Information loss and change of ap-pellative effect in Chinese-Englishpublic sign translation

Leong KoThe University of Queensland, Australia

1. Introduction

A 'public sign' or simply 'sign' generally refers to the type of sign posted in publicplaces to alert readers to certain information, such as 'No Parking', 'No Entry' or'Staff Only', Due to the fact that such signs are mostly placed in public places, theyare also referred to as public signs by Chinese scholars (e,g. Ding 2006:42; Luo &Li 2006:66; Gu 2001).

According to anthropologist Ashley Montagu, a sign is defined as a "concretedénoter" possessing an inherent, specific meaning, similar to the sentence "Thisis it; do something about it!" (quoted in Encyclopaedia Britannica). In market-ing and advertising, a sign is referred to as "a device placed on or before a prem-ise to identify its occupants and the nature of the business done there or to ad-vertise a business or its products" {Encyclopaedia Britannica). According to theMacquarie Dictionary (1987), a sign is "an inscribed board, space, etc., servingfor information, advertisement, warning, etc., on a building, along a street, or thelike". In Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary (1977), a sign is defined as "a postedcommand, warning, or direction". According to the Longman Dictionary of Con-temporary English (1997), a sign is a piece of paper, metal, etc. in a public place,with words or drawings on it that give people information, warn them not to dosomething, and so on. Based on these definitions and explanations, a public signcan contain words and/or pictures/drawings. It generally serves the function ofconveying information to readers, and has an appellative effect in alerting readersto certain things or requesting them to do or not do something.

Public signs are used extensively in the community for various purposes.When a public sign is used in a place where there are likely to be readers of morethan one language—e.g. Chinese and English—a translation is usually provid-ed. However, for various reasons, a number of problems have been identified inthe English translation of Chinese public signs. This study will deal with Chinese-

Babel 58:3 (2012), 309-326. © Fédération des Traducteurs (FIT) Revue BahelDOI io,iO75/bahel,58.3,O4ko ISSN 0521-9744 E-ISSN 1569-9668

310 Leong Ko

English translation of public signs that contain text only. It will focus on a discus-sion of information loss and change of appellative effect in public sign translation,examining the causes of these problems and challenges they create.

2. An overview of problems in public sign translation

In both Chinese and English, a public sign can consist of one word, e.g. ft (tui)/Push; a few words, e.g. iRfflE (xiyanqu)/Smoking Area; a phrase, e.g. ^W^T(youqi weigan)/Wet Paint; a whole sentence, e.g. 2^/Èl^nB—¿fíiJ'SíS^iiR (bendian shangpin yi jing chushou shubutuihuan)/Goods purchased are non-refunda-ble; or even a few sentences, e.g. J l t r i i |ÉI#aéASm'+'^L^(1=ïl)^Ka^frl$lAtSo fíii^Xyfm^it^m'ñS'uBm^, U^mmmX (a guangchang you Xiangganghuiyi zhanlan zhongxin (guanli) youxian gongsi fuze guanli. renheren buzhun za-ici doushou shangpin huofuwu, yimian zirao youren)IThis square is managed bythe Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (Management) Limited. Peddlinggoods or services is strictly prohibited to avoid disturbance to visitors.

In some cases, a public sign can be a whole statement comprising a dozen orso items. For instance, a public sign aimed at travellers in Alishan Forest CreationArea in Taiwan contains nine points, and a sign for bus passengers in Hong Kongconsists of seven points with 13 sub-headings. In a computer lab at the Univer-sity of Queensland, in order to remind users of the important issue of copyright,a whole A4 page of information containing the Copyright Regulations 1969 of theCommonwealth of Australia is posted on the wall. In spite of the diversity of thetext used in public signs, the great majority consist of only a few words or no morethan one sentence. Of the 428 examples of public signs that I have collected fromdifferent places in Mainland China (or China), Hong Kong, Taiwan and Austral-ia, 417 (97.4%) fall into this category. It has also been found that most translationproblems occur in this category of sign.

An analysis of the data I have collected and a review of publications on theChinese-English translation of public signs (e.g. Ding 2006; Luo & Li 2006; PublicSign Research Centre of Beijing International Studies University 2007; Niu 2007;Qu 2007) indicate that there are various problems in Chinese-English translationof such signs. In general, the problems fall into the following categories:

(1) Spelling errorsChinese: OSJSS (xiyanshi)Meaning: Smoking RoomTranslation: Smorking RoomSign found: Pudong Airport, Shanghai, China, 2004

The appellative effect in Chinese-English public sign translation 311

(2) Grammatical mistakeChinese: JX&^tM^ (huanyingnin zailai)Meaning: Looking forward to seeing you againTranslation: Welcome Your Come NextSign found: A restaurant in the City of Chengdu, China, 2006

