As has been mentioned, the informative function of a text is to inform the reader about objects and phenomena in the real world. “The choice of linguistic and stylistic forms is subordinate to this function. In translation where both the ST (source translation) and TT (target translation) are of the informative type, the translator should attempt to give a correct and complete representation of the ST’s content and should be guided,
in terms of stylistic choices, by the dominant norms of the ST and TT”. So the truthfulness is the core of this kind
of public signs. Translators only stand in the position of trying to be anonymous. When they translate public signs, they should pay more attention to the readers’ understanding and reaction. That is to say, they should concern the
effect of information transmitting.
On the relationship between form and content, he thinks that translation should have the original text’s meaning and spirit in mind, but not be stickler for the language form to pursue the equality between original and target text. Nevertheless, on the other hand, the translations of informative public signs also stress the arrangement and words choosing, because the format of an informative text is often standard. In the process of translation, because of different structure and custom, we should pay more attention to choosing the suitable word.
Now, there is a new tendency to translate the public signs.
On the relationship between original and translated text, the original must obey the translated text’s form.
The original text is just the source of information. Frequently, we change the translation into a kind of mechanical
operation with explicit purpose, and it just follows the standard of target text, which is beneficial for Rights Reserved.
disseminating the information. From this aspect, the Skopostheorie, which stresses the principle of translation’s function, is fit for the informative public signs. There are some signs in every street and publics, which have the function to keep the crime on guard. For example: “窃贼当心，本区域所有物品都经智能液处理，伸手必
擒。

Crime Prevention Advice. Thieves Beware. Smart Water Detection Operates in This Area”.
Therefore, the main function of the public sign is to inform the reader about objects and phenomenon in the real world. According to these public signs, people can receive some useful information and then take measures to keep the crime on guard.
The nucleus of this kind of public signs is to get readers’ response for calling upon them to act, to think, to feel, and to react in the way intended by the text. Therefore, the translators must follow the readers’ custom and feeling to influence all the readers for achieving expected effect. In the process of translation, the translators often
use explanation but not reproduction. In practice, the translators have the right to correct or improve the logic, or to
use elegant structure instead of the clumsy. They also have right to give up any wayward, obscurities, ambiguity, and tautology in the expression; they can change the bearberries of idiolect in text but not be stickler for the original language (Newmark, 2001). That gives expression to the purport of Skopostheorie: to realize the communicative function, the translation must create the suitable text in the target language content. The kind of public signs aimed to attract the consumers’ attention, deepen the consumers’ comprehension, and inspire them interest to consume, so this kind of public signs are always installed in shop windows and walls. For instance: “您
的安全 我们的天责Your Safety Is Our Priority”; “夏季新款 半价出售Half Price Summer Styles Reduced”.
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TRANSLATION OF PUBLIC SIGNS FROM THE FUNCTIONAL PERSPECTIVE When translating this kind of public signs, translators should catch readers’ attention and make the
translation conform to the standard literary genre. There are some translation skills in common use for translating of aesthetic public signs: diction amplification, omission, conversion, repetition, inversion, negation, division, and so on. The aim of this translation is to offer some information and imagination to all the readers. The suitable translation will help foreigners know our country.
Strategies for the Translation of Public Signs
The language structures and expressions present diversity, triggered by the differences between the two cultures in social systems, values, and thinking modes. Based on the skopos theory, the A-B-C approach (Adapt-Borrow-Create approach) (模仿-借用-创新模式), which has a clear functional orientation, is a well-tested principle for the translation of the public sign.
The A-B-C approach refers to the adapt approach, borrow approach, and create approach. If the similar signs exist in English-speaking countries, then adapt the original ones. If the corresponding English equivalents can be consulted, then directly borrow them. As to some public signs unique with Chinese characteristics, translators need, according to the purpose of the target text, to create the proper expressions.
The result of an A-B-C approach is a text that may achieve the same functions as an original text. And when
a target-text function is the same as that of the source text, it may be called an equifunctional translation. The
A-B-C approach makes the functional equivalence come true and thus, corresponding to what Reiss calls “communicative translation”, where receivers ideally do not notice, or are not even interested in, the fact that they
are reading a translation.
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Adapt Approach
According to skopos theory, the translation approaches and translation strategies should be determined by the intended purpose or function of a translation. If the purpose of the translation is to keep the function of the text invariant, function markers often have to be adapted to target culture standards.
