翻译课程论文

Semantic translation and Communicative translationPeter Newmark was the well-known translator and theorist. He absorbed the experience summed by predecessors and research production. Meanwhile ,he linked his practice in t with the previous theory to publish a book whose name was approaches to translation in t in 1981.In this famous book, Newmark advanced two new translation methods which were semantic translation and communicative translation. These two new concepts were easy to understand and creat a new way to research the theory of translation. So they were known as Peter Newmark’s greatest contribution in translation.So what is semantic translation and communicative translation? From Newmark’s perspective ,he held the point that semantic translation attempts to render, as closely as the semantic and syntactic structures of the second language allow, the exact contextual meaning of the original while communicative translation attempts to produce to that obtained the readers of the original.After having seven classes of translation theory and techniques,I have some views on semantic translation and communicativetranslation. My understanding on semantic translation is that semantic translation is deeply based on the source text, that is to say, it is source-oriented, author-centered, and pragmatic.Using this translation method, the translator should value the form of the source text as well as the original intention of the author. Because of the requisition that target text should close to the source text in structures and words, the method emphasize on the transmission of information and the accuracy. It is somewhat like liberal translation or foreignizing translation. But in my opinion, the semantic translation collects the advantages of the word to word translation, liberal translation and loyal translation. However, it goes without saying that semantic translation also has its disadvantages because it has too much limitation. For all I know, Communicative translation is a convenient way to translate one language to another. Compared to semantic translation, communicative translation is target-oriented, reader-centered and idiomatic. As readers, they want to read a foreign book smoothly and without any difficulty. But the difference of culture will make them puzzled and confused----that is why we should take communicative translation strategy to translate foreign works. The core of communicative translation is readers, so this method attaches a great deal importance to the reader’s understanding and reaction, which means that it thinks highly of the transmission of function and effect. It require translator to organize thestructures again for the purpose of making the target text more smooth and idiomatic. Additionally, it absorbed the advantages of domesticating translation, free translation and idiomatic translation. So it is accepted by most translators.The follow is that what is the difference and association between semantic translation and communicative translation?There is no doubt that most obvious difference is the key point they emphasize. Surely, semantic translation focuses on the source text and author’s culture while communicative translation concentrates on target text and the reader’s culture. Farther more, semantic translation is objective and accurate, but communicative translation is subjective and direct. To make a long story short, semantic translation is based on the original text culture to a certain extend and communicative translation is not restrained by the original text culture.Although they have a wide variety of differences in many concepts, they are not the stranger to each other because they often meet in the target text. In other words, they are not totally unrelated and they can’t be separated in translation. In a target text, there is not pure semantic translation or communicative translation but the interaction of both. Personally speaking, I support that the combination of both is the ideal translation method. Therefore, onlyin applying these two methods flexibly can a translator produce a high-quality work.Then, the next question is that when should we apply these methods in translating?Because of the convenience of the communicative translation, most of the translators tend to use communicative translation when they translate a source text. These source texts include news reports, technology documents, official documents, informative slogans in the public occasion, the popular novels, the common established by the people through long social practice and the well-known analogies. But sometimes, in order to reflect the source test’s unique charm, preserve the author’s personal style, enrich Chinese vocabularies and make translation fresh and powerful, we will choose semantic translation. Undoubtedly, the cases such as the authoritative quotations, dramatic and fresh analogies should be applied of semantic translation.Let us see some instances of semantic translation and communicative translation.Example 1: Wet Paint!Semantic translation: 湿油漆!Communicative translation:油漆未干，请勿触摸！Analysis: The source text is the slogan in the public occasion. Whenwe use semantic translation, we convey the message of the slogan but the translation does not have the same effect as the slogan. Then ,let us pay attention to communicative translation. It can be seen that communicative translation evidently conveys the meaning and the warning.Example 2: Great minds think alike.Semantic translation: 杰出的思想大致相同。