(3) Meaning distorted, misleading information, information lossChinese: A^'ù^^ {xiaoxin luhua)Meaning: Caution, SlipperyTranslation: Don't Fall Down/Caution sliding not to fall/Be careful of

the landslideSign found: Forbidden City, Beijing, 2006/Gushan Mountain, Fuzhou,

China, 2005

Chinese: Hi^'ftiiiÄ^FilÄ {menpiao shouchu gaibu tuihuan)Meaning: Tickets sold are not refundableTranslation: No return back is allowed after being soldSign found: A park in the City of Lijiang, China, 2006

The great majority of translation problems have been found to occur in the cat-egory of distorted meaning, misleading information or information loss. This pa-per will not discuss spelling and grammatical mistakes, because such problemsare straightforward and can be easily corrected. Rather, it will analyse those publicsign translations that are grammatically correct, but are problematic in terms ofconveying meaning and achieving the same effect as the source text.

It is worth noting here that the advances in multimedia technology make itpossible to tamper with electronic images through clipping and other measures.For instance, about four years ago I received an email attachment about a bilin-gual public sign in a grocery store. The Chinese sign was T © {gan huo) (dry orpreserved food), but the English translation on the sign was 'Fuck Goods'. T (gan)means 'dry' or 'do' in Chinese. It can also mean 'fuck' in colloquial language orslang. However, any Chinese or anyone else who has learned the term T ® (ganhuo) would know that it refers to 'dry or preserved food or goods'. Furthermore,it is pronounced differently and constitutes a different part of speech. The char-acter ^ in this term (as well as in the following cases) is pronounced 'gän' in thefirst tone and is an adjective, while ^ in the sense of 'fuck' is pronounced 'gàn' inthe fourth tone and is a verb. Even an inexperienced translator would know thatT does not refer to the colloquial English 'fuck' in this case. It is clear that some-one has tampered with this sign by using electronic clipping. Similarly, ^^'È.ik(gan guo yutou) (cooking fish heads in a dry wok) translated as 'Fuck a fish head',and Tfí'ii''fJl"A (gan huo jijia chu) (checking point for dry or preserved food).

312 Leong Ko

translated as "Fuck the certain price of goods" (quoted in Luo & Li 2006:69), arealso obvious examples of mischievous tampering with the text. The English ex-pressions in these two signs are perfect grammatically. It is therefore highly doubt-ful that a translator with such a good command of English would not understandthe meaning of T in this context. Therefore, when quoting examples of public signtranslation for discussion, we need to refrain from using signs from unauthenti-cated sources. All ofthe public signs discussed in this paper are examples of actualsigns collected by the author, unless otherwise indicated.

3. Research on public sign translation

A review ofthe literature indicates that in the specific domain of Chinese-Englishpublic sign translation, although problems have been evident for some time, therewas little research published before 2004 (e.g. Gu 2001; Ding 2004). It was not un-til 2005, when the first national conference on research on public sign translationwas held in China, that these problems began to receive extensive attention and re-search in this area began to gain momentum (e.g. Huang 2005; Yang 2005; Dai &LÜ 2005; Luo & Li 2006; Ding 2006; Niu 2007; Qu 2007; Jin 2008; Shao 2009). Theincrease in this interest was partly due to major international events such as theBeijing Olympic Games in 2008 and the World Expo in 2010 (e.g. Huang 2005).

Much of this recent research has attempted to analyse the features of publicsigns, identify problems in public sign translation and propose translation strat-egies. For instance, in their discussion of public sign translation, Luo & Li (2006)believe that public signs have informative, instructional and referral functions andthat the language used on public signs is generally concise, in common usage andstandardised. They suggest that public sign translation is a practical issue and thatresearchers should try to identify concrete problems in public sign translation andpropose practical solutions. Ding (2006) classifies the functions of public signsinto four categories, i.e. providing information, instructions, notices and warnings,and argues that the language of public signs is typically concise, conventional, con-sistent, conspicuous and convenient. Ding suggests three strategies for public signtranslation—namely, borrowing, adapting and creating. Niu (2007) argues that allpublic sign translation problems originate from a common source -the translatorsonly pay attention to lexical and structural equivalence, and fail to convey the voc-ative function ofthe sign. Niu points out that the vocative function of public signsis manifested in a number of specific functions such as instructional, informative,warning, persuasive and promotional. Like Ding (2006), Niu proposes three strat-egies in translating public signs—borrowing, imitating and creating in translation.

The appellative effect in Cbinese-English public sign translation 313

Qu (2007) presents a study of public sign translation from the perspective of cross-cultural communication, and argues that public sign translations should endeav-our to achieve maximum cultural equivalence.

In their attempts to provide a satisfactory solution to public sign translation.Ding (2006) and Niu (2007) suggest borrowing or imitating existing public signsin English. Luo & Li (2006) also mention 'standard' language expressions in pub-lic signs. However, it is worth noting that there is no 'standard' or established rulefor writing English public signs. Whenever and wherever there is a need to cau-tion the public about something, a sign can be erected. In fact, any organisation orperson can put up a sign for any purpose. For instance, the following signs werefound in Australia:

(4) English: No bombing in the swimming poolSign found: A swimming pool in Melbourne, Australia, 1992

This sign is to warn children against jumping into the swimming pool and mak-ing a big splash. However, diving in the normal way is permitted. So far, I have notfound a satisfactory Chinese translation for this.

