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. 69711

Keywords: public signs; functional equivalence; problems; solutions 

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。

毕业论文关键词：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 )论文网

     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.