Semantic And Communicative Translation Of Philosophical Texts

This is a report on the translation of a philosophical work.The source text is a part of the book named Meaning in Life: The Harmony of Spirit and Nature by Owen Singer,professor of philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.The book focuses on the interaction between nature and the values that define human spirituality.With rapid development of global exchanges,we need to constantly introduce high-quality works,including philosophical books,for us to better understand other peoples and other cultures.While we value traditional Chinese philosophy and should continue to study it,we should also acquaint ourselves with western philosophy.Translation plays a very important role in this process.Therefore,translating philosophical texts and putting forward practical translation strategies are of great significance for promoting cultural exchanges.This translation report draws on Newmark's theory of semantic translation and communicative translation,and aims to analyze the strategies used in the process of translating philosophical texts.In order to present the author's thinking process,semantic translation strives to preserve the original language characteristics and the unique expressions,while communicative translation focuses on the readers,so translator can make some appropriate adjustments in order to let them understand the text better.Following Newmark's theory and taking into consideration the characteristics of the philosophical texts,I would set out to analyze in what conditions and how the strategy of semantic or communicative translation should be adopted.I would analyze both the lexical and the sentential levels of the text.The report consists of four chapters.The first chapter is the introduction,which mainly includes the background,purpose and significance of the translation project;The second chapter provides a brief survey of Nermark's theory of semantic and communicative translation.It first describes how I have carried out my translation in guidance of Newmark's theory.Then a detailed presentation of Newmark's translation theories including his writingon semantic translation and communicative translation.After that,the differences between the two are investigated.Finally,the suitability of employing the respective strategy of semantic and communicative translation in rendering Singer's book is discussed;The third chapter is a description of the translation process,including task description,translation preparation,translation process and post-translation editing.The fourth chapter are case studies of the application of semantic translation and communicative translation in my translation.Based on the above three techniques,i.e.conversion,omission and amplification,are proposed at the lexical level.Three other methods,i.e.substitution,reversion and division,are proposed at the sentential level.The last chapter a conclusion of the report.