I. A. Nida defined translation as follows. 

“Translating is reproducing in the receptor language the closest natural equivalent of the source language, first in terms of meaning and second in term of style.”

He also made a diagram regarding the process of transferring from Source language to Target language. 

1. ANALYSIS

- Divide sentence into clauses. Each clause must have a Finite Verb. Identify the type of each clause in the sentence (Noun Clause, Adjective Clause, Adverbial Clause)

- Analyzing each clause to see how many phrases each clause contains, and which phrase modify Noun, which one modifying Verb, and so on.

- Compare the structural forms of two languages including source language and target language.

- Look up the dictionary to the meanings of idioms or proverbs.

2. TRANSFER

Rendering to the target language based on the analysis of forms, semantics, and pragmatics. Be cautious of phrases or words.

3. RESTRUCTURING

Reread the entire translated sentence to see if it is neatly expressed? Do we need to combine 2-3 clauses, 2-3 phrases, or 2-3 sentences together? Is the translated sentence redundant and ambiguous? If the original sentence is too long, should we split it into two? Are you using appropriate words? Generally speaking, this phase is to find the appropriate structure in the target language to convey meaning in the original language.