TYPES OF EQUIVALENCE

TRANSLATION
Eka Nur Sukrisna
A320210243
WRITTEN TRANSLATION F
 A

Equivalence at word
level
THE WORD IN DIFFERENT LANGUAGES
• The word is the smallest unit of language that
can be used by it self
• Meaning can be carried by units smaller than
the word
• In order to isolate elements of meaning in
words and deal with them moreeffectively,
some linguist have suggested the term
morpheme to describe the minimal formal
element of meaning in language,asdistinc from
wor, which may or may no contain several
elements of meaning.
 LEXICAL MEANING
The lexical meaning of a word or lexical unit mat be thought of as
the specific value it has in a particular linguistic system and the
‘personality’ it acquires through usage within that system
-Propositional versus expressive meaning
-Presupposed meaning
-Selectional restrictions and Collacational restrictions
- Evoked Meaning (Field of discourse, Tenor of discourse, Mode of
discourse)
THE PROBLEM OF NON-EQUIVALENCE
• Semantic fields and lecxical sets the segmentation of
experience
• Understanding the difference in the structure of
semantic fields in the source and target languages
allows a translator to assess the value of a given item
in a lexical set
• Non-equivalence at word level and some common
strategies for dealing with it
 • Common problems of non-equivalence

a. Culture specific concepts

b. The source-language concept is not lexicalized in the target language
c. The source-language word is semantically complex
d. The source and target languages make different distinctions in meaning
e. The target language lacks a specific term (hyponym)
f. Differences in physical or interpersonal perspective
g. Differences in expressive meaning
h. Differences in form
i. Differences in frequency and purpose of using specific forms
j. The use of loan words in the source text
 2. Strategies used by professional translators

a. Translation by a more general word superordinate

b. Translation by a more neutral/less expressive word
c. Translation by cultural substitution
d. Translation using a loan word or loan word plus explanation
e. Translation by paraphrase using related word
f. Translation by paraphrase using unrelated words
g. Translation by omission
h. Translation by illustration
 B
EQUIVALENCE
ABOVE WORD
LEVEL
 • COLLOCATION

• Collocational range and collocationalmarkedness

• Collocation and register
• Collocational meaning
• Some collocation-related pitfalls and problems in translation
- The engrossing effect of source text patterning
- Misinterpreting the meaning of a source-language collocation
- The tension between accuracy and naturalness
- Culture-spesiific collocations
- Marked collocations in the source text
IDIOMS AND FIXED EXPRESSIONS
Generally speaking, collocations are fairly flexible patterns of
language which allow several variations in form
• Idioms, fixed expressions and the direction of translation
The main problems that idiomatic and fixed expressions pose in
translation relate to two main areas :
the ability to recognize and interpret an idiom correctly and the
difficulties involved in rendering the various aspects of meaning
that an idiom or a fixed expression conveys into the target
language.
2. The interpretation of idioms
As far as idioms are concerned, the first difficulty that a
translator comes across is being able to recognize that he or she
is dealing with an idiomatic expression.

3. The translation of idioms : difficulties

Once an idiom fixed expression has been recognize and
interpreted correctly, the next step is to decide how to translate
it into the target language. The difficulties involved in
translating an idiom are totally different from those involved in
interpreting it.
4. The translation of idioms : strategies

a. Using an idiom of similar meaning and form

b. Using an idiom of similar meaning but dissimilar form
c. Borrowing the source language idiom
d. Translation by paraphrase
e. Translation by omission of a play on idiom
f. Translation by omission of entire idiom
 C

GRAMMATICAL
EQUIVALENCE
 Grammar versus Lexical categories
Grammar is organized along two main dimensions : morphology and
syntax. Morphology covers the structure of words, the way in which the
form of a word changes to indicate specific contrasts in the grammatical
system. Syntax covers the grammatical structure of groups, clauses and
sentences.
• The diversity of grammatical categories across languages
1. Number 4. Tense and aspect
2. Gender 5. Vioce
3. Person
The syntactic structure of a language imposes restrictions on the way
messages may be organized in that language.

• Text versus non-text

As translators, we have to operate with lexical items and grammatical
structures at various stages of the translation process. It is nevertheless
imperative that we view the text as a whole, both at the beginning and at the
end of the process.
2. Features of the text organization
a. There are connections which are established through the
arrangement of information within each clause and the way this
relates to the arrangement of information in preceding and
following clause and sentences; these contribute mainly to topic
development and maintenance through thematic and information
structures
b. There are surface connections which establish interrelationships
between person and events
c. Important feature of text organization derives from the
overlappingnotions of genre and text type
 TEXTUAL
D
EQUIVALENCE:
THEMATIC AND
INFORMATION
STRUCTURES
 A Hallidayan Overview of Information Flow

One way of explaining the interactional organization of sentences

is to suggest that a clause consists of two segments. The first
segment is called the theme. The second segment of a clause is
called the rheme.
 • Thematic structure: grammaticality versus acceptability

Unlike the subject-predicate distinction, the notions of theme and

rheme can be used to account for the acceptability of a given sequence
in a given context. Theme and rheme are not grammatical notions.
They have little to do with whether a given sequence is or is not
grammatical. 2 Grammatical sequences are part of the abstract system
of language. In context, grammaticality does not necessarily ensure
acceptability or coherence.
Thematic structure: marked versus unmarked sequences

A further area in which the notions of theme and rheme have proved
very useful relates to marked and unmarked structures. Thematic
choice involves selecting a clause element as theme. The main clause
elements are subject, predicator, object, complement and adjunct.

