Abstract:With the accelerating pace of globalization, in particular, since China’s entry to the World Trade Organization, China has made a forward step to go abroad. Each year, a large number of foreigners come to China to travel, invest, do business, study, etc. English public sign is an open window to the outside world, which plays an important role among foreign friends. In this paper, on the base of previous study, there are a great number of case analyses and researches about public signs of Guangzhou metro stations, which have pointed out the problems of error translation and causes of public signs in Guangzhou metro stations and have taken the corresponding translation strategies. Here, this paper focuses on seven typical error analyses of translation situations of public signs, which are: common sense error; wrong diction; unclear instructions; non-uniform translation; lack of target language culture; mandatory transliteration or literal translation; misusage of literal and free translation. Through analyses, we know that, in recent years, there are plenty of translation defects of public signs in Guangzhou metro stations. Since the translation quality is uneven and full of loopholes, this paper takes public signs of Guangzhou metro stations for examples, and we suppose that it is very important for us to study the translation functions of public signs and propose the translation strategies of public signs. 

Key words: public signs; translation situations; strategies; Guangzhou metro stations

Table of Contents

Abstract

中文摘要

1. Introduction-1

2. Literature Review-2

2.1 The definition of public sign-2

2.2 The features of public signs in metro stations-2

3. The Social Functions of Public Signs in Metro Stations-3

3.1 The suggestive function-3

3.2 The warning function-3

3.3 The informative function-4

3.4 The restrictive function-4

3.5 The mandatory function-4

4. The Error Analyses of Translation Situations on Public Signs in Metro Stations-5

4.1 Common sense error-5

4.2 Wrong diction-5

4.3 Unclear instruction-6

4.4 Non-unified translation-6

4.5 Lack of target language culture-7

4.6 Mandatory transliteration or literal translation-7

4.7 Misusage of literal and free translation-7

5. The Theoretical Analyses of Public Signs in Metro Stations with Adaptation Theory-9

5.1 The idiomatic expressions-9

5.2 The context features-9

5.3 The culture background-10

6. The Translation Strategies about Public Signs in Metro Stations-11

6.1 To insure the standardization of public signs and adopt the general standards of international public signs-11

6.2 To strengthen the development of translation teams and set up a special research group of public signs-11

6.3 To set up a translation forum of public signs and strengthen supervision by public opinion--11

7. Conclusion-13

References-14

Acknowledgements-15