A Study On Translators' Tasks From The Perspective Of Relevance Theory

Relevance theory proposed by Sperber and Wilson (1986), is a new psych-logical approach to pragmatics, which attempts to answer not only philosophical questions about the nature of communication but also questions about how the interpretation process unfolds in the hearer's mind. This thesis is a tentative study of applying the relevance-theoretic approach to translation. It presents, from the perspective of relevance theory, a detailed account of the criterion in translation and the function of relevance in the interpretation in translation. In translating, the principle of relevance should be kept, for it governs the selection of context and guides the inference of intention. In the relevance framework, translation can be defined as a dynamic process, and act of ostensive-inferential verbal interpretation. Based on this, the translator's tasks should be to translate the meaning of the original, preserve the original assumptions, meet the audience's expectation, employ the translator's optimal mediation, making the intentions and expectations meet and finding the optimal relevance of the context.