Eugene Nida and his methods of translation

Eugene Nida, american linguist, established the dynamic equivalence which was one of the theory of the modern discipline of Translation Studies. In 1943 Nida began his career as a linguist with the American Bible Society where he coined two methods of translation,  dynamic equivalence and formal equivalence, describing ways of translation the Bible.

                                                                                           Eugene Nida   google images

When the translator can try to find expressions in the target language that mean very similar things. With this approach, the translation will sound more natural and will be easier to read. This is known as dynamic equivalence.


Example:

Baranek boży, The Lamb Of God, Angello di Dio -> In the European culture the lamb symbolizes innocence.

But in the Inuit (Eskimo language) this espression is translated as the Seal of God because in this culture seal represents innocence.

So, this translation sounds more natural for Ekimo peoples.

A literal translation may mean that the text is translated word for word. Some expressions that are there in the source language may not be there in the target language. Such translations are called formal equivalence.

   Example: 

            Ala ma kota. – Alice has a cat. – Alice ha un gatto.