Translation Equivalence

 Translation Equivalence From Different Perspective
collected by Shambhu Chaudhary

Equivalence in Translation Between myth and reality

This article is dedicated to express the equivalence as a theory in various points of view taken from theorists. The winter says the theorists are divided into two groups. The first group is in favor of linguists approach in translation. The second group is in favor of cultural approach toward translation and most importantly the equivalence. The writer also defines a mediocre place for scholars who do not belong to the first or second group. Scholars for the first group are Vinay, Catford, Darbelnet, Jakobson and Nida. Vinay and Darbelnet defined the equivalence as a procedure which replicates the same situation as in the original while using completely different wording. They also said that the equivalence is the ideal method in dealing with proverbs, idioms, clich?s, etc. Jakobson considered three types of translation. They are inter lingual (between SL &TL), intra lingual (within one language), and inter semiotic (between sign systems). Nida's theory was defined by the writer. Nida defined two types of equivalence. They are formal equivalence and dynamic equivalence. Writer says the formal equivalence focuses on the message itself. However, the dynamic equivalence is based on the equivalent effect. Catford is the next theorist who believed in linguistic approach toward translation and equivalence. He defined his theory based on the extent of translation, grammatical rank and the levels of language. He, later on, explained his notion of shifts. They are structure shift, class shift, unit shift, and intra system shift.
In the second part of the article, the writer introduces House's theory as a cultural or functional approach toward the notions of translation and equivalence. House defined two types of translation namely overt and covert translation. In the overt translation the TT audience is not directly addressed. On the other hand, the covert translation is the production of a text which is functionally equivalent to the ST. in the final part of the article, Baker's theory of equivalence was defined. The writer says Baker explores the notion of equivalence at different levels. They are word level, grammatical level, textual level, and pragmatic level. Finally, the writer concluded that equivalence is still problematic in terms of definition, theoretical aspects, and practical aspects.


Equivalence in Translation
This article starts with the pure feature of language namely arbitrariness. Later on, he puts his finger on the existing differences among languages. finally, in the first part, the last mentioned point is the ability of language to express ideas and thoughts. At the beginning of the second part, translation was described as the conveying the intended message through SL and TL. Then, the translation was considered as the sub field of applied linguistics. Having used the contrastive analysis, the writer attempted to define equivalence by considering the translation as the process of both encoding and decoding. The writer, later on, exemplified between Persian and English languages to illustrate the concept of equivalence. To this end, the writer provides some examples regarding cultural words, verbs, polysemy, compound adjective, implicitness, explicitness, prepositions, literary terms, simple words, compound words, genitive case, future tense, passive structures, theme, and rheme. As it is seem here, the writer aimed at applying different structures in order to indicate the fact that language systems vary and the translation involves knowing these differences. To put it in a nutshell, in order to translate correctly and accurately, the translator needs to know the phonological, morphological, syntactic, semantic, pragmatic, idiomatic and cultural systems of both source language and target language. After knowing this, the translator decodes the SL elements and encodes them in to TL elements. All in all, the main purpose of this article is to define and explain the concept of equivalence. In order to end the purpose, the writer went in to details by providing the readers with a number of examples cristalize the areas defined in the article. The writer, finally, reached the fact that if somebody or a translator wants to translate satisfactorily; s/he needs to be familiar with the linguistic system and cultural system of the source and target languages.


Problems of dynamic equivalence in translation

The writer of this article starts with the definition of formal equivalence and dynamic equivalence. Then, she says the concept of equivalence is the central issue in translation studies. She, later on, opposed the Nida's dynamic equivalence or functional equivalence. The writer of the article brought some quotations from Nida in terms of Bible translation. The first problem which was explained by the writer is the fact that since the translator is freer from grammatical forms of the original languages, s/ he will exceed the boundary of accurate translation. Due to this fact, the dynamic equivalence has a problem of being more natural and more precise. The writer goes on saying that some scholars opposed dynamic equivalence. One of them is Eco who is a scholar in translation. Eco criticized Nida and said that equivalence in meaning or dynamic equivalence is not a satisfactory criterion for correct translation. Eco continues that the equivalence in meaning which is provided by meaning is not accepted since there is no complete synonym in language. Eco exemplified daddy and father as not being the same. In fact, Eco believed that those who are involved in the art and craft of translation are definitely in a better position to formulate theoretical aspects of the subject. Eco said the translator should not render based on dictionary. Therefore, Eco meant that translating is not only connected with linguistic competence but also with intertexual, psychological, and narrative competence. Eco focused on the cultural aspects of translation. In the conclusion part, the writer defined two competing theories. Firstly, to render as exactly as possible the full meaning of words and phrases. Secondly, to render a result that does not read like a translation at all, but rather moves in its new dress near to the culture of target language. The last but not least, the good and accurate translation is the overall concern of all theories and should include the functional requirements of an accepted theory which is adequate. It means cultural elements and equivalent effect must be completely considered in the theoretical aspects of translation theory, because of the fact that it helps for translating adequate and proper.


