Abstract: As an important medium of international communication, public signs, especially Chinese-English bilingual public signs in our modern society, have a vital role to play in the image of China to all the foreign visitors. However, English versions of Chinese public signs are far from being satisfactory, and many errors are found in the translation. This thesis aims to offer a solution by applying German functionalist approach to the C-E translation of public signs. Functionalism provides us with an advisable translation theory for C-E sign translation. As for the structure, the thesis consists of four chapters to discuss the study of translation of Chinese public signs from the functionalist prospective. As the most important part of functional theory, Skopostheorie claims that “the end justifies the means”, which gives much freedom to translators. In other words, the translation methods should be determined by the intended function of the target text and translators should choose translation methods for special purposes. Thus, the thesis endeavors to propose several translation methods for C-E translation of public signs, using real cases to illustrate each of them. In the end, the author sincerely hopes that this thesis would do its bit in arousing public attention to the quality of Chinese-English translation of public signs.
Key words: public signs; translation errors; Functionalist theory; translation suggestions
摘要：公示语，作为国际交流的重要媒介，特别是现代社会中的汉英双语的公示语，在对外国游客树立中国的国际形象上发挥着重要作用。然而，国内公示语的翻译远不令人满意，其中存在着很多问题和错误。这篇论文力争德国功能理论运用到公示语的汉英翻译。功能主义为我们提供了汉英公示语的理论支持。至于论文结构，论文包括四个章节，来讨论功能视角下的汉语公示语翻译的研究。作为功能理论最重要的思想，目的论提出了“目的决定法”的原则，为此给译者不少自由。换句话说，翻译方法应由译文的预期目的来决定，译者应由目的地选择翻译方法。因此，这篇论文针对公示语汉英翻译提供了几点翻译方法并应用了实际的例子加以阐释。最后，作者真诚地希望通过此篇论文能够唤起越来越多的人对公示语翻译质量的重视，而使其更加完善。
关键词：公示语；翻译错误；功能理论；翻译建议
注：本文全文为英语所写的英语论文。只有摘要是中英语写的，全文为英文。
