Translation Studies

5. The concept of equivalence

Krisztina Károly, Spring, 2006

Sources: Baker, 1992; Klaudy, 2003

Equivalence

= “equal value” of the SL and TL text (sense- and content-related identity)

The equivalence perception of readers, translators, researchers

The concept of equivalence is viewed differently by the

reader/listener assume equivalence (instinctive view),

translator creates equivalence (more or less conscious view),

researcher investigates equivalence (complex, differing views) (Albert 1988).

Approaches to equivalence (3)

(1) a precondition/requirement of translation (different from other types of FL transformations: adaptation, abridgment, summary, etc) translation = replacement of the SL text by the TL equivalent (no subtypes or degrees exist in translation!)

Approaches to equiv. cont.

(2) never being complete the TL text is identical with the original text only from certain (formal, situational, contextual, communicative, etc.) aspects (various types and degrees of equivalence exist!)

2 trends:(2.1) normative view: prescribes what the translator has to do to produce an equivalent translation; what it is that he/she has to definitely preserve, or can sacrifice from the original text;(2.2) descriptive view: describes, on the basis of the analysis of numerous translating facts, how translators create equivalence, what it is that they have preserved or sacrificed.

Approaches to equiv. cont.

(3) being text-type dependent no identical equivalence requirements can be established for different text types (e.g., a users’ manual, a movie script, lyrical poem): the number of text types determines the number of equivalence types possible (Reiss, 1971).

Overview of the various types of equivalences

(1) Catford’s (1965) view on equivalence

Makes a distinction between “formal correspondence” and “textual equivalent”

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Formal correspondent

= any TL category, which may be said to occupy, as nearly as possible, the ‘same’ place in the system hierarchy of the TL as the given SL category occupies in the SL (1965, p.32)

only approximate: e.g., English brother a formal correspondent of Hungarian fivér: elder brother/báty and younger brother/öcs

Catford cont.

Textual equivalence= “any TL form (text/portion of text) which is observed to be

equivalent of a given SL form (text/portion of text)” + “SL and TL texts or items are translational equivalents when

they are interchangable in a given situation” (1965, p.27,49)

main criterion for text equivalence = the identity of contextually relevant features: e.g., I have arrived. – Megérkeztem. Lically relevant information:

(1) the speaker (I and not you or he),(2) she has arrived and not left (arrive and not leave),(3) it is about an event that has already happened and not something that will happen (have arrived and not will arrive),(4) the prior event is linked to the current situation (have arrived and not arrive, or arrived),(5) the current situation is present (have arrived and not had arrived).

(1)-(4) coincide H and E are interchangeable may be considered text equivalents

(2) Nida’s (1964) view on equivalence

It is not the identity of situationally relevant features that is the main criterion for equivalence, but rather the identity of the receiver’s reaction

2 main types of equivalence:

“formal equivalence” + “dynamic equivalence”

Nida cont.

Formal equivalence= if the translator attributes priority to the SL text, and

tries to render the SL text as faithfully as possible, not only in its content but also in its form including (1) grammatical units, (2) consistency in word usage, (3) meanings in terms of the source context.

to faithfully give back the grammatical units:(1) verbs are translated into verbs, and nouns into nouns,(2) the boundaries of the sentences remain unchanged,(3) punctuation, paragraphing, etc. also stay the same.

E.g., classical text (Plato’s dialogues, to understand the essence of Plato’s philosophical system and to be able to follow the development of his terminology)

Nida cont.

Dynamic equivalence= “the closest natural equivalent” of the SL text to produce a “natural” translation, the translator has to

bear in mind 3 important factors:(1) the receptor L and culture as a whole, adaptation on

the level of(1.1) grammar: simple task, dictated by the structure of the L(1.2) lexicon: demanding task, may happen on 3 levels:

(a) terms for which there are readily available parallels (e.g., river, tree, stone, knife, etc.)

(b) terms which identify culturally different objects but with somewhat similar functions (e.g., book)

(c) terms which identify cultural specialities (e.g., synagogue, homer, cherubim).

(2) the context of the particular message (intonation, rhythm of sentences, style)

(3) the receptor-L audience (translation should produce the same effect in the receptor L readers as the original piece did in the SL audience!)

(3) Some other views on equivalence

German translation research (Kade, 1968) 4 types of equivalences:total equivalence: a SL unit has a permanent equivalent in the TL (e.g., terms, institutional names),optional equivalence: a given SL unit has several equivalents in the target language (e.g., in German: Spannung, in English: voltage, tension, suspense, stress, pressure)approximate equivalence: the meaning of a SL unit is divided between two TL equivalents (e.g., German: Himmel, English: heaven/sky),zero equivalence: the SL unit does not have a TL equivalent (e.g., realia)

Some other views cont.

