Abstract

With the development of reform and opening up and economic globalization, more and more foreign friends come to China to develop trade, travel and study. As an important means of China's foreign propaganda and the media of spreading Chinese culture, the translation of Chinese public signs has become one of the effective ways to get information and help for foreigners living in China. The quality of translation of the public signs is of great significance to improving the urban taste and image. In recent years, there have been many problems in the translation of Chinese public signs, such as mistranslation and irregular translation, which directly affects the spiritual outlook and overall image of the cities. Therefore, it is crucial to carry out researches on the translation of public signs.

Based on the pragmatic failure theory, this paper aims to explore the translation of Chinese public signs. This paper starts from the introduction of linguistic features of the public signs, and then discusses a variety of functions of them. Combined with the specific cases, this paper analyzes the types of pragmatic failures and digs out their deep causes from the aspects of language and culture, and finally puts forward the measures to avoid pragmatic failures. It is hoped that the research of this paper will provide some enlightenment and help to the translation of Chinese public signs.

Key words: public signs; functions; pragmatic failure; translation

Contents

Abstract

中文摘要

1Introduction-1

2 Literature Review-2

2.1 Previous Studies on Public Signs Translation-2

2.2 Previous Studies on Pragmatic Failures-3

3 Linguistic Features and Functions of Public Signs-4

3.1 Linguistic Features of Public Signs-4

3.1.1 Lexical Features of public signs-4

3.1.2 Syntactic Features of Public Signs-6

3.1.3 Rhetorical Features of Public Signs-7

3.2 Functions of Public Signs-7

3.2.1 Prompting-7

3.2.2 Directing-8

3.2.3 Restricting-8

3.2.4 Compelling-9

4 Classifications and Causes of Pragmatic Failures in the Translation of Chinese Public Signs-9

4.1 Classifications of Pragmatic Failures-9

4.1.1 Pragma-linguistic Failure-10

4.1.2 Socio-pragmatic Failure-10

4.2 Causes of Pragmatic Failures-11

4.2.1 Misunderstanding the Semantic Meaning of Vocabulary-11

4.2.2 Ignoring the Implications-11

4.2.3 Differences in Culture and Value Systems-12

4.2.4 Differences in Thinking Patterns-13

5 Countermeasures against the Pragmatic Failures-13

5.1 Drawing Lessons from the Existing Translation Methods-13

5.2 Complying with Established Rules-14

5.3 Enhancing Cultural Quality-14

6 Conclusion-15

References-16