Equivalence in Translation Theories:

A Critical Evaluation
Mona Baker

MTSG 502 Contrastive Text

Analysis in Translation
22/12/16
Assignment
presentation
By Assma Murad

Course instructor:
Dr. Ahmad Khuddro

Outlines
Definition of equivalence
Kinds of equivalence
Grammatical equivalence
Textual equivalence
Pragmatic equivalence

Examples
References

Mona Baker
In Other Words (1992).
Equivalence: is a relative notion because
it is influenced by a variety of linguistic
and cultural factors.
Different kinds of equivalence:
Equivalence at
Equivalence at
Equivalence at
Equivalence at
pragmatics.

the
the
the
the

level
level
level
level

of
of
of
of

word
phrase,
grammar,
text and

word-level
equivalence
aboveword-level
equivalence

Bottom-up approach: to start from the

building block level (word) >> toward the
higher level (text).

Grammatical equivalence
Difficulty of finding an equivalent term in the
TT and the obligation to add or delete
information in the TT is due to the diversity of
grammatical categories across languages.
Such a Grammatical parameters are for
example number (singular and pleural), voice
(passive and active), person, gender, tense
and aspect.
All these should be taken into consideration
when translating a word.

Textual equivalence
Textual equivalence refers to equivalence that
may be achieved between a ST and TT in terms
of cohesion and information
Baker emphasize the importance of
understanding the texture feature to facilitate
analysis and comprehension of the ST in
order to produce a cohesive and coherent TT
The decision whether the TT is cohesive and
coherent as the ST or not mainly rests on three
main factors; the target audience, the
purpose of the translation and the text type

Pragmatic equivalence
Pragmatic equivalence deals mainly with
implicaturerefer to what the speaker means
or implies rather than what s/he literally says.
What is the Q you should ask your self to judge
whether the text is implicative or not??
Implictaure answer the question of how to make
the reader understand more than is actually said.
The role of the translator is to work out the
meaning of implicatures and to RECREATE the
intended message of the ST.

Pragmatic equivalence:
implicature

We will discus now three examples

to clarify the concept.

Pragmatic equivalence:
implicature
E.g. 1
A: Shall we go for a walk?
B: Its raining.
Implication of B response:
No, wed better not because its raining,

OK, but wed better take an umbrella, or

perhaps Yes we both like walking in the
rain?

Pragmatic equivalence:
implicature
E.g. 2
A: What is Jane up to these days?
B: Its raining!
Implication of B response:
Commenting on the weather as meaning
something like I dont want to talk about
this subject or
depending on Bs tone of voice and facial
expression, Youre out of line you
shouldnt be asking me this question.

Pragmatic equivalence:
implicature
E.g. 3
A: Shall we go for a walk?
B: Could I take a rain check on that?
Implication of B response:
No implication.
It is an idiomatic expression that have a
non-literal meaning.
By saying take a rain check he mean can
I reissue the invitation at a later date.

Reference
https://
www.researchgate.net/profile/Despoi
na_Panou/publication/259398103_Equi
valence_in_Translation_Theories_A_C
ritical_Evaluation/links/0c96052b72
5908e93d000000.pdf
In ot

Moving from ST to TT in a creative

way.