A Study Of Context-based Translation

Context is a very significant factor in pragmatics. It was put forward by B. Malinowski in 1923. Many linguists, philosophers, and even psychologists have made some researches into it. Although there is no agreement in its definition and scope, they all realize its importance in language use. Generally speaking, context is created in the language communication between utterers and interpreters. It is not given, but activated and created by participants in the process. Just as the English saying goes, "No context, no text", there is no communication divorced from context. The context plays an essential role in determining how a particular utterance is to be interpreted. In this sense, context is closely related to the study of translation since translation is commonly viewed as a cross-cultural communication involved with the conversion of languages. The importance of context should be highlighted in the process of comprehension and expression. However, in practice, some translators are quite ignorant of the contextual knowledge and fail to do contextual analysis in translation work, which results in the misreading or misinterpretation.In view of this situation, the thesis aims to make the translator informed of the contextual knowledge, aware of the importance of contextual analysis in translation as well as realize the limitation of contextual analysis in achieving functional equivalence. Based on the traditional view concerning context, the author proposes her own definition and classification of context. Apart fromlinguistic context and non-linguistic context, two more are added into discussion, i.e. paralinguistic context and cognitive context. The author also discusses features and functions of context in translation with the application of some theories like the theory of cooperative principles, the theory of modesty, the theory of speech act and the theory of relevance. After the exposition of the relationship between context and translation, a lot of examples are employed to exemplify the importance of contextual analysis and to explore the principles and strategies with regard to the translation. Finally, the theory of functional equivalence is discussed from the perspective of context. To probe more deeply into the relationship between context and translation, the thesis consists of six parts including four chapters.In the first part "introduction", the author indicates the importance of context in translation study as well as explains the reason to choose the topic. It makes a brief introduction to the thesis.In Chapter One, the author makes a general survey of context concerning its history, definition, classification, and features.In Chapter Two, the author expounds the significance of context in the study of translation, from the perspective of the nature of translation, translating process as well as the functions of context.In Chapter Three, the author exemplifies the importance of contextual analysis in translation. The author analyzes in detail the influence of linguistic context (from the phrase context to text context), paralinguistic context (voiced paValinguistic elements and voiceless paralinguistic elements), non-linguistic context (situational context, cultural context and historical context), and cognitive context on translation. Meanwhile, the author discussesthe principles and strategies with regard to the translation.In Chapter Four, the author explores the possibility and difficulty in achieving functional equivalence in the version with contextual analysis.By means of the analysis of contextual influence and functions in translation, the author draws a conclusion in the last part. Firstly, contextual analysis is essential in translating process. A translator who deals with both source context and target context should be cable of contextual knowledge and then take appropriate principles and strategies accordingly. Secondly, although contextual analysis is useful in comprehension and expression, there still exist some difficulties in achieving functional equivalence in the version with contextual analysis.