Gert Jäger’s (1975) view:

communicative equivalence: the “communicative value” of the original text does not change in translation

functional equivalence: the “functional value” of the text is preserved (= the sum of the functions of linguistic signs, the sum of their meanings) -- can be described with the tools of Lics

What should be preserved in translation?(the “invariant” of translation)

the contents of the original text,

its sense,

its functional value,

its meaning, and

its information structure

normative view

(4) Komissarov’s (1973) view on equivalence

argues against a normative view (researcher has to refrain from any evaluative or critical comments)

he does not intend to describe the criteria for creating equivalence; instead he sets out to explore and systematise the equivalence relations observed in translations (based on the Russian translation of English texts)

Komissarov’s five levels of transfer correspond to five different levels of equivalence:(1) equivalence on the level of the communicative goal (=the

lowest degree of semantic similarity with the original text)(2) equivalence on the level of (the identification) of the

situation (=higher degree of similarity, even though it is not so evident at first sight)

(3) equivalence on the level of message / of method of description (of the situation) (=higher degree of similarity: it is not only the communicative goal and the situation that are identical, but also the way in which the situation is described)

(4) equivalence on the level of utterance /of syntactic meanings (=besides the communicative goal, the situation described, and the manner of describing the situation, the grammatical structures are also partly identical, i.e. their differences are only due to the differences between the systems of the two languages.

(5) equivalence on the level of linguistic signs / of word semantics (=the maximum possible similarity

(5) Klaudy (2003): The conditions of communicative equivalence

3 types of equivalence relations characterise a communicatively equivalent translation:referential equivalence: the TL text should refer to the same segment of reality, to the same facts, events and phenomena as the SL textcontextual equivalence: individual sentences should occupy the same position in the whole of the TL text as their correspondents in the whole of the SL textfunctional equivalence: the TL text should play the same role in the community of TL readers as the SL text in the community of SL readers (this role may involve transfer of information, provoking certain emotions, appeal, etc.)

(6) Baker’s (1992) typology of equivalences

word level

above word level

grammatical

textual 1: thematic and information structures

textual 2: cohesion

pragmatic

Textual equivalence: cohesion

Halliday and Hasan: continuum of cohesive elements:

repetition,

synonym,

superordinate,

general words,

pronominal reference

Reference = the relationship of identity which holds between

two linguistic expressions (textual reference, situational reference; co-reference also)differs across discourse types and languagesEnglish: relies heavily on pronominal referenceHebrew: uses proper names to trace participants through a discourseBrazil: refer to participant by using a noun several times in succession before shifting into a pronominal formBrazilian Portuguese: prefers lexical repetition (+ inflects person and number = additional relations)Japanese, Chinese: pronouns hardly ever used (once a participant is introduced, continuity of reference is signaled by omitting the subjects of following clauses)

Substitution and ellipsis:

Arabic: prefers pronominal reference above all

Conjunction Languages differ tremendously in the type of

conjunction they prefer (provide information into the whole logic of discourse); reflects the rhetoric of the text and controls its interpretationGerman: many subordinations and complex structures, many conjunctions (more than in EnglishChinese, Japanese: simple, shorter structures and mark relations explicitly where possibleEnglish: many conjunctions (and presents information in relatively small chunks)Arabic: small number of conjunctions, prefers punctuation instead (and large chunks)

Lexical cohesion

Languages differ in the number of lexical repetitions they normally tolerate

Arabic: repetition is more dominant in Arabic than in English (differing lexical networks: reiterations and collocations

Greek also tolerates repetition more than English

(7) Rejection of the concept of equivalencethe concept of equivalence or identity is generally related to the SL text, trying to assess whether the translation and the SL text are of equal valueGideon Toury (1980) directed the attention to the TL: the text of the translation must function in a TL context, and so it should meet the genre and stylistic requirements of the TL Important:- equivalence to the SL text ( =“adequacy”),- its ability to meet the requirements presented by the

TL (=“appropriacy”)- the TL reader (=“acceptability”)

Mary Snell-Hornby (1988) integrates the Lic and the literary approach: the concept of equivalence is cannot be a central category in translation studies; it can do harm by suggesting an atomistic view, producing the false illusion of symmetry between Ls (e.g., the etymology of the English term equivalence and the German term Äquivalenz -- even these two terms cannot be regarded as truly “equivalent”)

The importance of the concept of equivalence

research on equivalence has great theoretical significance: as a result of translation totally different Lic structures may enter into equivalence relations, and without translation their identical functions would never be detected provides data for research into the relationship between form and functionthe practical significance of the concept: it may provide scientifically sound criteria (vs. intuition) for translation criticism (equivalence appears in various degrees, and translations on the market cannot always be regarded as communicatively equivalent to the original texts)

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