On C-E Translation Of Culture-loaded Words Guided By The Relevance AdaptationTheory

As one of the Four Great Novels of Exposure in the Late Qing Dynasty,Lao Can You Ji enjoys an international fame.Either the exquisite language skill or the vivid presentation of life details shows the author's unique creative spirit.Compared with the other novels in the same period,the artistic achievement of Lao Can You Ji is outstanding.When appreciating the linguistic skills of the novel,readers could find many culture-loaded words and expressions.As culture carriers,culture-loaded words lay in various aspects such as history,religion,geography and ecology,etc.Translators face many difficulties in translating due to culture differences.In the context of intercultural communication,it is necessary and urgent to study culture-loaded word translation.Relevance-Adaptation Theory explains communication from the perspective of cognitive principles.It is a combination of relevance-seeking and dynamic adaptation.Since its beginning,RAT has enjoyed a great popularity in various researches and also it provides help in solving some translation problems.According to the theory,translation can be considered as a process seeking for relevance and a dynamic adaptation to the cognitive environment of the target language.But in previous studies on application of RAT in translation,most attention has been paid to translation strategies of culture-loaded words in English versions of Chinese literary works.Under the guidance of RAT,this thesis makes a case study on culture-loaded word translation,taking examples from Lao Can You Ji translated by the American translator Harold Shadick as The Travels of Lao Ts' an.The focus of the thesis is that how the Relevance-Adaptation Theory is reflected in culture-loaded word translation in Lao Can You Ji,by which the author finds out that the merits and demerits of Shadick's translation.Chapter Four is the key part of the thesis.It tentatively analyzes the translation of culture-loaded words and expressions guided by Relevance-Adaptation Theory.Main findings and conclusions in the thesis are:(1)From the perspective of RAT,translation is a combination of relevance-seeking and dynamic adaptation,and Relevance-Adaptation theory is effective in describing Chinese culture-loaded word translation.(2)Shadick's translation of Lao Can You Ji is commendable because the translators endevours to transmit Chinese traditional culture by keeping the flavor of source texts and makes translation acceptable by target language readers.(3)The translation strategy in the novel is foreignization with domestication as complementary and the main methods include transliteration,literal translation,literal translation with notes and liberal translation with notes.Besides,the attempt in the thesis may shed light on solving problems resulted from cultural conflicts in literature translation.