Chinese-english Translation Of Museum Texts

As an indispensable window for cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries,museum exhibitions play a vital role in helping Chinese culture to go global.Therefore,the demand for exhibition text translation is increasing.And it’s more and more important to figure out a way to accurately convey the information of museum exhibition texts and “tell the Chinese story”.Inspired by Li Changshuan’s “Theory and Practice of Non-literary Translation”,the author believes that plain English,as an approach to writing and translation,can provide new ideas for improving the quality of the Chinese-English translation of museum exhibition texts and the effectiveness of publicity.Besides,it can help translators convey the messages concisely,while allowing readers to quickly grasp the information.This paper takes the Chinese-English translation of Shanghai Jewish Refugee Memorial Museum exhibition text as an example,to discuss the role of plain English in translating museum exhibition texts.The purpose is to help translators realize the importance of plain English and provide reference for similar situations.In this case,five principles of plain English are applicable,including favoring multiple active voices,using strong verbs,conciseness,ensuring smooth flow of information,and writing short sentences.The author finds that applying plain English principles can significantly improve the quality of and the readability of Chinese-English translation of museum exhibition texts,in order to facilitate communication.