Abstract
Public signs are the written language which can be seen in public places. It is a literary form to achieve for some special communicative purpose. Many scholars have made researches in this field from different aspects and great achievements have been made. In real life, however, the quality of Chinese-English translation of public signs is far from being satisfactory. Many of the translations are filled with errors in spelling mistakes, grammatical mistakes, Chinglish, cultural misunderstandings and so on. This paper analyzes the above problems and puts forward some possible countermeasures to solve these problems, with an aim to improve public sign translation, and therefore to upgrade the city spirit and lift overall image.
Keywords   public signs   Chinese-English translation   error analysis   translation strategy

公示语是指在公告场所给公众看的文字语言，是一种公开的，以达到某种交际目的的特殊文体。近年来众多语言学、翻译学专家对公示语的翻译进行了多方面的研究和探讨，取得了很大的成绩。但是在现实生活中，公示语的中英翻译质量实在不尽人意。本文分析了汉英公示语在汉译英过程中出现的拼写错误，语法错误、中式英语、文化误解等问题，并提出解决这些问题的对策，以改善公示语的翻译质量，提升城市的精神面貌和整体形象。
关键词  公示语   汉英翻译   错误分析   翻译策略

With the rapid development of our society and the close connection with the outside world, China has attracted foreigners in increasing number. And most of the foreigners, who do not understand Chinese, rely solely on the public signs for directions to provide them with necessary information and convenience when staying in China. Thus, the Chinese-English translation of public signs should be accurate and idiomatic. The current quality of Chinese-English translation of public signs, however, is far from being satisfactory. Many of the translations are filled with errors in spelling, grammatical and cultural aspects. And some of them are so inaccurate that they could be misleading and even be misunderstood by foreigners. All these have affected China’s international image. If the translation of public signs is appropriate, foreign people will get great help from it and thus feel at home. In that way, a health and international image of China will be perceived.