Translation Alignment: A Practical Approach to Equivalence

ABSTRACT

One of the central issues in the debate of translation has been the notion of equivalence and whether equivalence is at all possible in translation. According to Chesterman (1997), equivalence is the big bugbear of translation theory. It is more argued than any other single idea: a translation is, or must be, equivalent to the source, in some sense at least.

This article argues that equivalence is both elusive and illusive, and posits that translation alignment though matching and correspondence within a three-tier model of translation is a more practical proposition.

"Translation alignment refers to the dynamically relative position of the translation to the source text on the lexical, semantic, syntactic, pragmatic and cultural relational levels. It is not always possible to align the source and the target text at all levels, and certain tradeoffs are sometimes necessary to remove translatability constraints. These tradeoffs should be guided by the purpose of both the source text and the translation" (in Darwish, A. (forthcoming). Elements of Translation).

©  2003  - 2004 Ali Darwish
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