Approaches and Limits of Translation
- 2. Semantic Approach • ‘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’ Newmark (1981)
- 3. • More complex, detailed, concentrated • Tendency to overtranslate • It’s more appropriate for serious literature, autobiography and any important political statement • It’s more accurate in the reproduction of the significance of the ST • Always ‘inferior’ to the ST. It’ll always possess some kind of ‘loss’ in meaning
- 4. Communicative approach • ‘Communicative translation attempts to produce on its readers an effect as close as possible to that obtained on the readers of the original’ Newmark (1981)
- 5. • Smoother, simpler, dearer, more direct, more conventional • Tendency to undertranslate • It’s appropriate for the vast majority of texts (non-literary writing, technical and informative text, publicity, standardized types, etc) • It’s more accurate in the communication of the ST message in the TT • May be ‘better’ than the ST. It ‘gains’ clarity even if it loss semantic content
- 7. Overtranslation • It tends to give more information than the ST provides • It tends to add more words than in the ST • It could lead to a misunderstanding between the SL and the TL
- 8. Undertranslation • It tends to use less words than the ST • It overestimate the knowledge of the TL readers • It could lead to a lack of necessary information • It’s briefer and simpler