E-C Translation Of UN Documents Under The Guidance Of Semantic Translation And Communicative Translation

Peter Newmark is one of the most important English scholars in the field of translation studies in the contemporary era.He puts forward the idea of semantic translation and communicative translation.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.Communicative translation puts more emphasis on the reading effect of the target readers.His idea has a profound influence on translation practice,and is effective in guiding the translation study of the UN official documents.The United Nations,as the largest intergovernmental organization in the world,aims to coordinate the international efforts to maintain global security and peace.It emphasizes the fair distribution of UN documents in six official languages so as to ensure cultural diversity and intercultural dialogue.Soochow University is honored to cooperate with the Department of Public Information,UN to translate the UN Yearbook Express since 2010.It is an annual publication characterized with formal style and complicated contents,posing great challenges to translators.Taking the Yearbook Express 1987 as an analytical text,the author compares the personal draft with the finalized translation submitted to the UN under the guidance of Peter Newmark's semantic translation and communicative translation.With examples being cited at lexical,syntactic and discourse levels,it is hoped that this report can be of some help to the translation practice of UN documents.The report starts with an introduction to the translation project,the features of the Yearbook Express and the theoretical framework,which is followed by a description of the whole translation process and difficulties in the translation.The main part of the report is a case study of the Yearbook Express 1987 under the guidance of semantic translation and communicative translation,where the author illustrates with examples the appropriate translation techniques at the lexical,syntactic and discourse levels.Translation methods like diction,addition and deletion at the lexical level as well as conversion and division at the syntactic level can help translators achieve a good piece of translation featuring a unity of faithfulness and smoothness.The author also analyzes the skillful use of logical words or pronouns to achieve cohesion and the importance of mode consistency to achieve coherence at the discourse level.Finally,the author makes a conclusion of the whole translation practice.Translators can adopt semantic translation or communicative translation according to the context and practical conditions so as to convey the original meaning faithfully,smoothly and clearly.