Dynamic Equivalence

The present study made an attempt to determine the translator’s choices made, both at macro and micro levels, to render humor from English into Persian. To this end, the English version of Teule’s (2008) The Suicide Shop and its Persian translation, which was made by Karamveisi (2017), was carefully investigated to extract humor and Persian translations. Then, Chiaro’s (2010) taxonomy of translation strategies, including replace the source VEH with a different instance of VEH in the TL , replace the source VEH with an idiomatic expression in the TL , ignore the VEH altogether , and leave the VEH unchanged , were applied to examine the translation strategies employed by Karamveisi to cope with humor. Karamveisi’s overall strategy for the whole text was also probed on the basis of Nida’s (1964) formal and dynamic equivalences. As the results indicated, Karamveisi was interested in the employment of the TT-oriented translation strategies rather than the ST-oriented ones that led his overall strategy at macro level to be the TT-oriented and his translation to be dynamic. Hence, Karamveisi was able to create the humorous effect on the recipients and amuse them successfully.

The translation of religious texts plays a crucial role within the translators’ community, prompting many translators to strive for the most appropriate equivalents in order to convey the themes and ideas as comprehensively as possible. The primary objective of the present study was to investigate the differences in equivalence among translators while translating twenty conveniently selected letters from Nahj al-Balagha from the original to the target text. Specifically, it aimed to determine whether the three English translations of Nahj al-Balagha by Mohammad Askari Jafari, Morteza Motahhari, and Sayed Ali Reza convey the same message. In this context, the research sought to identify any significant differences in equivalence among the three Persian-to-English translations by these translators. Nida’s (1964) model of equivalence served as the framework for the study, allowing a comparison of the three English translations of letters 40 to 60. This analysis focused on identifying the types of equivalence used based on Nida’s distinctions between dynamic and formal equivalence. The results indicated significant differences among the three translations: Sayed Ali Reza’s and Motahhari’s translations were notably more formal in tone, while Askari Jafari's translation was characterized as dynamic. These findings can be informative for readers interested in further research on the translation of religious texts, including Nahj al-Balagha.