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Equivalence In Translation Essay

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2.4 How equivalence is used in translation?
2.4.1 The concept of equivalence
For a long time in the 20th century, translation studies followed the linguistic tradition in assuming the notion of equivalence. Translation studies in the linguistic tradition have relied on the notion equivalence. Nowadays equivalence between words in a source text and a target language is also important but other requirements also need to be met. It is specifically apparent in translating scientific texts. One of the other criteria for translation is incorporation of the main ideas and broader meaning of the whole texts. The source text needs to be recognised and understood as a whole, not as sequence of sentences and paragraphs. It should concern the cultural …show more content…

Some linguists claim that dealing with the process of finding equivalence is the most significant issue existing among translation processes and that is one of the mains principles of Western theory of translation. Translation is a mean of communication and in order for it to be effective it is crucial to establish appropriate equivalence between source and target text. Nida defines translation as “reproducing in the receptor language the closest natural equivalent of the source-language message, first in terms of meaning and secondly in terms of style”. (Nida, 1982, p. 12) It is conspicuous that equivalence is one of basic concepts of translation which cannot be overlooked. This complex phenomenon often becomes a measure which helps to define the process of translation. Number of researches stress on the important role of the equivalence for the translation process and it is hard to hard to overestimate the role of equivalence in translation. Use of equivalence translation help people to understand each other and enables achieving communication goals. Achieving maximum linguistic, grammar and structural equivalence is inevitably linked with certain restrictions and limitations but the skilful use of equivalents can undoubtedly benefit the results of translation act. Despite different approaches, the equivalence is an important

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