纽马克的翻译理论

1、Chapter 2Peter NewmarkSemantic and Communicative TranslationGuided ReadingPeter 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 incl

2、ude 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 communicati

3、ve 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 Nidas assumption假定，假设，设想；假装；承担，担任 that all

4、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 the conflict of loyalties, the gap between emphasis on source and target languages will always remain as the ove

5、rriding 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 Nidas dynamic equivalent translation and formal equivalent translation. Newm

6、arks 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dichotom

7、ies, 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 Nidas dynamic equivalence or Nabokows literal transl

8、ation, 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 partial部分的；偏爱/袒/心的 role发挥部分作用 in translation. Some texts, such as an expressi

9、ve 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 Newmarks semantic transl

10、ation 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 translati

11、on, 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 mo

12、re 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! in

13、 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 Newmarks translation methods in practice, which should be adopted flexibly according to the specific context and text type.A Textbook

14、 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 Buhlers 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

15、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.

16、 While semantic translation is used for expressive texts, communicative translation is for informative and vocative texts although he admits that few texts are purely expressive, informative or vocative. By stressing the wide applicability of these two translation methods, Newmark seems to overlook

17、the function of other translation methods frequently adopted in translation practice.Newmarks semantic and communicative translation ahve been quoted frequently among translation scholars. His concern about the coexistence of semantic and communicative translation shows that in his view effect-orien

18、ted translation以效果为导向的翻译 such as Nidas dynamic equivalence should not be overstressed in translation practice, but is just one type of translation. Newmarks types of translation, however, are less influential than Nidas dynamic equivalence in the field of translation studies because they raise some

19、of the same points concerning the translation process and the importance of the TT reader译文读者 (Munday 2000:46). Further, his views and comments are still very traditional and prescriptive规定的，指定的，规范的, bearing some traces of traditional translation theories. The strength of his writing lies in that hi

20、s discussion on translation covers a wide range of topics, and he always provides useful advice and guidance for translator 接受训练的人，实习生，培训生trainees with a large number of interesting and useful examples, which are more convincing than abstract theoretical arguments抽象的理论论证. The following excerpt is se

21、lected from Chapter 3 of Newmarks Approaches to Translation. In this chapter he 假定，要求postulates his two main methods of translation (i.e. Semantic and communicative translation), and tries to apply them into different types of text.Communicative and Semantic Translation1. A translation must give the

22、 words of the original.2. A translation must give the ideas of the original.3. A translation should read like an original work.4. A translation should read like a translation.5. A translation should reflect the style of the original.6. A translation should possess the style of the translation.7. A t

23、ranslation should read as a contemporary of the original.8. A translation should read as a contemporary of the translation.9. A translation may add to or omit from the original.10. A translation may never add to or omit from the original.11. A translation of verse should be in prose.12. A translatio

24、n of verse should be in verse.(The Air of Translation, T.H. Savory, Cape, 1968, p.54)In the pre-linguistics period of writing on translation, which may be said to date from Cicero through St. Jerome, Luther, Dryden, Tytler, Herder, Goethe, Schleiermacher, Buber, Ortega y Gasset, not to say Savory, o

25、pinion swung between literal and free, faithful and beautiful, exact and natural translation, depending on whether the bias was to be in favour of赞成 the author or the reader, the source or the target language of the text. Up to the nineteenth century, literal translation represented a philological语言

26、学的，文献的，文学的 academic exercise语言学学术活动 from which the cultural reformers文化改革者 were trying to rescue literature. In the nineteenth century, a more scientific approach was brought to bear on对有影响，和有关 translation, suggesting that certain types of texts must be accurately translated, while others should and

27、 could not be translated at all! Since the rise of modern linguistics (philology语言学 was becoming linguistics语言学 here in the late fifties), and anticipated by预计到 Tytler in 1790, Larbaud, Belloc, Knox and Rieu, the general emphasis, supported by communication-theorists as well as by non-literary trans

28、lators, has been placed on the reader-on informing the reader effectively and appropriately, notably显著地，明显地；尤其，特别 in Nida, Firth, Koller and the Leipzig School. In contrast相反, the brilliant essays of Benjamin, Valery and Nabokov (anticipated by Croce and Ortega y Gasset) advocating literal translati

29、on have appeared as isolated孤立的，被隔离的, paradoxical phenomena自相矛盾的现象, relevant only to与有关 translating works of high literary culture. Koller (1972) has stated that the equivalent-effect principle of translation is tending to rule out把排除在外，排除的可能性；不把考虑在内 all others, particularly the predominance of any

