Equivalence of Translation

Textual Equivalence

•Textual equivalence refers to the equivalence between SL text and TL text in terms of information and cohesion.

•Texture is a very important feature in translation since it provides useful guidelines for the comprehension and analysis of the ST which can help the translator in his or her attempt to produce a cohesive and coherent text for the TT audience in a specific context.

•It is up to the translator to decide whether or not to maintain the cohesive ties as well as the coherence of the SL text.

•His or her decision will be guided by three main factors including the target audience, the purpose of the translation, and the text type.

•Example:  (SL) We'll catch him. . . .

            (TL)  Kita pergoki dia...

Explanation ...

•From the example of a translation above, it can be conclude that the translator translated “we’ll catch him…” to “kita pergoki dia..” Based on English – Indonesia dictionary, word “catch” has meaning as “tangkap” in Indonesian, but the translator translated it into “pergoki.”

• The situation of the short story makes the translator figure out other words beside “tangkap” to make the target language more acceptable.

•The translator tried to achieve textual equivalence and it made the readers more easily understand about the plot of the short story.

• Grammatical Equivalence

Grammatical equivalence refers to the diversity of grammatical categories across languages.

•Baker (1992) notes that grammatical rules may vary across languages and this may pose some problems in terms of finding a direct correspondence in the TL.

•In fact, she claims that different grammatical structures in the SL and TL may cause remarkable changes in the way the information or message is carried across.

•From the example of a translation above, it can be conclude that the translator translated “we’ll catch him…” to “kita pergoki dia..” Based on English – Indonesia dictionary, word “catch” has meaning as “tangkap” in Indonesian, but the translator translated it into “pergoki.”

• The situation of the short story makes the translator figure out other words beside “tangkap” to make the target language more acceptable.

•The translator tried to achieve textual equivalence and it made the readers more easily understand about the plot of the short story.

•These changes may induce the translator either to add or to omit information in the TT because of the lack of particular grammatical devices in the TL itself.

•Amongst these grammatical devices which might cause problems in translation, Baker focuses on number, tense and aspects, voice, person and gender.

Explanation .....

•For Example: (SL) What had happened?

(TL)  Apa yang telah terjadi?

•The translator changed the source language (SL) into target language (TL) grammatically but it still easy to be understood, not out of context, and acceptable to the reader.