Лекція: Equivalence & non-equivalence

Тема
Problems with equivalence and non-equivalence

Вступ
Central for the analysis of translation is the notion of equivalence so widely discussed by
numerous linguists and philosophers. When talking about equivalence in translation one
should first define what is understood under this concept. GC Catford maintained that it is a
central task of translation theory to define the nature and conditions of translation
equivalence and whether it should be applied at phonological, syntactic and semantic
level.Mary Snell Hornby called translation equivalence a treacherous illusion by which she
meant that it hardly exists. Not all linguists are so pessimistic. In one of the recent definitions
of lexical equivalence Roda P.Roberts claims that lexical equivalence involves replacement
of source language lexemes by target language lexemes.

NON-EQUIVALENCE.

The following are the most common types of non- equivalence at word level :

a. culture-specific concepts

b. the absence of the lexical form of the source language concept in the target
language

c. semantic complexity of the source language word

d. different distinctions in meaning in the source and target languages

e. the lack of a superordinate in the target language

f. the lack of a specific term or hyponym in the target language

g. differences in physical or interpersonal perspective

h. differences in expressive meaning

i. differences in form

j. differences in frequency and purpose of using specific forms

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 k. the use of loanwords in the source text.

a.Problems with translating words of nationally biased lexicon(realia) are well known.

Sometimes a source language word may express a concept which is totally unknown
in the target language culture. The given concept may be either abstract or concrete . It
may very often relate to religious matter, proper names referring to places, kinds of
food or historical figures and other commonly known to all members of a certain
community things.

b. To illustrate this problem we may refer to famous in Linguistics example of the

Eskimo people. They distinguish several types of snow which for the Europeans are
always just snow.

c. The similar thing happens in the Aguaruna language of Peru in which there are 9
words referring to spirit being. The translators’ problem starts when she or he has to
translate all 9 senses of the word into English or other European languages. It is
impossible to do it without lengthy explanations about the differences. Unfortunately it
is quite common that the source language concept is not lexicalized in the target
language.

d. Another common situation is when the target language makes more or fewer
distinctions in meaning than the source language, for example in Indonesian there are
two separate words to express the activity of going out in the rain:going out with the
knowledge that it is raining and going out without this knowledge. The translation
from Indonesian into English would require some additional contextual information.

e.,f.One of the most frequent situations in the translators’ practice is when the target
language lacks either a superordinate or a hyponym. When a language does not have
many hyponyms it also means that it is poor in synonyms.

g. In some languages physical perspective is of more importance than in others. This

fact is responsible for Greater variety of forms referring to close distance between
people, people and places, and so on. Not all languages make distinction between
come and go, or use different forms of address when talking to a friend and a parent.
The difference in the degree of formality is also included under this category.

h. Differences in expressive meaning also pose potential translation problems. Very

often words which represent the same propositional meaning may differ in expressive
meaning. If the source language concept is less expressive it is easy to add some
additional information by means of some modifiers in the target language. The
situation becomes more difficult when the source language word is more emotionally

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 loaded. It may be impossible to find a target language item which would not be
offensive for the reader. The degree of expressiveness is of course language specific
and vary greatly.

i. Linguistic form is still another track for the translator. Prefixes and suffixes of
various kinds are not always translated from one language into another. Words created
by means of the suffix «able» like drinkable and likable cannot be translated into
Ukrainian in other way but by paraphrase. There is no one to one correspondence in
these cases.

j. Not less important than the differences in the form itself are the differences in the
frequency and purpose of using specific forms. Each language, depending on which
language group it belongs to, has different preferences as regards the distribution of
the particular linguistic forms. Some languages are richer in verbs and verbal
expressions therefore verbs occur more frequently but their translation may result in
something totally different. In the process of translation they may be for example
nominalized.

k. All languages interact with one another and if we have not enough items in our
native languages we adopt some international terms and phrases and incorporate them
into our own lexicon. Then we use them in communication but not necessarily in
international relations. Such adopted items are called loan words. In many countries
the knowledge of loan words is ascribed to high-class people. It symbolizes their
intellectual statues and defines their social position. Therefore the possibility of a
broad use of loan words in the text depends on the target audience at which it is aimed.
If the text is to reach the mass addressee, loan words occurring in it will have to be
accompanied by a word of explanation.

