On Translation Equivalence from the Perspective of Cultural Gaps

摘要

Translation is intrinsically not only inter-lingual but also intercultural communication. So exploration of how to translate will inevitably touch upon the cultural gaps. In fact, the substantial challenge with translation derives far more from the cultural than the linguistic dimension. Judging from the linguistic viewpoint everything seems translatable. However, intercultural barriers and gaps are sometimes insurmountable with the translator reluctantly omitting the untranslatable part of the source text. This paper thus investigates equivalence, translatability and untranslatability from the perspective of cultural gaps, with the findings that due to the instability of meaning constituted by a myriad of contextual, textual and personal factors, the equivalence identified from a translation act may not be replicated in/applied to other translation acts. The main argument is that equivalence in translation should be dynamic and translatability is only relative in specific contexts.