演讲稿补充版

Chinese-English Translation of Public Signs in Tangshanfrom Functionalist ApproachesChapter 1 Introduction1．1 Definition of public signsPublic signs refer to the language used in public places to transfer information to the public. 1．2 Classification of public signsThey include road signs, traffic signs, public notices, slogans, indicators, cautions, signs in scenic places and services of institutions. In this thesis,the author intends to adopt examples which cover as many of the above specific public signs as possible.1．3 functions of public signs1)Directing function The directing function of public signs focuses On directing the target readers and offering them some useful information．无烟餐厅Non-smoking Restaurant2)prompting function The prompting function of public signs is applied widely in most situations in order to remind target readers to pay attention if they intend to perform any action．The prompting signs carry the tone of reminding more than guiding．小心碰头Mind Your Head 3)restricting function The restricting function of public signs gives restrictions and limitations to the behaviors of the public with direct language，which leaves no impolite，tough or rude impressions to target readers．The restricting signs indicate readers what he can door what is not allowed to do. 站队等候Stand in Line4)compelling Different from the above three functions,compelling function of public signs forces readers to take or not to take some actions．禁止通行Don’t Walk1．4 Features of public signs1)nouns and noun phrases Nouns and noun phrases are usually employed in the directing function of static public signs，directing readers，explaining some important information and offering service．便民服务站Service Center2)verbs and gerunds Verbs and gerunds are usually used in the restricting and compelling functions of dynamic public signs,aiming at restricting and compelling readers to do or not to do something．The employment of verbs and gerunds can make the language simpler and more powerful．所有商品不讲价No Bargaining3) abbreviations Abbreviations are used a lot in the places where public facilities and services are most frequently encountered．Those most commonly used public signs are often expressed in abbreviations,directing and indicating information with the style of conciseness．Just name a few abbreviations which can be seen in people’s daily life，厕所WC4)imperative sentences A large number of imperative sentences are employed in public signs in order to make people memorize them in a short notice．Because a lot of public signs carry large quantity of information,and many people,especially some tourists are not willing to spend a comparatively long time on them，it is of necessity to adopt imperative sentences which arc tougher in tone and not time-consuming．钱款当面点清，离柜概不负责Count Your Cash before Leaving5)concise words and accurate diction In accordance with the functions of public signs，the style of public signs has the features of conciseness and directness．On the premise that there is noinfluence of the meaning and function，key words and phrases can be kept while articles，pronouns and auxiliary verbs could be omitted in public signs．小心滑倒Caution：Wet Floor1．5Significance of the studyHowever most essays in these journals only discuss the problem from a special perspective，for example，from slogans，road signs，traffic signs，shopping signs，visiting signs or institution names，etc respectively．Most studies give special consideration to individual cases．Therefore，there has not been a thorough and systematic study of he distribution of error frequency and the causes of the errors on C-E sign translation so far．Besides，no systematic strategies for improvement in C-E sign translation have been put forward．As is shown that though sign translation has drawn mole and more attention from the experts and the public，studies on systematic error analysis on the English translation of public signs and strategies for improvement are far from enough．So this thesis tries to make up the deficiency in C-E sign translation and find out strategies for eliminating the errors by means of eliciting error items．identifying the errors，classifying the errors，analyzing the causes of the errors and error remedy．1．6The research objectiveThe research objective of the paper is to examine the translation problems in the Chinese-English public signs translation and further propose the translation strategies as well as principles suitable for specific groups. The studies begin with the careful and long period of observation of the problems existing in the public signs translation. On the basis of the classification of the translation errors proposed by Christine Nord, the author aims at the most appropriate translation strategies for each type. With the examination of sufficient sources, the author finds that it is not difficult to eliminate the errors at linguistic level since the text of the public signs is less complex than documentary and other instrumental texts due to its conciseness and directness features(Niu Chuanbin, 1998:18). But at the linguist and cultural aspect, the problems are rather complex. In this case, the author puts forward tentative model based on German functionalism to identify the errors and find the solutions.Chapter 2 Literature Review2．