Before delving into the problems related to the public notices it would be proper here to give a brief introduction to the area of Translation Studies, an area that has become a major hunting ground for researchers interested in translation theory. The term 'Translation theory' was first proposed by Andre Lefevere in 1976. Theoretical studies of translation were earlier considered to be a not so major part of foreign language teaching and not worthy of independent concentrated research. The past few years have, however, seen a different trend and the area has attracted the attention of scholars from different fields who are now involved in interdisciplinary research related to translation theory. Linguists, who thus far considered translation as part of literary research and thus not their cup of tea, have also realized the importance of their contribution to the area. The recent past has seen a lot of Western scholars devoting their time to developing a sound theory of translation for different purposes. India is also catching up with the trend. Scholars here have realized the importance of improving the translation methods adopted thus far, especially for translating administrative, scientific and technical literature. The goals of translation studies in India need to be different from those of western scholars keeping in view the different objectives that we have to achieve. India at the moment needs theories of translation which can help develop source material and theoretical concepts for translating modern literature from English into Indian languages and inter-Indian language translations.

423.4.2  : PUBLIC NOTICES

     Public notices are an important medium of communication between a government and its people. All the information that an institute wants to pass on to its people cannot be personally communicated. The role of public notices is all the more important in a multilingual developing country such as India. Public notices are normally in short simple sentences involving very little ambiguity. The basic purpose of public is mass communication, communication of some factual information. Therefore, the translation of a public notice involves restatement of a fact. A translated notice in the TL should exactly communicate what has already been stated in SL. Another important point that the translator of a public notice has to keep in mind is that the language of public notices should be easily comprehensible to all.

     Public notices contain various types of information. On the basis of information content some of them can be classified as follows:

     As has already been stated all public notices are information based. The primary function of notices is communication, communication of certain publicly relevant information. However, the use of the term 'informative' here is restricted to the kind of notices which are pure information based as opposed to those which may be issuing warnings or making other statements. This type of public notice is found in all public places such as banks, post-offices, railway stations, airports etc. They provide information about the functioning of the office, how the public facilities provided in these places should be used, or some general information that a newcomer to the place may seek.

     INLAND ORDINARY TELEGRAMS ARE ACCEPTED FROM 7 A.M. TO 5 P.M. ONLY. XX (PRIORITY) TELEGRAMS AT ORDINARY RATES & ORDINARY QUICK SERVICE (OS) TELEGRAMS INDICATING ARRIVALS, DEPARTURES, SICKNESS, INTERVIEWS ETC. ARE ACCEPTED DURING WORKING HOURS.

(Telegraph Office, University of Hyderabad Campus, Hyderabad)