It means the slight change translator makes is based on the similar expressions in English. It can guide the translator to make flexible target language choices when rendering culture-specific expression. His/Her choices must be predicated on the acceptability level of his/her target readers. The translator makes linguistic choices and employs translation strategies, especially when he/she is transplanting cultural images. In sign translation, some established signs in English can be adapted. There are two ways to achieve such an adaptation: (1) adapting the existing English signs: “超值享受 Best Value”; “数量有限 售完为止 Subject to Availability”; “山路多弯道 行车须安全 Twists Ahead. Drive with Care.”; “碧水清清，却亦无情，河湍势险，请勿戏水 Danger: Deep Water!/Deep Water! Beware!”; and (2) miming the English proverbs, poems, and mottoes: “桂林山水甲天下
East or West, Guilin Landscape is best!”; “与其道听途说，不如亲身体验Using is believing.”.
The quality of the translation is evaluated by the response of the target readers, to which, an important criterion is whether readers can have a good understanding of what they are reading. The translation from the above mimes the well-known English proverbs “East or west, home is best” and “Seeing is believing”. In this way, it arouses the amiableness on the part of readers, achieves the persuasiveness of the public sign, and justifies the translator’s choice of a particular purpose in a given translational situation.
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Borrow Approach
The borrowing approach is highly practical and realistic in sign translation. Based on the approach, the conventional expressions of English signs could be borrowed so that they sound familiar and acceptable to the foreigners. According to skopos theory, different individuals from different cultures would differ to a greater or lesser extent, but they would be culturally equivalent when they perform the same “function” in their respective culture and specific setting: (1) parking signs borrowed: “限时停车 Time Limit Parking”; “多层停车场
Parkade (blend of park and arcade)”; “收费停车场 Pay Parking”; and (2) the established expressions borrowed (mainly commerce facilities including shops, malls, marketplaces, etc.): “综合商店 Variety Store”; “邮购服务
Mail Order Retailing”; “蔬菜水果店 Grocery Story”.
As every translation is directed at an intended audience, a familiar tone is what the translator tries to achieve to enhance the charm of language and touch the reader as well. The borrowing approach facilitates building up such cultural comfort zone, namely, to achieve similar contextual efforts and to cater to the aesthetic expectations and acceptability level of the target audience. Just as Nida puts it, for truly successful translating, biculturalism is even more important than bilingualism, since words only have meanings in terms of the cultures in which they function.
Create Approach
When performing the translation of signs with Chinese characteristics, we tend to adopt creating approach.
That is, translators should do the creative work when there are no conventional expressions to borrow or similar expressions to adapt from English sign language.
Skopos theory offers a theoretical basis for the creative translation. We know from the theory that in the Rights Reserved.
course of translating, the translator develops his/her subjectivity when he/she interprets the original utterances as
a reader and researcher, and produces them as a substitute for the author and recreator. The translator’s linguistic
choices and pragmatic translation strategies must focus on conveying the author’s intentions without putting the audience to unnecessary processing effort in achieving the contextual efforts in the interpretation intended by the author. Otherwise, the appellative function of sign language will be absent. One thing needs to be noted here: In Examples 1-2, “F” stands for False and “T” for True.
Example (1) 宁停三分，不抢一秒
It pays to stop to wait for three minutes rather than rush to gain one second. (F)
It’s far better to arrive late in this world than early in the next. (T)
Example (2) 司机一滴酒，亲人两行泪
When a man mixes drink with drive, he is likely to bring tears to his wife. (F)
Drink and drive costs your life. (T)
Examples 1-2 account for the necessity of considering the values and customs of target language, which is not an isolated phenomenon but an integral part of culture. One of the most important factors that determine a translation purpose is the addressee—the intended receiver or audience in the target language and culture with expectations and communicative needs. Hence, translators should adopt the “reader-centre” principle so as to enable the foreigners to fully understand the sign language in English.
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Conclusions
Every language and culture has its own style. The functional translation is an equivalence translation, which serves to the inter-culture. The kind of translation has no fixed methods and translators can use several ways to translate, but on the principle of understanding the original text and its context. We can find out the relationship between original and target text through analyzing the context and comprehending the translators’ culture background. This process is just for translator to collect useful information, because the main purpose for translator is to let readers understand the original meaning, and achieve the communicational purpose of language.
The translation of public signs cannot be stickler for the original text, but submit to the readers’ custom and culture. Therefore, all the translators must take the translation and standard of public signs seriously. The A-B-C approach conforms to Skopostheorie, the functional translation theory, which focuses on the two aspects: (1) on the relationship between the target text and its audience; and (2) on the relationship between the target text and the corresponding source text. On the one hand, a translation is a text intended to function for the target receivers, and as such, may be intended for any communicative function. On the other hand, a translation is a kind of target-culture representation or substitute for a source-culture text. As such, it may carry out quite different functions with regard to the source text. So the translator’s responsibility for target language readers is the criterion in sign translation within the framework of Skopostheorie. Signs may just contain a few words; however, their translation is by no means easy. To present a favorable image of China and better communication with the outside world, we should lay much emphasis on the translation of public signs.
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