Translation Shift

 Shifting is changing position in relation to other parts.

(https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/shifting)
 Shifting can’t happen because of the difference of languages. Otherwise, shifting happens due to
the difference of grammar.
 Shifting is like “Everything happens for a reason”. It’s because the variations of the text from one
to another text.
 There is no translation without shifting because the basic science of translation is shifting itself.
If there is a translation without shifting, i doubt that is not a translation.
 The dialect difference is also shifting.
 Not fully translating is also shifting. Because it is not appropriate if it’s added into English.
 Shifting are vary, like I’m going to give one example:
a. Register Shift : because of register and then shifting happens
 The characteristic of shifting are :
a. Optional
b. Obligatory (True/False)
 Things that cause shifting:
a. Obligatory : grammatical difference
b. Optional: can be translated without shifting, there are many variations and there is the reason
why the translator use that kind of variations
c. External Factors: the paid, the time when processing the translate, the request given by the
person that their text/books want to be translated and ideology

The factor that also cause shifting is genuine due to the difference of the regulation of
languages. And the text is vary based on SL (Source Language) to TL (Target Language)
 Translation Shift is departure from formal correspondence in the process of going from the
source language to the target language. (Catford 1978:73)
 The basic option of translating are system and then text (objective). If you want to be a good
translator or competent translator, you have to pay attention to the system and the text.
 There are 2 major type of shift:
a. Level Shifts : SL item at one linguistic level has a TL translation equivalent at a different level.
Or we can call it as shifting that happens from grammar to lexis and vice versa.
Example:
SL: John has stopped smoking
TL: John sudah berhenti merokok

That “has” in here isn’t a “tense” but it is a “lexis”. Because in Indonesian language we don’t
have a “tense”.

b. Category Shitfs: SL and TL equivalence are set up at whatever rank is appropriate.

There are:
1. Structural: Obligatory, most common form of shift, and related to grammatical structure.
Example:

English Japanese Bahasa Indonesia

S+V+O S+O+V S+V+O

I am eating rice. (私は)ご飯を食べ Saya sedang makan

ます nasi.

2. Class shift: From one part of speech to another, SL item translated to TL item which belongs to
a different class
▫ Verb  Noun
▫ Noun  Verb

Example:

“The aim of this article is for...”

aim = noun

“This article is aimed to...”

aim = verb

3. Unit/Rank shift : Changes at the level of the language unit of the SL to TL.
Grammar system include 5 hierracyhe of language unit, there are :
a. morpheme
b. words
c. phrase
d. clause
e. sentence

On the highest tier of hierarchy of language unit, there are :

f. paragraph
g. text

*If it shift from down to up, it's called upward rank shift. In the other side, if it shift from up to
down, it's called downward rank shift.

Example:
Down to up :

SL: Housekeeper

TL: Pengurus rumah tangga

Up to down :

SL: Ultimate Betrayal

TL : Pengkhianatan

4. Intra-system shift: Refers to the shifts that occurs internally, within the system; a departure
from formal correspondence in which one system in the SL has a different (non-corresponding)
system in the TL.

Causes
a. Usage of Noun as Generic Reference

“A dog is an intelligent animal.”

Shift into: “Anjing (adalah) binatang

yang cerdas.”

b. Usage of Plural Noun after a Plural Pronoun

SL: Many children are playing.

TL: Banyak anak sedang bermain.

In Bahasa Indonesia, double plural element in a sentence is not allowed because it affect the
effectiveness.
If the translator uses the same rule, the translation would become incorrect.
“Banyak anak-anak”
Incorrect

c. Different Plurality Concept on Certain Words

First party (in this context, Bahasa Indonesia) consider a word (thing) as unity,
meanwhile the second party (English) consider it as two parts becoming one.
 a pair of sebuah
trousers celana

a pair of sebuah
scissors gunting

d. Different Concept of Time and Tenses

In English, we wether use “have+V3” to express time perspective or emphasize the time of its
occurrence in the past using V2.

Example :
“Saya sudah bertemu Budi minggu lalu”.
Have+V3 :
“I have met Budi” .
V2 :
“I met Budi last week”.

We couldn’t combine both in English, became:

“I have met Budi last week”.
English grammar system consider it unnatural.