Analysis of Translation Theory and Intercultural Communication

This essay delves into the theory of translation and its relationship with intercultural communication, primarily focusing on Nida and Taber's theory and practice of translation. It discusses the evolution of translation, its significance in cultural and linguistic transfer, and its role in facilitating communication between individuals of different languages. The essay highlights Nida and Taber's definition of translation as the reproduction of the closest natural equivalent of the source message in the receptor language, emphasizing meaning over style. It further explores key concepts such as dynamic equivalence, formal equivalence, and implementation patterns, while also contrasting Nida and Taber's perspective with Jeremy Munday's views on translation. The essay concludes that translation and communication are vital activities that enable effective interaction across linguistic and cultural boundaries.

Theory of
translation and
Intercultural
Communication

Table of Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................3
Main Body...................................................................................................................................................3
Requirements of translation.....................................................................................................................6
Conclusion...................................................................................................................................................8
References...................................................................................................................................................9

Introduction
Translation refers to the communication of source language by means of equivalent target
language text. Basically, translation is the process where a particular word or text is translated in
other language. The main purpose of the translation is to make the entire process easy so that the
receiver and communicator both can grab the meaning of the message. It is the act or process
which occur as a result of change from one language. Translation refers to easier the entire
message so that it can be understood easily. Here, the words are changes from one language to
another in order to make the entire process easy and smooth (House, 2020). The present study is
based on Nida and Taber theory which is based on the theory and practice of translation. The
study will cover different aspects of the respective translation theory in order to make
meaningful decisions in the future period of time.
Main Body
Translation
The process of translation exists for millennia. It facilitates cultural and linguistic
transfer. The term translation was proposed in the second half of twentieth century with the name
of translations studies. Translation has become widely important in the current time. However,
the way of translation has been changes over the period of time. Translation is the known as the
process of civilization wherein human beings are likely to transmit thoughts, ideas with each-
other. Here, it is possible to set symbols, sets, codes to exchange thoughts from one person to
other. Translation is an activity that is done by human beings in their daily life. Each and every
day, individuals are likely to transmit something (Jemielity, 2018). Here, they use symbols,
codes in order to transmit the ideas, thoughts, feelings in an efficient manner. now, the
interaction between people of different languages has been increased thus they use symbols and
codes to interact with each-other as they are not familiar with the different languages. This is
enhancing the translation in the current environment. Basically, the word translation is derived
from the latin word translation which is divided in two parts trans and latum. These words
together convey the meaning of carrying across or bringing across. In other words, it is an
activity of carrying across the written content from one person to another, from one language to
different language.

Definition 1: Nida and Taber. The Theory and Practice of Translation
According to Nida and Taber translation is defined as the reproduction in the language of
receptor the closest natural equivalent of the source of message in terms of meaning and style.
As per this definition, there is major by the term ‘equivalent’ on meaning rather than the style
(Modulation: A Translation Method to Obtain Naturalness in Target Language Texts,
2018). .When the history of Church was introduced in the 21st century the name of Nida has
identified significantly. Nida is known for the revolution in the field of translation. As a result
millions of people are getting access of Bible in current time. With the efforts of NIDA, the
church will grow and develop in the future period of time. Nida develop well-known theory on
translation and helps several scholars, translators, specialists to attain their goals in an efficient
manner (Jackson, 2019).
According to the Nida, it is considered that it is crucial for the people to have translation
so that they can understand the Bible in an appropriate way. Here, the translation needs to be
done by the maximum number of native speakers. Further, the translations needs to be checked
by the different translators working within the same field for longer time. While travelling and
consulting with the translators with the use of linguistics concept, culture studies, communication
and psychology, a practical approach was developed by NIDA which further called as dynamic
equivalence and functional equivalence. The main aim of these practices was to make
communication and translation clear & accurate. Apart from this, he also developed a pedagogic
approach so that the translators can easily learn how to apply a particular method. NIDA was a
tremendous communicator who trained several translators. He published prodigiously and the
most rewarding presentation of his theory is with the coauthor Charles Taber by the name The
theory and practice of translation (International Bulletin of Missionary Research, 2012). The
both the authors recognized the need of translation as a result they design the respective theory in
order to make the people understand the concept of translation in an effective manner. The
approach of NIDA was effective, valuable as it was developed after the years of travelling,
teaching and consultation. In this context, the major aspects of theory are mentioned below:
Requirements of translation
Translation theory evolved by Nida is considered as one of the most influencing theory in
the field of translation. The four basic requirements of translation are mentioned below:

Dynamic equivalence: In the translation, the most crucial aspect is the message that is
received by the individuals. Here, the message can be based on form or content is required to
understand & appreciated in an efficient manner. If the translator is able to state the original
feature, it is possible to achieve dynamic equivalence (R’boul, 2020). The quality of translation
in which the message is being originally transferred the response also need to be given
accordingly by receptor.
Formal Equivalence: It refers to pay attention the message whether it is in the form or
content. Here, the formal equivalence refers that the message in target language needs to be
prepared in accordance of different parts in the original language. In formal equivalence, it is
intended to achieve equivalence between translation text & original text. Also, it reflects the
linguistic features such as grammar, structure of original language, syntax and more which also
affect the correctness and accuracy of the message (R’boul, 2020). Therefore, it is imperative to
follow the formal equivalence while drafting the message. It helps in conveying the message
appropriately to the receptor in order to get appropriate reply.
Implementation patterns: In the book, the theory and practice of translation, it is define that
the closest natural environment of source language is the translating consists in reproducing in
the receptor language. The first is in terms of meaning and the second is in terms of style. Here,
the definition included certain basic terms like equivalence, natural, closest and more.
 Equivalence: It points out the original language which needs to transmit from one person
to the other (Tipton and Desilla, 2019).
 Natural: It refers to the language of receptor. Here, it is imperative to understand the
language of receptor to convey the appropriate message.
 Closest: This feature is linked with dynamic equivalence. Here, the dynamic equivalence
means to select the suitable translation which is the closest to the original language on
natural basis. In addition, closest is associated with sense and generally translator used to
focus on the spirit of the original text and the meaning rather than following the particular
rigid structure (God and Zhang, 2019). According to the definition given by the
respective author, dynamic translation is not equal to the traditional translation which can
be in the form of free and live translation as per the stringent requirement.

