Pros And Cons Of Equivalence

The purpose of this research paper is to examine equivalence as a translation problem. Equivalence has made many controversies among scholars since its appearance in the field of translation until recent years. Although many debates around this notion, it still has the most attention in translation studies. For instance, Leonardi (2000) believes that equivalence is the central issue in translation although its definition, relevance, and applicability within the field of translation theory have caused heated controversy, and many different theories of the concept of equivalence have been elaborated within this field in the past fifty years. According to Halverson (1997, p.207-210) equivalence is defined as a relationship existing between two entities, and the relationship is described as one of likeness/ sameness/ similarity/ equality in terms of any of a number of potential qualities. In the following part, a brief historical background of the notion of equivalence with a highlight of the main controversies are presented. The second part consists of the main types or levels of equivalence followed by some examples. The last part contains some suggested strategies to deal with equivalence problem.

The beginnings of equivalence in

dynamic equivalence by Nida (1964). The formal corresponding may raise a problem in translating cultural expressions because it depends on the literal and identical equivalence of the source text. The dynamic equivalence has more flexibility and target language biased because the source language culture can be adapted in the target language translation. Formal equivalence focuses on the message while the dynamic one focuses on the effect of the message. Nida was interested in the translation of the bible so; he prefers the second type because he was interested in the message of the text and its functional