THE CONCEPT OF EQUIVALENCE IN TRANSLATION AND ITS THEORETICAL INTERPRETATIONS
Keywords:
equivalence, translation theory, lexical equivalence, grammatical equivalence, semantic equivalence, pragmatic equivalence, cultural equivalence, communicative correspondence.Abstract
This article analyzes the concept of equivalence in translation from both theoretical and practical perspectives. Equivalence denotes the correspondence of meaning, style, and communicative impact between the source text and the target text. The article discusses linguistic, semantic, and communicative approaches, text typology, functional and transformational approaches, as well as modern micro-level analysis. Types of translation equivalence—lexical, grammatical, semantic, pragmatic, and cultural—are described, and examples are provided for each type. The article explains equivalence not as absolute word-for-word sameness, but as a multi-layered creative process that ensures alignment of meaning, style, and culture. The findings indicate the need for integrating each type of equivalence based on the translator’s linguistic, cultural, and communicative knowledge.
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