Translation is a complex event of performing intercultural communication and the concept of equivalence in translation is full of scandals. This paper explores the discourse of equivalence in relation to theories and applications of translation. Even if translational equivalence in terms of form or meaning between different languages is too naïve to be postulated, the illusion of equivalence remains one of the key words in distinguishing translation from non-translation. The author will first review a main stream of Translation Studies in the European and North American academia, focusing on how the concept of equivalence gave rise to the academic discipline of translation and later became criticized as a rigid linguistic model of analyzing symmetrical texts and making translators invisible. Following that review, Japanese discourse on translation by two antipodal theorists, NOGAMI Toyoichiro and YANABU Akira, will be highlighted to open up the current discussions about the imagined translational equivalence in a Japanese context.
