Interpreting Chinese Metaphors From The Perspective Of Relevance Theory

Modern cognitive linguists view metaphor as a cognitive phenomenon–the methodand result of human cognition. Metaphor works as human projects one concept to anotherconcept and thus creates a connection between these two concepts. Therefore, it is quiteevident that metaphor can be used to express and communicate otherwise quitecomplicated ideas between speaker and listener.In interpreting, metaphor also occurs in the source speech now and then, especially atthe press conferences of our Chinese government. China is a country with a long historyand rich cultural heritage. Metaphors both inherited from our ancestors and created by ourown generations truly facilitate our communication. However, the interpreting of suchmetaphors is never an easy task. In interpreting of metaphors, the interpreter is required notonly to deliver the concept mentioned by the speaker but also to convey the connotativelyprojected concept. Moreover, the interpretation still needs to be as natural as possible.This thesis tries to probe into the interpreting of Chinese metaphors from theperspective of relevance theory. This perspective requires the interpreter to achieve optimalrelevance in the interpreting of metaphors. After thorough analysis of interpretations ofmetaphors, most of which were used by Premier Wen Jiabao at the press conferences afterNPC and CPPCC sessions from2005to2012, this thesis tries to find convenient strategiesregarding metaphor interpreting. In this way, the interpreter can tackle the source speechmetaphors effectively, and then continue to reproduce other pieces of informationconveyed by the speaker.