论文总字数：23785字

摘 要

自改革开放以来，中国观光旅游行业不断发展，越来越多的外国游客涌入中国。对于来自英语国家的人来说，汉语公示语的正确英译很大程度上能够方便他们在中国的旅游观光。然而，在很多旅游景点，公示语的英译却差强人意，甚至引起外国游客的误解。本文基于这一社会现象，以美国语言学家和翻译理论家奈达的功能对等理论为基础，探讨汉语公示语的英译存在的问题及其解决方法。作者通过实地考察，收集了旅游景点中多个公示语的实例，从最切近的对等和顺乎自然的对等的角度，分析收集到的汉语公示语在英译中存在的问题，提出解决方法，总结在汉语公示语的英译中应该遵循的两个基本原则。

关键词：公示语；功能对等；问题； 对策

Contents

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

1. Introduction

With the Accelerating pace of modern life, people’s pressure is growing increasingly, tourism has become the medicine which is helpful to release the stress and regulate negative emotions, which can relax our minds and broaden our horizons. So that more and more foreign tourists come to China to feel Chinese culture. While English on the other hand is also embracing Chinese culture, with the door open, the channel to the world requires people speaking English, people go broad prefers to choose English as the language of communication. Thus, most of the signs on scenic spots are written in English. C-E translation of public signs is guiding light for native English speakers when they travel in China. In 2005 , American professor Clive W.J Granger said:“when foreigners came to China, they might have a slightly nervous feeling for not understanding the signs.”(Wang and Lv 13 )

However, the C-E translation of public signs in far from being satisfactory on many scenic spots. Some translations can even mislead foreigners’ understanding. When a translator has know awareness of social and cultural difference among different language speakers, the translated public signs will be improper, impolite, offensive or misleading, and the grammar mistake will occur. Luckily, the translation of public signs has draw a great attention. This thesis, based on Nida’s functional equivalence theory, analyzes the problems of the connected public signs from the perspectives of not being equivalent to source language message and not being natural for target language, and proposes the corresponding solutions.

2 .Literature Review

2.1 An overview on functional equivalence

Functional equivalence is the core of a famous translation theory which was proposed by American linguist master Eugene • Nida (Eugene Nida). His translation theory have a great impact in the sixties and seventies of the 20th century. His publication is always on the list of required reading in the most reputable translation institution throughout the world. Nida’s translation theory has been highly valued and has influenced the practice of translation in general. the concept of “functional equivalence” can be traced back to dynamic equivalence which is one of Nida’s main achievements in the study of translation. The definition of functional equivalence can be comprehended from this three steps as lists:

a. One must understand the two relationship of both two parties:the relationship between target receptors and source language and the relationship between the original receptors and the original message.

b. In a dynamic-equivalence translation, one must focus on the double relationship more than on matching the receptor-language with the source-language message.

c. The dynamic relationship between receptor and message should be roughly equivalent to the relationship between the original receptor and the message.

Nida interprets that the dynamic-equivalence translation must clearly reflect the meaning and the intent of the source. In another word, the notion of dynamic equivalence is the closest natural equivalent to the source-language message. The three essential terms of dynamic equivalence translation include equivalent, natural, and closest. They can be understood as follows:

a. “Equivalent” means equal to source language text

b. “Natural” means natural target language for receptor. A natural language translation must take the three factors into consideration: (1) the receptor language and culture at large; (2)the context of the receptor-language text; (3)the readers or listener of the receptor language.

c. Based on the highest degree of approximation, “closest” binds the source-language text and the receptor-language text together that is the word “closest”

Requires the receptor-language message to be the closest equivalent to the source-language message.

“Functional equivalence” is the core concept of Nida’s theory. The so-called “functional equivalence” does not seek rigid surface corresponding to the text rather than to say when the translation, from the two kinds of language, what the translator should achieve is to reach functional equivalence between the two language parties.

2.2 A review on public signs

In Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English (2005), a sign refers to “a piece of paper metal, or wood with words or a picture that gives people information,warnings or instructions.” According to English Dictionary for Advanced Learners, a sign means a flat object with words or pictures on it, put in a public place to provide information or advertise something. Barry Cray, the chairperson of the 145 Technical Committee of ISO, proclaims that “signs are anything form the simplest way-finding or information ‘makers’ to the technically sophisticated communication of a message. Signing affects everybody-travelers =, shoppers, visitors, drivers etc, whether in the course of business or pleasure”(lv and Jiang 20) In general, There are two functions in public signs. The informative function, conveying information, is primary function of public signs. It focuses on the content of the message, stating what it is and what happens. (De Waard amp;Nida 20) The vocative function, which was given many other names such as “conative”, “instrumental”, “operative”, “pragmative” and “imperative”, focuses on a change in the behavior of the public who respond to the content of the message and the impact of its form. In a sense, it is designed to call on the public to act, think of feel(Newmark and De 86 98 ). Vocative function of public signs can be divided into the prompting, warning, restricting and compelling functions.

