AnalyzeChinese—EnglishTranslatonofPublicSignsinGanzhouBasedontheInterpersonalFunctionTheory

謝玉婷

【Abstract】Public sign is widely used in and influences almost all aspects of people's daily life. Bilingual public signs not only express our humanistic care to foreign friends， but also help our country integrate with the world and enhance our international image. Based on the Interpersonal function theory， the author through comparing and analyzing the original and English versions of public signs that the author collected from tourist attractions like Wulong Hakka Folk Custom Park， Yugu Pavilion， Tongtianyan Grottoes Scenic Spot， and Ganzhou Treasure Gourd Farm hope to eliminate the cultural difference and find some effective and useful strategies and methods of their translation for reference.

【Key words】Public signs； C-E Translation； Interpersonal Functions； Tourist Attractions

Introduction：

Public signs： Public Signs are mostly referred to as “signs” in English， and have been defined in different ways. The International Graphic and Symbol Committee defines public sign as “anything from a simplest way-finding or information “marker” to the technically sophisticated communication of a message. Signing affects everybody-travelers， shoppers， visitors， drivers， etc. Bad signing is at best irritating and at worst can be life threatening and dangerous.” The Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English defines a public sign as “a piece of paper， metal， etc. in a public place， with words or drawings on it that give people information， warn them not to do something， etc.” 16Chinese， like 標志語、標識語、標語 etc. （Wang Xueqin and Pei Zhengfang， 2006）. In this paper， public sign refers to the words providing instructive， suggestive or warning information in tourist attractions.

The Interpersonal Function： Halliday（1970） proposes three metafunctions of languages： ideational function， textual function and interpersonal function.The interpersonal function refers to “the use of language to express social and personal relations”（Halliday， 1973：41）.Halliday（1994） believes that the interpersonal function is realized by mood and modality systems. The interpersonal function can also be realized by vocatives and nouns， verbs， adjectives and adverbs that can show speakers attitudes. The author will analyze Chinese-English translation of public signs in Ganzhou from the aspects of vocative， mood and modality.

Analyze Chinese-English Translation of Public Signs in Ganzhou Based on the Interpersonal Function Theory

1. vocative

The interpersonal function of vocatives is to help the two sides establish and maintain relationships， namely， to call and attract others， in order to draw their attention. Vocatives also can express some illocutionary acts， such as warnings， orders， suggestions and so on. According to my survey， public signs always take the first and second persons.

Example 1： 小草含羞笑，請勿去打擾

The grass are smiling shyly to us， please keep off them.

Here， the translator personifies the grass， “The grass are smiling” shows the lovely of the grass， and uses the pronoun “us”， which create intimacy， immediately shorten the distance between the grass and the walkers. It makes the walkers dont have the heart to step on the grassland. It also expresses that we all live in the natural environment， it is our duty to to protect the environment.

Example 2： 為了您的安全，請不要攀爬此山For your security， please dont climb this hill.

注意 小心地滑 caution mind your step

The second person “your” refers to the visitors， in Chinese， the use of “您” shows this tourist attractions politeness and strengthen the relationship between the tourist attraction and the visitors. Call the visitors directly give the visitors a sense of presence， which actually draws the visitors attention. Besides， this sign tends to take the visitors security into account， which make the visitors have no excuse to break the rule.

2. mood

Mood system includes the declarative mood， interrogative mood and Imperative mood. The function of declaration is revealed by declaractive clause， the function of raise questions is realized by interrogative clause， the function of order is realized by imperative clause. So we will use different mood to show different functions of public signs.

Through analyzing the corpus the author collected（ For example， the introduction of Wulong Hakka Folk Custom Park， Yugu Pavilion， Tongtianyan Grottoes Scenic Spot， and Ganzhou Treasure Gourd Farm and their ticket policies or notices.）， the author have got the following three findings：

Firstly， almost all of the introduction of tourist attractions use the declarative mood. To use the declarative clauses can offer more information， and let the visitors have a good understandings of these tourist attractions， so that visitors can easily have an impression of these place， and finally stimulate consumption in these tourist attractions.

Secondly， in order to attract visitors attention， public signs always use the interrogative clauses at first. In the superficial sense， the tourist administration wants to ask visitors questions， but to deep， such questions are just used to attract visitors to notice the following information. Through asking questions， the tourist administration establish a dialogical relationships with visitors.

Thirdly， the public signs that concerned with warnings， orders， emergencies， dangers and cautions（such as No Smoking， No Swimming， No Parking， Mind your step！ Do not litter the grass！ And so on） often expressed by the imperative clauses. Imperative mood， also called as service-demanding by Halliday， ask visitors to take actions. The imperative clauses appeal to everyone to follow the rules.

3. modality

According to different levels of probability， usuality， obligation and inclination， modal verbs can be used to express different level of modal meanings. Through analyzing the corpus the author collected， for example， modal verbs like must， ought to and have to often stresses the obligation and probability of visitors， and there is no way to break the rules. Otherwise， the visitor will be fined. Here， the use of these modal verbs have established the scenic spots authority.（such as “kindling materials must not be carried”， “dogs must be carried”， “l(fā)ife jackets must be worn”， etc.）. While， modal verbs like will， would， shall and should always express the inclination and probability， the use of these modal verbs made the signs seem more like a suggestion than an order， therefore， the visitors have the power to decide whether to accept or reject， and this absolutely establish a closer relationship between the owner of these scenic spots and the visitors. These signs will give visitors more leeway， so it can be easily accepted by visitors， at the same time， the owner of these scenic spots also retain their own authority. Furthermore， may， might， can and could often express usuality and possibility. These express a kind of concession and negotiation to visitors. Keep a equal and friendly relationships with visitors， in order to establish a mutual trust and respect and friendly corporation.

Conclution： Public signs are closely related to peoples daily life， and also reveal a citys language and cultural environment. In order to make a good impression on foreigners and attract more foreigners to live and work in Ganzhou， we have to improve and complete the translation of public signs， such as take more vocatives， mood and modality into account when translating the Chinese public signs into English.The author hope this thesis would have a contribution to the promotion of Ganzhou language and cultural environment. To give the foreigners a sense of backing home.

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