(5) English: After tea break, staff should empty the teapot and stand up-side down on the draining board.

Sign found: A staff room in the University of Queensland, Australia,2008

Comment: I can empty the teapot, but standing upside down is a bittricky.

There is a syntactical error in this sign, which prompted another staff member toadd a facetious comment below the original wording.

This suggests that there is no standard rule or practice in the preparation ofEnglish signs. However, there are certain common features such as being clear,concise and straightforward, as observed by Luo & Li (2006), Ding (2006) andmany others.

Niu (2007) notes the importance of the vocative function of public signs,which is similar to the appellative effect. However, a crucial point that is worthfurther exploration is how to ensure that the vocative function or the appellativeeffect of the source text is conveyed equally in the target text. The following discus-sion will concentrate on issues relating to information loss and change of appella-tive effect in public sign translation.

314 Leong Ko

4. Information loss and change of appellative effectin public sign translation

Information loss means that certain necessary or essential information in thesource text is not conveyed in the target text. According to the classification of texttypes proposed by Reiss, public signs can be classified as operative text because oftheir characteristics of "inducing behavioural responses", and therefore have anappellative effect, which is "to appeal to or persuade the reader or 'receiver' of thetext to act in a certain way" (Reiss 1977/89). Strictly speaking, a public sign is in-tended to gain the attention of all readers and prompt them to make the same re-sponse. In the case of bilingual public signs, change of appellative effect refers tothe scenario in which the content of the source language produces a certain effecton readers, but this effect becomes different in the target language after translation,and consequently readers of the two languages are likely to understand or responddifferently. If readers of one language act differently from those of the other lan-guage, or if the source text requires its readers to do certain things and the targettext requires its readers to do something else, the significance of the sign will becompromised, its purpose will be somehow lost, the messages conveyed could beconfusing, and finally, it may even appear discriminatory in some cases. Loss ofinformation and change of appellative effect are closely related in that informationloss is likely to cause change of appellative effect, while the change in appellativeeffect is largely due to information loss. The following are case studies concerninginformation loss and change of appellative effect in the English translation of Chi-nese public signs. The meanings provided in the following examples are for thepurposes of explanation only and should not be considered to be recommendedtranslations, while the 'translation' is the wording that actually appears on the bi-lingual sign.

(6) Case Study 1

Chinese: if 35?Í)S ̂ MM^ññMMMÜi P #fgÜ5§bS (qingyudongyuandejiashu huo pengyou dao dongchukou denghou yudongyuan)

Meaning: Family members or friends of the athletes, please wait forthe athletes at the east exit

Translation: Please wait for the athletes at the east exitSign found: Water Cube in Beijing, China, 2008

This sign was found in the Water Cube building—a swimming venue for the 2008Beijing Olympic Games. The Chinese sign specifically mentions 'family membersor friends of the athletes', but in the English version, the information about 'famüymembers or friends' is omitted, resulting in information loss in the English trans-lation. In other words, the Chinese sign particularly targets the family members

The appellative effect in Chinese-English public sign translation 315

and friends of the athletes, while tbe English sign targets everyone. It is commonpractice for the family members of atbletes to be granted special access to the ath-letes participating in the competition. The Cbinese sign accurately conveys thismessage. The absence of this message in the English version may prompt English-speaking family members to ask for more information about where they, as familymembers, can meet tbe athletes. It may also give everyone else tbe impression thattbey can meet the athletes in tbis spot.

(7) Case Study 2Cbinese: í%Tía;Wií®íaífSmrt$:É:,

^ftAtJlíE pj ÏO^S f í , S ¥ ^ o (weile nin de shushi lüxingjiji-nei anquan, qing nin duizhao xialie biaoge, zaici queren nindejinei xiedai xinglli de chicun ji jianshu. ru chaochu guidingfanwei, qing nin jiang xingli zai chengji guitai banli tuoyunshouxu.)

Meaning: For your comfort and safety on the plane, please doublecbeck the size and number of pieces of your carry-on bag-gage according to the following table. Please check in yourluggage if it exceeds tbe specified limit.

Translation: For your safe and comfortable journey, please be remindedthat your carry-on baggage is limited as indicated below.

Sign found: Hongqiao Airport in Shanghai, China, 2008

In the Englisb translation, tbe message about checking in the baggage if it exceedsthe specified limit is omitted. Obviously, tbis is an important message, because itinforms travellers about what to do if tbe size and amount of their carry-on bag-gage is over the limit. The loss of information in this case is likely to leave English-speaking travellers at a loss about wbat to do, and as a result, they may simply taketheir excess baggage on board. This could perhaps even be considered a case ofdiscrimination against Englisb-speaking passengers.

