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Pragmatic Equivalence In English Translation

1500 Words6 Pages
This is a research about Pragmatic Equivalence in the English Translation. Three theories will be applied in this paper; they are very connected with the title to show some of the steps and ways that must be taken in consideration when a translator begins to translate.

Pragmatic equivalence: “Pragmatics refers to the meaning of words in context, to the appropriate use of language according to tongue, culture and situation. It refers to the intended meaning behind the surface, semantic meaning.” (Hale, 2004, P.5). Translators should not only translate the semantic meaning, but they should also interpret the pragmatic meaning of utterances. “Interpreting at the semantic level and not at the pragmatic level will inevitably lead to mis-understanding.”(Hale, 2004, P.7).This means that the translator needs to workout implied meanings in translation in order to get the SL message across; the translator role is to create the intention of the author in another culture in such a way that enables the TC reader to understand it clearly.

In the following section there are 3 theories will be explained in detail; Speech Act Theory by Austin (1962), Searle’s Classification of speech acts (1976) and Grice’s Principles and Maxims (1975, 1978).

Speech Act “When human beings communicate, they perform acts that fall into the range of other human beings, even those from vastly different cultural backgrounds, are in principle capable of empathizing with.”(Hickey, p.10) One of the theories that
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