30、formal elements such as word or structure.The apparent triumph of the consumer is, I think, illusory. The conflict of loyalties, the gap between emphsis on source and target language will always remain as the overriding problem in translation theory and practice. However, the gap could perhaps be na

31、rrowed if the previous terms were replaced as follows:SOURCE LANGUAGE BIAS TARGET LANGUAGE BIAS LITERAL FREE FAITHFUL IDIOMATIC SEMANTIC / COMMUNICATIVECommunicative translation attempts to produce on its readers an effect as close as possible to that obtained on the readers of the original. Semanti

32、c translation attempts to render, as closely as the semantic and syntactic造句法的，句子结构的 structures of the second language allow, the exact contextual上下文的，前后关系上的 meaning of the original.In theory, there are wide differences between the two methods. Communicative translation addresses itself solely to th

33、e second reader, who does not anticipate difficulties or obscurities, and would expect a generous transfer of foreign elements into his own culture as well as his language where necessary. But even here the translator still has to respect and work on the form of the source language text as the only

34、material basis for his work. Semantic translation remains within the original culture and assists the reader only in its 言外之意，涵意connotations if they constitute组/构/形成；设立，建立，任命 the essential human (non-ethnic种族的，民族的，部落的) message of the text. One basic difference between the two methods is that where t

35、here is a conflict, the communicative must emphasize the force rather than the content of the message. Thus for Bissige Hund or Chien mechant, the communicative translation Beware of the dog! Is mandatory命令的；义务的，强制的; the semantic translations (dog that bite, savage dog) would be more informative but

36、 less effective. Generally, a communicative translation is likely to be smoother, simpler, clearer, more direct, more conventional依照惯例的，符合习俗的，因循守旧的；常规的, conforming to a particular register语域（在特定社交场合或专业领域中人们使用的词汇 语法等的范围） of language, tending to （与名）在下面/之下；级别低于，隶属于（与形、动）不足under-translate, i.e.即，换而言之，也

37、就是 To use more generic类的，属的；一般的，通用的, hold-all terms in difficult passages. A semantic translation tends to be more complex, more awkward不灵活的，笨拙的, more detailed, more concentrated, and pursues the thought-processes思考过程 rather than the intention of the transmitter传送/递者；传输者；传播者；发射机，发射台. It tends to ove

38、r-translate, to be more specific than the original, to include more meanings in its search for one nuance意义上的细微差别 of meaning.However, in communicative as in semantic translation, provided that equivalent-effect in secured, the literal word-for-word translation is not only the best, it is the only va

39、lid method of translation. There is no excuse for unnecessary 同义词synonyms, let alone v.&n.释义，意译，改述paraphrases, in any type of translation.Conversely相反地, both semantic and communicative translation comply with遵照，服从 the usually accepted syntactic造句法的，句子结构的 equivalents (Vinay and Darbelnets transpositi

40、ons) for the two languages in question正在谈论的. Thus, by both methods, a sentence such as II traversa la Manche en nageant would normally be translated as He swam across the Channel. In semantic, but not communicative translation, any deviation背离，偏离；偏差；离题 from SL 文体规范stylistic norms规范，标准 would be refle

41、cted in an equally wide deviation from the TL norms, but where such norms clash, the deviations are not easy to formulate构想出，规划；系统地阐述，确切地表达, and the translator has to show a certain tension between the writers manner and the 强迫，强制；冲动，欲望compulsions of the target language. Thus when the writer uses lo

42、ng complex sentences in a language where the sentence in a literary (carefully worked) style is usually complex and longer than in the TL, the translator may reduce the sentences somewhat, compromising between the norms of the two languages and the writer. If in doubt, however, he should trust the w

43、riter, not the language, which is a sum of abstractions抽象的总和. A semantic translation is concrete. Thus when faced with:此处略去一段法语。The translator has to cling to words, 排列，配置；组合，搭配collocations, structures, emphases（emphasis的复数）强调，重点:The utilitarian功利的，实用的 point of view is as alien and inappropriate as

44、it possibly could be precisely to such an intense eruption爆发 of supreme rank-classifying, rank-discriminating value-judgements: here in fact feeling has reached the antithesis对立，相反；对句，对偶 of the low degree of fervour（fervor）热情，热诚，热烈 presumed in every type of calculating深谋远虑的，精明的；算计的，攻于心计的；计算的 clevern

45、ess, every assessment of utility. (My version.)Thus a translation is always closer to the original than any intralingual舌的，语言的 rendering or paraphrase misnamed translation by George Steiner(1975), and therefore it is an indispensable不可缺少的，必需的 tool for a semantician（semanticist）语义学学者，精通语义学的人 and now

