2. Central Concept : Equivalence
the central concepts is ‘equivalence’ (such
as correspondence, similarity, analogy, or
even the sameness). The term roughly
corresponds to the ‘faithfulness’ of a TT to
its original or ST and it has dominated this
discipline for many years.
Seeking to render word for word and form
for form from a linguistic level, many
scholars from the branch of linguistics,
either as applied, or as comparative or
contrastive linguistics.
3. Unit/level of equivalence
between ST and TT
linguistic scholars develop their
approaches to translation from the basic
unit (morphemes, words,
linguistic level/
phrases, clauses, or sentences) and the
basic ‘equivalence’ at the linguistic level
between the ST and the TT.
In other words, from the very beginning of
translation theory, the concept of
equivalence has focused on the word or
form as the ‘unit of translation’ and ‘unit
shifts’ were the many scholars’
preoccupation from the 1950s onward.
4. The concept of Equivalence
The term ‘equivalence’ is so central in
the areas of translating and
translation that it is used to define
translation itself in terms of
equivalence relations by some
scholars (Catford 1965:20; Koller
1995:196; Nida 1959:19/1975:33;
Nida and Taber 1969:12; Pym
1992:37; Wilss 1982:62; Toury
5. Catford’s : textual equivalent and
formal correspondent
A textual equivalent is any TL text or
portion of text which is observed on a
particular occasion … to be the equivalent
of a given SL text or portion of text.
A formal correspondent is any TL
category (unit, class, element of structure,
etc.) which can be said to occupy, as
nearly as possible, the ‘same’ place in the
‘economy’ of the TL as the given SL
category occupies in the SL.
6. Nida’s The Concept of Dynamic
Equivalence
Nida, with the reference to Bible translation,
advocated a translator has to “seek to find
the closest possible equivalent”
Nida proposed two basic types of
equivalence in translating: formal
equivalence and dynamic equivalence.
Formal equivalence focuses on the message
itself in both form and content and on such
concerns as the correspondence on the
levels of: word to word, sentence to
7. Functional Equivalence
By the end of the 1970s, the concept of
‘functional equivalence’ was proposed by
functionalists and scholars working from the text-
linguistic standpoint. The new ‘text-linguistics’
models started emerging with many proponents of
this new approach.
They viewed translation as “an act of
communication”, not as a process of trans-coding
in linguistic approaches
House (1997:49, 2001:989) further claimed that a
translated text “should not only match its ST in
function, but employ equivalent situational-
dimensional (eg social role relationship, time,
geographical origin and so on) means to achieve
8. Newmark’s Communication
Theory
Semantic translation refers to cases when a
translator attempts to render the ST “within the
bare syntactic and semantic constraints of the
TL, to reproduce the precise contextual
meaning of the author”. Literal translation as
one strategy for this.
Communicative translation covers cases
whereby “a translator attempts to produce the
same effect on the TL readers as was
produced by the original on the SL readers”.
Free translation as one strategy for this.
9. Skopos theory
Skopos is the Greek word for aim, finality,
objectives, and/or intention” and was
introduced by German’s scholars (i.e. Reiss,
Vermeer, and Nord) in translation to refer to
the aim or purpose of a translation.
A further development of the skopos model
came with the addition of the notion of
‘loyalty’, which helped redefine the classical
binary mode of translation – —literal vs. free
translation.
10. literal translation vs Free
translation
Along with the criticism of Newmark’s
communicative translation, which is linked to
the notion of cultural adaptation, the
awareness of cultural elements in context was
gradually developed and taken into a
consideration by some proponents ofin
functional theory such as Reiss.
A further development of the skopos model
came with the addition of the notion of ‘loyalty’,
which helped redefine the classical binary
mode of translation – —literal vs. free (Nord
11. prescriptive v.s descriptive
translation
Theorists and scholars from the discipline
of comparative literature and literary
translation started conducting translation
research by moving away from
prescriptive studies and toward
descriptive translation studies.
Scholars argued that these problem- and
process-oriented prescriptive theories can
be treated as reference concepts for
translation strategies
12. Descriptive Translation
Studies
The translated texts are used:
(i) to describe the phenomena of transiting and
translation;
(ii) to establish general principles by means of which
these
phenomena can be explained and predicted.
DTS do not aim to prescribe what a translation
should or ought to be. Alternatively, they observe
how translations have been carried out in
practice, and, consequently, concepts of
‘equivalence’ or ‘faithfulness’ would be not
13. PTS--equivalence vs. DTS--
norms
Therefore, these constraints or so-called
‘norms’ may have influenced the translation
strategies or methods and the ensuing
translations themselves.
DTS could be characterised as a target-
oriented, functional, historical, and cultural
approach to translation. Also, replacing the
concept of ‘equivalence’ with the concept of
‘norms’,
DTS has attracted the attention of
14. Translation Norms
Translations made at different times therefore
tend to be made under different conditions
and to turn out differently, not because they
are good or bad, but because they have been
produced to satisfy different demands. It
cannot be stressed enough that the production
of different translations at different times does
not appoint to any ‘betrayal’ of absolute
standards.
Thus, the translation norms might be
differences in different times, societies,
15. Norms, Conventions, Rules
With regard to norms of language this means
that they are conventions in the sense as far
as their origin is concerned, but for every new
generation, and every newcomer, they are
norms.
As a convention with non-normative character
could be regarded as a norm, but a convention
can gradually become a norm, particularly for
a ‘new generation’ or ‘newcomer’; as a result,
a convention can grow into a norm
16. Polysystem
The whole polysystem, including social,
historical, cultural, temporal, and even political
elements, is taken into consideration and the
activity of studying translation gives a
relatively empirical account of human
behaviour. In other words, this theory work
does help translation studies “break down
certain conceptual barriers and find a method
for better describing translation”, as approved
by Gentzler (2001:135).
17. Discussion
Prescriptive translation studies
Descriptive translation studies
Translation theories: The combination
of Chinese and West
Preference: Chinese or Western
theories