6.2 Problems of non-equivalence between languages and solutions

There are many possible problems of non-equivalence between two languages, here we will address a few that we think might be relevant to the type of translations you’ll be doing at DCS.

a) Culture-specific concepts

It is possible to come across a word which communicates a concept in the ST that is unknown in the target culture. This concept could be abstract or concrete, it could refer to a social custom, a religious belief, or even a type of food. For example, consider the following sentence in Spanish:

Example 6.4

Source Text

The word comadre in Spanish can encompass many meanings in English. It can be used to refer to the godmother of the author’s children or to a close friend or neighbor. In any case, it’s meaning is more complex than the simple word “friend” and it certainly should not be translated as “co-mother”.

In order to address a concept that is lacking in the target culture, the best approach is to paraphrase or describe the word in question so as to achieve maximum understanding possible. In the case of translating the word comadre, we can use a more general expression or hypernym such as “close friend” to communicate the basic idea, even if some nuance is lost.

Target Text

b) Source language concept has no synonym in the target language

In this case we encounter a word in the SL which represents an idea or concept that would be easily understood in the target culture, but for which there is no corresponding word. For example:

Example 6.5

Source Text

The Spanish verb estrenar means to try or wear something out for the first time. There is no equivalent word in English, but it is easy for English speakers to understand the concept. If we tried to translate this sticking to the form of the ST, we might get something like:

Literal Translation

This translation is too literal and doesn’t sound right in English. The best way to approach this problem is to paraphrase the meaning of the word in a way that sounds as natural as possible in English. In this case, we might need to change the form of the sentence in order to communicate the message.

Idiomatic Translation

Here we’ve omitted the meaning of the word estrenar but maintained the deeper message of the source text. In this example, we’ve also used a hypernym or more general expression in order to overcome the differences between the two languages, since “have new clothes to wear” is less specific in meaning than “estrenar ropa”.

c) Source language word includes more detail than target language can express

One area in which this occurs frequently between Spanish and English is gender. Since Spanish uses gendered language much more often than English, it is often necessary to translate using a more general word because the gender of the word cannot be carried into English. For example:

Example 6.6

Source Text

Target Text

While Spanish specifies that the gender of the neighbor is male while the doctor is female, English does not usually specify gender in nouns, even in nouns that refer to people. Therefore, using “our neighbor” for “nuestro vecino” and “the doctor” for “la doctora” are both examples of translating by hypernym or more general word, as they omit a detail that is given in the source text. If the source text refers to either of the people again, this can be compensated for with the use of subject or object pronouns (He/ she, him/ her).

d) Source language word or phrase has more than one possible target language translation

This occurs with several verb tenses, which can have a wider use in one language and narrower use in the other. In the last two lessons we studied some of these differences between the usage of verbs in the present and past tenses in English and Spanish. This may also be the case for any other type of speech (noun, adjective, adverb, etc.), as there are many words that differ in their range of use between languages. This problem is resolved by translating with a hyponym, or more specific word or phrase. For example:

Example 6.7

From our translation exercise in Lesson One:

Source Text

Target Text 1

Target Text 2

Since the present simple tense in Spanish can be translated into either the present simple or present continuous in English, both English phrases are hyponyms of the source text phrase since their range is more specific. In this case, the best option is "Target Text 2" using the present continuous because it refers to a repeated or ongoing action. Another example:

Example 6.8

Source Text

Target Text 1

Target Text 2

Here, both “to earn” and “to win” are hyponyms of the verb “ganar”, which can be used with both meanings. The correct translation would depend on the context, whether the person in question is earning money or winning something (for example games or races).