earticle

영어

Generally, translations have been evaluated in terms of faithfulness and readability. This paper suggests that relevance (defined and used in relevance theory), which is determined by cognitive effects and processing effort, be used as a criterion for evaluating literary translations. It reviews three Korean translations of the short novel Cat in the Rain written in English by Ernest Hemingway, in terms of cognitive effects and processing effort. It focuses on the translations of third language (i.e. Italian) expressions, referring expressions, free indirect speech, and other elements such as vocabulary and phrases. Those translations sometimes tried to convey the same cognitive effects that the original writer wanted to produce, while at other times they tried to save the processing effort that the readers need to make. Finally, the paper concludes that optimal relevance can explain the differences between the three translations.