Mengqi Chen
Ningbo Institute of Technology, Beihang University, Ningbo 315800, Zhejiang, China.
*Corresponding author: Mengqi Chen
Abstract
Peter Newmark’s theory of semantic translation and communicative translation has been discussed since its publication and has been verified utility in translation studies. This paper aims to explore relations with components in the translation process on the basis of communication translation and semantic translation supplemented with a case study based on Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club. Through illustration of relations of the texts, different participants in translation and cultures, conclusion is reached as follows: communicative translation focuses more on the function as well as readers’ acceptability and translators are much freer in the translating process with attention paid to the target culture; semantic translation focuses more on the conveying of meaning and source text. In this respect, translators enjoy less freedom in translating and the foreignness of the source culture is largely retained. Although there are differences between semantic translation and communicative translation, these two methods are coexistent in the same text and both are of service to a better translation. The analysis of several cases also sheds light on translation practices, from which translators may gain some inspiration in the process of translation so as to produce a better version.
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Copyright
© 2025 by the author(s).
This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (CC BY-NC-ND) license, which permits non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not modified or adapted.
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How to cite this paper
A Comparative Study on Translation in The Joy Luck Club from the Perspective of Communicative Translation and Semantic Translation
How to cite this paper: Mengqi Chen. (2025) A Comparative Study on Translation in The Joy Luck Club from the Perspective of Communicative Translation and Semantic Translation. Journal of Humanities, Arts and Social Science, 9(3), 442-449.
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.26855/jhass.2025.03.005