Theories in Translation

The Problem of Non-Equivalence

We will begin to outline some of the common types of non- equivalence which often pose difficulties for the translator and some strategies for dealing with them. The choice of a suitable equivalent in a given context depends on a wide variety of factors. It is impossible to offer absolute guidelines for dealing with the various types of non- equivalence which exist among languages. The most that can be done in this and the following chapters is to suggest strategies which may be used to deal with non equivalence in some contexts.

Non-equivalence at word level means that the target language has no direct equivalent for a word which occurs in the source text. The type and level of difficulty posed can vary tremendously depending on the nature of non-equivalence. Different kinds of non-equivalence require different strategies. Since, the context and purpose of translation will often rule out some strategies and favor others.

Common problems of non-equivalence

The following are some common types of non-equivalence at word level:

1) Culture-specific concepts:The source-language word may express a concept which is totally unknown in the target culture. The concept in question may relate to a religious belief, a social custom, or even a type of food. Such concepts are often referred to as "culture-specific".For example:خير كثير Here (خير ) does not mean good.

2) Differences in form: There is often no equivalent in the target language for a particular form in the source text. Certain suffixes and prefixes which convey meaning in English often have no direct equivalents in other languages. English has many couplets such as employer/employee, trainer/trainee, and payer/payee. It also makes use of suffixes such as –ish (e.g. boyish, greenish) and –able (e.g. conceivable, drinkable). Arabic, for instance, has no ready mechanism for producing such forms and so they are often replaced by an appropriate paraphrase, depending on the meaning they convey(e.g. retrievable as 'can be retrieved' and drinkable as 'suitable for drinking')

The Diversity Of Grammatical Categories Across Languages

It is difficult to find a national category which is regularly and uniformly expressed in all languages. Even categories such as time and number, which many of us take as reflecting basic aspects of experience, are only optionally indicated in some Asian languages such as Chinese and Vietnamese. Languages therefore differ widely in the way they are equipped to handle various notions and express various aspects of experience, possibly because they differ in the degree of importance of relevance that they attach to such aspects of experience.

Differences in the grammatical structures of the source and target languages often result in some change in the information content of the message during the process of translation. This change may take the form of adding to the target text information which is not expresses in the source text. This can happen when the target language has a grammatical category which the source language lacks. Details which are ignored in the source text but which have to be specified in the target language can pose a serious dilemma for the translator if they can not be reasonably inferred from the context.

The change in the information content of the message may be in the form of omitting information specified in the source text. If the target language lacks a grammatical category which exists in the source language, the information expressed by that category may have to ignored.

A brief discussion of some major categories is intended to illustrate the kinds of difficulty that translators often encounter because of differences in grammatical structures of source and target languages.

1) Number

The idea of countability is probably universal in the sense that it is readily accessible to all human beings and is expressed in the lexical structure of all languages. However, not all languages have a grammatical category of number, and those that do not necessarily view countability in the same terms. English recognizes a distinction between one and more than one(singular and plural). This distinction has to be expressed morphologically, by adding a suffix to a noun or by changing its form in some other way to indicate whether it refers to one or more than one: student/ students, fox/foxes, man/men, child/children.

Most languages have a grammatical category of number, similar but not necessarily identical to that of English/ Arabic distinguishes between one, two, and more than two. It has a dual form in addition to singular and plural forms. In English a dual form can be indicted by the use of a numeral.

A translator working from a language whish has number distinctions into a language with no category of number has two main options: s/he can omit the relevant information on number, or encode this information lexically.

It may sometimes be necessary or desirable in certain contexts to specify plurality or duality in languages which do not normally specify such information because they do not have a category of number or a dual form. In this case, the translator may decide to encode the relevant information lexically as in the following example:

This example is from a document about arbitration procedures in Cairo. The source text is Arabic.
عندما يراد تعيين ثلاثة محكمين, يختار كل طرف محكما واحدا, ويختار المحكمان المعينان على هدا النحو المحكم الثالث وهو الدى يتولى رئاسة هيئة التحكيم.

English target text:When the appointment of three arbitrators is required, each party selects one arbitrator, and the two arbitrators thus appointed select the third arbitrator who then heads the Arbitration Committee.

Therefore, where it is felt to be important, information on number can therefore be encoded lexically.
2) Gender

Gender is a grammatical category to which a noun or pronoun is classified as either masculine or feminine in some languages. This distinction applies to nouns which refer to animate beings as well as those which refer to inanimate objects.

