Eugene NidaDynamic Equivalence and Formal EquivalenceEugene A. Nida (1914-- ) is a distinguished American translation theorist as well as a linguist. His translation theory has exerted a great influence on translation studies in Western countries. His work on translatoin set off the study of modern translation as an academic field, and he is regareded as “ the patriarch of translation study and a founder of the discipline” （ Snell-Hornby 1988:1; Baker 1998:277）Nida ’ s theory of dynamic equivalence is his major contribution to translation studies. The concept is first mentioned in his article “Principles of Translation as Exemplified by Bible Translating” (1959) （《从圣经翻译看翻译原则》） as he attempts to define translating. In his influential work Toward a Science of Translating (1964) （《翻译原则科学探索》 ）, he postulates dynamic equivalent translation as follows:In such a translation (dynamic equivalent translation) one is not so concerned with matching the receptor -language message with the source-language message, but with the dynamic relationship, that the relationship between receptor and message should be substantially the same as that existed between the original receptors and the message (1964:159) However, he does not give a clear definition of dynamic equivalence untill 1969. In his 1969 textbook The Thoery and Practice of Translation （《翻译理论与实践》 ）, dynamic equivalence is defined “ in terms of the degree to which the receptors of the messages in the receptor language respond to it in substantially the same manner as the receptores in the source language” (1969:24)The expression “ dynamic equivalence” is superseded by “ functional equivalencev” in his work From One Language...
