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标识翻译中的“环境”“情景”因素
本文作者： 21ST
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编者按:北京市出台的地方标准《公共场所双语标识英文译法》为公共标识提供了规范译名。本栏目向读者介绍公共标识正确译名的内涵及意义，并按照道路交通、旅游景区、商业服务业、体育场馆、医疗卫生5个系列，每期选登部分标识的英文译法，供读者参考。
双语标识
道路交通双语标识（三）
警告提示信息译法
公共汽车优先 Bus Priority
紧急情况，请拨打XXX Call XXX in Emergency
前方学校 School Zone
让 Yield
停 Stop
禁扔废弃物 No Littering
基础设施信息译法
休息处 Rest Area
服务区 Service Area
检票处 Ticket Check
售票处 Ticket Office/Ticket
补票处 Fare Adjustment
换票处 Ticket-Changing
道路信息译法
街 （大街）Street (St)
小街（条、巷、夹道）Alley
内大街 Inner St
外大街 Outer St
斜街 Byway
胡同 Hutong
IN the list of bilingual (双语的) public signs issued on November 3, 2006, “严禁明火” is translated into “No Open Flame”. One user suggests that a separate（分开的） English translation of “森林内禁止烟火” be provided since it is so different from “严禁明火”. There is no question that you can translate it into “No Flame in the Forest, Smoking or Lighting Fires Strictly Forbidden in the Forest”, or whatever. The real question is: is it necessary to translate every Chinese word into English? The answer is, “No”!
It is important to note that we pick up information from environments（环境） and situations（情景） as well as from public signs. If the sign board is put up in a forest, then “森林内” in “森林内禁止烟火”does not have to be translated into “in the forest”, because this piece of information is already there in the environment. Of course, if it is put up at the edge（边缘） of the forest, this bit of information needs to be overtly（公开地） supplied.
Note also that there might be a causal（原因的）relation between two situations. What does the English proverb（谚语）“Where there’s smoke, there’s fire” tell us? Well, it tells us that there is an informational link between a smoke situation and a fire situation. Since the information that there is smoke can be derived（推导出） from the information that there is fire, “烟”(smoke) doesn’t have to be translated into English either. Why, then, does the Chinese public sign contain the word “烟”? Well, we don’t accept “禁止火”, which means the same as “禁止烟火”, most probably for prosodic(韵律的) reasons.
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