A Study On C-E Translation Of Public Signs From The Perspective Of Relevance Theory

Public signs refer to notices, warnings, and instructions in public places andserve to provide information to the general public. Public signs, as an importantaspect of Chinese-English publicity materials translation, play an essential role in ourdaily life.Public signs translation is a cross-language and cross-culture communicativeaction. In this thesis, the author makes an in-depth analysis of C-E public signstranslation under the guidance of relevance theory. Relevance theory mainly concernsabout communication and cognition and it is widely applied to various kinds oftranslation. It has great explanation power on translation.The thesis consists of five chapters: the first chapter is the introduction part, theauthor points out the research background, significance, methodology and layout ofthe thesis. The second chapter makes a general survey of public signs including thedefinition, development, linguistic features, similarities as well as the differencesbetween Chinese and English public signs. The third chapter is the theoreticframework. The author makes a detailed analysis of relevance theory which includesthe key notions of relevance theory and its development both in China and abroad. Inorder to get optimal relevance, translators ought to have a correct assumption of thetarget audience’s cognitive environment and adopt appropriate translation strategies.The fourth chapter is the core of the thesis, the author applies relevance theory to C-Epublic signs translation and proposes the strategies both at the level of linguistic andculture. Meanwhile, related cases are adopted for illustrating specific strategies. Thelast chapter concludes the major findings of the present study, points out thelimitations of present study and put forward implications for further research on C-Epublic signs translation.Relevance theory is important for translators to get optimal relevance andachieve successful communication. The thesis may shed some light on bettertranslation by proposing related translation strategies which is expected to enlightenthe translation practice and serve the cultural and economic development as well as the international promotion.