1 Background of the researchWith China's accession to WTO and its booming economy,with the expansion of China’s political influence in the international community,china now is facing a new challenge in translation studies．A great number of materials translated in English are essential for foreignersto get to know china．Public signs are an important part of them because its great influence in daily life are in many ways.Public signs are related to the city’S“face”，reflecting the cultural and educational level of a place．Incorrect or non-standard public signs translation will seriously affect the image of cities and countries，which is detrimental to China’s opening up and investment and more likely to lead to an international joke．2．2 Current research on public signs translation in ChinaAlthough bilingual public signs are common in our daily life, it is in recent years that the study on public signs translation became popular. The translation of public signs has drawn great attention and arouses tremendous interest of the scholars which consequently bringsfruitful research production. The governments at various levels have already realized the importance of the relationship between correct public signs and city’s image. Therefore, they invest time and human resources in public signs researches which lead to a greater improvement in this field.2．3Functionalist theoryTheories of Functionalist ApproachesThe 1970s saw the emergence and flourishing in Germany of functionalist approaches to the research on translation．As a valuable complement to translationtheories，functionalist theories have presented an entirely new perspective totranslation research．As mentioned in the book Translating as a Purposeful Activity,Nord points out that“Functionalist means concentrating on the function or functionsof texts and translations and functionalism is a broad term for various theories thatapproach translation in this way…”Nord，2001：1)．．‘There have been four distinguished contributors to the formation of functionalist theory：Katharine Reiss，Hans J．V ermeer,Justa Holz-Manttari and Christiane Nord．All of them are German scholars，so the theory is regarded as the“German School’’of functionalist theory．Thus，the focus of this chapter is on the following four parts：1．Katharina Reiss’S early work on text typology；The theories concerning text type and translation are mostly based on the work done by Buhler in the 1930’s . Buhler’s idea is to categorize text on the basis of their main function. He defines three types: conative, expressive and representative. In addition, Reiss defines a fourth category, audio-visual texts. This is a sort of mixed category, which can include texts from all the other categories, as long as they are intended for audio-visual media.2．Hans J．Vermeer's skopos theory；Skopostheorie regards adequacy as its method of assessing whether the translation quality is good enough.3．Justa Holz-Manttari’S theory of translational action；The German school of functionalist translation theory,which has put forward the concept of "translational action",defines translation as a kind of activities aiming at the prospective translation function and skopos,thus breaking the static ST-oriented research pattern and viewing translation as a selective and intentional intercultural communicative action intermediated by the translator.4．Christiane Nord’S function·plus-loyalty model translators are responsible for the effects for either the target audiences or the source-text authors or the client or even the translator as an individual A complex action designed to achieve a particular purpose target-text should be responsible for the source-text.Chapter3 Methods (3．1Data Collection 3．2 Research Methodology )The research methods adopted in this thesis are case study,comparative analysis and induction．The author tends to collect 500 public signs of various kinds as samples for research．Mainly of them are from magazines and websites，and the author took some of the photos herself．With the guidance of German functionalist translation theories and Carl James’error analysis framework，the author will classify these samples into several categories according to their levels of errors．Besides，the author will count the errors and their frequency and percentage in order to draw conclusions from the results．Knowing the most common and frequent errors, the author will analyze three or four typical samples in each category, including the specific errors and suggested improved translation. In the following chapters,the author will analyze causes of errors and give tentative suggestions or strategies for better translation. Consequently, translation problems are analyzed and solutions to them as well as methods to achieve adequate translation will be summarized.Chapter4 Main contents (application of functionalism to public signs translation in Tangshan )4．1 1Principles of Public signs translationThe first principle should be considered in the public signs translation is skopostheory．The applied style of public signs has a clear skopos．The second principle is coherence rule which refers to the readability and acceptability of the translation which should be understood by readers．