Toward a theory of bias and equivalence

To begin with, this article moves to two notions namely bias and equivalence. Firstly, these two terms are explained. The writer says bias is related to validity. In fact, it is said that something is biased when its scores do not have the same psychological meaning across languages. Equivalence is defined as the difference between measurement levels of within- and between- group comparisons. If the measure is biased against some cultural groups, individual difference within a cultural population and across cultural populations is not measured. At the same scale. There are three types of bias. They are construct bias, method bias, and item bias or differential item functioning. Construct bias is the dissimilarity of construct across cultures. Method bias is a general word that refers to all sources of bias resulting from methodological- procedural aspects of a study. Sample bias is subsuming all differences in scores that are related to specific aspects of a sample. Parallel to three types of bias, there are three types of equivalence. They are construct equivalence, method equivalence, and measurement unit equivalence. It should be said that these concepts namely equivalence and bias are integral part of any empirical study. Therefore, in any step of quantitative studies, there is a bias. All in all, the writer says that bias, holistically, refers to the absence or presence of nuisance factors. On the other hand, equivalence is the implication of bias on the cross cultural score comparisons to be made. As writer mentioned in the article, in order to translate better the existence of good equivalences are urgent. Consequently, in order to get the highest possible level of equivalence, bias should be scrutinized in each and all steps of quantitative study. To put it in a nutshell, the most important part of translation is equivalence and the most important part of cultural issues in translation is the bias. Consequently, in order to translate better and more adequate, we have to know the bias, then, we will choose the best equivalence across languages.


The concept of equivalence in translation studies

The major concern of this article is the theoretical and philosophical aspects of equivalence. The definition of equivalence comprises other non- specific definitions of equivalence. It is defined as generally being equal and interchangeable in value, quantity, significance, etc. the writer defines the different aspects of equivalence and describes them. In other words, the all components of the equivalence are described. There is also a definition for translation studies. It is being equivalent according to different degrees of languages and ranks of languages. Another definition for equivalence is the scientific definition which states that the central problem of translation is that of finding TL translation equivalent and the central task of translation theory is that of defining the nature and conditions of translation equivalence. It is said that the main objective of translation studies is the explication of translation equivalence. The writer continues by explaining different scholars ' points of view toward equivalence like Nida's formal and dynamic equivalence. The writer, then, considered the displacement of equivalence concept by introducing the historical- descriptive approach toward equivalence and translation. This approach emphasizes on the significance of the situation, and more specifically, the culture in which translations are to be situated. The scholars of this approach focus on the target culture. Generally, there are two approaches which are explained one is the linguistic approach and the other one is the descriptive- historical approach or functional approach.
To sum up, the article is the explanation for different views over the concept of equivalence. It says translation studies maybe analogous. In addition, the components of equivalence are described. Furthermore, two main approaches known as linguistic approach and functional or descriptive- historical approach are discussed. This study just regards the theoretical aspects of the notion of equivalence from different points of view. Among them, the somehow dichotomy of linguistic versus functional equivalence is explained. The whole debate is around the nature of the notions.

Terminological equivalence: probability and consistency in technical translation

The whole framework of the essay is the finding equivalence for terminologies or terms within technical translation. In this study, from the point of view of terminology studies, the usage of technical terms is the first step for normalizing that the use of understanding technical communication is highly important. The written defines the equivalence as the one- to- one mapping oh characteristics of a concept; however, there are degrees in equivalence like the denotational meaning and connotational meaning and equivalence. Furthermore, the writer describes Catford's theory and his dichotomy of textual versus formal equivalence. The next step taken by the writer is the importance of consistency and variation in lexical choice as a important feature of a good technical translation. In other words, by saying consistency it is meant the avoidance of synonymy in technical texts. Now, there is a problem, in fact, the consistency of technical texts require the avoidance of synonymy, at the same time, some lexical aspects known as lexical cohesions are impossible to reproduce. Therefore, there is a tension between the demand or asking for lexical consistency in technical terms and those of patterns of lexical cohesion across languages.
In the next part of the study, the writer explained a case study which was based on the above- mentioned issue in translation of technical texts. In this study, a kind of text written in German language is translated both in to English and French. Then, the results are discussed. It is proved that the French translator introduced more variation and the English translator introduced less variation.
To sum up, after conducting a piece of research it is said that there is a clash or balance between the consistency within the technical text and the lexical cohesion.

