OntheChinese―EnglishTranslationofPublicSignsinWuhan-2019年文档

1、On the Chinese English Translation of PublicSigns in Wuhan：As an important language phenomenon， public signs perform great social functions in peoples daily life.However， the translation of Chinese-English public signs still has many problems. This essay attempts to choose the Chinese-English transl

2、ation of public signs in Wuhana s the subject of research ， analyze the problems and put forward some solutions.s： Chinese-English ； public signs ； problems ； Wuhan Public signs play a significant role in our daily life.Any ambiguous translation may bring misunderstanding to our ordinary life and wo

3、rk. Hence， public signstranslation should be standardized and regulated. In Wuhan， many inappropriate translations still exist. Much attention should be paid to the public sign translation in Wuhanw hich is considered to the leading role in the middle rising of China ， not only helping to guide the

4、foreigners ， but also to promote the appearance of Wuhan itself.The authors find that there are many problems in the translation of public signs by traveling around the wholecity ， which can be list as follows.The spelling errors can be easily found in the translation of public signs， which are main

5、ly caused bythe careless translators or sign-makers. Theauthors findin Hubei Provincial Museum that the Chinese“Xiao FangZhuan Yong Pin ” is translated as“Fire emgency specialitems ”. The error may not be found at the first sight，but if you look at it carefully ， you may find that the word “emergenc

6、y” is misspelled into “emgency”， which is a regular word often used in our daily life. This error obviously imposes a bad influence on the image of Hubei Provincial Museum.Grammar errors can be easily found in the English version of public signs in Wuhan， which may cause themisunderstanding and conf

7、usion. Such errors are the misuse of tense ， the errors of part of speech， the misuse ofpreposition and so on. In a library of a university in Wuhan， there is a public sign saying“please set mobilephone to silent ”. The word “to” is a preposition while the word “silent ” is an adjective and should n

8、ot follow a preposition. The correct translation of the Chinese “Qing Ba Shou Ji Tiao Wei Jing Yin” should be “Pleaseset your mobile pho ne muteChinglish is a commonp henomenon in the translation of public signs ， which is the improper use of English in grammar and culture mainly caused by the influ

9、ence of our mother tongue. Chinese and English are totally different languages which result in the totally different thinking patterns. The translators may think in Chinese while write in English when they translate the public signs. The authors have once found in a supermarket that the Chinese vers

10、ion “Xiao Xin Jia Shou ” is translated into“Bewareof your hand ” and it is better to be translated into “Watch your hands ”.Some public signs in thecampus such as the Chinese “Fang Cao Qing Qing ， Ta Zhi He Ren”， which means keep off the grass in a tender way， embraces elegance and implicitly.But wh

11、en translated into“Tender fragrant grass ， how hard-hearted to trample them”， it doesn t make any sense to the foreigners，instead ， it may make the foreigners feel confused and bewildered. If this came true， it means the translationdoesnt comply with the English form and style. According to the feat

12、ures of the public signs， conciseness is themost important factor when the inappropriate translationoccurs. Thus， it should be translated into “Please keep off the grass. ”In addition ， there is a mixed standard in translating of the road s name in the different region of Wuhan. Due to the non-fixed

13、-standard， one road may have severalnames， which makes harder for the foreigners to understand. For instance ， the Chinese “Min Zu Da Dao” and “Chu Ping Lu” are translated into “MINZUD ADA”O and “CHUPINGL U” and the foreigners dont tell differences among them. The better option maybe the“MINZU AVENU

14、”E and “CHUPINGROA”D 。As for the factors resulting in the above existing problems of the translation of public signs， the authorshave made some analysis. First， there is not a relatedstandard department in Wuhan for this issue. Foreign Affairs Office of Wuhan Municipal Peoples Governmentonce publish

15、ed “A Guide to Chinese ?C English translation of public sign s in Wuhan ” in April ， 2012. But it seems that there is no executive power to correct the inappropriate forms of translation in the society.Secondly ， translators ， lacking of a strong sense of social responsibility and rigorous attitude

16、in thetranslation of public signs ， have led to some non-standard translation. Translators limited ability to shift onelanguage to another one cause many mistakes at different levels. And their lack of understanding between Chinese and Western cultures ， inevitably ， leads to their Chinese way of th

17、inking in the process of translation.Finally ， public signs have different manufacturers，among who lack relevant responsibility， qualificationsand professionals. Sometimes they blindly decide the production regardless of thecustomer s demand only inorder to finish the task and causally revise the tr

18、anslation material.Therefore ， the authors agree that the translators should be more elaborate to accurately convey the functional significance of public signs. The translation should be based on the literal meaning of Chinese public signs as well as the functional significance of public language to

19、 choose the appropriate words and tone. Moreover ， the specific context must be complied with the different countries ， national conditions ， cultures and languages. The foundation of translation of public signs should be faithfulness， owing to the communicativetranslation s key is to convey informa

20、tion and make readers think ， feel and act. Additionally ， the existing standard public signs in English can be borrowed directly ； the “use doctrine ” spirit can be carried forward to achieve a better effect.In view of thegovernment s “management practices ”， Wuhan City Hall needs calling on to acc

21、elerate the internationalization construction and set up specialized agencies on public signs translation regulation. In the selection of the manufacturers ， their qualifications must be carefully considered ， then the high-level ， responsible one will be chosen to monitor the production ， sending p

22、eople to supervise the whole process， ensuring that the entireprocess of no risk at all.Obviously ， it is hard to not to make any error in the translation of public signs and to solve all the problems in a short time ， but we need to band together to find out the new existing problems and further study the ina