When did bilingual public signs begin to appear?

Already existed in the last century

The scope of bilingual public signs is very wide. All public signs are publicized to the public, tourists, overseas guests, foreigners in China, and Chinese citizens traveling and doing business abroad. Etc., the basic text information content of public notices involving food, accommodation, transportation, travel, entertainment, shopping behaviors and needs are all within the scope of public sign research. The "Complete Collection of National Public Security Bureau Logo Design Principles and Graphics" prepared by the National Technical Committee for Information and Documentation Standardization uses the word "logo", which is defined as a symbol, color, geometric shape (or frame) that gives behavioral instructions. ) and other elements form a visual image. Including graphic signs, text signs and other auxiliary signs. Mainly used in public places, buildings, product packaging and printed matter, etc. Public signs are of great significance in regulating people's social behavior, adjusting interpersonal relationships, improving production efficiency, deterring crime, inspiring passion, optimizing the quality of life, and building a harmonious society. To build an international metropolis and truly be in line with international standards, we need a good international language environment. Whether a city's public signs in Chinese and English are widely used, standardized, and translated appropriately are also a reflection of the city's openness and the overall quality of the city. In order to successfully host the 2008 Olympic Games and the 2010 World Expo, public facilities, transportation facilities, and tourist facilities in international cities such as Beijing and Shanghai, as well as international tourist destinations, will use a large number of public signs in both Chinese and English. Properly translated public signs will provide tourists and athletes from far away with careful attention to food, accommodation, transportation, travel, entertainment, and shopping wherever they go and when they need life. Any ambiguity, misunderstanding, and abuse of public signs will lead to adverse consequences. Therefore, strengthening the research on public sign translation and taking effective and effective measures to manage and improve the quality of public sign translation are our urgent and important tasks. Only by carefully exploring the functional meaning and language style of English public signs can we truly and accurately play the positive role of English public signs in deepening reform, expanding opening up, and urban internationalization in our country. The small space of public signs forces designers to use the least vocabulary to achieve the greatest purpose. Moreover, whether it is to provide information or warnings or for advertising purposes, public signs must do everything in order to exert their due social pragmatic functions. To be eye-catching, so as to achieve the purpose of communication within the time range that its audience can tolerate. Therefore, successful public signs are almost without exception concise and clever, and pay attention to phonology and rhetoric. The author believes that as a translator, we must first carefully explore the linguistic characteristics and functional significance of public signs, and more importantly, analyze the cultural differences between Chinese and English public signs. The translation of public signs involves not only translation skills but also the understanding of foreign cultures. Therefore, when translating public signs, we should give top priority to the cultural habits of the readers of the target text, and use communicative translation methods to translate Chinese public signs. Only in this way can we obtain accurate translations of public signs and purify the language environment of public signs in our country. The Chinese-English translation of public signs is actually based on the special context and specific functions of public signs, the psychological state and behavioral needs of specific audiences, and the functional equivalence and conversion corresponding operation of specific information or text. The core of translation is to "restore the true colors of things." If we can use another language to restore the things described in the source language, we can truthfully reflect the objectivity. If things cannot be restored in another language, this translation will distort the facts, cause miscommunication of information, and mislead people's behavior. For this reason, in the translation of public signs, the translator must analyze the literal meaning of the public signs and study its pragmatic meaning, that is, the functional meaning of the original language, in order to achieve the true purpose of translation. Whether it is equivalence or purpose (or function), it means that the translator must center on the communicative function or purpose of the source language for translation, focusing on the pursuit of consistency in effect (function) rather than literal equivalence. However, while conveying the content of the source language, if we can give full play to the formal advantages of the target language and reproduce the beauty of its form as much as possible, so that the translation is fully equivalent to the original text, we will not only pay attention to the function of the public sign in the target language, but also take into account the content. The win-win effect with formal beauty will be the most ideal state for the translation of public signs. This article starts from Skopos Theory, combines functional equivalence theory and communicative theory, and mainly explores the English translation of public signs from the perspective of pragmatics. This article has six chapters; the first chapter briefly introduces the definition, function, current situation and research significance of public signs. The second chapter outlines Nida's functional equivalence theory, Newmark's communicative translation theory, and Vermeer and Nord's teleology. Chapter 3 discusses the language characteristics of public signs; Chinese often uses a four-character pattern, often expressed from the negative, with many imperative sentences, active sentences, and many dynamic words; English text is all capitalized, often expressed from the front, and mostly uses passive sentences and the present tense. , many static words, use common words, do not use uncommon words, commonly used gerunds and noun phrases, abbreviations, and text are often matched with graphics. Chapter 4 compares the pragmatic errors in the translation of Chinese and English public signs caused by cross-culture. Chapter Five lists some errors in street signs, analyzes the reasons, and puts forward suggestions for improvement.