Translation, equivalence and intertextuality

the same as the other articles, this essay primarily contains the importance which is given over the notion of equivalence. Then, the writer raises an significant point or suggestion. He suggested that it is useful to consider equivalence primarily in terms of equality in value and status.
The writer supports his idea based on some examples within the article. The problem between equivalence and intertextuality arises when a text is translated and the original and translation of the same thing are discussed. The writer exemplified the Greek version of Hebrew Old Testament made in the third century for Greek- speaking Jewish.
On the relation among translation, equivalence and intertextuality, the writer says authentication indicates the end of status as a translation. He concluded that if the equivalence spells the end of translation, it can be said that the end of translator's work happened. The writer says that strong equivalence is total; he posits congruence of meaning and singularity of intent and leaves no room for differential voices. The writer also says that as long as translations remain translations, equivalence remains beyond their grasp and different subjects inhabit their discursive space.
To sum up, the writer says the most important and problematic issue in the field of translation is the equivalence. The writer deems the concept of equivalence as being very close to translation. If the equivalence is correctly selected, therefore, the translation is done properly. It is a mutual relationship. The writer says the problem arises when the differences are indicated. If we regard the intertextuality, the problem arises when a text is translated, then, the original and the translation of the same thing is discussed. To this end, the writer of the essay provides the readers with some textual examples. It ranges from religious books namely Bible to the Anne Frank's diary.



Cultural equivalence: Its effectiveness and complications
this article posits the cultural aspects of languages. The writer starts with the definition of equivalent effect which is the same impact on both SL and TL audience. Later on, the writer says that Nida is the leading theorist in the equivalence of effect. In his translation of the bible, he postulated these effects. According to the theory of functional equivalence by Nida, one of the strategies of equivalent effect is the cultural equivalence, based on writer's idea. After that, the writer provides the readers with the examples of cultural equivalence. There are two main examples from Donald keene's translation of "shayo". These examples are judged based on their effectiveness by the analysis of advantages and limitations. It is said that the cultural substitution is a effective way to get a similar effect on the target reader.
One of the main points described by the writer is the fact that the equivalent effect most be achieved even at the word level.
On the topic of dynamic equivalence, Nida defines it as mostly in favor of placing strong emphasis on the effect of the translated work on the receiver. In accordance with Nida, changes in the text, including words, metaphors, and even omission or addition, are allowed as long as the target text functions in the same manner as the source text. The example of Nida is the translation of the word "lamb" in to "seal" or "pig" in order to convey the message of God. In summary, equivalent effect refers to an intended result of functional equivalence translation method. At the same time, the term is used in translation theory to refer to the procedures and techniques of functional equivalence. The most important part or results of Nida's functional equivalence is the fact that some kinds of adjustments is necessary in order to transfer the intended meaning. All in all, cultural equivalence is kind of strategy in equivalent effect domain and it is seem in case of many translated books across the different cultures and languages.


Arriving at equivalence. Making a case for comparable corpora in translation studies

One of the domains of translation is corpus- based translation studies. As the writer says it is a kind of strategy for translation. He, later on, explains the parallel corpora which comprises text in two or more languages. It means there is a monolingual corpora, there is a bilingual or bi directional corpora and so on. The writer, then, explains the comparable corpora. It is a corpora which includes text collections whose size and content may vary. The composition and size of the corpora and their representative ness is relevant to respective languages. The writer says this article is the result of a study which was the corpus- based study of a connotation of non- literary language. It scrutinized the meaning of color words as it exists in linguistic expressions like to see red, to fell blue, and green with envy. It also explains what factors are responsible for activating the connotative meanings of the color words.
The writer mainly focused on the fact that corpus data can be usefully exploited in order to identify series of translation equivalents for words, expressions, idioms, ? etc. Another important factor mentioned by the writer is the reference to corpora. In fact, reference makes it possible to identify where differences and similarities lie across languages. Some case studies are provided by the writer to clarify the use of corpora. To sum up, the corpora has different types. The main aspects of corpora are comparability and reference. Usually, the use of TL corpora is for the sake of natural translation. Another important factor is that the choice in translation is related to choice in source language and it.