Theory and practice: According to the dynamic equivalence, there is no requirement to
follow a rigid or particular grammatical structure in the original text in terms of providing natural
reading to the target audience. This is a useful approach when the translation readability is more
crucial than the particular grammatical structure. Formal equivalence can be considered as an
objective rather than reality as one language can consist a word of concept which has no
relevance with the another language (Jensen, 2017). Hence, there are certain buzzwords created
in dynamic equivalence to represent the concept appropriately to the target audience. When the
target language and the source language are different, it becomes quite complicated to
understand the original translation of language. Here, it has become important to rearrange and
modify the words as per the need of target set of audience. In addition to this, formative
equivalence is helpful in gaining familiarity with the source language so that the appropriate
meaning can be conveyed to the target audiences.
Definition 2: Munday. Introducing Translation Studies
Jeremy Munday is senior lecturer in Spanish studies at the University of Leeds, UK. He is a
freelance translator and also known as the author of several well-known books. According to
Munday translation is related with changing in original source of text into a target text in
different language. Under the concept of translation, Munday defines the “process of translation”
as involving the original text has been changes by the translator in an efficient manner. In the
older time, the translation was considered as the form of message and translators got delight
while they reproduce stylistic specialist i.e. rhythms, rhymes, parallelism and more. In current
time, the focus has been shifted to the response of receptor rather the form of message. In this
situation, it is imperative for a person to record respond of receptor in terms the translated
message. Further, this response needs to be compared by the response of original receptors
presumably reacted to the message in the original setting (Proshina, 2018). Correctness is highly
important during translation. There are various socioeducational speech levels &
comprehensions. Hence, there is requirement of various grammatical structure and vocabulary
so that all the people get equal opportunity to understand the message. While huge number of
people misunderstand the message, it cannot be considered as legitimate translation. There are
two different systems used in the translation. In the first, there is a series or set of rules which

need to follow strictly in order to transmit the message appropriately from one person to other.
Hence, it is imperative to select a specific correspondence in the language of receptor.
From the above two definitions, it is analyzed that translation carries different meaning as
per both of the authors. It is monitored that Nida & Taber has defined translation as the
reproduction of the closest meaning of source language information in target language. Here, the
main focus is on the term equivalence and style is considered less important comparatively. On
other side, as per Munday, translation refers change in the original text of one language into
target text into different language. The theory produce by Nida & Taber is based on the
equivalent aspect where the receptor and sender both put efforts so that receptor can get suitable
meaning of message. It is analyzed that munday focuses on changing the meaning of source
language in order to maintain proper communication between all the relevant parties.

Conclusion
Out of the above-mentioned information, it is concluded that translation and
communication are the major activities which are considered highly important in the current
environment. The above study is based on the theory and practice of translation by Nida and
Taber. The authors gave a new meaning to the translation and made it easy for the people to
maintain proper communication even while talking with a people of different language. Here, the
theory has major focus on the meaning of message rather the style so that all the people involved
in the communication can receive appropriate meaning of the message. The second type of
translation system consists detailed and elaborated procedure by including three major steps such
as analysis in which the message is structure is analyzed further the meaning of the words and
the combination of words, transfer in which the message is transferred and restructuring the way
in which transferred material is structured.

References
Books and journals
Declercq, C. and Federici, F.M. eds., 2019. Intercultural crisis communication: translation,
interpreting and languages in local crises. Bloomsbury Publishing.
God, Y.T. and Zhang, H., 2019. Intercultural challenges, intracultural practices: How Chinese
and Australian students understand and experience intercultural communication at an
Australian university. Higher Education, 78(2), pp.305-322.
House, J., 2020. Translation as a prime player in intercultural communication. Applied
linguistics, 41(1), pp.10-29.
Jackson, J., 2019. Introducing language and intercultural communication. Routledge.
Jemielity, D., 2018. Translation in intercultural business and economic environments. In The
Routledge handbook of translation and culture (pp. 533-557). Routledge.
Jensen, I., 2017. If Culture is Practice…? A Practice-Theoretical Perspective on Intercultural
Communication and Mediation. In Transforming Otherness (pp. 9-33). Routledge.
Proshina, Z.G., 2018. Intervarietal translation and the theory of intelligibility. World
Englishes, 37(3), pp.503-510.
R’boul, H., 2020. Postcolonial interventions in intercultural communication knowledge: Meta-
intercultural ontologies, decolonial knowledges and epistemological polylogue. Journal
of International and Intercultural Communication, pp.1-19.
R’boul, H., 2020. Re-imagining intercultural communication dynamics in TESOL:
Culture/interculturality. Journal for Multicultural Education.
Tipton, R. and Desilla, L. eds., 2019. The Routledge handbook of translation and pragmatics.
Routledge.
Online

International Bulletin of Missionary Research, 2012 [Online]. Available through:<
http://www.internationalbulletin.org/issues/2012-01/2012-01-038-stine.html>
Modulation: A Translation Method to Obtain Naturalness in Target Language Texts, 2018
[Online].Available through:< file:///C:/Users/sairam/Downloads/1115-2677-1-SM%20(3).pdf/>