Equivalence in Translation - Essay Example

Translation Theory Equivalence in Translation Translation is a wider term and the process of translation does not end with mere conversion of a word in another language. Literal translation of a word is not possible, since the language decides the meaning of a particular word. The meaning of a word differs in each and every language and the exact meaning of a word cannot be derived in all the languages. Translation does not ensure that a word is expressed with the sameness. Instead a similar meaning of the conceived word can be obtained. Translation generally aims at providing a meaning to the concerned word rather than searching for a term that is exactly the same in the other language. This concept is not possible in any of the languages since the interpretation is different in all the languages. Equivalence in translation should not be perceived as a search for the sameness. Sameness cannot exist in translation as the meaning or similar word cannot be obtained in all the languages. (Susan, 2002). A word in a particular language may refer to certain concept which may be entirely different in another language. The sameness depends on the type of language and the word. If the intended word is a common term, the meaning can be obtained easily but the process becomes tough if the term relates to a particular concept. Hence the translation and the probability of getting the meaning depends on the language. People must not expect equivalence in translation to be a process of search for sameness. (Miyanda, 2007). Instead it must be a process to find a similar word which has the meaning of the specified word. Sameness cannot exist even in textbooks of the same author or same textbook from different authors. Authors specify that sameness cannot exist even between the source and the target text of a particular topic. Most of the people misunderstand the meaning of sameness and often expect the equivalence in translation among the words. The reason why a word cannot have the exact meaning on the source text and target text is that, the meaning of a word entirely depends on the context in which a word is used. The same word may exhibit different meanings depending on the context in which it is used. A word may be interpreted in different ways depending on the situation and constant interpretations of the same word will not possess similar meaning. Thus equivalence translation becomes an impossible task. Translation is not a task of mere interpretation from the source text or language. Instead the translation has to be done on a subjective basis of the source language on which the text has been written. When translating a source language text, the translators cannot determine the idea of the readers with respect to the source text. The readers might have a different outlook and may expect the same from the target text. But this task becomes difficult since the translators will not have a clear idea as to what a reader will expect from a target text. Hence the task of translation and obtaining equivalence in translation is a tedious task. The concept of equivalence depends on the type of translation. A translation can be done on a communication, a text or a proposed reading. Due to this factor, the problem of equivalence prevails right from the process of translating a single word to translating an entire text. The problem of equivalence arises due to the fact that each language has grammatical differences and they have been conceived in a completely different manner based on the social background of the country. Hence equivalence in translation should not be approached as a search for sameness. Quality of Translation Translation must be of high quality and the translated word must have the same meaning as the original word. This is important since misinterpretation will lead to severe consequences. The chance of risk is more when a text is translated from its source text. Quality of translation is generally assessed based on certain concepts that enable the translator to determine the quality of the translated text. The equality of a text may not be stable when the source text is translated. The meaning of a word changes due to the language’s specification. If the target text does not include words that have the exact meaning, the quality of the text will be certainly poor. (Miyanda, 2007). But, achieving a high quality is not possible in all the cases, since a word cannot be translated without modification. Based on the social aspects and grammatical aspects of a language, a word has to be modified to suit the context. In this case, the quality cannot be maintained. Quality assessment is carried out based on various concepts and procedures. According to House, translation assessment can be done using three concepts. Mentalist-based approach, response-based approach and text-based approach define the various ways in which translation can be assessed to find out its quality. Response-based approach assesses the translation based on the response from the readers. People who have read the original source text may find a difference with the target text. The responses of these readers are collected in order to determine the quality of translation. Text-based approach compares the source text with the target text and the flaws are identified. This also helps to assess the quality of translation. The nature of translation determines the quality of translation. The nature of relationship between the source text and the target text is also taken into consideration when assessing the translation. Translation of a particular text can be directly done based on the language in which it has to be translated. The translation process also defines certain constraints depending on the nature of the text. (Nord, 2005). Certain texts are translated based on a specific concept irrespective of the quality. Most of the texts are translated keeping in mind the quality of the text. Maintaining the quality of the text becomes the major concern and the target text must be effective in conveying the intended information. Assessing the quality of translation is often misunderstood by most of the translators. In the process of assessing the quality, one concentrates on the theory of translation. The nature of transaction is taken into consideration while assessing the quality. The nature of translation is not important in this process. Instead the efficiency of the text must be identified by comparing the source text with the target text. This would certainly indicate the flaws in the translated target text. This would also enable the translator to improve the quality of the text. By following this approach, the translator and the reader would also be benefited. As the readers expect the target text to be of the same quality as that of the source, it is the responsibility of the translator to deliver a flawless text irrespective of the language to which it is being translated. Works Cited Miyanda, Fewdays. “Total Meaning and Equivalence in Translation”. NAWA Journal of Language and Communication June 2007. Bassnett, Susan. Translation Studies. New York: Routledge, 2002. Print. Nord, Christiane. Text Analysis in Translation. Netherlands: Rodobi, 2005. Print. Read More