In 2004, Lu Feihua focused ont he functional features and language style of public signs in his paper“Chinese-English Translation of Public Signs”（Lv 38-40）

Since 2008, much study has been carried out on the C-E translation of public signs in light of theoretical or academic underpinning. For example, Cai Gaiying attempts to discuss public signs from the perspective of rhetoric of discourse act （Cai 36-40），Yang Yonghe from the perspective of pragmatics（Yang 113-116）,Fan Guihua from the perspective of intertextuality(Fan 47-50), Pi Deming from the perspective of translation principles(Pi 131-134), Liu Jian from the perspective of communicative translation theory(Liu 131-134), etc.

In general, the scholars previous study has laid a solid foundation for the present study. And it’s necessary to point out that few scholars have analyzed C-E theory. In this thesis, some ignored mistakes in Chinese-English translation of public signs will be picked out and the author will give a detailed analysis on the errors from different levels.

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

3.1 The problems in translation of public signs on scenic spots

In order to enrich the tourism interest and cultural connections, numerous Chinese materials about scenic spots have been translated into English. Meanwhile, great attention has been paid to the study of translation on public signs. One reason is that any mistranslation could make foreign tourists misunderstand Chinese culture and give them bad impression on China.

As more and more attention has been paid on public signs, public signs can be seen everywhere especially on scenic spots. But the quality of translation is far from being satisfactory. Nida states that most error in translation are made by failing to comprehend the source text. The primary consideration in the translation of public signs is a though understanding the meaning and function of the source text. Based om the collected examples, the problems in the translation of the public signs can be concluded into to categories.

3.1.1 Not being equivalent to source-language message

(1) Inaccuracy in spelling

Inaccurate spelling may lead to the misunderstanding of the original text such inaccuracies can be found in English spelling.

Undoubtedly, this public sign has spelling error, the English for “我” is “I”, not “t”, which will fail to point toward source text.

Misspelling can be also found in Chinese pinyin, for example,

In Chinese，”蛇口”should be spelled in pinyin like “shekou” while this sign use “shkou” which is not equivalent to the source language “蛇口”. Names of places are always literally translated into pinyin in China. In this translation of public sign, when it has proper words or specific meanings, it’s obvious that this kind of places should be translated to equal words in English.

(2) Inaccuracy in capitalization

Capitals are widely used in public signs as an effective means to enhance the content and to catch people’s attention. Capitalization of public signs shares the same rules as the writing of a title, which means capitalize the first and last words of public signs and all other words, except articles, coordinating conjunctions, short prepositions, and “to” in infinitives.

This is a public sign in a park of Chinese city with saying “cleanstarts in your own self keep the environment clean.”. In this translation of public signs, the capitalization is ignored. Sometimes it will lead to misunderstanding. For example, as we all know, there is a difference between “china” and “China”. With capitalized “China” means the name of a nation, while the other with no capitalized “china” means a kind of art work made from China. In Chinese, we use “瓷器” to express in Chinese.

(3) Incorrect wording

In C-E translation of public signs,

From the picture under this paragraph, the sign is put up at a gas station. The sign just shows to the customers the way out of the station. “出口” in Chinese has two meanings: one refers to a door or space through which the public can leave a place; the other refers to selling(goods) another country. For“出口”in the sign,“Export” is used as the corresponding expression. But “Export”means sending(goods) to another country for sale. It is obviously that this situation ,the sign wants to show the people where they should go for out a place.rather than out of a nation in international trade. Therefore, the suggested translation is “Exit”,which means the way out of a place.

3.1.2 Not being natural for target language

(1) In wording

Unnatural translation is exhibited in translated public signs with unnecessary words, which makes no sense to receptors or even mislead them to understand the source text. The following example is the sign on the scenic spot.

In Chinese, “带好” is to tell people take all the things they have. Translating this Chinese word into English “take good” makes no sense. And “good” is not only redundant, but also misleading. Besides, breaches of the English grammar are often found in C-E translations of public signs.

When culture is taken into consideration, natural translation will be even harder to achieve. Culture refers to the ideas, beliefs and customs that are shared and accepted by people in a society. Therefore, a natural translation, as Nida holds, must fit the receptor language as a whole. “Male” in English is often used to refer to the plants or animals, so the translation should be “Men”.

(2) In word order

In the east, people often organize the discourse in such a way that the reason comes first, and then the “big idea” comes at the end if necessary. But in most western European languages the main theme or proposition comes first and then the reason. Eastern people often consider the way in which they arrange the discourse as being more polite while westerners frequently use expression “beating around the bush”, and thus fails as an effective warning. A natural English version will put the warning

at the very beginning.

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