Abstract

With China’s reform and opening up policy, Chinese tourism industry have developed rapidly and more and more foreign tourists come into China to take a visit. For native English speakers who travel in China,  standard Chinese-English translation of public signs will play an important role in their understanding China. However, the C-E translation of public signs in far from being satisfactory on many scenic spots. Some translations can even mislead foreigners’ understanding. On the basis of Nida’s functional equivalence theory, this thesis aims to study the problems in the C-E translation of public signs and its solution. The author has collected some C-E translations of public signs which are founded in scenic spots. This thesis analyzes the problems of the collected public signs from the perspectives of not being equivalent to source language message and not being natural for target language, proposes solutions and summarizes two principles that should be observed in C-E translation of public signs. 

Keywords: public signs; functional equivalence; problems; solutions

Contents

Abstract

摘要

1. Introduction-4

2 . Literature Review-6

2.1 An overview on functional equivalence-6

2.2 A review on public signs-8

3. The Translation of Public Signs on Scenic Spots from the Perspective of Functional Equivalence-10

3.1 The problems in the translation of public signs on the scenic spots-10

3.2 The solutions to the problems under the principle of functional equivalence-15

4. Conclusion-16

Works cited-18