46、a philosopher. Communicative and semantic translation may well coincide同时发生；相符，一致-in particular尤其，特别, where the text conveys a general rather than a culturally (世俗的，现世的，尘世的；短暂的，暂时的temporally and 空间的，与空间有关的spatially) bound形成的界线，限制 message有文化限制的信息 and where the matter is as important as the manner-not

47、ably then in the translation of the most important religious, philosophical, artistic and scientific texts, assuming second readers as informed and interested as the first. Further, there are often sections in one text that must be translated communicatively (e.g.non-lieu-nonsuit驳回), and others sema

48、ntically (e.g. A quotation from a speech). There is no one communicative nor one semantic method of translating a text-these are in fact widely v.重叠，把叠在一起；与部分一致n.重叠的部分overlapping 一队/伙/组/群/帮bands of methods. A translation can be more, or less, semantic-more, or less, communicative-even a particular s

49、ection or sentence can be treated more communicatively or less semantically. Thus in some passages, Q.Hoare and G. Nowell Smith (1971) state that: We feel it preferable更可取的，更好的，更合意的 to choose fidelity忠诚，忠实；精确 over good English, despite its awkwardness, in view of鉴于，考虑到 the importance of some concept

50、s in Gramscis work. Each method has a common basis in analytical or cognitive translation which is built up both proposition观点，见解，主张；提议，建议；定理，命题 by proposition and word by word, denoting表示，是的标志，意味着；指的是，意思是 the empirical factual事实的，真实的，确凿的 knowledge of the text, but finally respecting the convention习

51、俗，惯例；公约，协议；会议，大会 of the target language provide that the thought-content of the text has been reproduced. The translation emerges in such a way that the exact meaning or function of the words only become apparent as they are used. The translator may have to make interim暂时的，临时的；间歇的，过渡期间的 decisions wi

52、thout being able at the time to visualize the relation of the words with the end product. Communicative and semantic translation bifurcate分成两支，分叉 at a later stage of analytical or cognitive translation which is a 在前，先于，预先pre-translation procedure which may be performed on the source-language text to

53、 convert it into the source or the target language-the reluctant versions will be closer to each other than the original text and the final translation.In principle, cognitive translation 使互换位置transposes the SL text grammatically to plain animate活的，有生命的；有活力的，有生气的 subject+verb+non-animate object 条款；从

54、句，分句clauses, or, in the extended version, to sequences of: an agent (subject) does (active verb) something (direct object直接宾语) to or for someone (indirect object) with something (instrumental) somewhere (locative表示位置的) sometime (temporal) to make something (resultant作为结果的，因而发生的)-additionally, an age

55、nt/object may be in a variety of relationships with another agent/object (possessive占有欲强的，不愿与人分享的；表示所属关系的词, equative同义词, dependency属国，属地；依赖性, source, partitive表示部分的（e.g. some,any), genitive属格，所有格, characteristic, etc.)-(relationships often covered or concealed by the English preposition介词 of), which

56、 must be spelt out in a clause. Thus the grammatical meaning of the SL text becomes explicit. Further, cognitive translation splits up断绝关系，离婚；裂开，分裂 the word-class a.同其他事物演变的；非独创的n.衍生词，派生词derivatives, i.e. 副词adverbs (=preposition+adjective+noun), adjectival形容词的 nouns (e.g. whiteness), qualifying限制的，限

57、定的 prefix-verb-nouns (e.g. contribution), noun-verbs (e.g. to ration), noun-adjective-verb-nouns (e.g. rationalization), etc., into their 组成部分，成分，零部件components and 详细解说explicates the relations of all multiple同许多部分组成的，复合的，多样的，多重的 noun compounds (e.g. data acquisition数据采集 control system: system to con

58、trol the acquiring of data). Further, it replaces figurative比喻的，借喻的 and colloquial口语的，会话的 language, idioms and 成语的，词语的phrasal verbs短语动词 with 表示的，指示的denotative terms; clears up清理；澄清；放晴；解决 lexical and grammatical ambiguities模棱两可，含糊不清; 加入（额外的事），窜改；插入（话、文字）interpolates relevant encyclopedic广博的，知识渊博的；百科全

59、书的 information for ecological生态的，生态学的, cultural and institutional制度的；学会的，协会的 terms; replaces 代词pronouns with nouns and identifies referential参考的，参照的；指示的 synonyms参照代名词; reduces cultural terms to their functional definitions; and analyses the semantic语义的 features of any words that are likely to be split into two or three words wh