Equivalence
1 Introduction
The aim of this work is to introduce the notion of equivalence in translation. The work will deal with the term equivalence in general it will also shortly describe various problems which can arise when finding proper equivalent in translation. And then the views of two linguists will be introduced. Linguists Eugene Nida, Charles R. Taber and Mona Baker. The work will look closer on their approaches and it will try to describe their views on equivalence.
2 What is equivalence in translation
Equivalence is considered as one of the main problems translator has to deal with.
It can be said that equivalence is some kind of relationship of similarity between two units. In our case it is the relationship between the units of source text (ST) and the units of target text (TT). When translating from one language to another there are always words or phrases that can cause big problems. Translator has to choose the best equivalent from the target language (TL) to name the unit of the source language (SL). But it is not that easy to find appropriate equivalent to the word or phrase which is translated and sometimes it is impossible. There are various reasons why it is so, for example when in the TL there is no equivalent for a word in SL. Another case is when the word and it's meaning is unknown in the culture of TL. In such cases it is very difficult to find proper equivalent and translator has to be very careful and also inventive.
It is therefore obvious that the notion of equivalence is quite complex and it has been the cause for debate for a very long time. Various linguists decribe equivalence in their works but their opinions differ in many ways and there is still no unified view.
2.1 Equivalence according to Eugene Nida and Charles R. Taber
Nida and Taber see translating as an effort to reproduce the message from SL to the TL. The primal effort of translator must be to reproduce the message and doing anything else
The aim of this work is to introduce the notion of equivalence in translation. The work will deal with the term equivalence in general it will also shortly describe various problems which can arise when finding proper equivalent in translation. And then the views of two linguists will be introduced. Linguists Eugene Nida, Charles R. Taber and Mona Baker. The work will look closer on their approaches and it will try to describe their views on equivalence.
2 What is equivalence in translation
Equivalence is considered as one of the main problems translator has to deal with.
It can be said that equivalence is some kind of relationship of similarity between two units. In our case it is the relationship between the units of source text (ST) and the units of target text (TT). When translating from one language to another there are always words or phrases that can cause big problems. Translator has to choose the best equivalent from the target language (TL) to name the unit of the source language (SL). But it is not that easy to find appropriate equivalent to the word or phrase which is translated and sometimes it is impossible. There are various reasons why it is so, for example when in the TL there is no equivalent for a word in SL. Another case is when the word and it's meaning is unknown in the culture of TL. In such cases it is very difficult to find proper equivalent and translator has to be very careful and also inventive.
It is therefore obvious that the notion of equivalence is quite complex and it has been the cause for debate for a very long time. Various linguists decribe equivalence in their works but their opinions differ in many ways and there is still no unified view.
2.1 Equivalence according to Eugene Nida and Charles R. Taber
Nida and Taber see translating as an effort to reproduce the message from SL to the TL. The primal effort of translator must be to reproduce the message and doing anything else