Imitation eller skapelse

Abstract

The aim of this study was to compare four original Japanese books with their corresponding translations in Swedish, using the following questions; are the translations semantic or communicative? And in what way does this manifest itself in the translations. Second, why do the translator choose respective method and what consequences does that bring the translation? This study was conducted using Newmark’s theories regarding semantic and communicative translation theory, whereas the semantic translation shows loyalty to the author and the communicative to the readership. Semantic translation, therefore, is more focused on preserving source text elements such as style, aesthetic value and text. The communicative translation, on the other hand, is more focused on readership comprehension. This study was conducted by choosing paragraphs in the Swedish translations and subsequently comparing them to the Japanese originals. The paragraphs were chosen depending on how well they suited the aim of this study. The selected paragraphs were then translated, word by word, in order to illustrate more clearly how Japanese text was translated into Swedish. Results show, in accordance with my hypothesis, that all the books were translated mainly using a semantic translation method where focus was on preserving source text elements where loyalty is shown towards the author. Sometimes at the expense of fluency, naturalness and comprehension. However, there are also some examples where a communicative translation method was used in order to help the Swedish readership with context.