尤金·奈达Eugene Nida翻译理论

Eugene Nida

Dynamic Equivalence and Formal Equivalence

Eugene A、Nida (1914 ) is a distinguished American translation theorist as well as a linguist、His translation theory has exerted a great influence on translation studies in Western countries、His work on translatoin set off the study of modern translation as an academic field, and he is regareded as “the patriarch of translation study and a founder of the discipline”(SnellHornby 1988:1; Baker 1998:277)

Nida’s theory of dynamic equivalence is his major contribution to translation studies、The concept is first mentioned in his article “Principles of Translation as Exemplified by Bible Translating”(1959) (《从圣经翻译瞧翻译原则》) as he attempts to define translating、In his influential work Toward a Science of Translating (1964) (《翻译原则科学探索》), he postulates dynamic equivalent translation as follows:

In such a translation (dynamic equivalent translation) one is not so concerned with matching the receptorlanguage message with the sourcelanguage message, but with the dynamic relationship, that the relationship between receptor and message should be substantially the same as that existed between the original receptors and the message (1964:159) However, he does not give a clear definition of dynamic equivalence untill 1969、In his 1969 textbook The Thoery and Practice of Translation(《翻译理论与实践》),dynamic equivalence is defined “in terms of the degree to which the receptors of the messages in the receptor language respond to it in substantially the same manner as the receptores in the source language”(1969:24)

The expression “dynamic equivalence”is superseded by “functional equivalencev”in his work From One Language to Another (1986, with De Waard)(《从一种语言到另一种语言》)、However, there is essentially not much difference between the two concepts、The substitution of “functional equivalence”is just to stress the concept of function and to avoid misunderstandings of the term “dynamic”, which is mistaken by some persons for something in the sense of impact ( Nida 1993:124)、In Language, Culture and Translating(1993)(《语言与文化:翻译中得语境》, “functional equivalence” is further divided into categories on two levels: the minimal level and the maximal level、The minimal level of “functional equivalence” is defined as “The readers of a translated text should be able to prehend it to the point that they can conceive of how the original readers of the text must have understood and appreciated it”、The maximal level is stated as “The readers of a translated text should be able to understand and aprreciate it

in essentially the same manner as the original readers did” (Nida 1993:118; 1995:224)、The two definitions of equivalence reveal that the minimal level is realistic, whereas the maximal level is ieal、For Nida, good translations always lie somewhere between the two levels (Nida 19954:224)、It can be noted that “functional equivalence” is a flexible concept with different degrees of adequacy、

Dynamic Equivalence

A term introduced by Nida(1964) in the context of Bible translation to describe one of two basic orientations found in the process of translation (see also Formal Equivalence)、Dynamic equivalence is the quality which characterizes a translation in which “the message of the original text has been so transported into the receptor language that the response of the receptor is essentially like that of the original receptors”(Nida & Taber 1969/1982:200, emphasis removed)、In other words, a dynamically equivalent translation is one which has been produced in accordance with the threefold process of Analysis, Transfer and Restructuring (Nida & Taber 1969/1982:200); formulating such a translation will entail such procedures as substituting TL items which are more culturally appropriate for obscure ST items, making lingguistically implicit ST information explicit, and building in a certain amount of REDUNDANCY(1964:131) to aid prehension、In a translation of this kind one is therefor not so concerned with “matching the receptorlanguage message with the sourcelaguage”; the aim is more to “relate the receptor to modes of behavior relevant within the context of his own culture” (Nida 1964:159)、Possibly the best known example of a dynamically equivalent solution to a translation problem is seen in the decision to translate the Biblical phrase “Lamb of God” into and Eskimo language as “Seal of God”: the fact that lambs are unkown in polar regions has here led to the substitution of a culturally meaningful item which shares at least some of the important features of the SL expression (see SnellHornby 1988/1955:15)、Nida and Taber argue that a “high degree”of equivalence of response is needed for the translation to achieve its purpose, although they point out that this response can never be identical with that elicited by the original(1969/1982:24)、However, they also issue a warning about the limits within which the processes associated with producing dynamic equivalence remain valid: fore example, a parison with the broadly simialr category of Linguistic Translaton reveals that only elements which are linguistically implict in TTrather than any additional contextual information which might be necessary to a new audience—may legitimately be made explicit in TT、The notion of dynamic equivalence is of course especially relevant to Bible translation, given the particular need of Biblical translations not only to inform readers but also to present a relevant message to them and hopefully elicit a