Context Notion In Relevance Theory And EST (English For Science And Technology) Translation

EST (English for Science and Technology) is a specific style of English widely used in scientific and technical fields. Science and technology have drawn much attention of the whole country since China's reform and opening-up. EST plays a significant role in the course of learning new science and advanced technology from other countries.Context plays a significant role in EST translation. Many scholars from home and abroad have conducted research about context from various perspectives. Most of the researches are focused on the ingredients and classifications of the context. When scholars approach verbal communication by employing context, the usual practice for them is to list relevant contextual ingredients to interpret utterances. They consider the context as given in advance of communication and the communication process is controlled by the given text.In 1986, Sperber and Wilson proposed relevance theory. In this theory, the context is considered as constructed by a sub-part of assumptions from the cognitive environment of an individual. The practice avoids the problem of taking complicated potential contextual ingredients as the actual context for communication. Hereby, our concern should be merely focused on the part of assumptions which make up of the context when we study the verbal communication process; according to relevance theory, the speaker and the hearer choose the context from their cognitive environments. This view of the context is appropriate for the verbal communication process, and can better reflect the psychological status of the speaker and the hearer in communication. Through an utterance, the speaker firstly conveys the presumption of optimal relevance, and the hearer also finishes his interpretation of the utterance guided by optimal relevance.In the light of context notion of relevance theory, this thesis expounds into the process and procedures of EST translation and also put forward some constructive suggestions about some questions in EST translation. Translation, as is pointed out in the thesis, is a unique communication process between the translator and the author as well as the target-language readers. Such interpretive endeavor on the part of a translator is to ensure that the target-language readers can obtain adequate contextual effects with relatively minimum cognitive or processing effort, and meanwhile to enable the target language readers to comprehend the original writer's intention.The most important task of the translator is to find the optimal relevance in contexts between the original text and the target language reader. During the translating process, the degree of context is decided by the relevance principle. Once the optimal relevance is found in translation, a certain context can be decided. So the translator's task is to try to search for the optimal relevance and create adequate contextual effect during the translating process, thus providing a sound basis for translation equivalence.The dissertation proceeds in four chapters. Introduction serves as the introductory part ushering in the discussion on the literature review; In Chapter 1, the author analysis the essential concept of relevance theory and the relationship between relevance and translation; In Chapter 2, the author briefly surveys the translation of English for Science and Technology, points out the characteristics of EST and the requirements for a qualified EST translator; Chapter 3 deals with the process of translation of EST from the relevance-theoretic perspective, that is interpreting the original text and making intentions and expectations meet; Chapter 4 analyze the different levels of EST translation , i.e. from word, sentence and text level, under the guidance of context notion of Relevance Theory...