Both theories are based on linguistics and recognize the equality and translatability of language. They all think that translation is the unity of science and art, and they all attach importance to the text theory in translation, although Newmark pays more attention to the influence of text on translation methods. In addition, both theories are centered on the responses of the target audience and readers (Jiang and Tang Meilian, 2003: 157- 107).
In fact, Newmark's text theory further develops Nida's equivalence theory, making its application more specific and standardized, and more instructive to translators. However, there are also great differences between the two methods. For example, Newmark thinks that communicative translation mainly focuses on the receiver, adapting the ideas and cultural contents in the source language into something more acceptable to readers, while Nida is more open in this regard.
Emphasize not to read any foreign flavor in the translation; These two methods are also different in the concept of paying attention to readers. In the theory of equivalence, the reader is anyone who reads the translation, but in actual translation, the target reader corresponds to the original reader, so the scope of readers in the theory of equivalence is much larger. In addition, communicative translation is much bolder in the theory of modifying and reorganizing the original text, and it can freely modify poorly written or poorly written sentences in the original text, while in the theory of equivalence, it can only modify sentences that hinder readers' understanding in the original text;
Finally, communicative translation emphasizes the power of information, not the content, while functional equivalence emphasizes reflecting the meaning and intention of the original text and only pays attention to communication.