 The choice of a suitable equivalent in a given

context depends on a wide variety of factors:

 Linguistic
 Extra-Linguistic

It will always depend not only on the linguistic

system handled by the translator, but also on the
way both the writer of the source text and the
producer of the target text (translator).
 “The words of a language often reflect not so
much the reality of the world, but the interest
of the people who speak it” (Palmer,1976:21)
Semantic Fields= Divisions imposed by a given
linguistic community on the continuum of
experience.
 Fields are abstract concepts: E.g.
 Speech
 Plants
 Vehicles
 Emotions
 Academic subjects
 Lexical sets= Sub-divisions under every
semantic fields.
E.g. Semanic field : Speech
Lexical sets : (Verb of speech)Speak, say,
talk.
Lexical set (2): (Specific) mumbles, murmur,
mutter, whisper.
The more detailed a semantic field is in a given
language, the more different it is likely to be from
related semantic fields in other languages.
Distinctions in meaning:
 Physical

 Historical

 Political

 Religious

 Cultural

 Economic, etc…
 Although a large number of words in any
language defy being classified under any
heading.
 Just

 Nevertheless

 Only

Semantic fields work well with expression with

fairly well-defined propositional meaning, but not
for all.
But they can be useful for a translator:
A) Appreciating the value that a word has in a given
system.
 Understand the difference in the structure allows
the translator to asses the value of a given item.
(What is and what is not)
B)Developing strategies for dealing with non-
equivalence.
 Semantic fields are arranged hierarchically, going
from the more general to the more specific.
(Superordinate /Hyponym)
 The type and level of diffifulty posed can vary
tremendously depending on the nature of non-
equivalence.

Common problems of non-equivalence.

a) Culture specific concepts:

The source language word may express a concept

which is totally unknown in the target culture, it
could be abstract or concret and may be related to
religious beliefs, social costums or even typical
food.
b) The source language concept is not lexicalized in the
target language:
The concept in the source language is well-known in
the target language, but you can’t find an expression
to translate it.

c) The source language is semantically complex:

Words do not have to be morphologically complex to
be semantically complex. We don’t usually realize
how semantically complex a word is until we have to
translate it into a language which does not have an
equivalent for it.
d) The source and the target languages make
different distinctions in meaning:
What one language regards as an important
distinction in meaning another language may not
perceive as relevant.

e) The target language lacks a superordinate:

The target language may have specific words
(hyponyms) but not general word
(Superordinate) to head the semantic field
f) The target language lacks a specific term:
Each language makes only those distinctions in
meaning which seem relevant to its particular
environment.

g) Differences in physical or interpersonal

perspective:
It has to do with where things or people are in
relation to one another or to a place.
h) Differences in expressive meaning:
There may be a target-language word which has the same
propositional meaning as the source language word, but it
may have a different expressive meaning. It’s usually to
add expressive meaning than to subtract it.

i) Differences in form:
Certain suffixes and prefixes which convey propositional
and other types of meaning in english often have no direct
equivalents in other languages.
It is most important for translators to understand the
contribution that affixes make to the meaning of words
and expressions.
j) Differences in frequency and purpose of using
specific forms:
Even when a particular form does have a ready
equivalent in the target language, there may be a
difference in the frequency with which it is used.

k) The use of loan words in the source text:

Loan words in english are often used for their
prestige value, because they can add an air of
sophistication to the text or its subject matter, but
it has problem, it’s called “False friends”.