Pragmatic equivalence, meaning to transfer the implied meaning of the source text to the target text, usually involves the receiver to whom the translation is directed. Two notions are crucial in translation to achieve pragmatic equivalence: context and optimal relevance. In light of these two element, the author in this paper conducts a case study by using Shakespeare's play The Merchant of Venice and two Chinese versions from Zhu Shenghao and Sun Dayu as data, by comparing these two versions to explore how pragmatic equivalence in translation can be achieve at lexical, semantic and cultural levels.
