Optimal Relevance-the Fundamental Principle For The Translation Of Metaphors In Li Bai's Poems

Metaphor translation, especially metaphor translation in Classical Chinese Poetry, has always been a difficult problem for translators. A general survey of the history of metaphor translation at home and abroad reveals that the majority of previous scholars have so far focused their studies only on the metaphor translation methods. Then, what are the guiding principle and theoretical basis underlying these translation methods? In recent years, Relevance Theory has been applied to metaphor translation, but it seems that there are few systematic researches on the translation of metaphors in Classical Chinese Poetry. Based on Relevance theory, the thesis explores how the target language readers achieve optimal relevance and proposes that the optimal relevance may serve as an effective criterion and purpose for the translation of metaphors in Li Bai's poems.First, the thesis discusses the definitions of metaphor from different perspectives of traditional rhetorical view, cognitive view, and pragmatic view, etc. Among all these theories, Relevance Theory, proposed by Sperber and Wilson in 1986, gives a new way to study metaphor. Then, the thesis takes a general survey of some classical metaphor translation studies at home and abroad.Relevance Theory provides theoretical foundation for metaphor and metaphor translation. Metaphor is a kind of "loose talk" and an ordinary utterance which requires no special interpretive abilities but demands extra processing effort. Translation is a two-level ostensive-inferential communication act which is conducted in two languages with different cultures. In this way, the task left for the translator is to take into full account the cognition of the target text readers. It also points out its nuclear concept-----optimal relevance:the translator is in pursuit of the optimal relevance in the source text and transference of it in target text. Therefore, the transference of optimal relevance is the metaphor translation's criterion.The thesis explores the translation of culture-mutual and culture-specific metaphors in Li poems from the perspective of Relevance Theory. Based on the examples in Li Bai's poems, it discusses and analyzes how the optimal relevance is achieved in attempt to seek theoretic basis for metaphor translation and then proves that metaphor translation should be under the guidance of relevance principle and for the transference of the optimal relevance in the target text. Therefore, a translator should choose the metaphor translation methods flexibly in an effort to achieve the optimal relevance and then realize the faithful reproduction of the metaphors.