THE TRANSLATOR’S CHALLENGES TO ACHIEVING EQUIVALENCE IN TRANSLATION PRACTICE

Abstract

This article looks at the limitations that translators encounter in their quest to achieve equivalence in translation practice. Many research scholars in this field have brainstormed on the concept of equivalence and many of them tend to think that it is not a simple matter to try and establish the expected or required sameness between the source language and the target language. There are numerous challenges that translators are faced with in their effort to establish similarity or sameness between the source text and the target text. The debate surrounding the notion of equivalence started as early the 1950s, and ever since, the topic has not only been problematic but also controversial, with many arguing that no two languages in the whole world are absolutely identical in meaning. They further argue that equivalence can only be understood as a kind of likeness and not sameness. Consequently, numerous theories have emerged and have been expounded on the possibility of the source text and target text sharing some kind of approximation in meaning. This work has attempted to critically examine some of the limitations concerning the issue of equivalence in translation as propagated by a number of specialists in the field of translation theories. This article also stresses the fact every translator is likely to face these challenges, as they endeavour to convey the same message from the source language to the target language.