Establishing equivalence: difficulties for interpreters in a globalizing world

Despite the increasing need for standardization and agreed equivalences in a globalizing world, the dynamic natures of both language and culture make standardization difficult. This paper examines this dynamism at the levels of terminology, collocation, genre, culture and intertextuality. It shows that the dependence of language on context for production and interpretation means that a true equivalence can never be found, and that interpreters, translators, writers, teachers and all others who work with language have to deal in pragmatic decisionmaking.