The Application Of Relevance Theory Essay

The Application of Relevance Theory in the Artistic Conception of Watson's English Translation of Classical Chinese Poetry

I. Introduction

1.1 Research Background

The theory of relevance proposed by Sperber and Wilson is a theory about the cognition and understanding of natural language. The theory emphasizes that in order to accurately interpret natural language, it is necessary to find the association based on reasoning. As an influential cognitive pragmatics theory in recent years in the West, relevance theory has not only greatly exceeded the field of pragmatics but also penetrated into the field of translation. So far, many scholars have applied it to all aspects of translation studies, but most of the results are mainly focused on the theory of relevance and the context of translation, as well as related theory and advertising translation, relevance theory and news translation, relevance theory and novel translation aspect. The author believes that the introduction of relevance theory into the English-Chinese poetry or Chinese-English translation

To find the relevance is necessary to cognition. The translation relevance theory suggests that the translator should seek for the optimal relevance by using the context of the original text. Whether a translation is successful or not depends on the degree of relevance. In the translation of poetry, the translation of the artistic conception is quite difficult, while by using the optimal relevance principle of relevance theory, the translator can better restore the artistic conception of the poetry and make the translation more appropriate. This paper will use different translation versions of Watson's English Translation of Classical Chinese Poetry as examples to investigate the positive effects of relevance theory in the English translation of artistic conception in