1.2 Significance of the Study......1

1.3 Overall Structure.......2

Chapter Two  Literature Review..3

2.1 Adaptation Theory 3

2.2 Previous Study Of Public Signs Translation and Adaptation Theory...4

Chapter Three  Adaptation Theory Applied in Translation of Public Signs5

3.1 Contextual Adaptation in Xuzhou Public Signs Translation5

3.2 Structural Adaptation in Xuzhou Public Signs Translation..6

3.3 Dynamic Adaptation in Xuzhou Public Signs Translation...8

3.4 Salience of Adaptation in Public Signs Translation.9

Chapter Four  Discussions and Analyses...10

4.1 Problems of Public Signs Translation.10

4.1.1 Format Problems...10

4.1.2 Inappropriate Words or Styles...11

4.2 Suggestions.12

4.2.1 Adopting Common-used and Wide-accepted Versions..12 

4.2.2 Translating Flexibly......13  

4.2.3 Doing Background Research or Fieldwork...13

4.2.4 Using Logos or Appositive Phrase to Interpret.13

Chapter Five  Conclusion...15

5.1 Major Findings.15

       5.2 Implications..15

5.3 Limitations of Present Study16

References....17

Chapter One  Introduction

1.1 Research Background

In the past few decades, more and more pragmatics theories were introduced into translation and pragmatic translation, currently, is a new trend in translation studying. Adaptation Theory is one of pragmatic translation theory firstly raised by Verschueren in 1999. In the same year, Chinese scholars, He Ziran and Yu Guodong introduced Understanding Pragmatics in details, analyzed the main contents and at the same time spoke highly of this book and this theory soon popularized among China. 

Similarly, there are increasing public signs appearing in people’s life. “Public signs means the text language for people in public. There are many similar expressions, including ‘sign language’, ‘logo’, ‘signs’, and ‘slogans’ and so on. It is widely used in transportation, tourism, transport and other public areas in the combination of sign language and signs. ”(Ma Qiannan, 2012) 

1.2 Significance of the study

This paper aims to discover the factors contributing to making language choices and analyze the application of Adaptation Theory in translation; the significance of this study could be reviewed from three aspects; Firstly, through investigation, this research reveals the current situation of public signs translation and the data could server for further research. Secondly, several suggestions and translating strategies are proposed from the perspective of Adaptation Theory. These suggestions, basically, differ from general suggestion which emphasis more on the ways of making correct language choice. 

1.3 Overall Structure

This thesis is pided into five chapters. Chapter One, as has been read, is a brief introduction of the Adaptation Theory and public signs. Besides, the significance and details of each chapter are also mentioned. 

The next chapter provides with theoretical support, it is a literal review, introducing the pervious study of public signs translation and the definition of Adaptation Theory.