A Report On The Translation Of Ancient Sichuan:Treasures From A Lost Civilization From The Perspective Of Relevance-Theoretic Context (Excerpt From Chapter Five)

The source text of this translation project, excerpted from chapter five of overseas sinological work Ancient Sichuan:Treasures from a Lost Civilization, is mainly on the tombs and tomb furnishings of Eastern Han period. On the basis of the translation practice, this report will study on the translation process within the framework of relevance-theoretic context.The relevance theory demonstrated the function of the cognitive factors in the interpreting of discourse, and broadened the concept of context. According to relevance theory, the translation process is an ostensive-inferential process. Translators need to choose the context and search for the optimal relevance between the target language and the context, providing adequate context effect for target readers.Based on the characteristics of the source text and difficulties in the translation, this report will study on four aspects of the translation project on the basis of Relevance-theoretic context, classified as translation of culture-loaded words, translation of the citation of historical classics, translation of nominalization, and translation of complex sentences. Under the guidance of Relevance-theoretic context, different translation methods and translation techniques are adopted in the different kinds of translation, among which, translation of culture-loaded words are translated with the translation method of back-translation; translation of the citation of historical classics with the combination of back-translation and re-writing; translation of nominalization with the translation technique of conversion; and division and recasting are employed in the translation of complex sentences. All the translation methods and translation techniques give expression to the application of linguistic context and non-linguistic context as well as cognitive context to the translation of sinological works.