Equivalence is one of the core concepts in translation studies. The aim of equivalence in translation is conducive to translation activities. For the assessment of translation quality, fidelity to the original text is often regarded as the primary yardstick. However, for a long time, there has been a lack of criticism on the notion of translation equivalence, and it seems that it is completely feasible to establish conceptual equivalence across languages. Believing blindly in equivalence will fall into the quagmire of equivalence fetishism, which is harmful in practice. This article discusses the practical nature of concepts from three perspectives: family resemblance, constellation of concepts and the “worldmaking” theory. The so-called equivalence between interlingual concepts, if it exists comparatively, can only be achieved in scientific languages. The meanings of a large number of concepts expressing values and judgement are far from certain due to their nature of practicality, so it is difficult to achieve equivalence in interlingual translation. We need to look at different “versions of the world” constructed through different understandings of concepts with an objective attitude. Therefore, the blind pursuit of equivalence should be abandoned in translating. Faced with texts rich in concepts of value judgment, such as ancient classics, translators can find a way out of the predicament of conceptual translation from the shift of equivalence of individual concepts to the reconstruction of concepts in the system.