On Translation Of Cultural Images From The Perspective Of Relevance Theory And Intertextuality

This thesis aims at finding out the principle and strategies of the translation of cultural images mainly from the perspective of Relevance Theory and Intertextuality. Whether cultural images are understood correctly and expressed appropriately is one of the keys to successful literary works, especially poems. The past study of cultural image indicated that it is not only a linguistic phenomenon, a literary phenomenon, and a thinking mode, but also a cognitive phenomenon and the absorption and transformation of the texts before it. Based on this, the author of the present thesis tries to seek out some positive translating methods by illuminating the influence of Relevance Theoretic Approach to translation .Chapter 1 is an introduction to this thesis. In Chapter 2, the author makes a detailed investigation of cultural images from different aspects. It includes the definition of image and cultural image, the category of cultural image, its non-correspondence in meaning caused by cultural differences and cultural default. Chapter 3 is devoted to the general review of Relevance Theory and Intertextuality. Owing to the limited processing power of the human brain, the different cognitive environment and contextual assumption, cultural default will arise in the process of translation. Also, the prior texts and the other elements of the same text will give rise to cultural default, too. In Chapter 4, the author makes an attempting analysis of cultural image translation by examining the examples mainly taken from the poems of Tao Yuanming. In Chapter 5, major findings and recommendations for future research are included. If resources permit, a translation should converge to the original as much as possible. Literal translation adding footnote, explanatory and annotation are also helpful to compensate for the cultural default. If those methods block the readers' understanding, we may use free translation as a compensation method to make the target text more acceptable.