Translation equivalence is an important concept of translation theory.

It is one of the main principles of

Western theory of translation. Finding translation equivalents is one of the core problems of the
translation process. As Catford states, “the central problem of translation-practice is that of finding TL
equivalents. A central task of translation theory is that of defining the nature and conditions of translation
equivalence.” (Catford, 1965, p. 21). Starting from the middle of the twentieth century a lot of prominent
theorists who work in the field of translation theory include the concept of equivalence in their theorizing
and research. The concept of equivalence was used to distinguish the difference between free and literal
translation. Roman Jacobson became the first who used this term in his work published in 1959. Later a
lot of specialists used this term in their works and made a lot of attempts to distinguish the concept of
equivalence. Such prominent specialists as Vinay and Darbelet Jakobson, Nida, Catford, House and
Baker used the concept of equivalence in their studies. All of them regarded this concept in relation to the
translation theory. Translation is a complex process which can be regarded from several perspectives.
Some specialists view translation as a merely linguistic process where notions from one language are
translation into another one. This group of specialists regards equivalence as literal translating each word
and notion. At the same time other specialists state that cultural context is very important for the
translation because only the use of the context can help to pass real meaning of the text. In their opinion,
equivalence in translation should deal with passing the meaning of the text. These scholars present
semantic or functional approach to translation. The third group of specialists take middle position and
state that equivalence is used for the convenience of translators. Bakers who shares this approach states
that equivalence is used “for the sake of convenience—because most translators are used to it rather
than because it has any theoretical status” (Kenny, 1998, p.77). Despite different attitudes to the concept
of equivalence, most of the specialists pay much attention to its meaning in the theory of translation.

It is important to understand the meaning of the term equivalence. In English language it may be used as
a technical term, which describes scientific notions. For example, term equivalence is used in
mathematics, At the same time term equality may be used in common sense in everyday language. In
the theory of translation the term equivalence is used in its general meaning because it is hard to find
absolutely identical words and notions in different languages. Different languages have different phonetic,
grammar, syntax and vocabulary structures. That is why we can speak only about certain degree of
equivalence when we make translation. So, in our case we use term equivalence in the meaning of
similarity or approximation and it shows the level of likeness between the source and the target text. This
likeness may be achieved on different levels.

Translation is a form of communication and that is the reason it is so important to establish equivalence
between the source text and the target text. Nida defines translation as “reproducing in the receptor
language the closest natural equivalent of the source-language message, first in terms of meaning and
secondly in terms of style.” (Nida, 1982, p. 12). It is evident that equivalence is one of basic concepts of
translation which can not be neglected.

Equivalence is a complex term which describes phenomena from different spheres of human knowledge.
In the field of translation it first appeared in the middle of the last century and since then has become an
important indicator of the translation process. Most translation theorists and researchers pay attention to
the equivalence in translation, despite the fact that their opinions on this phenomenon may differ. Some
specialists believe that the equivalence may be regarded as a synonym of the translation process, others
believe that the equivalence should not cause the loss of main message of the text. Despite different
approaches, the equivalence is an important notion in the translation process and it helps to approach the
meaning and value of the translation process in general.

Translation equivalence is an important concept of translation theory. Finding translation equivalents is

one of the core problems of the translation process.