Eugene Nida
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Eugene A. Nida (born November 11, 1914, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma) is the developer of the dynamic equivalence biblical translation theory.
Life
Dr. Nida received a Bachelor's degree, summa cum laude, in Greek from the University of California Los Angeles in 1936. He received his Master's degree in Greek New Testament from the University of Southern California and his Ph.D. in Linguistics from the University of Michigan.
In 1943 he married Althea Sprague. The couple remained married until Althea Sprague Nida's death in 1993. In 1997 Dr. Nida married Dr. Elena Fernadez, a translator and interpreter.
Dr. Nida retired in the early 1980's and currently lives in Brussels, Belgium.
Career
In 1943 Dr. Nida began his career with the American Bible Society (ABS), working as a linguist. Nida was quickly promoted to Associate Secretary for Versions, he then worked as Executive Secretary for Translations until his retirement.
Dr. Nida was instrumental in engineering the joint effort between the Vatican and the United Bible Societies (UBS) to produce cross-denominational Bibles in translations across the globe. This work was begun in 1968 and carried on in accordance with Dr. Nida's translation principle of Functional Equivalence.
Translation & Linguistic Theories
Eugene Nida has been a pioneer in the fields of Translation Theory and Linguistics.
His Ph.D. dissertation "A Synopsis of English Syntax" was the first full-scale analysis of a major language according to the "immediate "constituent" theory.
His most notable and most controversial contribution to Translation Theory is Dynamic Equivalence, also known as Functional Equivalence. This approach to translation aims to reproduce the intention of the original text in the translation, rather than reproducing the actual words of the original. For more information see Dynamic Equivalence.
Nida also developed the "componential analysis" technique which split words into their components to help determine equivalence in translation (i.e. bachelor = male + unmarried). This is, perhaps, not the best example of the technique, though it is the most well known.
Published Works
- The Bible Translator - (Journal founded and edited by Dr. Nida (retired), 1949- )
- Toward a Science of Translating - (Brill, 1964)
- The Theory and Practice of Translation - (Brill, 1969, with C.R. Taber)
- From One Language to Another - (Nelson, 1986, with Jan de Waard)
- The Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament based on Semantic Domains - (UBS, 1988, with Louw)
- ...