(8) Case Study 3Cbinese: * . ll> m^ ^ ^ ¥^ ^ ^ -ítS^ffií^KlE f/ao, ruo, í>¿n^

can, yun, you, muying, zhuanyong houjiqu)Meaning: Special airplane waiting area for the aged, frail, sick, dis-

abled, pregnant, cbildren, and motbers witb babies.Translation: Dedicated LoungeSign found: Hong Kong Airport, 2009

This is a typical example of information loss in the English translation, especially asthe sign does not contain any pictures. A 'dedicated' lounge is a lounge for special

3i6 Leong Ko

purposes—this can include the people mentioned in the Chinese sign, but couldalso include others. For instance, it could be a lounge for VIPs, or for other purpos-es such as conducting health checks or press conferences. The Chinese sign clearlyspecifies that it is a place for a particular group of people. It is lengthy, but very spe-cific. It is perhaps because of the length of the Chinese sign that the translator con-sidered it unnecessary to reproduce the full wording, and instead used a generalterm, resulting in information loss and change of appellative effect.

(9) Case Study 4

Chinese: #iP3ttl , i^^^-M(baohu wenwu, qingwu bianni)Meaning: Protect cultural heritage, please do not urinateTranslation: Commit No NuisanceSign found: The Great Wall of Beijing, China, 2008

Without a specific context, committing a nuisance or committing a public nui-sance refers to a number of behaviours that are generally considered unacceptablein public, such as getting drunk, calling someone names, making too much noise,spitting on the ground, showing one's bottom and urinating. For instance.

(10) Chinese: ^à^: ^^mj^MS, flffi«?l»ffio (gonggao: wei mianzaocheng zirao, qing ba shenglang jiangdi)

Translation: Notice: Please keep the noise level down to avoid causingnuisance.

Sign found: A park in Hong Kong, 2008

Therefore, the wording 'Commit No Nuisance' in the public sign under discussiondoes not specifically convey the message of 'no urinating' to English readers as isthe case for Chinese readers. Furthermore, 'protecting cultural heritage' is an im-portant message in this context and should not be omitted. Perhaps the translatorfelt that urinating in a public place was an uncivilised act, which was unlikely tobe committed by English-speaking people, and therefore tried to avoid this wordwhen translating into English. It is worth noting that urinating in public placesalso occurs in English-speaking countries. And it makes sense to warn peopleagainst urinating on cultural heritage sites. As a result of the information loss inthe English translation, the appellative effect on readers of English has changed.It has been found that in some cases the translation of public signs reflects an in-adequate understanding of Western culture, resulting in information loss and/orchange of appellative effect.

(11) Case Study 5

Chinese: ^^i Sit^^ï&ii (jinggao: cidi you equan)Meaning: Warning: Dangerous Dogs

Tbe appellative effect in Cbinese-English public sign translation 317

Translation: Warning: bad dogs!Source: Luo & Li (2006:68-69)

In giving this sign as an example, Luo & Li make the following comments: "InWestern countries where pets are popular, dogs are a positive symbol. The useof 'bad dogs' would make an unpleasant impression on readers" (ibid) {author'stranslation). This is not necessarily the case. It is true that many people in West-ern countries like dogs, and that they are often considered 'man's best friend', butthere are also reports at times about dogs attacking people and even mauhng littlechildren to death. In order to ensure people's safety, it is important that the mes-sage about dangerous dogs be conveyed correctly. In Australia, for instance, theBrisbane City Council has passed a law requiring owners of dangerous dogs to dis-play a sign saying "Beware ofthe Dangerous Dog" (sighted in Brisbane, Australia2009) outside their premises to alert people. It is therefore important to conveythe message about the dangerous dogs in the Chinese sign accurately, rather thanignoring the danger. The loss of information in this case might lead to real danger.Sometimes, if the readership of either the original sign or its English translation isunclear, it may result in a change in appellative effect.

(12) Case Study 6Chinese: f^SJS^TiÄ'nÄAI'lü (yanjin tiaoxia zhantai jinruguidao)Meaning: No jumping off the platform and walking onto the tracksTranslation: No jumping off the platform and onto the trackSign found: A railway station in Shanghai, China, 2008

To begin with, the readership of this Chinese sign is unclear and its message is con-fusing. Who is likely to jump off the platform and walk onto the tracks, and why?This sign could have three possible purposes. Firstly, it could be intended to warntravellers against jumping onto the tracks to get to the neighbouring platform.However, this message is not conveyed clearly. Secondly, the sign could be aimedat railway staff. This seems unlikely, because railway staff would have permissionto go onto the tracks if necessary. Thirdly, the sign could be intended to prevent su-icides. It seems most likely that it is intended for the first purpose, but its messageis not clear and the English translation is therefore equally confusing.

