The Importance of Equivalence in Translation Language is a play on words and the way humans communicate with each other. From the time we are babies, we are exposed to our caregivers explaining the world to us verbally. Using language, we can describe our surroundings, feelings, and things.
What is translation equivalence?
Translation equivalence occurs when an SL [source language] and TL [target language] texts or items are related to (at least some of) the same relevant features of situation substance. [21]
What is equivalence and why is it important?
A literal translation is a useless translation – you have to understand the meaning behind the words. Equivalence is a powerful tool in service of that goal, but it only works when you have a deep, comprehensive understanding of the process.
Which is the most salient feature of a quality translation?
This equivalence relation is generally considered the most salient feature of a quality translation. 2. Problems of Equivalence The principle that a translation should have an equivalence relation with the source language text is problematic.
What factors influence the concept of equivalence in literature?
The factors that influence the concept of equivalence are : the extralinguistic content, the connotations of the text, the norms of language and usage associated with a type of text, the recipient of the message as well as the aesthetics and stylistics of a text.
What is equivalence in translation and examples?
An expression from a language which has the same meaning as, or can be used in a similar context to, one from another language, and can therefore be used to translate it: for example, English “Run there” to Hindi “udar bhago.” Achieving such correspondences involves special bilingual skills to cope with the tendency ...
Why is formal equivalence important?
Pros of Formal Equivalence It is more likely to retain the direct meaning of the text and less likely to be influenced by the translator. Formal equivalence allows for untranslated idioms and strives to avoid localization, so those who are familiar with the source culture and language can come to their own conclusions.
What is the problem of equivalence in translation?
The problem with equivalence is this. We know that equivalence is the real thing in translation, that there is no translation if there is no equivalence between the original text and the translated text. And we know of course that equivalence exists, that is not the real problem.
What is formal equivalence in translation?
What is formal equivalence? Formal equivalence is an approach to translation where the aim is to remain as close as possible to the original text. The translated text will preserve the vocabulary and the grammatical structure of the source text.
Do you think equivalence matter in the translation process?
A literal translation is a useless translation – you have to understand the meaning behind the words. Equivalence is a powerful tool in service of that goal, but it only works when you have a deep, comprehensive understanding of the process.
What is functional equivalence translation?
Functional equivalence finding is the process, where the translator understands the concept in the source language and finds a way to express the same concept in the target language in the way, in which the equivalent conveys the same meaning and intent as the original.
Why the equivalence problem is important?
As the equivalence problem is essential in many applicationsfrom compilers to hardware and software verificationwe need algorithms that avoid the worst-case complexity as often as possible. The exponential blow-up can be avoided in many cases by keeping the subset construction implicit.
What is the concept of equivalence?
Thus, equivalence is defined as a relationship existing between two (or more) entities, and the relationship is described as one of likeness/sameness/similarity/equality in terms of any of a number of potential qualities.
What is important in translating a text the word equivalent or the idea behind the text?
A literal translation is practically useless when the meaning behind the words is not upheld. Equivalence only works when you have a deep understanding of what the source content is trying to convey. It doesn't simply cover the meaning of the content but the tone and style of the delivery.
How many types of equivalence are there?
There are two main types of equivalence; qualitative and quantitative. In qualitative there are five types of equivalence; Referential or Denotative, Connotative, Text-Normative, Pragmatic or Dynamic and Textual Equivalence.…
What is equivalence in translation PDF?
1.Translation and Equivalence. Translation is broadly defined as the rendering of a message or information from one. language (Source Language) into another language (Target Language). In other words, it is. the establishing of the semantic - or meaning - equivalence between a SL text, or more.
What is the purpose of dynamic equivalence translation?
In summary, dynamic equivalence theory approaches Bible translation with the aim of producing the closest natural equivalent to the source-language message that prioritizes meaning over form.
What is the purpose of literary translation?
Literary translation involves translating dramatic and creative poetry and prose into other languages, and it is a hugely important task. It helps to shape a reader's understanding of the world, their history, philosophy, politics, and more.
What is the difference between formal and dynamic equivalence?
Formal equivalence approach tends to emphasize fidelity to the lexical details and grammatical structure of the original language, whereas dynamic equivalence tends to employ a more natural rendering but with less literal accuracy.
What is the difference between formal and dynamic equivalence according to NIDA?
Dynamic equivalence has been defined as a sense-for-sense translation while formal equivalence as word-for-word translation translating the meanings of terms and phrases in a more literal way while maintaining literal fidelity. Eugene Nida's model can briefly be enclosed in these words/points.
