2.1 Equivalence and the translation brief

Translation quality has generally been defined in terms of equivalence. In light of age-old controversies surrounding what constitutes textual equivalence (as opposed to terminological equivalence, which is much easier to characterize), one trend in translation theory equates equivalence to adequacy with respect to a translation brief, which for purposes of this article can be defined as the detailed specification of requirements for a given language mediation task (Nord 1997).

Such detailed specifications can be set down in an agreement for translation or localization services as described in the draft ASTM F15.XXXX standard (ASTM 2005); Melby and Manning have recently developed the relevance of the contribution that Nord's approach has made to the standard, in the context of various perspectives on meaning.

2.2 Translation typology

House posits two fundamental types of equivalence, resulting in two types of translation: overt translation and covert translation. In brief, covert translation results in a target text that creates a second original that is totally fluent in the target language and substantially devoid of source-culture (source-locale) and textual markers that would reveal it as a translation. In contrast, overt translation retains these cultural markers and is understood by the reader to be a translation. Covert translation is usually the appropriate approach for the kind of pragmatic texts encountered in localization, whereas overt translation is generally associated with the translation of literary and culturally significant materials, such as many texts that are translated in national security and diplomatic venues.

Variations on this theme come into play with the localization of computer games, where marketability issues in a given locale (e.g., the marketing of American or European games in a Japanese environment) compete with literary, fantasy aspects of a product in a push-pull synergy that requires its own unique approach to the overt/covert dichotomy.

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