A Systematic Review of the Chinese-English Translation of Public Signs

SAGE Open, Volume 12, Issue 2, April-June 2022.
To understand the current status of Chinese-English public sign translation research in China, we summarized and analyzed 137 published studies in the past 15 years as the research corpus and founds that the study of public sign translation in China has experienced a progressive development process from the nascent stage in 2005 to climax in 2014 and then began to decline till date. Public signs translation study has attracted the attention of many scholars, and fruitful results have been achieved in terms of research content and cover areas, including the definition, features, functions, translation errors, translation principles, strategies, and theories applied to C-E public signs translation. However, there are still many deficiencies in related research, such as repetition of research content, the limited scope of investigation, lack of clear distinction from what constitutes a feature and translation principle of public signs. The study suggests that future research content of public sign translation is developed in a more diversified and in-depth direction. In terms of translator training and quality control, more public sign translation experts should be supplemented; the coverage of areas of research of public signs should also consider the rich menu language, cuisines, museum, and culture-specific items in addition to theory development as studies in these areas are limited. It is hoped that the research results will offer insight into the problems and gaps in research, and the development of relevant language policies, translation theories, and methods for public sign translation, and contribute to existing literature.

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