Dyahpramesti Review of Related Studies
Formal Equivalence Dynamic Equivalence
Focus on the form of the message Focus on the response of the
message for TR – in order to be
essentially like the SR The goal is to reproduce the same
meaning The goal is to reproduce the same
response
Meanwhile, Nida’s formal and dynamic equivalence are similar with
Newmark’s semantic and communicative translation. According to Newmark, 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 1981:39. It means, semantic translation tries to
maintain the structure of the text so that the structure in the target text would be as closely as possible with the original text.
On the other hand, communicative translation 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 1981:40. Hence, the translator thoughts and ideas are sometimes involves in
this kind of translation because the translator is trying to achieve a certain effect or response from the reader in the target language. The difference
between semantic and communicative translation can be summarized in table as follows:
Table 2. Compa rison of Newmark’s Semantic and Communicative
Translation Semantic Translation
Communicative Translation
Written at author’s linguistic level Written at reader’s linguistic level
Used for expressive texts, e.g. autobiography, political statement
Used for informative texts, e.g. non- literary writin, popular fiction
Semantic Translation Communicative Translation
Every word translated represents some loss of meaning
The same words similarly translated lose no meaning at all
Translator’s thoughts and ideas are not involved in translating a text
Translator’s thoughts and ideas are involved in translating a text
From the explanation above, the writer noted several similarities of the theories as stated by Nida
’s and Newmark’s. Both Nida and Newmark mention about the form of the message, both semantic and structural form,
which should be as closely as possible with the original text. Moreover, dynamic equivalence and communicative translation also have basic
similarity, to produce a good translation of text and easily understood by the reader.