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Abstract
Relevance Theory provides an account of translating for a secondary audience: an audience which is separated in time and space, from that of the original audience. The definition of translation as “interlingual interpretive use” (Gutt Translation 105) accounts for the possibility of a range of translations. This varied from complete interpretive resemblance to looser degrees of interpretive resemblance. Communicating the same message in a different context is exactly what translation does. The inference of meaning in human communication is context-dependent. In RT, the cognitive environment of the message plays a crucial role in forming interpretation. Unless the cognitive environment is clear, the cognitive process of the reader cannot function and communication does not take place. For this, the cognitive environment of the source text- John is first traced. John was written in a pluralistic context where there was a sufficient intermingling of ideas and philosophies. The events in the Gospel need to be understood in the light of the historical context in which it was recorded.