What is the difference between correspondence and equivalence?
Equivalence is an original correspondence and it is the general mode of translation. Translators and interpreters are convinces of the produce a successful translation look for equivalence between texts, equivalence of a cognitive and affective nature.
What does language reflect?
Languages reflect the culture, history, and thought process of the people who developed it , and this is often vastly different from culture to culture. You often simply cannot just substitute words, or you end up with a word salad.
What is it called when a word means exactly the same thing in both languages?
When a word or phrase means exactly the same thing in both languages, we call that an equivalence, and it’s understandably one of the first things professional translators look for. This requires a deep understanding of both cultures, not just the language.
Do concepts exist in two different languages?
That doesn’t mean that concepts don’t exist equally in two different languages or cultures – they do. When a word or phrase means exactly the same thing in both languages, we call that an equivalence, and it’s understandably one of the first things professional translators look for.
Is language translation poetry?
I think it’s accurate, however; language is poetry whether there’s artistic or poetic intent or not: Words are magical, and are used to not just describe and record our world but to transform it. Just by writing or speaking about some aspect of the world you are transforming it, after all. It’s like the idea in physics that simply by observing something you affect it – by using language to describe something, you change the nature of that something.
Is equivalence easy to understand?
Equivalence is easy enough to understand. When you’re working in translation, you have two sets of language: Your source language, which you’re translating from, and your target language, which you’re translating into. That’s obvious enough.
What is equivalence in translation?
In the case of Jean-Paul Vinay and Jean Darbelnet (1958) (9), equivalence was a translation process which corresponded to cultural adaptation . For Roman Jakobson (2000, p. 114) (10), equivalence was a concept of capital importance when it came to establishing a link between two texts : “ Equivalence in difference is the cardinal problem of language and the pivotal concern of linguistics. “ The linguist (the translator in this case) must interpret a message and render it in another language. Jakobson (2000) argued that by using the resources of languages, one could translate an entire message without loss, poetry being the exception, since it was, according to him, untranslatable.
Who defined equivalence as a semantic-pragmatic equivalence?
Subsequently, as it was difficult to define equivalence precisely on a limited semantic basis, other definitions emerged, taking into account various parameters. Juliane House (1977, abstract p. 1) (15) defined a semantic-pragmatic equivalence in her concepts of overt translation and covert translation:
How does translating work?
When translating, one can apply two different methods : either he switches from one language to another, introducing into his text preexisting lexical or syntactic correspondences between two languages, or he constructs a mental image of the situation and, having found the “meaning“ of the text, he expresses it by equivalences idiomatically in the target language. In fact, both methods serve the purpose concurrently : searching on the one hand in a language for terms that refer to the same referents (to the same reality) as those designated by the original, and on the other creating equivalences that transmit meanings identical to those of the original.
What is paradigmatic equivalence?
It is understood by paradigmatic equivalence, a kind of formal correspondence that takes into account the grammatical properties of the source text and its translation. It is operated when certain parts of speech are replaced by others, without altering the meaning. To use Saussurian terminology, this type of translation relates to the vertical axis of the linguistic configuration of the spoken chain, that is, to the paradigm. The translational process which comes closest to this equivalence is transposition
Why is it necessary to carry out in-depth linguistic analyses and differential comparisons?
However, in order to cope with the difficulties that arise during the translation process , we consider it necessary to carry out in-depth linguistic analyses and differential comparisons in order to delimit the degree of equivalence between the terms in the source language and their so-called equivalents in the target language.
What is interpretative translation?
Interpretative translation is, therefore, the translation of meaning in context. The misunderstanding that surrounds the equivalence of meaning can be explained through a rigorous study of the process of linguistic meaning from a translational perspective.
Why is correspondence important in translation?
Correspondence is useful in translation, but it is important define its place in the process. Texts don’t just repeat always the same thoughts ; Likewise, the equivalences which designate these thoughts are non-repetitive and must be created at every moment by the translation.
Why is it difficult to achieve an exact equivalence?
The principle that a translation should have an equivalence relation with the source language text is problematic. There are three main reasons why an exact equivalence or effect is difficult to achieve. Firstly, it is impossible for a text to have constant interpretations even for the same person on two occasions (Hervey, Higgins and Haywood (1995: 14). According to these translation scholars:
What is the meaning of "Formal Equivalence"?
5.Formal equivalence is related to the form and aesthetics of the text, includes word plays and the individual stylistic features of the source text (p. 47).
