Semantic Translation And Communicative Translation Research

Approaches to Translation and A Textbook of Translation by Peter Newmark,the famous English translation theorist,apply a lot of practical examples of linguistic theories of meaning to translation appropriately.Yet Newmark departs from Nida's receptor-oriented line.He feels that the success of equivalent effect is "illusory" and that "The conflict of loyalties,the gap between emphasis on source and target language,will always remain as the overriding problem in translation theory and practice"(Newmark,1981,p.38).From the view of Newmark,the gap could perhaps be narrowed if the previous terms were replaced by 'semantic' and 'communicative'translation.This thesis briefly analyzes Peter Newmark 's semantic translation and communicative translation.By taking the translation of Jamaican novelist Marlon James'novel A Brief History of Seven Killings as an example,from the aspects of special words and phrases,dialogues and psychological descriptions,and scenes and actions descriptions,the author has analyzed the application of semantic translation and communicative translation.When we translate special slangs and phrases,we should consider both the context and the expressing habit of the target language,so as to convey the author' s authentic intention.When we translate dialogues and psychological descriptions,we should firstly pay attention to the language characteristics,because dialogues are more colloquial and psychological descriptions are more detailed.We have to consider which translation method we should use so that the readers can sense the characteristics of source language.The language of scenes and actions descriptions is very vivid,so the translation should also keep the same effect in order to help readers to see the scene clearly.The conclusion is that the semantic translation could be used in combination with the communicative translation in translation practices.Only in this way can we get the best outcomes.