Abstract
In recent years, a great number of international events have been held by some famous cities in China. Big cities in China have gradually become the international centers of politics, economy, business, travel, study and work, which attract friends from different countries and regions. Public signs，which bring a lot of conveniences，not only provide the most direct and effective information for the foreigners, but also have a stake in the global image of the city. The openness and the quality of public service of the city can be represented on the translation of the public signs. Great focus has been played on the translation and standard of public signs, because there’re still many different kinds of mistake in public sign’s translation. Under the guide of professional study and theory on public sign’s language, this paper starts from the introduction of the unique characteristics and the usage of city public signs-informing, directing, reminding and confining, and elevates the translation errors or problems of most public signs under the samples collected in daily life. The errors are mainly unmatched, Chinglish, missing or mistaken translation. With the guidance of modern translation theory together with the problems sum-up, the paper points out the basic rules of the translation of public signs and concludes some useful translation methods on public signs, such as translating according to the real meaning directly, using the opposite way to express the literal meaning, grasping the core meaning to translate, as well as some other practical translation methods.
Key words： City public signs； Translation theory； Translation methods
