Reflections Upon Translation Equivalence

Since translation is, above all, an activity that aims at conveying meaning or meanings of a given-linguistic discourse from one language to another, the comparison of texts in different languages inevitably involves a theory of equivalence. Equivalence, therefore, can be said to be the central issue in translation although its definition, relevance, and applicability within the field of translation theory have caused heated controversy. Ever since Smilrov first used"translation equivalence"in his article Methods of Literary Translation in 1934, the notion"equivalence"became one of the most controversial and problematic issues in translation studies today. Many researchers, both home and abroad, either pay equivalence theory an unduly high compliment as to regard it as a'panacea', or make too light of it to denounce it as'good-for-nothing', which, this author believes, is not a scientific attitude towards a theory.This paper challenges this simplistic either-or division by giving an extensive analysis and critical evaluation of the notion of'equivalence'interpreted by some most innovative theorists in this field, like Jakobson, Nida, Catford, Kade, House and Baker from different perspectives. These theorists, Nida with his"dynamic equivalence"in particular, have provided fruitful ideas for further study on this topic,...