Description of both approaches when translating. Limits concerning translation Translation definition by Peter Newmark.

1. SEMANTIC AND COMMUNICATivE APPROACH
LIMITS ON TRANSLATION
TOPICS
Jazmín Balbuena | Traducción Literaria I
Universidad de Morón
TRANSLATION BY P. NEWMARK

2. SEMANTIC
APPROACH

3. • It seeks loyalty to the original text
• It is individual
• It is author-centered
• It persues the nuances of meaning
• It maintains the meaning
• It interprets
• It is written at the author’s linguistic level
OVERTRANSLATE
This method attempts to render the exact contextual meaning of the original, as closely as the
semantic and syntactic structures of the Target Language allow.
It tends to

4. COMMUNICATIVE
APPROACH

5. • It is reader-centered
• It has an equivalence effect
• It is more accessible to the reader
• It is more natural
• It explains
• It is written at the readership level
• It maintains the message
UNDERTRANSLATE
It attempts to render the exact contextual meaning of the original in such a way that both content and
language are readily acceptable and comprehensible to the readership.
It tends to

6. The right use of the Semantic or
Communicative approach will result in
Equivalence Lack of equivalence
according to the original text

7. LIMITS ON
TRANSLATION

8. Overtranslation
• It has more words than the original text
• Words are used in a broader meaning
Undertranslation
• It has less words than the original text
• It is simpler and briefer
The desire to create an equivalent effect can lead
to
BUT Mistraslation
Information that is not in the original text is added.

9. The accurate and elegant transfer of
the meaning of the text of one
language to the text of another for a
new readership with a different
culture. (Newmark, 1982)
According to Peter Newmark, only semantic and communicative translations meet the basic objectives
of translation, which are accurrancy and economy.
TRANSLATION

10. ❖ Semantic translation takes into account the aesthetic value of the
original, being more flexible than other methods but tending to
overtranslation as it deals with reproducing the same pragmatic impact
as the original text.
❖ Communicate translation takes into account the effect produced
on the reader since it deals with understanding the contextual meaning
and reaching the target culture. It tends to overtranslation as reproducing
the same effect may no be always possible.
According to Peter Newmark

11. When translating whether using the Communicative or Semantic approach, it is
important that the translator seeks for the greatest possible equivalence of the original
text. Sometimes equivalence is not easy to achieve so translators must try to avoid
undertranslation, overtranslation and, indeed, mistranslation.
As to conclude...