英文原始资料

1 3 Principles for C E Translation of Public Signs Many experts proposed principles for C E translation of public signs according to their research among them Ni Chuanbin Liu Zhi 倪传斌 刘治 1998 and Liu Fagong Xu Beijia s 刘法公 徐蓓佳 2008 principles are representative Ni Chuanbin Liu Zhi point out five principles for Chinese English translation conciseness directness suitable mood standardization and moderate humorous On the basis of Newmark s text typology Liu Fagong and Xu Beijia propose the Three C principles for public signs translation namely conciseness consistency and comprehensibility Wang Fang Sun Zhixiang 王芳 孙 志祥 2009 also support these three translation principles In this thesis the author adopts the Three C principles for public signs translation at the same time the suitable mood and moderate humorous are highly appreciated 1 3 1 Conciseness The conciseness principle in the C E translation of public signs means that the translated version should be pithy and brief without any ambiguous words or long sentences Newmark 2001 points out that semantic and communicative translations fulfill the two main aims of translation which are first accuracy and second economy Confined by the limited time and space public signs are born with brevity For example 贵宾候车室 Distinguished Guests Wait for a Bus at the Place It s clear that the translation above violates the principle of conciseness Actually Reserved Waiting room is enough xxx 市公安报警中心 xxx City Center of Reporting to the Police This public sign promoting people where to ask for help in emergency The translation above put the keyword police at the end of the sentence which greatly reduces the eye catching effect xxx City Police Report Center is better 1 3 2 Consistency The consistency principle in the C E translation of public signs covers three aspects 1 If there is an English expression addressing the same meaning and is commonly used worldwide we simply adopt borrowism take it and use it Thus before we try to translate a Chinese public sign into English we should make sure that whether there is such an expression already in use in English If there is an English expression addressing the same meaning and is commonly used worldwide we must conform to the international standard For example 旅客止步 Staff Only 失物招领 Lost and Found 店里的商品打 8 折 20070 off 2 If there is a fixed translated name or term we should follow the established translation The reason is that the translated name has already been sanctioned by popular usage the translator should follow the fixed versions For example 国泰影院 Cathay Theater 华东医院 Hua Dong Hospital 中国石油大学 华东 China University of Petroleum East China 3 If there is no idiomatic expression or fixed translation to follow the translator should refer to the dictionary and the English version of official websites or newspapers For example 收费停车场 Pay Parking 危难时刻迅速报警 Emergency Call 110 浙江工商大学 Zhejiang Gongshang University It s common for translators to translate 浙江工商大学 into Zhejiang Industrial and Commercial University Actually many institutes and universities bear such names such as the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China 中国工商银行 German Industrial andCommercial Management Association 德国工商人才管理协会 Industrial and Commercial University of Chongqing 重庆工商大学 But Zhejiang Gongshang University 浙江工商大学 is the established name the translators must conform to it 1 3 3 Comprehensibility The principle of comprehensibility means that the translated version must be easy to read and understand The aim of this principle is the translation of public signs which is of distinctive Chinese features For example 旅游热点 Tourist Hot Spot 高高兴兴上班去 平平安安回家来 Go to work happily and come back safely Native speakers must be confused about the real meanings of these two translations In the first example the translator translates 旅游热点 into Tourist Hot Spot character by character But in English hot spot means a place of political unrest and potential violence a point of relatively intense heat or radiation which is quite different with the original meaning of 旅游热点 It s better for us to use a popular tourist attraction to translate this public sign The second public sign intends to wish the drivers to drive carefully If we want to express the wishes Good luck is enough If this is a warning before driving we can translate it into Safety first in driving 何自然 1997 Cited in 卞正东 2005 We also should adopt suitable mood in our translation of public signs Furthermore a tinge of humor is necessary to intensify th