The third principle is fidelity rule which is similar to the theory of faithfulness in other translation theories．4．2Overview of present public signs translation in Tangshanthe research on public signs in Tangshan started late，and problems of the translation exist in many places．Therefore，it is of necessity to improve the quality of the public signs translation in Tangshan .According to these errors in the public signs translation，a survey is designed for foreigner,?The aim of questions is to find out the acceptance of the ten C-E public signs from the perspective of the subjects of foreigners．English native speakers’acceptance of public signs translation can be the evidences to examine whether the translation is appropriate or not．4．3 Problems of Present Public Signs Translation in Tangshan4．3．1 Problems on Linguistic Level4.3.1.1 spelling errors“顾客止步”is incorrectly translated as“Stuff Only'’．it should be translated into“Staff Only'’．4．3．1．2 Grammar Errors“No Smoking'’is“请勿吸烟”．“Don’t smoking,please．”4．3．1．3 Word Redundancy小草正在休息，请勿打扰”is translated into“Please take care of the sleeping grass’’．The revised version should be‘‘Keep off the Grass."4．3．2Problems on Cultural Level4．3．2．1 Chinglish旅客止步the traveler halts staff only4．3．2．2 Inappropriate Tone"请勿触摸展品" please don't touch the exhibits Hands Off4.3.2.3 improper wording"步行街" Walking Street" Pedestrian Street4．4 Suggested Strategies of Public Signs Translation4．4．1 Equivalent TranslationThe strategy of substituting corresponding expressions in the target languagewhich carries equivalent referential or pragmatic meaning as that in the source language Can be defined as“equivalent translation’，'which is mainly applied to universally-used signs．Now that English-speaking countries have their own standardand usage for such public signs,it is better for Chinese translators to follow the convention．The application of international standard produces achieves equivalencein the sense of functionalist approaches．A large mount of public signs can resort to the existing English expression in theprocess of translation．These universally—used signs are the common names and termsof traffic，public and commercial services，tourist attractions and SO on．For instance，the sign“男卫生间”in stores can be substituted by“Men's Room’’or“Men”as theyarc called in English-speaking countries．The following examples are the author's collection of different types of publicsigns to translators Can apply equivalent translation：系好安全带Fasten Safety Belt单程票One-way Ticket4.4 2Formulated TranslationSome restricting and compelling public signs cannot be directly translated by existing international public signs．However,translators are still borrow the structure and expressions of these established public signs．In other words，the translation of these two kinds of public signs can be formulated and follow the international standard．According to the particular style and language features of public signs，there are mainly four patterns can be formulated：1．No+Noun／Gerunds This pattern is used to prohibit readers from doing something"请勿拍照" No Photography2．Caution!／Danger!+Noun／verb This structure is employed to warn readers of danger Or risk "小心滑倒" Caution! Wet Floor3Noun+Only This structure is used to generalize facilities that they are specially used for somebody or something．顾客止步Staff Only4 Do not/Please+Verb This pattern is used in imperative sentences in order to give directions to readers 文明游览，请依次排队Please Queue Up4．4．3 OmissionIn order to achieve literary grace，a large number of Chinese public signs (especially some slogans)tend to use ornate diction,phrases and sentences in parallel structures．The ornate diction and phrases can realize the effect of rhythm and parallel sentences can produce the effect of tight structure．However,the rhythmical beauty and structural harmony in the public signs lead to the weak in information-conveying and communication purpose．That is to say,in the C—E translation of public signs, some hollow words which are not in tune with the target language culture can be justifiably omitted．Therefore，translation technique“omission'’can be employed to go against unnecessary repetition in the public signs translation to achieve conciseness and avoid word redundancy."足下留情" ," 小草长青" Keep off the GrassChapter 5 TimetablePhase Contents Time Periods1 Select topic7th semester 14th -15th weeks2 Research proposal 16th -18th weeks3 First draft 8th semester 1st -8th weeks4 Mid-term examination 9th week5 Second draft 10th -11th weeks6 Final draft 12th -13th weeks7 The instructor gives scores andreviews14th week8 The cross reviewer teachersgive scores and reviews15th week9 Reply the paper 16th week参考文献[1] Wilss ,Wolfram．The Science of Translation：Problems and Methods【M】．Narr,Tubingen, 2001．[2] Nida,Eugene．Language and Culture：Contexts in Translating【M】．Shanghai：Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press，2001．[3] 王欣、吕婷婷《公共标识英语纠错指南》，北京：中国书籍出版社，2010.[4] 张胜义、陈祥迎《英语实用文体翻译》，中国科学技术大学出版社 2009.[5] 刘季春：《实用翻译教程》，中山大学出版社，2007.[6] 王颖、吕和法《公示语汉英翻译》，中国对外翻译出版公司，2007.[7] 杨山青：《实用文体英汉翻译》，北京：国防工业出版社，2010．[8] 邵志洪：《翻译理论、实践与评析》，华东理工大学出版社，2007．[9] 杰里米.芒迪：《翻译学导论-理论与实践》，北京：商务印书馆，2007．[10]彭萍：《实用旅游英语翻译》，对外经贸大学，2010.[11] 李青：《翻译技巧与误译评析》，北京大学出版社，2005.[12] 宋德富、张美兰《英汉公示语即查即用手册》，中国水利水电出版社，2011.。