A Study Of English Translation Of Shanghai Road Names

This paper investigates norms for translating Shanghai road names from the perspective of language policy. It argues that the core factor of translating road names lies in the componential structure of these names. The paper discusses the English translation of road names in a view of norm theory, which is the characteristic and innovation point of the paper. The significance of this study is to provide a reliable sample for translating road names, public places, and brand names, and to redound to the international image of Shanghai at the same time.The English translation of Shanghai road names has been practiced for a long time, while there are barely any theoretical studies on this subject till now. Researches available at home on this subject mainly focus on two aspects: efforts made to correct defects and mistakes in current translations and interpretations on laws and governmental regulations concerning English translation of road names. Some regulations in governmental decrees treat of English translation of road names but they are not reliable and impracticable, for a lack of specific implementation rules and academic foundation. Also, researches abroad are of little referential value since Chinese language holds huge differences from other western languages.Since the core factor of translating road names is the componential structure of road names, "name analysis" is adopted to analyze the componential elements and the constructional rules of Shanghai road names. The basic components of road names, namely, proper names, attributive components and common names are firstly analyzed in chapter two. The componential elements and the constructional rules of "proper names" are further depicted in chapter three in which an investigation of the English translation norms for proper names is made from a perspective of expectancy norms in accordance with language policy. The English translation norms for attributive components and common names are discussed in chapter two from perspectives of relation norms and communication norms respectively, on which translation rules for attributive components and common names are made. Finally, some suggestions are proposed to the project of English translation of names of public places. The translation proposals given in this paper have been accepted by Shanghai government and now are put into practice.