Cultural Connotation & Equivalent Effect Translation

With a survey of all the relevant papers carried by several influential periodicals during the recent twenty years, the author found that there exist two basic views about equivalent effect: one is to accept it completely; the other is to doubt its rationality. Most of them have remained on the level of discussing the theory, "theory for theory's sake". The author believes that theory should be integrated with practice. Translation theory, of course, must be applied and tested in translation practice. Only through practicing can the theory be improved constantly.This paper takes the semantic connotation as the starting point, the cultural connotation as a frame of reference, together with the discussion about the differences between Chinese and English, to research the relationship between cultural connotation and equivalent effect translation, on the basis of which suggests several effective translation approaches.The author begins with the discussion of different cultural connotations to demonstrate that equivalent effect principles put forward by Nida and Jin Di can macroscopically guide translation practice, and then points out that there is still much to be wanted.Chinese and English belong to different language families and they are quite different in sources. Translation is not only the changeover of languages but the transmission of cultures. How to deal with the culture-loaded words is significant for a version. As the saying goes that a word is a world. Only through revealing the cultural implications of SL can the result of equivalent effect be achieved. Following the principles of equivalent effect, the author tries to debate about some currently popular translations of culture-loaded terms.Through the study on cultural connotation and equivalent effect translation, the author holds that equivalent effect should be properly understood. The concept of equivalent effect is a relative but not an absolute one, and a descriptive but not a prescriptive attitude should be taken toward it To translate the source texts with rich cultural connotations, translators should be in quest of the goal of equivalent effect so that an ideal version can be obtained.