On the Translation of Linguistic Landscape: strategies and quality assessment

Abstract

This article studies linguistic landscape (LL) from a translational perspective. It aims to examine the translation strategies adopted in translating texts on non-official public signs and assess the quality of their translations. For accomplishing this, the author analysed a corpus of one hundred photos of public signage representing bilingual (translational) content based on two criteria. Namely, the translation strategies employed in translating public signs and the appropriateness of public signage translations for their target readers. The study concludes that several translation strategies are used to convey the informative content of public signs, such as transference, word-for-word translation, generalisation, and omission. Furthermore, the study reveals cases of inaccurate translations that can be attributed to the translator’s linguistic incompetence, improper use of translation strategies, and linguistic incompatibilities between English and Arabic. Such mistranslations distort the informative content of the original text and give rise to different interpretations. The study’s implication is to draw attention to the importance of translational content of public signs as it serves as a medium of communication and reflects the image of linguistic cityscape.