Equivalence in Translation through German, French and Macedonian Examples

Abstract

This paper aims towards a review of the history of determining and debating about the term equivalence in the translation studies and by giving examples from German, French and Macedonian, it tries to apply the theoretical statements into practicing translation. The notation equivalence has caused heated controversy in the translation theory as well as many different analyzes of its concept, especially of its definition, relevance and applicability within the field of translation studies. Until recently, equivalence has been studied in relation with the translation process by using different approaches, as results have been provided ideas for further studies on this topic. Despite the evident discrepancies in the views of various theorists, however, this term is being continuously used as most suitable in the most translation literature. For enabling the communication, it is necessary for a communication equivalence to be reached, which means that the target language text must have the same communicative value that the original text has for its original recipient. Not always is possible a total translation equivalence, but sometimes there is existence of incomplete (partial) equivalence or even non-existence of equivalence.