A Semantic and Communicative Translation Analysis of Chapter Eight of The Love Hypothesis

Abstract

This study takes Chapter Eight of The Love Hypothesis by the American novelist Ali Hazelwood as the object of translation practice. The novel presents a romantic love story characterized by a humorous and light‑hearted style without sacrificing professionalism. Guided by Peter Newmark’s theories of semantic translation and communicative translation, the translation practice applies semantic translation to the rendering of dialogues and adopts communicative translation to bring the target text closer to the reading experience intended by the original author. The findings indicate that in the translation of romance fiction, translators should flexibly employ different translation theories and methods to achieve vividness in the target language and convey the stylistic effect of the original. Rather than adhering rigidly to the form and expression of the source text, translators should avoid producing a translation that renders lively sentences in the original dull and lifeless.