A Textbook of Translation

Peter Newmark 1988

This book has been five years in the writing. Sections of it have twice been stolen during travel and have been rewritten, hopeniliy better than the first time – the fond hope of ail writers who have had their MSS lost, stolen or betrayed. Its ‘progress’ has been further interrupted by requests for papers for conferences; four of these papers have been incorporated; others, listed in the bibliography are too specialised for inclusion here. It is not a conventional textbook. Instead of offering, as originally planned, texts in various languages for you to translate, I have supplied in the appendices examples of translational text analyses, translations with commentaries and translation criticism. They are intended to be helpful illustrations of many points made in the book, and models for you to react against when you do these three stimulating types of exercise.

Reviews

This work is a textbook and a handbook of translation for English and foreign students working alone or on courses at degree and post-graduate level. An interesting read for every upstart translator. Good practical advice, although some of the theoretical theses are somewhat out-of-date. A further limitation of the book is its orientation towards an English-speaking translator translating from French. There are some examples of translating from/into German, but Newmark has some archaistic notions about the German language, which could confuse/mislead a modern-day translation student.