A Report On E-C Translation Of Divine Trace Of Daoist Sisterhood:Record Of The Assembled Transcendents Of The Fortified Walled City By Du Guangting From The Perspective Of Relevance Theory

Overseas Sinologists‘ research and interpretation of Daoist classics will help domestic Daoist scholars to expand their research perspective.Susan.E.Cahill‘s research and translation of Du Guangting‘s Record of the Assembled Transcendents of the Fortified Walled City is named ―Divine Trace of Daoist Sisterhood: Record of the Assembled Transcendents of the Fortified Walled City by Du Guangting(850-933)‖(hereinafter referred to as “Divine Trace of Daoist Sisterhood‖).It shows a Western reader‘s different perspectives and views on the interpretation of Daoist women.The beginning two chapters introduce the historical background,literature records,social factors,practice methods,and the lineage of Daoist female immortals.This report is a reflection over E-C translation practice of these two chapters and the translation is analyzed under the guidance of the ostensive-inferential model and optimal relevance of Relevance Theory proposed by August Ernst Gutt.It is stated that translation is a process of ostensive inference,and that the translator should create the optimal contextual effect for target readers based on the principle of optimal relevance,so as to reduce the processing effect.The report analyzes the features of the original text from the lexical level,syntactic level and textual level.The features of lexical level are characterized by simplification of culture factor of inadequate expressions that contain semantic loss,and extensive use of nominalizaiton;the features of syntactic level include parallel structure,extensive use of parenthesis and sentences with multi-leveled structure;the features of textual level contain the use of footnotes and the appended Glossary for Daoist key terms.Under the guidance of the ostensive-inferential model,translation methods such as naturalization,amplification,and verbalization is adopted at lexical level;the translation techniques such as sentence splitting,combining,and restructuring are adopted syntactic features;the methods of glossary construction,conversion of footnote to endnote,used at textual features.Through the analysis,the translator draws three main conclusions.Firstly,the―mutual manifestness‖ of Relevance Theory has a guiding function in the restoration of adequate expressions that are culture-simplified,the expression of nouns in the English translation of religious and cultural classics;Secondly,the ostensive-inferential model plays a vital role in the ostension of logical structure and in the effective presentation of information in complex sentences;Thirdly,the optimal relevance,which helps to maximize the contextual effect,plays a theoretical guiding role in the glossary building of terms introduction and in the diversified presentation of footnotes in this texts.