关联理论视角下《水浒传》沙博理;译本中习语的翻译分析-sha boli in outlaws of the marsh from the perspective of relevance theory translation analysis of idioms in translation.docx

AbstractAs a cross-disciplinary theory, Relevance Theory claims that the nature of human communication is an ostensive-inferential process. Both of the two parties of communication want to reach optimal relevance. The successful communication depends on contextual effects and processing efforts. Other things being equal, the more contextual effects derived by the hearer and the less processing efforts paid by him, the more relevance will be achieved between the two parties.Relevance Theory provides a new perspective for translation studies. Translation can be regarded as an interlingual communication that consisted of two stages. In the first stage, the translator, as a reader, is supposed to infer the communicative intentions of the writer of the original text; in the second, he, serving as a bridge, should convey his understanding of the original text to the target readers through appropriate translations.Shui Hu Zhuan, one of the four classic masterpieces of Chinese literature, is abundant in idioms with special Chinese flavor. It has been translated into many foreign languages and is well welcomed throughout the world. Among the different English versions, Sidney Shapiro’s Outlaws of the Marsh is best known and most accepted so far.This research, based on the Relevance Theory, examines how the idioms in Shui Hu Zhuan were translated by Sidney Shapiro. When translating such idioms, a translator is supposed to make the intention of the writer meet the expectation of his target readers. First, the translator should infer the communicative intentions of the original text writer, and then assess the cognitive environments of the target language readers, and finally convey those intentions to the target readers through appropriate translation. As to the evaluation of such translation, the criterion is whether the translation conveys the communicative intentions of the writer of the original text and whether it renders least processing efforts for the target readers.