Approaches to Translation

This book, Approaches to Translation (2nd edition), was written by Peter Newmark (1988).

In the foreword to the book, Eugene A. Nida remarked that Peter Newmark had made an important contribution to a more satisfactory understanding of the real nature of translation and the many phases of the translator's task. Newmark's major contribution is in a detailed treatment of semantic vs. communicative translating in which semantic translation focuses primarily upon the semantic content of the source text and communicative translation focuses essentially upon the comprehension and response of receptors.

This approach to translation flatly rejects the proposition that translation is a science, but it does insist on treating the basic propositions of translation in terms of a theory of communication, one which is not restricted to a single literary genre or text type but which has applicability to a wide range of discourse and related problems. Accordingly, this volume deals extensively with the problems of figurative language and proposes a number of valuable suggestions as to how these can and should be handled.

Newmark's teaching experience leads him to deal with a number of matters which most books on translation largely overlook -- e.g., the rendering of proper names and titles and the translation of metalinguistic texts, which, with the exception of lyric poetry, are perhaps the most difficult types of texts to render without considerable readjustments in content and form.

The second part of this volume treats not only a wide range of practical issues, including punctuation, translation techniques, and technical translating, but also some elements of central importance to any student of translation -- e.g., the significance of linguistics for translation and the relevance of translation theories to the translator's task.

Probably some of the most insightful comments in this volume are those which suggest a basis for a critique of translation methodology-something which one could well expect of someone who has had such a long and rich experience in teaching prospective translators and evaluating their efforts.

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