On Relevance Theory In The Translation Of Wang Wei's Chan Poetry

Chan poetry is a precious gem of Chinese culture. Translating Chan poetry into English, in the era of cultural globalization, is crucial to the wide spreading of Chinese culture and to the interaction and communication of all the cultures in the whole world.As is known, Chan is a Chinese sect of Buddhism. Chan, especially the southern school of Chan, puts emphasis on sudden illumination. A situation of nothingness, peacefulness and stillness is the main feature of Chan as well as Chan poetry in which the poets' intelligence and inspiration are fully displayed. In reality, the most important and remarkable one is Wang Wei, who has earned the honorable title of "Buddhist poet" in history. He composed a large portion of Chan poetry in which he infused nature with his unique metaphysical speculation. Furthermore, he held Chan as more than a faith. Actually it became a style of life with special attention to nature, peacefulness and indifference to fame and gain. His Chan poems are clear, natural, simple and full of emptiness, stillness and imagination. However, what impression can the translation leave on target readers when his Chan poems are translated into English? Can the translation of his Chan poems keep the original aesthetic effects as an integrate whole? That is, can target readers grasp the concepts of Chan between the lines? After all, Chan is a culture-loaded word and even due to great differences between the two languages, thoughts and cultures, the difficulty in poetry translation, especially the English translation of Chan poetry becomes a most complicated task.However, in the frame of relevance theory of communication developed by Dan Sperber and Deirdre Wilson (1986 and 1995), the translation of Chan poetry becomes less complicated and more practical. According to relevance theory, communication requires two models of communication: coded communication and ostensive-inferential communication. The main factor that makes communication succeed is the pursuit of optimal relevance on the part of both the communicator and addressee. Thus whenever one shows that he wishes to communicate, he implicitlyand automatically conveys the assumption that the addressee can expect to derive adequate contextual effects without spending unnecessary effort. In light of relevance theory, a translator is naturally a kind of mediator between ST and TT. Hence, based on the research by other people, the author concludes that everything is translatable including Chan poetry. Furthermore, the author constructs a criterion for the English translation of Chan poetry, which can be applied to the translation practice, and an evaluation criterion of translational validity rather than translation equivalence. On the basis of the criterion the author analyses four English versions of Wang Wei's The Dale of Singing Birds from the angles of rhyme scheme, diction and ideorealm and eventually gets a translation version with high translational validity. Finally the author illustrates two kinds of limitations: limitations on the part of the translator and those on the part of the target reader. The conclusion provides suggestions for the future research.This thesis consists of three chapters.Chapter One is to introduce the relevance theory briefly and then illustrate the translatability and translational validity of Chan poetry and finally attempt to construct a translation criterion of Chan poetry.Chapter Two is a case study: to study four English versions of Wang Wei's The Dale of Singing Birds from the angles of rhyme scheme, diction and ideorealm and eventually get a translation version with high translational validity .Chapter Three is to illustrate two kinds of limitations: limitations on the part of the translator and those on the part of the target reader.