Equivalence in Translation
A key concept in translation
Equivalence centers around 
the processes interacting
between the original source
text and translated text.
Types of Equivalence
(1) Referential equivalence is established when the
words in the source language (SL) refer to the
same objects in the world as the words in the
target language (TL)
.g. book and in English refers. ‫كتاب‬e
(2) Connotative equivalence is established when
the words in both languages and texts trigger the
same associations and connotations.
(3) Pragmatic equivalence refers to words in both
languages having the same effect on the readers
in both languages.
Types of Equivalence
Referential
• when the words in the source language (SL) refer to the same
objects in the world as the words in the target language (TL).
Communicative
• when the words in both languages and texts trigger the same
associations and connotations.
Pragmatic
• When words in SL + TL have the same effect on the readers in
both languages
Types of Equivalence
(4) Contextual equivalence is established when
words in both languages are used in the same
or similar contexts.
(5) Formal equivalence refers to words in both
languages having similar phonological or
orthographic features.
(6) Textual equivalence refers to aspects of
cohesion and coherence which are similar in
both texts and languages.
Types of Equivalence
Contextual
• when words in both languages are used in the same or similar
contexts.
Formal
• When words in both languages having similar phonological or
orthographic features
Textual
• When aspects of cohesion and coherence which are similar in
both texts and languages
Why is equivalence important in
translation?
How is meaning reproduced in translation? •
How is meaning reproduced in
translation?
Is it only through surface language
features?
Words, grammar, phonology, text cohesion •
Or through covert underlying conceptual
meaning? Pragmatic meaning
Meaning in use, situation, context and readership •
cultural background, It is not in text, but in situations
involving language
What is pragmatics?
• The study of language in use.
• How utterances are used in
communicative situations and the way
we interpret them in a context
• The study of meaning not as generated
by the linguistic system but as conveyed
and manipulated by participants in a
communicative situation
Two important concepts in
pragmatics
coherence
Implicature
a network of relations which organizes and create text
concerned with how utterances are connected to each other
Coherence and cohesion
coherence
 Conceptual relationship
underlying the surface text
 Underlying semantic
relation
 Readership property:
reader’s evaluation of the
text
 Implicit meaning
 Subjective: varies from
reader to reader
 Making sense of the text
cohesion
 Surface textual relationships
such as cohesive devices
 Linking words and expressions
to other words and expressions.
 Text property: cohesive markers
“therefore” etc.
 Explicit meaning
 Objective: automatic
recognition
 Cannot create coherence
Example of a cohesive text
I bought a Ford. The car in which President
Wilson rode down the Champs Elysees was
black. Black English has been widely
discussed. (See Baker P 218)
As for coherence see example P. 220 “A Hero
from Zero”
What is pragmatic equivalence?
 How a text makes sense to a given readership.
We go beyond the textual level and see how
utterances are used in communicative situations
 pragmatic equivalence tends to reproduce the
context and text goals of the SL.
 "pragmatic equivalence subsumes all of the
semio-pragmatic-communicative layers of
communication."[29]
 Examples of these semiotic and communicative
dimensions are genre, field, mode, tenor, text
type and translation purpose (skopos).
Examples
a)
1-Eng ST: He was armed to his teeth.
‫ كان مسلحا حتى أسنانه‬2-Arb TT1:
‫ كان مدججا بالسالح‬3-Arb TT2, (optimal):
b)
1-Eng ST: He kicked the bucket.
‫ ركل الدلو‬2-Arb TT1:
‫ وافته المنية‬3-Arb TT2, (optimal):
‫‪Example for translation‬‬
‫•‬
‫يقول أمرسون في قصيدته (التميمة) ‪Amulet‬‬
‫‪Give me an amulet that keeps intelligence with you‬‬
‫‪Red when you love, and rosier red‬‬
‫‪And when you love not, pale and blue‬‬
‫ما ترجمته‪:‬‬
‫أعطني تميمة تحتفظ بالذكاء‪/‬المعلومات معك‬
‫توردا‬
‫حمراء عندما تحب‪ ،‬وحمراء أكثر ّ‬
‫وشاحبة زرقاء عندما ال تحب‬
‫وأظن أن ما يقصده هو اآلتي‪:‬‬
‫أعطني تميمة عربونا للمودة ما بيننا‬
‫بحيث تكون صلة الوصل بين روحينا‪ ،‬فتبقيني على علم بما تحس به‪.‬‬
‫وردي‬
‫فعندما تحبني تحتفظ بلون أحمر‪ ،‬وكلما ازداد حبك تحول لونها إلى‬
‫ّ‬
‫أما إن شحب لونها وعلته زرقة‪ ،‬فعندها سأعرف أن حبك خبا وفقد وهجه‪.‬‬
Implicature