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A Relevance-theoretic Account Of The Translation Of Chinese Culture-loaded Words

Posted on:2012-11-21Degree:MasterType:Thesis
Country:ChinaCandidate:J P LiFull Text:PDF
GTID:2155330332493723Subject:English Language and Literature
Abstract/Summary:PDF Full Text Request
Language is the carrier of culture. Thus the translation of languages is not only the conversion between two languages, but also the exchange between two cultures. The reason why translation standard has always been a controversial issue originates from two factors:on one hand language carries cultural information, and on the other hand it is also subject to culture. Because of the differences of histories, social systems, life styles and geographical environments, cultures from different nations differ in many aspects. In many cases, how to process the culture hidden behind the language usually poses a great challenge to a translator and the translation of culture-loaded words becomes the toughest task for a translator to accomplish. This paper takes Howard Goldblatt's English version of Jia Pingwa's novel Turbulence as the case study to discuss the translation of Chinese culture-loaded words from the relevance-theoretic perspective.In 1986, Sperber and Wilson together put forward Relevance Theory as a pragmatic theory to illustrate human communication and cognition. At that time this theory was not used to explain translation phenomenon and function, but later Relevance Theory proves that it has very strong explanatory power for the translation study. Then Sperber and Wilson's student, Ernst-August Gutt, combining Relevance Theory with the translation study, puts forward the notion of relevance-theoretic translation in his Translation and Relevance: Cognition and Context. This new theory provides a unified and reasonable theoretical framework for the translation methodology and ontology. In this theory, translation, as a brain mechanism-involved inferential process, is regarded as an ostensive-inferential progress. From the perspective of Relevance Theory, the optimal relevance is the target of the translator during the translation process. It is also considered as the standard of translation study. The responsibility of the translator aims to make the source text writer's intention meet the target language reader's expectation. This view opens up a new field for the translation study.This thesis employs Relevance Theory to analyze the translation of Chinese culture-loaded words and to discuss the corresponding translation strategies and methods on the notion of optimal relevance. Through the analysis of the application of Relevance Theory in Chinese culture-loaded words translation of the English version of Turbulence, the author not only intends to improve the explanatory power of Relevance Theory to translation, and but also provides a new angle for the Chinese culture-loaded words translation. Finally, the author boldly raises a guiding suggestion that the translator should choose the most advantageous translation method and strategy in the specific context for the target language readers to attain the optimal relevance, aiming to make the source text writer's intention meet the target text reader's expectation.
Keywords/Search Tags:relevance theory, culture-loaded words, contextual effect, processing effort, optimal relevance
PDF Full Text Request
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