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2.1 Introduction of Functional Equivalence
Functional equivalence was first introduced by Katharina Reiss, a German translation theorist. In her book Translation Criticism—The Potentials & Limitations she shows an idea that it is important for translators to clarify the type of text before translating and for critics to adopt an appropriate approach to evaluate the translation. Her theory marks the departure of translation studies from static linguistic typologies.
In 1959, Eugene A. Nida, a world renowned American translation theorist postulated the “dynamic equivalence” theory in his article “Principles of Translation as Exemplified by Bible Translating” in translation as: “In such a translation (dynamic equivalence translation) one is not so concerned with matching the receptor-language message with the source-language, but with the dynamic relationship, that the relationship between receptor and message should be substantially the same as that which existed between the original receptors and the message (Nida 1964:159)” Nevertheless, he did not give a brief definition of dynamic equivalence until 1969. In 1969, his book The Theory and Practice of Translation came out and was considered as an important milestone in his translation research. His theory of functional equivalence was described as “the closest natural equivalent” as follows: Equivalent, which points toward the source-language message, natural, which points toward the receptor language, and closest, which binds the two orientations together on the basis of highest degree of approximation (Nida, 2004:166). He considered that there were two kind of basic equivalence in translation: formal equivalence and dynamic equivalence. The former mainly emphasizes on transformation, including the form and content. This strategy of functional equivalence translation focuses on the correspondence of the receptor language and the original language. “Paraphrase” is a typical example of functional equivalence translation.
Nida’s Functional Equivalence Theory fixes writers’ attention on readers and receptors, because the responses of them are the best judges for a translation work. The main purposes of the translators are making the readers fully understand the source text, so the produced translation book should be receptor-oriented, which enables the reader to assess the source text.