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INTRODUCTION TO MONA BAKER:
‘Equivalence of Meaning’
LANG5831
PSPTIS066A - Apply theories to translating and
interpreting work practices

Translating and Interpreting

Why the ‘bottom-up’ approach?

‘Bottom-up’ = start at word level rather than text level

+ differs from other respected writers
+ others believe ‘top-down’ approach more valid
+ but more difficult for those without linguistic training
A text is a meaning unit, not a form unit
+ however, meaning is realised through forms
+ meaning of text as a whole cannot be interpreted
without understanding meanings of individual forms
+ we need to be able to see how decisions at word /
phrase level etc influence decisions at the text level

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Equivalence of Meaning (1)

• Some say true ‘translation’ is not possible
+ languages are never similar enough to express the
same realities
every SL contains meaning that cannot be
expressed in the TL / can only be expressed with
difficulty
an SL will often omit information that the TL
regards as essential
+ but we all know that in reality people do translate &
interpret effectively

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Equivalence of Meaning (2)

• Idea of ‘equivalence’ bound up with meaning-based
rendition
+ if we use the right techniques, we can get the
meaning sufficiently similar for practical purposes
+ however, equivalence is always relative, not
absolute
+ influenced by various linguistic / cultural factors
+ our real problem is how to deal with cases of non-
equivalence

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Levels of Equivalence
• We will cover:-
• Word level (Chap 2)
+ single words & expressions
• Above word level (Chap 3)
+ when words / expressions are combined
• Grammatical level (Chap 4)
+ only if time allows

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Equivalence at Word Level (1)

• What is a word?
+ ‘smallest unit of language that can be used by itself’
+ in writing, any sequence of letters with a space at
each end
• Basic meaningful element?
+ not necessarily
+ meaning carried by units smaller than word
+ other meaning carried by more complex units

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Equivalence at Word Level (2)

• One-to-one relationship between word and meaning?
+ rebuild: two distinct elements of meaning (re +
build) = to build again
+ disbelieve: dis + believe = to not believe
+ English tennis player = Indonesian petenis
+ several ‘words’ in one language = one word in
another
+ English verb type = Spanish pasar a maquina
+ no automatic 1-to-1 correspondence between ‘words’
& elements of meaning
– within a language
– across different languages

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Equivalence at Word Level (3)

English Meaning LOTE
underdog A person who seems least
likely to succeed or win in a
competition or situation
barracking interrupting public speakers
or performers, for example
making rude remarks
tarpaulin a fabric made of canvas or
similar material coated with
tar, wax, paint, or some
other waterproof substance.
alibi If you have an alibi, you can
prove that you were
somewhere else when a
crime was committed

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Equivalence at Word Level (4)

• Morphemes
+ suggested as a means of describing the minimum
element of meaning in language
+ each morpheme can contain only one element of
meaning
– inconceivable = in + conceiv(e) + able
– unhealthy = un + healthy
+ some morphemes have grammatical functions
– children manageress walked
+ others change class of word
– heal → health → healthy

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Equivalence at Word Level (5)

• Morphemes [cont]
+ some words contain only one morpheme
– need fast
+ boundaries of morphemes not always clearly marked
– girls = girl + s = girl + [plural]
– men = m_n + ? = man + [plural]
+ only deals with meaning expressed at the surface
– cannot deal with deeper components of meaning
eg, man = human + adult + male
– cannot help analyse different types of meaning
– but a useful concept anyway

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