Xi'an new bilingual bus stop sign to make debut

Xi'an Bus Communication Corporation held a conference for the unveiling of their new bilingual (Chinese-English) bus stop signs at Xi'an International Studies University (XISU) on Nov 27.

The staff of Xi'an Bus Communication Corporation show the new bilingual bus stop sign to students of Xi'an International Studies University. [Photo by Xu Nan/xinhuanet.com]

In order to ensure accurate English translations, Xi'an Bus Communication Corporation entrusted He Ying, dean of the School of Translation Studies at XISU, to lead the translation team.

The translation of the stop names must conform to the standards of national language translation, and be easy for foreigners to understand.

Xi'an bus stop name translation uses a combination of transliteration and free translation. For example, tourist attractions adopt free translation, while roads, villages, and residential quarters are transliterated. It will then be reviewed by foreign experts before the names are finalized.

The stop sign update involves more than 20,000 bus stop signs and nearly 7,000 vehicle stop announcers. Since May this year, Xi'an Bus Communication Corporation has sorted out and updated 1,815 bus stop names.

The new stop signs will be printed and gradually installed at the end of November 2018. It is expected that by the end of March 2019, all the new stop signs will be in place, demonstrating the new image of Xi'an bus service.