The Research of Culture-bounded Terms in the English Translation of Red Sorghum from the Perspective of Relevance Theory

Abstract

Winning of the Nobel Prize for Literature gave Mo Yan an international repute. And the study of Howard Goldblatts translation of Mos work has become a trend. Previous studies have already taken various of perspectives to research Goldblatts translation texts, focusing on his translation strategies and the effects in the western world. As Red Sorghum is among the most popular novels of Mo Yan in the western world, this essay will take it as the research material to reveal Goldblatts translation strategy of Explicitation from the perspective of the Relevance Theory, and thus to conclude a feasible approach for translators to disseminate Chinese literature and culture to be seen and heard by the world. It creatively combines Explicitation in stylistics and the Relevance Theory to categorize the effects of the translation in three types: add dramatic effects, enhance the tone and make the words more vivid. The findings indicate that Explicitation is feature of Goldblatts translation work and it does take positive effects on the dissemination of Chinese culture, providing the target readers the highest contextual effect with the lowest processing efforts.