It is possible to see Halliday’s view of theme – as whatever comes in

initial position in the clause – as a reflection of the nature of English
as a language with relatively fixed word order and his study of
Chinese, this being a language with a special category of topic,
which always occurs at the beginning of the clause.
 THE PRAGUE SCHOOL POSITION ON INFORMATION FLOW:
FUNCTIONAL SENTENCE PERSPECTIVE

The Prague School position on theme/rheme and given/new is quite distinct

from Halliday’s and results in a significantly different explanation of how
these categories are realized in discourse. This approach is generally referred
to as functional sentence perspective (FSP).
1. Linear arrangement and thematic status in FSP
It should be clear by now that, unlike Hallidayan linguists, FSP theorists do
not see theme and rheme as being realized chiefly by their relative positions
in the clause
2. Linear arrangement and marked structures in FSP
Since FSP theorists do not take sentence position as the only criterion for assigning
thematic status to clause elements, it follows that two alternative formulations of
the same message can have the same thematic analysis.

3. The tension between word order and communicative function: a problem in

translation?
According to FSP scholars, restrictions on word order in various languages result
in a linear arrangement that may or may not coincide with the interpretative
arrangement of an utterance.

4. Suggested strategies for minimizing linear dislocation

a.voice change c. Nominaliztion
b.change of verb d. Extraposition
 E
TEXTUAL
EQUIVALENCE:
COHESION
Cohesion is the network 1 of lexical, grammatical and other relations that
provide links between various parts of a text.
Reference
The term reference is traditionally used in semantics for the relationship which
holds between a word and what it points to in the real world.
Substitution and Ellipsis
substitution and ellipsis are grammatical rather than semantic relationships. In
substitution, an item (or items) is replaced by another item (or items). Ellipsis
involves the omission of an item. In other words, in ellipsis, an item is replaced
by nothing.
Conjunction

Conjunction involves the use of formal markers to relate sentences, clauses

and paragraphs to each other
Lexical Cohesion
Lexical cohesion refers to the role played by the selection of vocabulary in
organizing relations within a text
 F
PRAGMATIC
EQUIVALENCE
COHERENCE
- coherence is a network of relations that organize and create a text;
cohesion is the network of surface relations which link words and
expressions to other words and expressions in a text, and coherence is
the network of conceptual relations which underlie the surface text.

COHERENCE, IMPLICATURE AND TRANSLATION

STRATEGIES
The following discussion therefore considers how these factors might
relate not only to working out implicatures but to the question of
coherence in general and to common problems and strategies in
translation.
The conventional meanings of words and structures and the identity of
references
a.The conventional meanings of words and structures
b.The I
c.dentity and import of any references mentioned in the text
- The Co-operative Principle and its maxims
Grice suggests that the Co-operative Principle and its maxims are not arbitrary
but are a feature of any rational behaviour, be it linguistic or non-linguistic
- The context, linguistic or otherwise, of the utterance
The context in which an utterance occurs determines the range of implicatures
that may sensibly be derived from it.
- Other items of background knowledge
In order to make sense of any piece of information presented in a text, the
reader or hearer has to be able to integrate it into some model of the world,
whether real or fictional
Sed malesuada ac ligula bibendum lacinia. Maecenas at diam non est
commodo tempus.
 G
SEMIOTIC
EQUIVALENCE
The discussion that follows draws on insights from social semiotics
for concepts with which to examine and analyze different examples
of the interplay between visual and verbal elements and its
translation in a wide range of genres.

SEMIOTIC RESOURCES AND SEMIOTIC REGIMES

The term used in social semiotics to refer to all these diverse and
fluid means of expression is semiotic resources, and Social
semiotics refers to such varying levels of restriction in relation to
the use of semiotic resources as semiotic regimes.
.
 CREATIVE DEPLOYMENT OF SEMIOTIC RESOURCES
Leeuwen (2005 :27) explains, ‘every semiotic resource and every use
of every semiotic resource was once an innovation’
TRANSLATING SEMIOTICALLY COMPLEX MATERIAL
- Strengthening verbal-visual cohesion
- Resolving discrepancies between visual and verbal input
- Replacing verbal-visual puns
- Compensation
- Sacrificing or undermining verbal-visual cohesion
 H
BEYOND EQUIVALENCE:
ETHICS AND MORALTY
ETHICS AND MORALITY
Ethics and morality are generally understood to concern our ability to make
decisions on the basis of what we believe to be morally right or wrong in a specific
context.

How do we decide what is ethical?

We might begin to address this question by drawing a broad distinction between
teleological and deontological approaches to the issue of ethical decision-making.
Deontological models defi ne what is ethical by reference to what is right in and of
itself, irrespective of consequences, and are rule-based. Teleological approaches, in
contrast, defi ne what is ethical by reference to what produces the best results.
t.
 PROFESSIONALISM, CODES OF ETHICS AND THE LAW
Most professions have codes of ethics that regulate the behaviour of their
members and demonstrate to those who depend on their services that they
have mechanisms for ensuring accountability.

THE ETHICAL IMPLICATIONS OF LINGUISTIC CHOICES

Accuracy, as already pointed out, is one of the principles included in most
codes of ethics, and like impartiality and confidentiality, it can be diffi
cult to adhere to for ethical reasons. But accuracy focuses specifically on
the relationship between the source and target text, or source and target
utterance in the case of interpreting.