Strategies On Pragmatic Translation: From The Perspective Of Relevance Theory

Two pragmatists, Sperber and Wilson, proposed relevance theory, which not only aroused great interest in the pragmatics circle but also shed great light on translation studies. Later, Gutt, their student, applied relevance theory to translation studies, and further illustrated its significance for translation. However, Gutt provides little guide for translators on the selection of translation strategies to achieve better communicative effect. Therefore, by applying basic items of relevance theory and analyzing some examples in translation, this paper proposes to explain what translation is, what end translation should achieve and what strategies translators should employ under the guidance of relevance theory in order to achieve this end.Relevance theory holds that translation is a two-level communication act involving three kinds of participants: the original writer, the translator and the TL readers. These two levels of communication are conducted in two languages with different cultures. In this way, the cognitive environments of SL readers and TL readers would differ and therefore, the task left for the translator is to take into full account the cognition of the TL readers and to employ appropriate strategies in an effort to achieve the pragmatic equivalent effect.This paper is mainly devoted to the analysis of what strategies translators should employ in order to achieve pragmatic equivalent effect. It proposes to analyze the selection of strategies under three circumstancesFirst, in the circumstance when one-to-one equivalents corresponding in both meaning and form can be found in SL and TL, it is quite easy for translators to select translation strategies to achieve equivalent effect. We can label such as the limiting case of domestication.Second, in the circumstance when the equivalents corresponding solely in meaning can be found in the TL, domestication is preferred.Third, in the circumstance no equivalents can be found, the translator is faced with two choices, one is to paraphrase or to employ adaptation; the other is to employ the strategy of foreignization, and footnotes are needed if necessary.Therefore, domestication and foreignization are not opposing or mutual exclusive, but they can bring out the best in each other. However, in the framework of relevance theory, the author holds that the strategy of domestication plays a dominant role in translation, while the strategy of foreignization provides a useful complement.