English does not have a grammatical category of gender as such; English nouns are not regularly inflected to distinguish between feminine and masculine. The gender distinction nevertheless exists in some areas in the person system. Different nouns are sometimes used to refer to female and male members of the same species: doe/stag. A small number of nouns which refer to professions have masculine and feminine forms, with the suffix –ess indicating feminine gender. Examples include actor/actress, manager/manageress, host/hostess, and steward/stewardess.

English also has a category of person which distinguishes in the third-person singular between masculine, feminine, and inanimate(he/she/it). This distinction does not apply to the third-person plural (they). In Arabic, gender distinctions apply to the second- as well as third- person pronouns. In addition to gender distinctions in the third-person singular and plural, Arabic has different forms of 'you', depending on whether the person or persons addressed is/are male or female.

In most languages that have a gender category, the masculine term is usually the 'dominant' or 'unmarked' term. The feminine form is used only when all the persons or things referred to are feminine but if one or more persons in a group are masculine the form used is the masculine form even if the feminine referents outnumber the masculine ones. Similarly, if the sex of a referent is not known, the masculine rather than the feminine form is used.

There is now a conscious attempt to replace the unmarked masculine form he with forms such as s/he, he or she, and him or her. This is particularly true of academic writing. But even among the general public, masculine nouns such as chairman, spokesman, and businessman are consciously being replaced by more neutral ones such as chairperson and spokesperson, or by specifically feminine nouns such as businesswoman when the referent is clearly feminine.

Gender distinctions are generally more relevant in translation when the referent of the noun or pronoun is human. Gender distinctions in inanimate objects such as car or ship and in animals such as dog and cat are sometimes manipulated in English to convey expressive meaning, particularly in literature, but they do not often cause difficulties in non-literary translation.

The following text illustrates the kind of problem that gender can pose in translation.

Source text (English: Kolestral Super)

Instructions for use:-

Shampoo the hair with a mild WELLA-SHAMPOO and lightly towel dry.
- Apply KOLESRTRAL-SUPER directly onto the hair and massage gently.
- For maximum effect, cover the hair with a plastic cap or towel.
- KOLESTRAL-SUPER can be left on the hair for 10-20 minutes.
- After the developing time rinse off thoroughly before styling
- no shampooing required.
- Style the hair as usual.Target text (Arabic):تعليمات و إرشادات الاستعمال: - يغسل الشعر بشامبو من "ويللا" على
أن يكون من نوع الشامبو الملطف. ثم يجفف الشعر بواسطة المنشفة ودلك تجفيفا بسيطا ليترك الشعر رطبا. - يوضع كولسترول ال-سوبر مباشرة على الشعر ويدلك بنعومة وبرقة. - للحصول على فعالية مطلقة, يغطى الشعر بواسطة "كاب" اى قبعة بلاستيكية تغطى الشعر, أو بواسطة منشفة. - يترك كولسترول ال-سوبر مدة 10 إلى 20 دقيقة .- بعد انتهاء مدة التفاعل, يجب أن يشطف الشعر جيدا وبعمق قبل البدء بالتسريحة المرغوبة.لا حاجة للشامبو في هدة المرحلة النهائية.- يسرح الشعر ويمشط كالعادة وبالأسلوب المرغوب وتكون النتيجة مثالية ورائعة.
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I mentioned earlier that the gender distinction in Arabic applies to the second as well as third person. An Arabic speaker or writer has to select between ' you, masculine' (anta) and "you, feminine" (anti) in case of the second-person singular. Moreover, this type of information must be signaled in the form of the verb itself: an Arabic verb has different forms depending on whether its subject is, for instance, second-person singular feminine or third-person plural masculine.

In translating the imperative verbs in the above text into Arabic, the translator would normally have to choose, as far as gender is concerned, between a masculine and a feminine form for each verb. As is the case in most languages which have a gender category, the masculine form is the unmarked form in Arabic and is therefore normally selected in most advertisements, leaflets, and in general instructions. However, the Kolestral Super text is a leaflet which accompanies a hair conditioner, the sort of product which is predominantly used by women rather than men. In the Arab context, it is likely to be used exclusively by women. This situation would make the use of the masculine form in this instance highly marked. The translator could have used the feminine form of the verb, but s/he felt that it would have also have been marked or that it might have unnecessarily excluded potential male users. The gender distinction is avoided by using a totally different structure throughout the whole set if instructions. The use of the passive voice instead of the imperative form of the verb allows the translator to avoid specifying the subject of the verb altogether.