[Analysis of Public Signs Translation] Principles of Public Signs Translation ppt

Public signs are written language for the public to see in public places, common practical language in people's lives, and a special style that is open and public-oriented, so as to achieve certain communicative purposes. Public signs are widely used in life and can be seen almost everywhere. Because of the importance of public signs in the lives of the public and tourists, any ambiguity, misunderstanding and abuse of public signs will lead to adverse consequences. This paper analyzes the common problems in the translation of public signs and puts forward some solutions.

Keywords: translation of public signs in public places

With the economic globalization and the successful conclusion of the 2008 Olympic Games, there are more and more bilingual public signs all over the country, so foreigners can play and shop conveniently. It can be said that this is a kind of progress of humanized management and harmonious society, and it also reflects the friendly and upward mental outlook and overall cultural quality of the people. Public signs, as the name implies, are written language displayed to the public in public places, common practical language in people's lives, and a special style that is open to the public and achieves certain communicative purposes. Public signs are widely used in our daily life, such as road signs, billboards, shop signs, publicity signs in public places and travel brochures. Public signs are an important part of the language environment and human environment of international cities and international tourist destinations.

In the practical application of public signs, we still have many problems. Non-standard English public signs that foreigners can't understand or even make a fool of themselves abound, which not only fails to achieve communicative effect, but also damages the image.

First, the classification of translation errors of common public signs.

Spelling and grammatical errors

Spelling is the most common and easily overlooked mistake in public signs. Besides spelling errors, capitalization errors or punctuation errors, grammatical errors are also common mistakes in the translation of public signs, such as misuse of parts of speech, improper plural nouns, omission of articles and incorrect verb forms. For example: "No parking": "No parking"; "Please take your personal belongings with you": "Please take your personal belongings (personal belongings)"; "Please take the side door": "Please take the side door"; Xx Motor Vehicle Driving School: Automobile Driving (Driving) School: XX Decoration Co., Ltd.: Decoding (Decoration) Corporation; "Men's casual wear": "Men's (men's) wear"; "Chinese and western fast food": "Chinese fast food". These grammatical errors are either caused by the carelessness of the translator or taken for granted. In fact, it can be avoided with a little attention when translating.

(2) Chinglish

There are many fixed expressions in English. For example, "southeast" means "southeast" rather than "southeast", while "northwest" means "northwest" rather than "northwest". However, the translation of many public signs is full of meaning, which is completely inconsistent with English expression. For example, it is not appropriate to translate "China alcohol and tobacco" into "China alcohol and tobacco", but it should be translated into "tobacco, wine and tea" according to English habits. The translation of "police workstation" into "police workstation" or "police station" is a blunt translation compared with Chinese. In fact, translating it into "police station" can make foreigners understand. The translation of "lease" in "car service center of leasing company" into "leasing company" is also completely from the Chinese perspective and should be translated into "car rental". Translating "dental clinic" into "oral department" makes people laugh and cry. It is suggested to change it to "dental office (department)".

(D) Semantic ambiguity

There are many reasons for semantic ambiguity. Because of the mistakes in Chinese-English conversion, what was originally clear in Chinese could not be understood in English translation. There are many reasons for mistranslation, but ambiguity is mainly caused by the loss of information and incomplete translation in the process of Chinese-English translation. For example: (1) "Watch your head": "Watch your head" translates as "Watch your head" or "Watch your head"; (2) Clock City: "Time City Watch &; Clocks "translates into" watch &; Watch shopping center.

Second, the Chinese-English translation of public signs countermeasures

(A) familiar with the meaning and characteristics of public signs

Public signs are a special style that is open to the public in order to achieve a certain communicative purpose. They have four application functions: indicative, suggestive, restrictive and mandatory, which requires this style to be concise, clear and correct, so as to provide clear and understandable information to the public and avoid unnecessary misunderstandings. In translation, words should be concise and precise, which can be expressed in a few words, or simple icons, or a combination of icons and words, so that readers can see at a glance, instead of using long sentences at will, and pay attention to choosing common words.

(2) Borrow more examples from foreign countries.

Dai Zongxian said: "It is entirely possible to adopt the theory of transportation, which can be consistent at home and abroad, and find some experts to take their expressions abroad." (Dai Zongxian, 2005) In fact, except for some public signs that are very similar to those in China, English public signs can be found in China, which requires translators to consult as many materials as possible or consult foreign friends whose mother tongue is English.

(C) Pay attention to the understanding of cultural background

Due to the differences in people's social background, living habits and ways of thinking, there are differences in language expression, and these differences are also fully reflected in public signs. If we can't thoroughly understand the cultural information contained in the text and master the cultural differences between China and Britain, it is impossible to complete the conversion from the source language to the target language.

The translation of public signs is not only related to translation skills, but also related to people's cognition. Many people think that as long as they know English, they can translate. In fact, the basic skills of public signs translation include not only English proficiency, but also understanding of foreign cultures. Therefore, when translating public signs, you should put the cultural habits of the target readers in the first place and use communicative translation to obtain accurate translation. Public signs are one of the main carriers for countries all over the world to know about China, and also the first business card left by China to all foreigners in China. Therefore, the English translation of Chinese public signs is particularly important, and its purpose is clear, that is, to instruct, prompt, warn and help foreign friends living, studying, traveling and working in China more conveniently on necessary occasions. Correct English translation of public signs plays an important role in promoting the image of urban civilization and further promoting the process of urban internationalization.

References:

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[3] Yang Yonghe. A Summary of Translation of Public Signs in China in the New Century. Foreign Language Teaching, 2009, (5).

[4] Li Hongmei. A Study on Translation of Public Signs Based on Memetics [J]. Journal of Sichuan University of Technology (Social Science Edition), 20 10, 25 (2).