Even when message provide adequate interpretations of original text,there is usually no full equivalence through translation.Word-for-word correspondences do not exist,and what may appear to be synonymous messages may not be equivalent. This lack of correspondence may be seen in the translation of biblical references.The Bible idealizes sheep.But,in some cultures,sheep are viewed negatively or do not even exist.Shuttleworth and Cowie relate how the translation of the biblical phrase "Lamb of God"is translated into an Eskimo language using the term "Seal of God." The fact that lambs are unknown in polar regions has led to the substitution of a culturally meaningful item that shares some of the important features of the source language expression.In the following section,we will first briefly explore linguistic equivalence in terms of securing adequate translation. Problems of Translation and Equivalence When the American historian Henry Brooks Adams wrote,"Words are slippery,"he must have been referring to the fact that language translation is difficult and subject to countless misinterpretations.There is a case of missionary who was preaching in the West African Bantu language and who,instead of saying,"The children of Israel crossed the Red Sea and followed Moses",mistakenly said,"The children of Israel crossed the red mosquitoes and swallowed Moses."The examples in this section illustrate the difficulties of foreign-language translation and the serious consequences of the inept translation of words with multiple meanings.These difficulties are referred to as linguistic equivalence,including vocabulary,idiomatic, grammatical-syntactical,experiential-cultural,and conceptual equivalence. Vocabulary or Lexical Equivalence One of the goals of translation is to convey the meaning and style of the original language,but dictionary translations rarely reflect common language usage in a culture.As Reeves describes,though proficiency in both the source and target languages is important,translators need to translate not only to a target language but to a target culture as well.Translators also need to deal with nuances and with words that have no equivalents in other languages.In English,there is a distinction between the words taboo and sin.Among the Senoufo people of Africa,there is only one term for both of these concepts:kapini taboo.But,the taboos included in the Senoufo term are such things as a man seeing his wife sewing or a man whistling in a field unless he is resting.The Senoufo emotional attitude toward breaking these taboos is akin to the Christian attitude of sin,but the behaviors are quite different.Among the Senoufo, things considered sinful by Christians such as adultery,lying,or stealing are called silegebafeebi or "without-shame-people."Additionally,Reeves points out that there are many terms that appear to be universal,but actually are not.Among these are such things as freedom,equality,democracy,independence,free enterprise,equal opportunity,and justice.He argues that in many cases there is no lexical equivalent to the connotative range implied by these terms. Idiomatic and Slang Equivalence Seidel and McMordie define idioms as "a number of words which,when takenEven when message provide adequate interpretations of original text, there is usually no full equivalence through translation. Word-for-word correspondences do not exist, and what may appear to be synonymous messages may not be equivalent. This lack of correspondence may be seen in the translation of biblical references. The Bible idealizes sheep. But, in some cultures, sheep are viewed negatively or do not even exist. Shuttleworth and Cowie relate how the translation of the biblical phrase “Lamb of God” is translated into an Eskimo language using the term “Seal of God.” The fact that lambs are unknown in polar regions has led to the substitution of a culturally meaningful item that shares some of the important features of the source language expression. In the following section, we will first briefly explore linguistic equivalence in terms of securing adequate translation. Problems of Translation and Equivalence When the American historian Henry Brooks Adams wrote, “Words are slippery,” he must have been referring to the fact that language translation is difficult and subject to countless misinterpretations. There is a case of missionary who was preaching in the West African Bantu language and who, instead of saying, “The children of Israel crossed the Red Sea and followed Moses”, mistakenly said, “The children of Israel crossed the red mosquitoes and swallowed Moses.” The examples in this section illustrate the difficulties of foreign-language translation and the serious consequences of the inept translation of words with multiple meanings. These difficulties are referred to as linguistic equivalence, including vocabulary, idiomatic, grammatical-syntactical, experiential-cultural, and conceptual equivalence. Vocabulary or Lexical Equivalence One of the goals of translation is to convey the meaning and style of the original language, but dictionary translations rarely reflect common language usage in a culture. As Reeves describes, though proficiency in both the source and target languages is important, translators need to translate not only to a target language but to a target culture as well. Translators also need to deal with nuances and with words that have no equivalents in other languages. In English, there is a distinction between the words taboo and sin. Among the Senoufo people of Africa, there is only one term for both of these concepts: kapini taboo. But, the taboos included in the Senoufo term are such things as a man seeing his wife sewing or a man whistling in a field unless he is resting. The Senoufo emotional attitude toward breaking these taboos is akin to the Christian attitude of sin, but the behaviors are quite different. Among the Senoufo, things considered sinful by Christians such as adultery, lying, or stealing are called silegebafeebi or “without-shame-people.” Additionally, Reeves points out that there are many terms that appear to be universal, but actually are not. Among these are such things as freedom, equality, democracy, independence, free enterprise, equal opportunity, and justice. He argues that in many cases there is no lexical equivalent to the connotative range implied by these terms. Idiomatic and Slang Equivalence Seidel and McMordie define idioms as “a number of words which, when taken