(13) Case Study 7Chinese: ^ A ^ J L A ± t t 1 ^ H Í S ^ ^ A fê 1̂1 (laoren, ertong shang huti

ski xu youjiaren peitong)Meaning: The aged and children should be accompanied by family

members when using the escalatorTranslation: The aged and children should be accompanied by family

members using the escalatorSign found: A lakeside park in the City of Hangzhou, China, 2008

3i8 Leong Ko

While there are no serious problems with the English translation of this sign, butit is unrealistic to expect overseas tourists to bring a family member along whenvisiting the park. Apparently, this sign is targeted at local people. More appropriateEnghsh wording would be "The aged and children should be accompanied whenusing the escalator". The difference in the target readership of the Chinese sign re-sults in an inevitable change of appellative effect in the English translation.The above examples show that information loss and change of appellative effect dooccur in public sign translation. Their consequences vary according to the contextand purposes of the signs.

5. Discussion

An analysis of Chinese-English public sign translations indicates that there are anumber of reasons for the loss of information and/or change in appellative effect.

5.1. Linguistic differences

Chinese and English are two distinctly different languages embedded in differentcultures and social backgrounds. Idioms are an essential component of the Chi-nese language. A Chinese idiom is usually more succinct, stylish and expressivethan a full sentence with the same meaning. The proper use of idioms is thereforeoften more effective in gaining the attention of readers and creating the desired ap-pellative effect. Most Chinese idioms have four characters. Accordingly, in mod-ern Chinese many four-character phrases that use the structure of idioms are cre-ated to achieve more effective communication. A public sign is normally intendedto have a certain communicative and appellative effect, and the use of four-charac-ter phrases has therefore become a common feature of many Chinese public signs.However, when creating a four-character phrase, additional or different characterssometimes have to be included. As a result, additional information may be add-ed, and this could result in a loss of information or change of appellative effect intranslation. For instance.

(14) Chinese: «JSgjtfêl Si l iÄ-^, ^MñA (tielu weixian! Jinzhiyouke,panyue jinru)

Meaning: Danger on rails! Tourists are not allowed to climb into thearea.

Translation: Be careful! No pedestrian allowedSign found: A bridge in Taroko National Park, Taiwan, 2007

If this sign was in English only, it would probably use simple wording such as

The appellative effect in Chinese-English puhlic sign translation 319

'Danger, No Entry' or just 'No Entry'. The brief text in the original translation alsoreflects the practice of using concise words in English signs. However, the Chinesesign uses three four-character phrases, which contain additional information re-lating to the specific context—i.e. 'rails' and 'tourists'. The excessive use of four-character phrases can lead Chinese public signs to carry many meanings. Failureto convey these in translation may result in a loss of information and/or change ofappellative effect. Other examples are:

(15) Chinese: ^Mff^i, ^MMA (weijingxuke, buzhun Jinru)Meaning: No Entry without PermissionTranslation: No AdmittanceSign found: Hong Kong, 2008

Chinese: fÂSïAJÉ, HA:fejl (sijia zhongdi, xianren mianjin)Meaning: Important private premises, no admittance to idle personsTranslation: No Unauthorized EntrySign found: Hong Kong, 2008

Chinese: SJÍFSift, M AáOil (zhengfu zhongdi, xianren mianjin)Meaning: Important government land, no admittance to idle personsTranslation: Government Land, No TrespassingSign found: Hong Kong, 2008

In the first example, the sense of 'without permission' contained in the first four-character phrase in Chinese may be considered superfluous, because 'no entry'implies that 'entry without permission is not allowed'. This four-character phrasemay have been used merely to create a kind of balance in Chinese. However, in thethird example, the information contained in both four-character phrases is trans-lated, whereas in the second example the information about 'private premises' isomitted. From the perspective of communication of meaning, it is hard to see why'government land' should be translated while 'private premises' is ignored.The above examples indicate that four-character phrases provide certain addition-al information, which may or may not be considered important by translators,who use their discretion to decide whether or not to translate it. As a result, someof the information in the original Chinese public signs may be lost in their Eng-lish translations.

5.2. Inappropriate use of existing English public signs

Information loss or change of appellative effect may result from the use of exist-ing English signs that are considered to serve a similar purpose (cf. Case Study 4).A common feature of many English public signs, especially those with text that is

320 Leong Ko

sborter tban or equivalent to one sentence, is tbat the choice of words is straight-forward, even blunt, often using words such as 'no', 'only' and 'don't'. It can be ar-gued tbat since the message of a public sign is meant to be clear and generate aparticular response from readers, it makes perfect sense for the wording to bestraightforward and blunt. However, many Chinese public signs tend to use softand friendly expressions to indicate appreciation or politeness, sometimes evenemploying small talk. If translators use existing English expressions to translatesuch Chinese signs, loss of information may occur. For example:

(16) Chinese: ^immAífifíU, i^M^itfí (weile nin he taren defang-bian, qing kaoyou rangxing)

Meaning: For tbe convenience of yourself and others, please keep totbe right to give way to others.

