Language and Culture in Eugene Nida’s Work the Dynamic Equivalence.
Critics and Defenders

Abstract: In this article we examine the books, lectures and manuscripts of the eminent American translation scholar Eugene A. Nida, in which he speaks of his fieldwork in more than one hundred countries in order to help native translators to render the Bible into their own languages. In doing so, he studied nearly two hundred languages and cultures and explored the deep relationship that exists between culture and language. Given his fieldwork research, he could develop his theory of dynamic equivalence, which represented a revolution in the approach to translation. Even though this theory was very well received, some detractors have criticized it. Here we review some of these critics and the comments of the authors who have defended Nida’s theory. We mention as well some Spanish translation specialists who introduced Nida’s ideas into Spain and have been instrumental in their divulgation.

Key words: culture, verbal symbols, sociolinguistics, dynamic equivalence