公示语的翻译策略

8

5.3. Creative Translation

.

............... .................................................. .......

9

5.4. Without Translate

.

......... .................................................. .................

9

VI Conclusion ......................... .................................................. ...................

1

0

Notes

Bibliography

Acknowledgments

I Introduction

：

Public signs is a common practical language wildly used in life and can be seen

everywhere,

such

as

route

signs,

billboard,

slogan

in

public

place,

tourism

introduction etc.. Public signs is a important element of International City, language

of International Tourist Place and Humanistic Environment. Public signs playing an

important

role in

daily life, on the contrary the improper translation of public signs

will lead to a serious of negative effects. The error translation of public signs impact

the

image

of

the

city,

what

’

s

more

it

also

bring

so

much

inconvenience

to

the

foreigners.

In the age of the science and technology fast-changing, the patten of the earth has

become a global village. China is also involved in the diversified change. Since the

reformation

and

opening

policy,

China

has

constantly

strengthened

economic

and

trade relationship with the other countries, attacking more and more inventor invest.

After the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, there are a lot of foreigners come to China

for study, tour, even more settle in China. So the correct translation of the public signs

is especially important for their lives, the error translation of the public signs not only

make a joke but

also

let the readers misunderstand the meaning of the public signs

which will bring the unwanted trouble.

China's international status and image are rising in present day, we must take the

correct public signs seriously, continue to strengthen and perfect the public language

translation, thus can promote the image of our country and bring the convenient for

the foreigners.

1

II Generalization on Public Signs

Public signs is a common practical language wildly used in life and can

be seen everywhere, such as route signs, billboard, slogan in public place,

tourism introduction etc..

2.1. Definition

Public signs is the written language in the public place which express

the special meaning and achieve certain communicative purpose, reading by

the people. It is the most common practical language in daily life.

There are some equative words such as

etc..

Public

signs

is

widely

used

in

transportation,

tourism,

transport

and

other public areas.

[1]

Public signs have a unique and convincing structure as well as attractive

and

compelling

tone.

It

can

be

formal

or

informal.

Some

of

them

are

composed of word, phrases or sentences, such as:

注意

Attention

警告

Warning

请当心

Please Be Careful

请随手关门

Please Close

紧急出口

Emergency Exit

按铃报警

Alarm Will Sound

请勿在此停车

Please Do Not Park Here.

请将机票或登机牌准备好接受安检

Please Have Your Ticket or Boarding Card Ready for Inspection.

2.2. Function of Public Signs

Public

signs

are

widely

applied

in

every

aspect

of

life

and

influence

people

’

s daily life. By providing the service of information, signs satisfy the

social, behavioral

and

psychological

demand

of

the tourist

and

the public.

So public signs have four functions in practical application, i.e.

“

directing,

prompting, restricting and compelling

”

. It will be discussed one by one in

2

the following paper.

2.2.1. Directing

speaker

believes,

to

give

information

about

facts,

or

to

reason

things

out.

Zhuanglin,

2000)

The

directive

public

signs

only

present

the

information

of

guiding

services

without

any

intention

of

warning

or

prohibiting.

They

mean

directing

the

content

of

the

service

rather

than

requiring the public to do an example, the sign:

票务与旅游

中心（

Ticket & Travel Centre

）

inform the tourisms who can buy the ticket

in the right place.

More examples:

地铁

Underground

超市入口

Enter supermarket

咨询处

Information

2.2.2. Prompting

收费站

Toll gate

停车场

Parking lot

门诊部

Outpatient Department

The

prompting

signs

aim

to

call

people's

attention

without

any

other

connotation but are widely used during public occasions. This kind of sign

often

use

brief

and

euphemistic

words

and

multiform

sentence.

With

the

sign, people know how to fulfill the task to conform to the regulation. It is

up to the public to decide whether to carry out the task or not. Such as:

在输

入密码时确保身后等候者不会知觉

!

For your security, please pay attention behind you while putting your secret

number ! It means that if you don not want other know you secret number

and steal the money from your credit card you should pay attention and safe

the secret information.

3

Take

another

example:

现金请当面点清

!

Please

check

your

change

before leaving the cashier / counter ! It means if you leave the counter with

the inaccurate change, the counter are irresponsibility. So you have to check

the change in front of the counter, face to face with the cashier.

2.2.3. Restricting

The

restricting

signs

confined

activities

or

actions

of

the

irrelevant

personnel

with

the

chosen

word,

impolite,

rough

and

unreasonable

kind of public sign exclusively is applied to a certain group of

people. In other hands, once restrictive public signs are used, only a group

of people allowed to perform some actions.

2.2.4. Compelling

The

compelling

signs

compel

the

related

people

not

to

take

certain

unwarrantable

actions

with

forceful,

tough

language.

Its

language

is

brief

and compelling without any compromise. The sentences are imperative with

negative

word

like

Forbidden

In

some

situation,

people

tend

to

observe the regulation without other choices. For instance, the sign

禁止鸣

（

No Honking

）

indicates briefly that you can not honk in this area, if you

insist

honk,

a

bad

consequence

will

happen,

maybe

you

will

be

impose

a

fine.

III The Principle of Public Signs

’

Translation

After

making

clear

the brief

definition of

public signs, this paper

will

intend to put up three principles for Chinese to English translation of public

signs, namely conciseness, consistency and comprehensibility.

3.1. Conciseness

By conciseness, it mean that the public signs should be short and sweet

that can make the reader easier to catch the point. Firstly, the words should

4

be

short

instead

of

long

words.

Secondly,

consider

the

education

of

the

reader,

try

to

avoid

using

the

advanced

vocabulary.

Thirdly,

the

sentence

prefer

the

simple

sentence

and

declarative

sentence

rather

than

some

complex sentence or subordinate clause. An effective sentence without the

irrelevant words.

Take

an

example:

手机若在腰间 别，犹如送财于窃贼！

It

was

be

translated into: If you take the phone on your waistband, as if to send money

to the the thief. It was depend on the surface meaning of the Chinese which

is long and verbose. It is better to be translate into: Cellphone strapped

to

waistband prospers the thief.

3.2. Consistency

By consistency, it found that there are some similar public signs was be

translate

into

different

words,such

as

：游客止步；宾客止步，

has

been

translated

quite differently

such

as:

Stop;

Passengers,

Stop

Here!;

Tourists

Stop

the

Steps!;

Guests

Go

No

Further!

and

so

on.

Actually,

there

is

an

English

expression

widely

used

in

the

same

context

in

English-speaking

countries. It simply reads

translation:

Public

Toilet,

Toilet

and

WC.

According

to

the

international

practice, use WC is convenience and concise.

3.3. Comprehensibility

By comprehensibility, it means that the public signs should be translate

into a correct way. Such as a very funny PRC government says you better

watch

out

when

you

are

in

orgasm.

what

means

in

orgasm?

it

is

unintelligibly

for

the

readers.

It

should

be

translate

to:

Beware

of

pick

pocket when you are dating with your lover.

5