Section 2: The Question of Equivalence
Our understanding of translation is moving beyond the foundational questions of accuracy and fidelity. Today, we think more about the subjective nature of language and the interpretive qualities of the translation process.
Still, the question of equivalence -- whether the translation mirrors every word or every idea -- can help us think about what happens behind the scenes.
Some Background
Cicero, in his 42 BCE treatise, first named "word for word" (verbum pro verbo) as an approach to translation:
In these [translations] I did not hold it necessary to render word for word, but I preserved the general style and force of the language. For I did not think I ought to count [the words] out to the reader like coins, but to pay them by weight, as it were.
In quibus non verbum pro verbo necesse habui reddere, sed genus omne3 verborum vimque servavi. Non enim ea me adnumerare lectori putavi oportere, sed tamquam 15appendere.
In 1680, John Dryden (1631-1700) proposed three translation categories:
Metaphrase
to translate each word word-for-word, line by line
Paraphrase
to translate meaning in so many words, sense-for-sense
Imitation
to create the text anew, as if the writer were writing it in a new language and time
Formal vs. dynamic equivalence is another variation of this continuum (proposed by Eugene Nida in 1964).
Whatever the terms, this general distinction between formal and free translation can be useful when trying to understand the strategies of a translated text. No approach is more "accurate." Each approach prioritizes a different effect of language.
The bible's many translations
The Bible's 900 English translations can be organized around this continuum. The translations range in their approach from word-for-word to the more interpretive. Here's a small sample:
Formal Equivalence
Closest Natural Equivalence
Functional Equivalence
Retelling
ESV English Standard Version
KJV King James Version
NKJV New King James Version
TRB The Readable Bible
CSB Christian Standard Bible
NIV New International Version
NLT New Living Translation
CEV Contemporary English Version
MSG The Message
An Example from Genesis 4:13-14
The same short passage from The Book of Genesis in different translations:
New American Standard:
Cain said to the Lord, ‘My punishment is too great to endure! Behold, You have driven me this day from the face of the ground, and I will be hidden from Your face; and I will be a wanderer and a drifter...
King James Version:
And Cain said unto the Lord, My punishment is greater than I can bear. Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth; and from thy face shall I be hid; and I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond...
God's Word:
Cain said to the Lord, ‘My punishment is more than I can stand! You have forced me off the land today, and I have to hide from you. I’ll be a restless wanderer...
New International Version:
Cain said to the Lord, ‘My punishment is more than I can bear. Today you are driving me from the land, and I will be hidden from your presence; I will be a restless wanderer...
The Message:
Cain said to God, ‘My punishment is too much. I can’t take it! You’ve thrown me off the land, and I can never again face you. I’m a homeless wanderer...
In moving from metaphrase to paraphrase, "too great to endure!" on the left becomes, "too much. I can't take it!" on the right. "I will be hidden from Your face" becomes "I can never again face you." The meaning of each translation remains the same, but the register and approachability changes. Paraphrase does not always move toward more familiar language, but that is one common motivation for choosing the strategy.
Another Example
گر دست دهد ز مغز گندم نانی
وز می دو منی ز گوشت رانی
با لاله رخی نشسته در ویرانی
عیشیست که خسروان ندانی
Metaphrase (Literal)
If opportunity provides from kernel of wheat a bread
and from wine two a measure from meat of leg/thigh
with tulip-cheeked one, sitting in a desolate place
it is a pleasure/joy that kings don't know
Paraphrase
Ah, would there were a loaf of bread as fare,
A joint of lamb, a jug of vintage rare,
And you and I in wilderness encamped—
No Sultan's pleasure could with ours compare.
–Ahmad Saidi 1991
Imitation
Here with a Loaf of Bread beneath the Bough,
A Flask of Wine, a Book of Verse—and Thou
Beside me singing in the Wilderness—
And Wilderness is Paradise enow.
–Edward FitzGerald 1859
Why It
Matters:
Poetry is an expressive text type that is hard
to translate word for word without it losing much of its effect. FitzGerald's
translation of the quatrains in the Rubaiyat (the original is currently
believed to be a collection of poems by different authors) introduced the
Perisan poems to the Western world but was, by his own admission, a kind of
imitation and rewriting, though he studied the originals carefully.
A translation Experiment
Provided below are three lines of the Pablo Neruda poem, "The Old Women of the Ocean," as well as the literal meaning of each word. Select a point on the metaphrase - paraphrase - imitation continuum and translate each line according to your chosen strategy.
They
sit
alone
on
the
edge/shore
without
change
the
eyes
nor
the
hands
without
change
the
clouds
or
silence
Metaphrase (Literal)
They sit separate on the shore
Motionless eyes and hands
Motionless clouds, silence
Paraphrase
Alone on the beaches, they sit
Without shifting their gaze or their hands
or the clouds, or the quietness
–Tr. Ben Belitt 1911-2003
Imitation
Eyes and wings still
Three gulls
Under the unmoving sky
Note: only knowing the literal meaning of the words isn't enough to fully translate a text, especially one of the expressive text-type. Literal meaning does not account for connotations, wordplay, assonance, etc., But translating the words is often the first step.
Apply what you've learned
Provided below are three lines of the Pablo Neruda poem, "The Old Women of the Ocean," as well as the literal meaning of each word. Select a point on the metaphrase - paraphrase - imitation continuum and translate each line according to your chosen strategy.