EQUIVALENCE

Equivalence is the reproduction of a SL text by TL means. Equivalence is not a

constant but a variable quality and the range of variability is considerable. The degree
of equivalence depends on the linguistic means used in the SL texts and on the
functional style to which the text belongs. E.g.:

Early December brought a brief respite when temperatures fell and the ground
hardened, but a quick thaw followed.

На початку грудня настав короткий перепочинок: температура знизилася, земля

замерзла, але потім прийшла відлига.

The messages conveyed by the original and the translation are equivalent as every

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 semantic element has been retained although some changes have been made in strict
conformity with the standards and usage of the Ukrainian language.

TYPES OF EQUIVALENCE

Equivalence implies variability and consequently several types of equivalence can be

distinguished.

First Type – Formal Equivalence.

Children go to school every morning.

Діти ходять в школу кожного ранку.

The content, the structure of the sentence and the semantic components (language
units) are similar. Each element of the SL text has a corresponding one in the TL text.
But such cases of complete similarity are rather rare.

Second Type – Partial Correspondence Equivalence.

Non-corresponding elements may be lexical, grammatical or stylistic. Equivalence of

the second type is usually achieved by means of various transformations: substitution
or replacements (both lexical and grammatical), additions and omissions, paraphrasing
and compensation.

All through the long foreign summer the American tourist abroad has been depressed
by the rubber quality of his dollar.

Під час довготривалого літнього відпочинку за кордном американських туристів

пригнічувало постійне скорочення купівельної спроможності долара.

Although a considerable degree of equivalence has been achieved with the help of a
number of transformations, certain losses have been incurred, namely, compactness

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 and vividness.

Attention should be paid to the stylistic aspect of equivalence because of its

importance in achieving the second type of equivalence. The stylistic aspect of
equivalence implies the rendering in translation of stylistic and emotive connotations.
Stylistic connotations presuppose the use of words belonging to the same layer of the
vocabulary (literary, neutral and colloquial). Emotive connotations presuppose the use
of words evoking similar connotations. The following example illustrates the
rendering of stylistic connotations.

Attention should also be drawn to the Pragmatic aspect of equivalence.

Pragmatic equivalence can be achieved only by means of interpreting extra-linguistic

factors.

Mr. Healey by his decision presented a Christmas package so small that it is hardly
even a Christmas stocking-filler.

Заходи, на які зважився міністр фінансів Хілі перед самим різдвом були такими
жалюгідними, що їх навряд чи можна назвати різдвяним подарунком.

The literal translation of “a Christmas stocking-filler” would hardly convey any sense
to the Ukrainian receptor unfamiliar with the custom. In this case the pragmatic aspect
motivated the translation “a Christmas stocking-filler” by “різдвяний подарунок”.
The addition of the words “міністр фінансів” is also necessitated by pragmatic
considerations.

Third Type – Situational or Factual Equivalence.

The content or sense of the utterance is conveyed by different grammatical and lexical
units.

Situational equivalence is observed when the same phenomenon is described in a

different way because it is seen from a different angle, e.g.

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 The police cleared the streets.

Поліція разігнала демонстрацію.

Hold the line.

Не кладіть трубку.

The Commonwealth countries handle a quarter of the world’s trade.

На країни британської співдружності припадає четверта частина світової

торгівлі.

This type of equivalence also comprises the translation of clichés, orders, warnings
and notices, phraseological units and set expressions, formulae of politeness, etc.

There were no survivors.

Усі загинули.

Fragile – обережно, скло;

Keep off, wet paint – не сідати, пофарбовано;

Many happy returns of the day – вітаю з днем народження.

In this way, the third type of equivalence conveys the sense, the meaning of the
utterance without preserving its formal elements.

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