我的学士论文写的就是这个，获得优秀论文的成绩。

Cultural and Linguistic Interpretation of Public Signs and Its Translation Strategies

Submitted by Sun Ying
Student ID number W2003A1003B0074
Supervised by Lu Dachuan

论文摘要（中文）
    
作为2008年奥运会的主办城市，北京的公共设施、旅游设施等都已大量使用中英两种语言的公示语。但遗憾的是，双语公示语标牌的英文翻译错误百出，使外国游客得不到正确的信息，甚至会被误导。这与当初设立双语公示语标牌的初衷背道而驰，更为严重的是，英译标牌上大量低级错误的出现直接影响到了北京这座大都市的国际形象。
公示语英译中的错误多因语言不过关和忽视中西方文化差异引起。语言方面的错误大多极为明显，皆因译者的粗心大意而起，或者干脆就是机器翻译的产物，包括逐字对译、选词不当、语法不通、啰索拗口、拼写错误等。在笔者采集的问题公示语英译中，语言错误占有相当大的比重。
因忽视文化差异而导致翻译失当的现象多存在于商店标牌和中国“特有”的公示语的英译中。商店标牌翻译失当的主要原因是不关注所选用词在译语文化中的引申意义，只是草率地将其直译过来，不顾及文化背景不同的外国游客的心理感受，容易使其产生不快之感。中国“特有”的公示语，如“便后请冲水”，“请勿随地吐痰”等，其设立的目的原是为国人“提个醒儿”，并不含有任何有用信息，对外国游客来说，没有任何的作用。这些“特有”公示语多采用直译的方法译出，语气生硬，故不为外国游客所接受。
本文所选用的材料皆为取自北京街头的英译公示语短语。笔者首先通过论坛、电子邮件等形式与国际友人进行沟通，以“读者”的眼光判断目标公示语翻译的好坏；继而对所选取的实例进行分析，指出其存在的错误及产生原因，并提出修改意见；最后提出有关公示语翻译策略的相关建议。
作者通过上述列举及分析表明，掌握公示语的语言特点，严把语言关，关注中西文化差异，是公示语成功英译的关键。
公示语标牌上的文字往往“短小精悍”，但正确地将其译成英文并非易事。本文建议公示语的翻译者们认真对待，尽可能地减少拼写及语法错误；对于拿不准的公示语译文，可通过各种形式展示给译语读者进行审阅，听取他们的意见，观察其反映，最终确定合适的译文。另外，将译好的英文再“回译”成中文，并与原文相对照，也是确证其译文是否正确的方法。

关键词：公示语英译；误译；文化差异；语言特点；翻译策略

Abstract
With the approach of 2008 Olympic Games, increasing number of bilingual public signs has been set up in Beijing with an aim to facilitate the lives of international guests here. However, this original intention has been diverged by some unqualified English translation, which makes target readers confused or even offended; and it is quite possible that the international image of Beijing could be spoiled by these silly mistakes appear on bilingual public signs.

Various factors may be responsible for that, among which the linguistic problems and the unawareness of cultural differences play the most important parts. Most of linguistic problems, including meaningless word-for-word translation, redundancy, spelling mistakes as well as grammar mistakes, are the products of carelessness of translators. A large percentage of listed mistranslated public signs fall into categories of linguistic problems.

Mistranslations of store names and Chinese “unique” phrases come from the unawareness of cultural differences between China and English-speaking countries. Some store names are translated word-for-word, without considering the connotative meaning of selected words and abbreviations in the target culture, thus make foreigners feel uncomfortable on reading them. As to Chinese “unique” public signs, such as “便后请冲水” , “请勿随地吐痰” etc., contain no information at all. They are set up only as reminders to Chinese people, and there is no need for them to be translated into English. However, such “unique” signs have been translated, using the method of literal translation. Since no trace of such signs could be found in English speaking countries, these literally translated public signs will at best make no sense to foreigners and at worst offend them.

The study is based on 30 pieces of public signs with their English translations, which are drawn primarily from public places in Beijing. The English version of these pubic signs will be first sent to foreigners for their evaluation, then to be analyzed individually. The mistakes found on these public signs will be pointed out, and the suggestions on how to revise them will be proposed. In the end, laws on the translation of public signs will be summarized.

The results of the study have shown that the translation of public signs is indeed a hard task to be fulfilled, though there are only a few words on the signs. Translators should be well acquainted with both the source language and target language, and the cultural differences between China and English-speaking countries should be treated seriously during the process of translating. In order to avoid mistakes, proofreading should be done either by asking an English speaker to evaluate the translation, or by doing “back translation” oneself.  

Key words: public signs; mistranslation; linguistic problems; cultural differences; translation strategies