Reexamining Derrida’s deconstructive translation thoughts from the perspective of “relevance”

Abstract: Through the lens of paradoxical structure of “relevance” and its double movement of “différance”, this paper points out that, although Derrida’s deconstructive translation thoughts does not provide methodological guidance for translation practice, it emphasizes the necessity of employing a risky economy of “conditionally relevant” calculations and strategies in specific contexts to express fidelity to the impossibility of “unconditionally relevant”. It employs phenomenological methods to argue that untranslatability carries critical significance that surpasses mere phenomenological intuition, while also revealing the nuanced interplay between translatability and untranslatability. Ultimately, this paper contributes to translation theory by illustrating how Derrida’s concepts of conditional relevance can inform more inventive and sensitive translation practices, enabling translators to navigate the complexities of meaning while maintaining fidelity to the unintelligible in the source text.