English Translation of Public Signs in Chinese from a Pragmatic Perspective

This paper applies Newmark's communicative translation and semantic translation theory to analyzing the English translation of Chinese public signs and its pragmatic functions.It finds that communicative translation is typically used to fulfill the communicative function of public signs.Both communicative and semantic translation are employed to adapt to different situational contexts, in order to preserve the pragmatic functions of the Chinese public signs.The differences between Chinese and English lead to pragmatic errors in translation, making the translator's bilingual proficiency and familiarity with English culture necessary.The fundamental principle of public sign translation is to be concise and clear, which often requires modifying some complex rhetorical devices from Chinese in translation.