纽马克的翻译理论

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1 / 54 Chapter 2

Peter Newmark

Semantic and Communicative Translation

Guided Reading

Peter Newmark (1916) is an accomplished translation scholar as

well as an experienced translator. He has translated a number of

books and articles and published extaensively on translation. His

publications on translation include Approaches to

Translation

(1981), About Translation(1983), Paragraphs on Translation段落翻译(1985), A Textbook of Translation翻译教程(1988), and

More Paragraphs on Translation(1993).

In his work Approaches to Translation, Newmark proposes two

types of translation: semantic translation语义翻译

and

communicative translation交际翻译. Semantic translation

focuses primarily upon the semantic content of the source text

whereas communicative translation focuses essentially upon the

comprehension and response of receptors. This

distinction

results from his disapproval of Nida's assumption假定,假设,设想;假装;承担,担任 that all translating

is

communicating, and the overriding最主要的,最优先的

principle of any translation is to achieve "equivalent effect". For

Newmark, the success of equivalent effect is "illusory", and that 2 / 54 "the conflict of loyalties, the gap between emphasis on

source

and target languages will always remain as the overriding

problem in translation theory and practice"(1981:38). To narrow

the gap, Newmark

系统地阐述,确切地表达;规划,构想出formulates his concepts of "communicative translation"

and

"semantic translation", which in a sense从某种意义上说 are

similar to Nida's "dynamic equivalent translation" and "formal

equivalent translation". Newmarks admits "communicative

translation" is a common method and could be used in

many

types of translation. Nevertheless, he justifies证明……正当/有理,为……辩护 the legitimacy合法性,正当;合理性,妥当;嫡出,正统 of "semantic translation" in the

following

three aspects. Firstly, all translations depend on the three

一分为二,二分法;本质对立dichotomies, namely, the foreign and

native cultures, the two languages, the writer and the translator.

Hence, it is unlikely to have a universal theory that could

include all these factors. Secondly, previous discussions on

methods of translation, either Nida's "dynamic equivalence" or

Nabokow's "literal translation", does not reflect the actual reality

of translation method, for each of them either recommends one

or 贬低,轻视disparages the other. Thirdly, the social factors,

especially the readers of the second language, only play a partial3 / 54 部分的;偏爱/袒/心的 role发挥部分作用 in translation. Some

texts, such as an expressive one, require a

"semantic

translation"(1981:62). It can be seen that可以看出 by

proposing the coexistence of "communicative translation"

and

"semantic translation", Newmark suggests a correlation相互关系,关联;相关性 between translation method and text type.

It should be pointed out that应该指出的是

Newmark's

semantic translation differs from literal translation直译 because

the former "respects context", interprets and even explains while

the latter sticks very closely to source text at word and syntax

level(1981:62). Literal translation, however, is held to be the

best approach in both semantic and communicative translation,

"provided that如果 equivalent effect is secured, the

literal

word-for-word translation is not only the best, it is the only valid

method of translation"(1981:39). Here Newmark seems to only

take account of考虑到,顾及,体谅 literary translation rather

than non-literary translation, which is often rendered more

freely in order to communicate the meaning. But he also states

that when there is a conflict between semantic

and

communicative translation, the latter would win out胜出.

For

instance, it is better to render communicatively the

public sign公共标志 bissiger Hund and chien mechant into beward the dog! 4 / 54 in order to communicate efficiently the message, but

not

semantically as dog that bites! and bad dog!(1981:39).

Nevertheless, it is difficult for a translator to follow Newmark's

translation methods in practice, which should be adopted

flexibly according to the specific context and text type.

A Textbook of Translation is an expansion and a revision

of

Approaches to Translation in many aspects在很多方面. In this

book, Newmark, follwing the German linguist Karl Buhler's

functional theory of language, proposes three main types of texts

(i.e. expressive有表现力的,富有表情的, informative提供大量资料或信息的,授予知识的 and vocative呼格的) as well

as methods of translating them (Chapters 4 and 5). Although he

lists many translation methods from word-for-word translation

to adaptation, he insists that "only semantic and communicative

translation fulfill the two main aims of translation, which are

first, accuracy, and second, economy". While semantic

translation is used for expressive texts, communicative