C-E Translation of Suzhou Embroidery as ICH from the Perspective of Relevance Translation Theory

As vehicles for cultural dissemination, intangible cultural heritage (ICH) practices convey to the world China’s values and its civilizational vision of harmony in diversity and vitality through continuity. As a prominent form of Chinese ICH, Suzhou Embroidery presents significant challenges for English translation, given its profound cultural connotations, distinctive aesthetic expressions, and specialized craft knowledge. Drawing on Relevance Translation Theory, this paper first identifies the primary cognitive barriers involved in translating Suzhou Embroidery. It then examines how translators can optimize readers’ cognitive processing through strategic choices, including lexical clarification, information restructuring, sensory-oriented elaboration, and the use of paratexts. These strategies aim to strike a dynamic balance between preserving source-cultural essence and ensuring target-reader comprehension, thereby facilitating the effective cross-cultural dissemination of Suzhou Embroidery as ICH.