A Contrastive Study Of Folklore Translation In Two English Translations Of Bian Cheng From The Perspective Of The Relevance Translation Theory

The Relevance Translation Theory is proposed by Ernest-August Gutt on the basis of the Relevance Theory by Sperber and Wilson.This thesis adopts core factors of Relevance Translation Theory to make a contrastive study of the folklore translation in two English translations of Bian Cheng,such as,dual ostensive-inferential communication,the dual roles of translator,cognitive environment,optimal relevance,direct translation and indirect translation and so forth.Based on Relevance Translation Theory,the optimal relevance is the goal of the translator as well as the standard of translation studies.The translator's responsibility is to try his best to match source writer's intention with target text reader's expectation,so that the reader can get sufficient contextual effects by proper processing efforts.A translator with dual roles should be able to understand the intention of the source writer from the communicative clues in the source text,and at the same time,must understand the target text reader's cognitive environment.Only then can the translator convey the intention of the source text to the reader and accomplish the task of translation effectively.In the process of translation,different translators will recreate translations according to the above factors,and the translation will reflect different linguistic features.Bian Cheng,an excellent work in Chinese contemporary novels,written by Shen Congwen,with beautiful language and strong local color,contains colorful folk customs.After translating it into foreign languages,it has caused great repercussions in foreign countries.As a work full of Chinese folk culture,it brings great difficulties to later generations for the translation of it.While the success of the translation of Bian Cheng depends largely on the quality of the folklore translation.This thesis,taking Gladys Yang and Jeffrey C.Kinkley's versions of Bian Cheng as the research objects,will make a contrastive analysis of the folklore translation in these two versions and choose a version closer to the folklore culture of the source text on the basis of Relevance Translation Theory.Based on the combination between Relevance Translation Theory and the two translations of Bian Cheng,the author put forward three hypotheses: Firstly,based on Relevance Translation Theory,the translator is more inclined to choose the method of direct translation in order to retain the style of the folklore of the source text;Secondly,in order to obtain the optimal relevance translation,the translator would increase the familiar linguistic forms and expressions of the target language in translational text.Thirdly,according to Relevance Translation Theory,the translator probably produces more or less distortion due to the differences in the cognitive environments between source text writer and the translator.Through the comparison of the folklore translation in these two translations,the above three hypotheses are basically established.Firstly,in order to preserve the folklore features of the source text,the translator did tend to adopt the direct translation;Secondly,in order to satisfy target readers cognitive expectations and save their processing efforts to get optimal relevance,the translator did increase the habit expressions in target readers' cognitive environments;Thirdly,cognitive vacancy is caused by the differences in their cognitive environments,so the translator's choice of linguistic forms did exist distortion.To sum up,the following conclusions are drawn from the verification of those hypotheses: Firstly,for literary works with folklore styles,the use of direct translation strategies is more conducive to preserve the the original folklore characteristics;Secondly,the translator should make a thorough study and master of the folklore culture in a nation or a country if he or she wants to recreate an excellent literary work.The author hopes that this comparative study of folklore translation can provide some help for folklore translation in the future.And the translators should learn from others' strong points to offset their weakness.