EQUIVALENCE OR ADAPTATION? RETHINKING FIDELITY IN TRANSLATION PRACTICE
Keywords:
Translator invisibility, domestication, cultural ethics, Lawrence Venuti, postcolonial translation, translator agency, professional recognition, translation ideology, visibility in translation, ethical responsibility.Abstract
The idea of translation fidelity has traditionally been bound up with equivalence—formal, semantic, or dynamic. With globalization, cultural hybridity, and the emergence of functionalist theories, however, the sufficiency of equivalence as the exclusive measure of fidelity has been questioned. The article revisits the equivalence versus adaptation binary, arguing that fidelity is less about strict observance of textual form and more about a supple, context-dependent negotiation between linguistic precision and cultural resonance. Taking key theories of translation and real-world examples from literary, audiovisual, and commercial translation as its remit, the paper contends that adaptation—when strategically and ethically pursued—can represent a more elevated form of fidelity since it maintains the communicative intent and experiential effect of the source text.
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