Translation: Keep right pleaseSign found: Beijing Airport, Cbina, 2008

Cbinese: ^ñ&iík¡1, i í l ÍHÍAT^Íf i«5S (changbifanghuomen, yingsuishi chuyu guanbi zhuangtai)

Meaning: Tbis fire escape door sbould remain shut at all times.Translation: In case of fire, please don't use the lift.Sign found: Hangzbou Normal University, Hangzhou, China, 2008

In botb examples, existing Englisb expressions are used, but some information islost in both cases. In tbe first example, the loss of information is minor. 'For tbeconvenience of yourself and others' only serves as a polite way of softening thewording of the sign. However, in tbe second example, tbe meaning is distorted andthe appellative effect is altered.Using existing Englisb public signs can also be seen in translations recommendedby researcbers on public sign translation (e.g. Ding 2006; Niu 2007). For instance.

(17) Chinese: λ

"P, i*ê : t g i g I # A ^ f è a o (youke bixu meiren chipiaorunei, feipiao, weizaopiao bude runei. zai canguan guochengzhong, qing zijue jieshou gongzuo renyuan jiancha)

Meaning: Each tourist should enter with a ticket. Use of invalid orfake tickets is not allowed. During tbe visit, please acceptchecks by staff.

Translation: Please hold your ticket in your own hands, when you enterin the scenery spot. Please note you will be rejected enteringin the scenery spot, if you use invalidated ticket or imitativeticket. Please accept check-up of our missionary consciously.

Recommended translation: Admission by valid tickets only.Source: Niu (2007:66)

The appellative effect in Cbinese-Englisb public sign translation 321

Niu argues that it is unnecessary to translate all the information in the Chinesesign and that the brief wording given above is sufficient (ibid.). The recommendedtranslation is a sign commonly seen in English. Admittedly, the text of the Chinesesign is lengthy and may have to be reduced, but by adopting the brief and existingEnglish sign suggested by Niu, a lot of information is lost. This includes importantinformation such as the warning about fake tickets and, in particular, the requestfor tourists to retain their tickets for further inspection. Such information reflectsthe actual practice in this particular situation. If the information is not necessary,it should not have been included on the Chinese sign in the first place.In sum, because of the diverse purposes of public signs, the use of existing or simi-lar English signs may result in information loss and/or change in appellative effect,sometimes to a significant extent. Therefore, translators should exercise appropri-ate caution when employing this strategy, to ensure that the English signs accu-rately reflect the purposes and content of the Chinese signs.

5.3. Space available on public signs

The space available for English translation on a public sign may also be a factorthat leads to information loss. The writing system of Chinese is characterised aslogographic, using characters, while that of English is phonographic, using let-ters (Chen 1999:131-132). Because of this difference, English words will normallytake up more horizontal space than Chinese words. A simple comparison of thelength of the Chinese signs cited in this paper and that of their English meaningswill confirm this. Therefore, unless a smaller font is used for the English text, Eng-lish writing will take up more space than Chinese. However, many public signs, forexample, traffic signs on the highways, are intended to be read from a distance. Inorder to create the same visual effect as the Chinese text, the translator or designerof a public sign may choose to reduce the number of English words at the expenseof some information loss. The condensed translations of some of the Chinese signsin the examples above, such as Case Study 2, may also be related to the space thatwould have been required for the English text if a full translation had been provid-ed. As a result, certain information is lost in the translations.

5.4. Inadequate understanding of culture and practicesin English-speaking countries

As illustrated in Case Studies 4 and 5, loss of information and/or change of ap-pellative effect may result from translators' inadequate understanding of cultureand practices in English-speaking countries. Such translators may believe that cer-tain practices or events do not occur among English-speaking people and that it

322 Leong Ko

is therefore unnecessary, inappropriate or offensive to convey the message of theChinese text in full.

5.5. Unclear target readership

There may be some public signs that target a special group of people or Chinesereaders only, such as the examples in Case Studies 6 and 7. In such cases, a fulltranslation may be irrelevant to English readers, while selective translation mayresult in information loss. In Case Study 7—the request for the aged and childrento be accompanied by family members when using the escalator—it is likely thata different translator would consider this part ofthe message irrelevant to foreignvisitors and therefore omit the words 'family members' or somehow modify thewording. Although this makes good sense in practice, some information is stilllost and the appellative effect is altered.

Niu (2007) points out that some Chinese public signs are mainly aimed at Chi-nese people, and do not aim to generate the same response from people from othercountries, and that such signs therefore do not need to be translated into English.Indeed, there are a number of public signs that are specifically aimed at Chinesepeople, or even people in a particular locality. For instance, the Chinese Govern-ment promotes a one child policy, and the following sign appears in many placesthroughout China:

(18) Chinese: FtJoJ:ÈW, AA^^Qihua shengyu, renren youze)Meaning: Practising birth control/family planning is everybody's re-

sponsibility

It is true that family planning is a Chinese national policy and its enforcementapplies to Chinese people only. Such signs may therefore not need to be trans-lated into English. However, the problem here relates more to the decision aboutwhether or not a particular sign should be translated than to how it should betranslated. When a sign is to be translated, its target readership must be made clear.The purpose of a public sign is to convey the same message to all readers. In caseswhere some information may be lost, different messages conveyed or a differentappellative effect produced due to unclear target readership, it may be necessary tomodify the text in the source language sign.

