英语公示翻译技巧

IntroductionInternational communication is becoming popular now. China, with the rapid development of economy and society, has maintained increasingly close ties with other countries around the world. In recent years, more and more people come to Chengde City to have a visit or study. Chengde is famous for the Summer Mountain Resorts. There are all kinds of public signs in the Summer Mountain Resorts. It brings convenience to the visitors and improves the culture taste of the city. However, there are also many errors of public signs, including: lexical errors, spelling errors, grammar errors, unclear description, cultural confusion and Chinglish. In this situation, the paper will try to give a theoretical and practical analysis of C-E translation of public signs from the perspective of functionalist translation. The paper offers some suggestions for the public signs translation by utilizing the three principles of skopos theory and analyzing many examples. “The end justified the means”means that the translation strategies and methods are determined by acceptability and effectiveness of translation.Public signs translation has great significance to both our country and the foreigners. English translations of Chinese public signs belong to publicity materials. Proper translations not only bring precise information to foreigners but also help build a good communication and good understanding. So the research on the translation of public signs is very important.Chapter One A Brief Introduction of Public signsBefore an exploration of translation public signs, some information about public signs needs to be provided. This chapter will introduce the definition, function, classification of public signs and the language style of public signs.1.1 The definition of public signsAs we known the public signs is a logo shown to some groups of people in particular place in order to have the function of communication. Public signs have become an academic term since 2000. “Si gn are anything from the simplest way finding or information maker to the technically sophisticated communication of a message”（Wang & Lv, 2007: 4）. “Signing affects everybody---travelers, shoppers, visitors, and drivers etc. whether in the course of business or pleasure”（Cheng，2000：104）.Basic literal information that are publicly shown to the public, tourists, oversea guest, foreigners in China and the Chinese in other countries to satisfy their behavior and needs in food, dwelling, travel and entertainment, are all within the category of signs (Lv, 2005:22).Some websites also pay close attention to public signs translation, such as, “”, “”and “”. “”provides the following definition: “literal information for public in public places”.According to the definition above, public signs have the following features: First they convey warning, instructional, restrictive, prohibitive or advocating information. Second, they are expressed in literal. Third they are not aimed at individuals but groups of people.1.2 The function of public signsPublic signs are widely used in daily life, such as airport, ticket office, high way, gas station, subway, taxi, museums, docks, emergency, school, tourist site, park, restaurant, street, cinema, etc.They are greatly informative. They can give us great help and facility. All the signs have four principal functions in application: directing, prompting, restricting, compelling effects.Directing signs convey the information to the public, without any restricting or compelling indication. It does not require the public to take actions, but give them an instruction or direction. For example: At the sight of “Information”（问询中心）people will know they can ask some questions and get answers. From “P et Hotel”（宠物旅馆）people will know their pets can be taken care in this place.Prompting signs are widely used although they do not have any special meaning. They just have prompting functions. For example, “S old Out”（售完）“P reserved”（预留席位）“B eware of Dog”（当心犬只）“F ull Booked”（客满）“M aximum Height”（限高）, etc.Restricting signs order the audience to restrict the behavior. The language used is straightforward but not rude. For example, “E mergency Passage Way, Please Not Hand Luggage on the Floor” （紧急通道，请勿将手提物品搁置地上）,“Give Way”（让路）,“Ticket Only”（凭票进场）,etc.Compelling signs ask the public to take some actions or not, otherwise they would be punished. For example, “Police Line Do Not Pass”（警戒线，勿超越）“Don‟t Walk”（禁止通行）, “No Smoking”（禁止吸烟）,“No Overnight Parking”（严禁过夜停车）.From the discussion above, we know the function of public signs. This is one of the ways of dividing the functions of public signs. We can also divide the functions into directing, reminding and ordering.1.3 The classification of public signsGenerally speaking, we have different ways to classify public signsaccording to different criteria.1.3.1 Informative and evocativePublic signs can be divided into “informative” (content focused) and “evocative” (appeal focused). Informative public signs provide information or describe a situation. The readers do not need to take some actions. They are widely used in