从目的论视角看贵阳公示语翻译-外国语言学及应用语言学专业论文.docx

ABSTRACT Since the reform and opening-up in 1978, public signs have existed as a communicative way. Nowadays, there is an increasing amount of bilingual public signs appear in most cities in China. Proper English public signs have become an efficient and beneficial way to improve China’s image. However improper public signs in English version have made our foreign friends puzzled and discounted our city image. Problems in translating the public signs into English version should never be ignored. Many researches, which have been conducted in major cities, including Shanghai, Beijing, Nanjing, Wuhan, Sanya, xi’an, and so on, show us the great importance of the public signs translation (PST). However, there is no research on PST in Guiyang, a provincial city in southwest China, which enjoys beautiful scenery and pleasant climate, and attracts more and more foreign friends, either for a tour or for an investment. So, research on the public signs translation in Guiyang is extremely important. Most of the researches on public signs translation still only rest on: mistakes in spelling, vocabulary, and grammar; cases description rather than theoretical guidance. The originality of this paper lies in using the skopos theory to guide the public signs translation. From the angle of the functionalist theory, this paper discusses the translator’s purpose in the translation process in choosing translation methods, thus points out the public sign translation is a complex process with purpose. This thesis includes five parts. The first part is the introduction, including review of the study, significance of the research, structure of the thesis and a summary. The second part is the literature review, including definition of the public signs, functions of the public signs, overview of public signs and public signs translation, existing findings about public signs translation, limitations of the previous researches, and a summary. The third part is the theoretic framework, including