Introduction

We have looked closely at literal translations. Now, we will look at meaning-based translations. These translations are also called:

• meaning-equivalent
• idiomatic
• dynamic

Key Characteristic

The key characteristic of meaning-based translations is that they give priority to translating the meaning over reproducing the form of the source text. That is, they change the form of the text as needed in order to make the meaning clear. The most common types of changes that meaning-based translations make are:

• change word order to match the grammar of the target language
• replace foreign grammatical structures with natural ones
• change order of reasons or results to match the normal order of the flow of logic in the target language
• substitute or explain idioms
• explain or translate terms from other languages (“Golgotha” = “place of the skull”)
• use phrases with simpler words instead of trying to find single word equivalents for difficult or uncommon words in the source text
• replace terms that are unknown in the target culture with equivalent terms or descriptions
• replace connecting words that the target language does not use with connecting words that the target language needs
• substitute target language figures of speech that have the same meaning as the original figures of speech
• include implied information that is necessary to understand the meaning of the text
• explain unclear phrases or constructions

Examples of Meaning-Based Translations

What does a meaning-based translation look like? We will look at how different versions translate the same verse.