The Notion of Equivalence in Translation

Abstract

The notion of equivalence is one of the most problematic areas in the theory of translation. Various translation theories proposed by different translation theoreticians discussed, analyzed, evaluated this term from different points of view, and approached it from different perspectives.
This paper is an attempt to discuss the notion of equivalence as well as the different theories useful to trace back the evolution of this concept. We try to answer the main question: How do theoreticians of translation perceive “equivalence”?
It is realized that the difficulty in defining equivalence seems to result in the impossibility of having a universal approach to this notion. There is no universally accepted theory of translation because the people who are qualified to form them have differences of opinion. However, the knowledge of these different views help the students of translation to know the basic features of translation.