5.6. Qualifications and experience of translators

The poor qualifications and inadequate experience of translators are one funda-mental reason why there are so many problematic, wrong and even nonsensicalEnglish translations of Chinese public signs. On a visit to a local shop that sells

The appellative effect in Cbinese-Englisb public sign translation 323

public signs in Fuzhou, China, in 2008,1 found the following bilingual signs:

(19) Chinese: 'ÍÍM^U: (zhuyi anquan)Meaning: Caution/Safety warningTranslation: Attention Safety

Chinese: M'ù-'X^ (danxin huozai)Meaning: Fire hazard warningTranslation: Mind the Fire

Chinese: Sífí A # (yanjin huozhong)Meaning: No open fire/No kindling materialTranslation: Forbid to take kindling material

I asked the owner of the shop who did the translations for these signs. She told methat she sometimes asked university students of English to translate signs, or pur-chased ready-made bilingual signs from a factory. She said that these were verysimple signs consisting of only a few words, which even a secondary school stu-dent could translate. While it is not known what kind of translators work in suchfactories or are involved in translating these public signs, the quality of transla-tion is certainly a cause of concern. Even though the translation of public signshas now gained the attention of senior language experts, researchers and evenforeign language experts (e.g. N-Concept International Communications; BeijingInternational Studies University; China Daily; Organizing Committee of BeijingSpeaks Foreign Languages Programme), the actual translation of public signs maystill be in the hands of junior or inexperienced translators. In order to prevent theuse of problematic or misleading bilingual public signs, it is imperative that thepreparation and translation of signs be under the control of an authority that in-cludes language experts.

6. Conclusion

We have observed that public signs constitute a special genre that has unique lex-ical, phrasal and textual features in both English and Chinese. The translation ofsigns is therefore different from that of other text. We have noted that the funda-mental purpose of a public sign is to convey a message, and therefore its functionis compromised if its message is not conveyed in full or its meaning is distortedin translation. It is not appropriate for the text in one language to say somethingand the text in the other language to say something different, prompting differentresponses from readers of the two languages. We have also examined a numberof reasons for information loss and/or change of appellative effect. It seems that

324 Leong Ko

there are no straightforward solutions to all problems encountered in public signtranslation. From the perspective of communicating the same message and main-taining a consistent appellative effect, it seems that the problems may be tackledat the grassroots level by monitoring the design of bilingual signs. In other words,when a Chinese sign is intended to be bilingual, consideration should be givenduring the initial design process to its appropriate English translation. If the mes-sage cannot be conveyed equally effectively or the same appellative effect cannotbe achieved in both languages, the wording of the source text should be modifiedor edited. This would at least solve the problem of information loss and/or incon-sistent appellative effect. Nevertheless, according to the findings of this article, thewording of public signs has some unique features in both Chinese and English.If we use the common wording for English signs in the design of Chinese publicsigns or adapt the English wording to suit the expressions in Chinese signs, it mayresult in the Chinese signs appearing unnatural, boring or less effective to Chinesereaders, or in the English translation sounding unnatural or irrelevant. This is anissue that certainly warrants further research.

References

Beijing International Studies University. An On-line Corpus of Chinese-English Signs. RetrievedApril 3, 2009 from http://www.hisu.edu.cn/gsy/ShowClass.asp?ClassID=1065

Chen, Ping. 1999, Modern Chinese: History and Sociolinguistics. Camhridge University Press,229 pp,

China Daily. Use Accurate English to Welcome the Olympics, Retrieved April 3, 2009 fromhttp://language,chinadaily,com,cn/herewego/

Dai, Zongxian, and Hefa Lii, 2005. "On Chinese-English Translation of Public Signs." ChineseTranslators Journal 26 (6): 38-42.

Ding, Hengqi. 2006, "Endeavour to Improve Public Signs and Gradually Develop ReferenceTranslations." Chinese Translators Journal 27 (6): 42-46.

Ding, Wenlei. 2004. Lost in Translation. Beijing Review47 (36): 18-23,Encyclopaedia Britannica. Retrieved August 12, 2009, from http://www.hritannica.com/EB-

checked/topic/543696/signGu, Jianxin, 2001. "Translating Chinese Puhlic Signs into English." Journal of Zhejiang Normal

University (Social Science Edition) 26 (2): 65-67,Huang, Youyi, 2005, "From the Right of Translators to Foreign Promotion Translation." Chinese

Translators Journal 26 (6): 31-33.Jin, Qihin. 2008. "Survey and Analysis of English Translation of Puhlic Signs in the Medical and

Health Field." Chinese Translators Journal 29 (3): 72-76,Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English. 1997. London: Longman Group Ltd.Luo, Xuanmin, and Tuwang Li, 2006. "Translating Puhlic Signs: Some Observations." Chinese

Translators Journal 27(4): 66-69.Macquarie Dictionary, 2nd Revised Edition, 1987, Macquarie Lihrary Pty Ltd,, 2009 pp.