scenic spots, such as, facilities, the name of the park, introduction, etc.Evocative public signs are designed to present information with a particular perspective. According to Nord, “…evocative‟is called …appellative‟”:the use of language to make the receivers do something corresponding (Nord, 2006:40). e.g. “No Fishing Here, 禁止垂钓”“Wet Floor, 小心地滑”and “Free for Children under 12, 十二岁以下儿童免费”.1.3.2 Slogans and advertisementsPublic signs include “slogans” and “advertisements” according to the purpose of usage.Slogans are used for publicity. For example, create a new situation, modernize in all fields （全面开创社会主义现代化建设新局面）. The later is shown in written form outside. For example, “we care to provide service above and beyond the call of duty”（殷勤有加，风雨不改，UPS联合快递公司）.1.3.3 Public signs in scenic spots and other placesAccording to the place where the public signs appear we can classify the public signs as the following:Public signs in scenic spots: signs in the scenic spots are designed to give the travelers some help or instruction. e.g.: Please Protect Facilities（保护公共设施, State Protect Historic Site（国家级文物保护单位）.There are also some traffic signs and road signs, for example, Xin Hua Road（新华路）, No Parking（禁止停车）.All above are the classifications of public signs.1.4 The language style of public signsAll the public signs have special features because they are mainly used in public places and their functions are communicative. Understanding the language style of public signs is very important. The main language features of public signs are conciseness and directness.1.4.1 ConcisenessPublic signs must be short and they must express the meaning clearly with right structures because the functions of public signs are to arouse readers‟ attention, and then, they can give readers warning or notice. Besides, they are usually written on the billboards or posters, which have limited writing space. Wordy public signs can‟t convey the effective information to the readers but make the readers confused. For example, “H and Off, 请勿触摸”, which means “please don‟t touch the exhibits”, “C losed during Repairs,停业整顿” which means “the store is being repaired, suspensions of business”1.4.2 DirectnessTo be direct means the public signs should be expressed directly. Public signs should be written in the simple words so that everybody can understand it. Obscure terms should be avoided in signs. For example, Staff Only, which means if you are not the staff, please doesn‟t enter.Chapter Two Problems of C-E Public Signs Translations inSummer Mountain ResortsNow we know the important function and situation of public signs for people but the translation errors still exist in public signs, even in the Summer Mountain Resorts. It is unfortunate that there are a lot of problems such as lexical errors, spelling errors, grammar errors, literal translation, and cultural differences, against convention and so on. All of that have harmful effect on the society.2.1 Lexical errorsErrors coming from lexical mistranslation account for the biggest percentage of the total linguistic errors according to the relevant statistic material. This phenomenon exists because the translators only know the vocabulary of formal equivalence, and ignore vocabulary dynamic equivalence. A word is the smallest unit of language. Translators should use the proper words in translation on the basis of accurate comprehension of the original. So the translators should make sure to understand the correct comprehension of each word in is source text, and express the correct expression in target language. How to choose a proper word is the key step.Example (1): there is a big public signs in the gate of the Summer Mountain Resorts: “W ay Out”, which refers to the place from which you can go out of a building in British English and in the scenic spots we should use “E xit” instead.Example (2): “请在此排队Join the Main Line”. It should write “Please Queue”.Example (3): “请注意安全Please Pay Attention to Safety”. It should write “Caution: Risk of Danger”.2.2 Spelling errorsSpelling errors are apparent and easy to be avoided. In the Summer Mountain Resorts we find out lots of spelling errors. For example, “芳园居fragrant Garden”. I t should be capitalized. “观莲所Lotus view PA VILION”, the word on the board are confused. They should be written in uniform format. Spelling errors also include the misuse of Chinese pinyin. Pinyin is often mixed with English in nonstandard ways. Like “西岭晨霞Xilingchenxia Chamber”. The foreigners can‟t understand its meaning. “云帆月航a tower in the shape of boat , the …seneryis‟ a boat-shaped chamber with two floors.” “S ceneryis” should be written as“scenery is”.2.3 Grammar errorsChinese and English have two different grammar rules and grammar errors are likely to happen because of the differences. Grammar errors refer to the system of inflection, syntax and word formation of a language. For example:“It was built in 1703, was over the palace area before 1771, after the formal palace had been completed, the island becomes a major scenic attraction in the landscape area.”“如意洲建于1703年，1771年之前竣工，在正宫完成之后，如意洲成为景区的主要景点。