What is denotative equivalence?
1.Denotative equivalence is related to equivalence of the extralinguistic content of a text.
What are the different types of equivalence?
Munday (2001) describes these five different types of equivalence as follows: 1.Denotative equivalence is related to equivalence of the extralinguistic content of a text. 2.Connotative equivalence is related to the lexical choices, especially between near-synonyms.
What are the problems of equivalence?
The equivalence problems emerge due to semantic, socio-cultural, and grammatical differences between the source language and the target language. These three areas of equivalence problems are intertwined with one another. The meaning (s) that a word refers to are culturally bound, and in most cases the meaning (s) of a word can only be understood through its context of use.
What is the main objective of a translator?
The definitions of translation suggested above imply that producing the same meaning or message in the target language text as intended by the original author is the main objective of a translator. This notion of 'sameness' is often understood as an equivalence relation between the source and target texts.
What is translation in a language?
1. Introduction. In any account of interlingual communication, translation is used as a generic term. Professionally, however, the term translation is confined to the written, and the term interpretation to the spoken (Newmark, 1991: 35). If confined to a written language, translation is a cover term with three distinguishable meanings: 1) ...
What is the increase in studying equivalence in translation?
The increase in studying equivalence in translation coincides with the birth of a strong wave of research in machine translation. Leuven Zwart (1990:227 cited in Mehrach, 1997) stated:
When does translation equivalence occur?
Translation equivalence occurs when an SL [source language] and TL [target language] texts or items are related to (at least some of) the same relevant features of situation substance. [21]
How many degrees are there in equivalence?
Equivalence consists of seven degrees: optimum translation, near-optimum translation, partial translation, weaker and stronger translation, poor translation, mistranslation and zero equivalence/non-translation. Each degree has specific characteristics that differentiate it from the other. To distinguish these degrees, much emphasis will be put on pragmatic and cultural aspects as measures to assess the degree of preservation of the ’superordinate goal’ of the ST.
What is Nida's goal in translating?
In short, Nida aims in his book Towards A Science of Translation is to redefine the principles which evaluate the sufficiency of translation (Gentzler, 1993). [12] Comparing form and content of texts, Nida mentions that content should come first in translation. He argues that formal translators who focus more on forms of poetry, for instance, are more likely to misinterpret the "intention of the author" and more apt to "distort the meaning" (Nida, 1964). [13] According to Nida, the dynamic translator is more faithful than the literal one, since he (DT) may preserve "more fully and satisfactorily the meaning of the original text" (Nida, 1964). [14] Also, Nida’s notion of ‘equivalent response’ is important for translators to achieve a successful translation (Munday, 2001). [15]
What are the different types of equivalence?
He distinguishes between five types of equivalence: ’denotative equivalence’ refers to the case where the ST and the TT have the same denotations, that is, conveying the same extra linguistic facts; ’connotative equivalence,’ also referred to as ’stylistic equivalence,’ is related to the lexical choices between near synonyms; ’text normative’ refers to text types, i.e., the description and analysis of a variety of texts behaving differently; ’pragmatic equivalence,’ also called ’communicative equivalence,’ is oriented towards the receptor of the text, who should receive the same effect that the original text produces on its readers; ’formal equivalence,’ may also be referred to as ’expressive equivalence,’ is related to the word-for-word rendering of forms, aesthetic and stylistic features of the ST.
Why did researchers develop automatic translation?
The aim of researchers to develop automatic translation led them to concentrate on the equivalent effects that exist between words from different languages. This gave an impetus to research in equivalence in translation.
What is the difference between semantic and communicative translation?
For ’communicative translation’, which tends to create the same effects on the readers of the TT as those obtained by readers of the ST, resembles Nida’s notion of dynamic equivalence, whereas ’semantic translation,’ which focuses on rendering the contextual meaning of the ST according to the syntactic and the semantic characteristics of the TT, is similar to Nida’s formal equivalence.
Historical Perspective
Definition
Multiple Parameter Equivalence Concepts
Questioning The Concept of Equivalence
What Is Equivalence?
Equivalence of Meaning in Translation
Translation Based on Equivalence
Types of Equivalence
Understanding Equivalence
Literal Equivalence in Translation
- There is a simple fact in the history of translation : literality is an ancient and persistent requirement. The translator or interpreter strives to render the original meaning of a version without approximation or imprecision. He wants to be faithful to the letter of the original text, that is to say, he wants to reproduce its content and expressi...