2. The concept of equivalence
2.1 Equivalence in translation studies
In the framework of systemic functional grammar, Matthiessen (1999) discusses translation equivalence in the environments of translation, and identifies the environments relevant to translation in different dimensions of contextualization. He says "the wider the context, the more information is available to guide the translation" and "the wider the environment, the more congruent languages are likely to be; the narrower the environment, the more incongruent languages are likely to be" (ibid.: 27). From his perspective, equivalence is a matter of degree rather than that of dichotomy, and so is the difference between free and literal translation.

The concept of equivalence has been one of the key words in translation studies. In earlier work on translation equivalence, Catford (1965: 20) defines translation as "the replacement of textual material in one language (SL) by equivalent textual material in another language (TL)". He distinguishes textual equivalence from formal correspondence. The former is "any TL text or portion of text which is observed on a particular occasion … to be the equivalent of a given SL text or portion of text" and the latter is "any TL category (unit, class, structure, element of structure, etc.) which can be said to occupy, as nearly as possible, the same place in the economy of the TL as the given SL category occupies in the SL" (ibid.: 27).

Wilss (1982a: 134) states that "the concept of TE (translation equivalence) has been an essential issue not only in translation theory over the last 2000 years, but also in modern translation studies" and that "there is hardly any other concept in translation theory which has produced as many contradictory statements and has set off as many attempts at an adequate, comprehensive definition as the concept of TE between SLT (source language text) and TLT (target language text)". In his definition, "translation is a transfer process which aims at the transformation of a written SL text into an optimally equivalent TL text, and which requires the syntactic, the semantic and the pragmatic understanding and analytical processing of the SL text" (1982b: 3). I think his phrase 'optimally equivalent' is reasonably appropriate, but in my view the problem is that he fails to present what makes the optimality.

The concept of equivalence has been discussed in various dichotomous ways such as 'formal vs. dynamic equivalence' (Nida), 'semantic vs. communicative translation' (Newmark), 'semantic vs. functional equivalence' (Bell), and so on. According to Nida and Taber (1969: 12), "translating consists in reproducing in the receptor language the closest natural equivalent of the source language message, first in terms of meaning and secondly in terms of style". The 'closest natural equivalent' is explained by Nida (1964: 166) as follows:

1. equivalent, which points toward the source language message
2. natural, which points toward the receptor language
3. closest, which binds the two orientations together on the basis of the highest degree of
approximation.

Nida cites his examples from Bible translation, where the phrase 'Lamb of God' would be rendered into 'Seal of God' for the Eskimos because the lamb doesn't symbolize innocence in their culture. In this case, a literal translation (formal equivalence) doesn't mean anything in a different culture, so the dynamic equivalence is necessary.

Newmark (1981: 38) states that "opinion swung between literal and free, faithful and beautiful, exact and natural translation, depending on whether the bias was to be in favour of the author or the reader, the source or the target language of the text." He categorizes translation by a degree of depending on SL emphasis or TL emphasis as follows (1988: 45):

SL emphasis TL emphasis
Word-for-word translation Adaptation
Literal translation Free translation
Faithful translation Idiomatic translation
Semantic translation Communicative translation

Newmark says "communicative translation attempts to produce on its readers an effect as close as possible to that obtained on the readers of the original" and that "semantic translation attempts to render, as closely as the semantic and syntactic structure of the second language allow, the exact contextual meaning of the original" (1981: 39).

According to Bell, "the translator has the option of focusing on finding formal equivalents which preserve the context-free semantic sense of the text at the expense of its context-sensitive communicative value, or finding functional equivalents which preserve the context-sensitive communicative value of the text at the expense of its context-free semantic sense" (1991: 7).

Aside from the dichotomy of equivalence, Baker (1992) discusses various equivalence problems and their possible solutions at word, above word, grammatical, textual, and pragmatic levels. She takes a bottom-up approach for pedagogical reasons. Baker proceeds with her equivalence discussion from word to further upward levels. She claims "translators must not underestimate the cumulative effect of thematic choices on the way we interpret text" (ibid.: 129).

2.2 Thematic equivalence
In the systemic functional model of the lexicogrammar, language has three metafunctions - ideational, interpersonal and textual. These three are simultaneous strands of meaning, but "while translation should give equal weight to all three metafunctional contributions, there has been a strong tendency to give more weight to the ideational metafunction" (Matthiessen 1999: 47). It is unfortunate that the traditional translation studies have paid little attention to the textual equivalence.

The thematic analysis with functional grammar helps translators become aware of how the text guides readers as it unfolds. Halliday uses a clause as a unit for analysis and textually divides it into two parts; Theme and Rheme. He defines the Theme as "the point of departure of the message" and the Rheme as "the remainder of the message", so "as a message structure, a clause consists of a Theme accompanied by a Rheme" (1994: 37). Baker clearly points out two functions of the Theme (1992: 121).

1. It acts as a point of orientation by connecting back to previous stretches of discourse and
thereby maintaining a coherent point of view.
2. It acts as a point of departure by connecting forward and contributing to the development
of later stretches.

Baker's discussion focus of the Theme-Rheme distinction related to translation is text-based rather than the structure of individual clauses. She explains that methods of organization and development in different types of text are reflected in the overall choice of Themes. Having noted the significance of the thematic progression, we must still first shed light on individual clauses for the purpose of investigating how the Theme is realized in the ST and the TT.

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