Defining Equivalence And The Process Of Translation

According to roman jakobson,  interlingua translation involves substituting messages in one language not for separate code-units but for entire messages in some other language. The role of a translator, therefore, is to read the original carefully, codify accurately and transmit the message meaningfully in the target language.

Can we say that translation involves two equivalent messages in two different codes?

Roman jakobson, in his ‘on linguisticsaspects of translation’, talks about the problem of equivalence in meaning between words in different languages. It was also pointed that there was ordinarily no fully equivalence between code-units.

It is however also impossible to find an exact equivalent word or expression in the target language. The reason is that our language is based on the socio-cultural practices. Let us say, if one is trying to translate the term ‘cheese’ in Russian language one finds that it is very difficult to directly find an expression equivalent to the English word.

It is not a problem that is faced only by the translators, but it is also faced by the indian english writers writing about India. In one instance mulk raj anand had to translate the term ‘namak haram’ into english and he coined the expression ‘spoiler of the salt’.

Do you think the sense of ‘namak haram’ ?

Translation in Mass-communication

The mass media has multiplied manifold due to the advent of modern technologies such as satellite communications and World Wide Web etc. It has also created a situation where information explosion has emerged as a new trend of the society. We are bombed with information regarding different things, especially the products marketed,services offered and culture packaged from different spaces in such a manner, that we seem to be living within a network of information and nothing else.

As English is the language of globalization, therefore the English-knowing people are horsing to the world all the time through different mediums. But an economy cannot thrive only with the English-knowing people and therefore, there is a constant need for translation, as it is through translation, that the majority of the people of the world can be taken under the purview of the global market.

As the non-English speaking world needs to get connected to the English-speaking one, therefore the need of translation is enhanced. In other words, it can be said that translation practice plays a very dynamic role in the globalized world.

Therefore in translation, history and culture (1990), bassnett and lefevere emphasize that “translation has been a major shaping force in the development of worldculture…” hence, translation can be seen as a booming industry in today’s world as mass communication is a growing field.

TRANSLATING AN ADVERTISEMENT

While translating an advertisement, it is essential that the ad should be able to disseminate the information about the product or service and persuade the potential customers to buy the product or avail the service. Therefore, it is absolutely essential that the translated add must be as fluent as the original and accurate to the original advertisement.

Translation of an article can be done in multiple ways. It can be preceded by making a new advertisement on the same idea about the same product or service but in a different language. However, this is quite a costly proposition and mostly is no being done. In most cases, it will happen that the translation of the advertisement will in such a manner will lead to a new ad altogether.

The audio of the advertisement could be subtitled. But do you think anyone in today’s world have the time and patience to read the subtitles of the advertisements? Thus, the only option left would be to dub the advertisement in the target language of the intended audience.

In case of dubbing, though the translator is changing the audio of the advertisement to the target language through dubbing artists but what happens is that the translator has to work within sone constraints as the translator’s translated dialogues should match with the lip movements of the characters of the advertisement.

Thus, even though nida’s(pioneer in the fields of translation theory and linguistics)notion of dynamic equivalence is significant in translating the advertisement, but is not always possible to follow dynamic equivalence in translating advertisements.