On Interpretation In Light Of Wittgenstein’s Later Language Philosophy

Interpretation as a main means of cross-cultural communication and cooperation is of great significance to the cultural strategy for China to become more integrated with the world, and thus the importance of interpretation is increasingly prominent. In the past century, owing to the studies of more than one academic subject, which was carried by scholars in different fields, interpretation achieved a great progress. The present research aims at discussing the reconstruction of meaning on the basis of "Meaning is use", which is the linguistic-philosophical meaning viewpoints of Wittgenstein in his later period of life. Though being a philosopher, Wittgenstein committed himself to providing "a clear language view" as much as a linguist did. His later ideas in philosophy of language, especially the idea of meaning as use. the theory of family resemblance and language games, and his conception of form of life, have been very influential in the related fields of society and humanities.Following a brief overview of the theoretical framework of Wittgenstein’s later philosophical thinking and some related contemporary western thoughts, this study took a first interdisciplinary step by stating the conception of interpretation, the major periods of interpreting studies development as well as the status quo of interpretation. Proceeding from this general observation, interpretation is explained and studied within Wittgenstein’s "language game" theory. To Wittgenstein, language games are comprised of language and its involving actions.Interpretation, as a main means of cross-cultural communications, along with multiple interactions among subjects with differently embodied backgrounds, might well be taken as a language game of meaning investigation. Interpreting is not a simple,isolated language phenomenon. Rather, it is transformation between different forms of life. Meanwhile,"Meaning is use" provides a new footing for the sense making in interpretation. On account of these findings, this paper illustrates a few coping strategies, such as domestication, foreignization, explanation and transliteration; which, hopefully, can throw some light on the fledgling research work of interpretation study and research.