This document discusses equivalence and non-equivalence in translation. It begins by defining equivalence as when a linguistic unit carries the same intended meaning between languages. Non-equivalence occurs when there is no direct translation between languages and can happen at all levels from words to full texts. Common issues with non-equivalence include differences in idioms, collocations, and pragmatics between languages. When facing non-equivalence, translators must find workarounds like paraphrasing or using a combination of translation strategies. Achieving full equivalence is impossible but a high level can be attained through adaptations and avoiding overly literal translations.

2. In the present presentation we will discuss the
problem of non-equivalence but first we will
understand what is equivalence and the
difference with non-equivalence which is one of
the most common problems in translation, when
it happens and what are the most common issues
with non-equivalence.
Introduction

3. If a specific linguistic unit in one language carries
the same intended meaning / message encoded in
a specific linguistic medium in another, then these
two units are considered to be equivalent.
Equivalence is consider the essence of the
translation.
What is Equivalence?

4. Non-equivalence in
translation
If equivalence is considered the essence
of translation, the next question is:
• What to do about the cases of non-
equivalence in translation?
The difficulty and problem when we are
translating from one language into
another is posed by the concept of non-
equivalence or the lack of equivalence.
This problem appears at all language
levels starting from word level up till the
textual level.

5. The choice of a suitable equivalent in a given
context depends on a wide variety of factors.
Some of these factors may be strictly lingusitcs
(ex. collocations and idioms), others may be extra
linguistics (ex. pragmatics).
Non-equivalence at word level means that the
target language has no direct equivalence for a
word which occurs in the source text.
The type and level of difficulty posed can vary
tremendously depending on the nature of non-
equivalence.

6. The particular issues addressed are the bi-
directionality of translation equivalence, the
coverage of multi-word units, and the amount of
implicit knowledge presupposed on the part of
the user in interpreting the data. Non-
equivalence is a fact among languages. Although
we are constantly engaged in translating between
Spanish and English using certain words that we
assume to be equivalent, we might find that we
are using non-equivalents.

7. Translators constantly face countless cases of
more straightforward and clearer examples of
non-equivalence in translation. When this
happens they manage to translate and not only to
“transfer” the words. An adequate approach to
deal with cases of non-equivalence would be to
use a combination of translation strategies.
What do translators do when
they face non-equivalence
problems?

8. • The English words for all the different ways of
walking (wander, stamp, stride, stagger, stumble,
etc.) have to be paraphrased in some way when
they are translated into Spanish (caminar sin
rumbo fijo, caminar pisando fuerte, caminar a
zancadas largas, etc.).
Alistair, Mexico City, Mexico
• In my professional life as a traslator I have
translated some 203 books from English into
Spanish.The worst I've found is "insight".
Alejandro Pareja, Madrid Spain
Comments from experienced
translators

9. The results of our investigation suggest that it will
probably never be possible to attain full
equivalence of difficulty between all the different-
language texts, documents, books, etc. But a
relatively high level of equivalence seems to be
attainable. What we can do to minimize the non-
equivalence when we are translating are:
-Avoid too literal translations.
-Make wise use of adaptations and
compensations.
Conclusion