for self-studying of English lovers

Dynamic Equivalence Defined

by Michael Marlowe, July 2009

In this article I will explain the meaning of the term "Dynamic Equivalence," as it is used in the writings of Eugene A. Nida. I will also draw attention to statements in which Nida acknowledges limitations of the "dynamic

equivalence" method.

Nida first introduced the term "dynamic equivalence" in the eighth chapter of his book Toward a Science of Translating (1964), in a section with the heading "Two Basic Orientations in Translating." Below I reproduce the entire section.

TWO BASIC ORIENTATIONS IN TRANSLATING

Toward a Science of Translating (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1964), pp. 159-60.

Since "there are, properly speaking, no such things as identical

equivalents" (Belloc, 1931a and b, p. 37), one must in translating

seek to find the closest possible equivalent. However, there are

fundamentally two different types of equivalence: one which may

be called formal and another which is primarily dynamic.

Formal equivalence focuses attention on the message itself, in

both form and content. In such a translation one is concerned

with such correspondences as poetry to poetry, sentence to

sentence, and concept to concept. Viewed from this formal

orientation, one is concerned that the message in the receptor

language should match as closely as possible the different

elements in the source language. This means, for example, that

the message in the receptor culture is constantly compared with

the message in the source culture to determine standards of

accuracy and correctness.

The type of translation which most completely typifies this

structural equivalence might be called a "gloss translation," in

which the translator attempts to reproduce as literally and

meaningfully as possible the form and content of the original.

Such a translation might be a rendering of some Medieval French

text into English, intended for students of certain aspects of early

French literature not requiring a knowledge of the orignal

language of the text. Their needs call for a relatively close

approximation to the structure of the early French text, both as to

form (e.g. syntax and idioms) and content (e.g. themes and