Title: Classification and Translation of Appellative Public Signs

Abstract: There have been problems such as inconstancy in thought and imprecision in classification in the translation of public signs and its study in China for the past 16 years. In particular, there have been obvious flaws in the interpretations of appellative public signs in terms of typology. According to this paper, such public signs may firstly be classified as “Straightforward Types” and “Poetic Types”: the former may be sub-classified as “Direct Types” (including “Restricting Types” and “Prohibiting Types”) and “Indirect Types” (including “Fact-Showing Types” and “Tone-Changing Types”), and the latter into “Poetic Types” and “Inter-textual Types.” The translator must obey the general principles of “popularity,” “precision” and “conciseness,” and adopt “communicative translation” as a primary strategy. Yet the conveyance of the primary function may not necessarily be achieved at the cost of the method of appellation, where the source text author’s talent lies. The best translation conveys both the function and the method of appellation.

Keywords: appellative public sign, text typology, classification, method of appellation, translation

Author: Bo Cao, Professor, Foreign Studies College, Hunan Normal University, Changsha, Hunan, China; Zhonghan Li, Foreign Studies College, Hunan Normal University, Changsha, Hunan, China.