A Report On E-C Translation Of The Value Of Emily Dickinson(Excerpt) Guided By Relevance Translation Theory

This report is based on the translation practice of the English academic monograph The Value of Emily Dickinson(Chapters 4-6).The translation project requires the translator to transform the source text into Chinese for the undergraduate and post-graduate majoring in foreign literature and those who are interested in foreign literature.Published in 2016 by Mary Loeffelholz,the monograph demonstrates Dickinson’s significance in the past,present and future.The characteristics of the source text are distinct.It is academic and difficult to read.At the lexical level,the source text contains massive pronouns,nominalized verbs and adjectives,and terms from various disciplines.At the syntactic level,the source text is characterized by long and complex sentences,and the implicit logic relationship within the sentences.At the textual level,some paragraphs are connected by implicit logic,and the purports of some paragraphs is implicit too.These features may result in communication barriers between the author of the source text and the target readers.Therefore,the target text needs to clearly convey the source text’s meaning so that the source text’s readers can understand the author’s academic arguments better,realizing successful communication between the source author and the target readers.The translation purpose is consistent with relevance translation theory.Ernst-August Gutt’s relevance translation theory,based on the study of Dan Sperber and Deirdre Wilson,believes that translation is like a communicative activity,which contains an ostensive-inferential model.The intention of the source text’s author is expressed through ostension and the readers attempt to understand the intention through inference.The success of communication depends on whether “optimal relevance” can be achieved.This translation project,guided by relevance translation theory,strives to achieve the optimal relevance of the target text.The report is composed of five chapters.Chapter one introduces the general information,the process and the significance of the translation project.Chapter two analyzes the source text’s features at lexical,syntactic and textual levels to clarify the understanding difficulties.Chapter three is the theoretical basis.It summarizes the theory’s development,explains the analytical dimension of the ostensive-inferential model as well as the concept of optimal relevance in translation and demonstrates the feasibility of applying the theory to translation and the translation project.Chapter four is the case analysis,which lists and analyzes some typical cases in the translation project at lexical,syntactic and textual levels to clarify the translation methods adopted to achieve the optimal relevance of the target text.Chapter five is the conclusion,which summarizes the major findings as well as the limitations in this translation project and report,then gives some suggestions for future academic translation.The report explores the feasibility of applying relevance translation theory to academic translation.It hopes the translation strategies as well as lexical,syntactic and textual methods used in this project can provide reference for future academic translation practice.