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Montagu, Asbley. "Sign." Encyclopaedia Britannica. Retrieved August 12, 2009 from bttp://www.britannica.com/EBcbecked/topic/543697/sign

N-Concept International Communications. Cbinese-Englisb Expressions on Signs Service andResearcb Online. Retrieved April 3, 2009 from bttp://www.e-signs.info/

Niu, Xinsheng. 2007. "How to Transmit Vocative Function in C-E Translation of Chinese PublicSigns." Chinese Translators Journal 28 (2): 63-67.

Organizing Conunittee of Beijing Speaks Foreign Languages Programme. "Standard EnglisbSigns in Public Places in Beijing." Retrieved April 3, 2009 from bttp://www.bjenglisb.gov.cn/specialreports/englisb/

Public Sign Translation Researcb Centre of Beijing International Studies University. 2007. In-vestigation and Analysis of tbe Current Status of Public Sign Translation across the Nation.Chinese Translators Journal 5:62-67.

Qu, Qianqian. "A study on Englisb Translation of Public signs: From a Cross-Cultural Perspec-tive." 2007. MA thesis (unpublished). 56 pp.

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torsjournal 26 (6): 43-46.

Abstract

Public signs refer to tbe type of sign posted in public places to alert readers to certain informa-tion. They constitute a special genre in terms of language use, communicative functions andcultural features. The translation of public signs from Cbinese into Englisb presents a numberof unique challenges.

This article concentrates on issues relating to information loss and cbange of appellative ef-fect in Cbinese-Englisb public sign translation based on actual examples collected in MainlandCbina, Taiwan and Hong Kong. It discusses the problems in Chinese-English public sign trans-lation and presents a number of case studies, followed by a detailed analysis of tbe possible rea-sons for these problems. Sucb reasons include linguistic differences, inappropriate use of exist-ing Englisb public signs, inadequate understanding of culture and practices in Englisb-speakingcountries, unclear target readership, and the qualifications and experience of translators.

Satisfactory solutions to these problems are yet to be sougbt. As one possible solution, thearticle proposes changes to tbe design process for bilingual public signs—i.e. when a sign is in-tended to be bilingual, consideration sbould be given from the beginning to its appropriate Eng-lisb translation. However, tbis strategy may compromise tbe features of public signs in tbe lan-guage concerned. The article concludes with a call for more researcb in tbis field.

Keywords: public sign, sign, bilingual sign, information loss, appellative effect

326 Leong Ko

Résumé

Les panneaux publics se réfèrent à un type de panneaux installés dans des lieux publics pour at-tirer l'attention des lecteurs sur certaines informations. Ils constituent un genre particulier surle plan de l'utilisation de la langue, des fonctions communicatives et des caractéristiques cultu-relles. La traduction des panneaux publics du chinois en anglais présente un certain nombre dedifficultés particulières.

Cet article se concentre sur des problèmes liés à une perte d'information et à un changementd'effet appellatif dans la traduction des panneaux publics cbinois, basés sur des exemples réelsrecueillis en Chine continentale, à Taiwan et Hong Kong. Il examine les problèmes de traduc-tion des panneaux publics chinois et anglais et présente un certain nombre d'études de cas, sui-vies par une analyse détaillée des raisons possibles de ces problèmes. Ces raisons incluent desdifférences linguistiques, une utilisation inappropriée des panneaux publics anglais existants,une compréhension inadéquate de la culture et des pratiques dans les pays anglophones, un lec-torat cible mal défini et les qualifications et l'expérience des traducteurs.

Il faut encore chercher des solutions satisfaisantes à ces problèmes. Une solution possibleproposée dans l'article consiste à modifier le processus de conception des panneaux publics bi-lingues. Lorsqu'un panneau est destiné à être bilingue, il faut envisager dès le départ sa traduc-tion anglaise appropriée. Cependant, cette stratégie pourrait compromettre les particularitésdes panneaux publics dans la langue concernée. L'article conclut en demandant d'intensifier larecherche dans ce domaine.

Mots clés : traduction des panneaux publics - panneau bilingue - perte d'information - effet ap-

pellatif

About the author

Leong Ko is Senior Lecturer of Translation and Interpreting in the University of Queensland,Australia. He holds a PhD in translation and interpreting studies. He is also a freelance transla-tor and interpreter. His research interests include translation and interpreting studies, transla-tion and interpreting pedagogies, and distance education.Address: School of Languages and Comparative Cultural Studies, The University of Queensland,Brisbane, QLD, Australia 4072E-mail: l.ko@uq.edu.au

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