ETI 301 Translation Theory The Translation Shift Approach Neslihan Kansu-Yetkiner

Introduction Since the 1950’s there has been a variety of linguistic approaches to the analysis of translation that have proposed detailed list or taxonomies in an efforts to categorized the translation process.

So far we have seen Vinay and Darbelnet’s taxonomy; (Direct Translation) 1-Borrowing 2-Calque 3-Literal Translation (Oblique Translation) 4-Transposition 5-Modulation 6-Equivalence 7-Adaptation

Shift Approach and Catford A shift is a change that takes place in the process of carrying over source text meanings into the target language and is thus a central concept in the study of translations. Shifts take place at different levels: (1) the level of entire language systems, i.e. the change from one language to another, (2) the local level in either syntactic or semantic elements (sentences, clauses, phrases, words, phonemes) or (syntactic-)stylistic elements (repetition, rhythm, word order etc.), and (3) the macro-level of the entire work reflecting the effects of the first two.

The actual term shift was introduced by Catford (1965), who distinguishes formal correspondence, which exists be- tween source and target categories that occupy approx- imately the same place in their respective systems, and translational equivalence, which holds between two por- tions of texts that are actually translations of each other. A shift has occurred if there are “departures from formal cor- respondence” (p. 73) between source and target text, i. e. if translational equivalents are not formal correspondents.

Equivalence, inevitably, is involved in any theory of translation which can be understood by the comparison of various texts cross linguistically. Catford (1988) considers different shifts within languages and contends that there are various shifts when any of translation is carried out by translators. He, heavily, focused on the different linguistic elements as crucial variables in equivalence definition and equivalence finding. Accordingly, he divided the shifts across languages into level and category shifts. Level shifts include studies like morphology , semantics…… etc. and Category shifts consist of structural, class, unit and intra-system shifts.

According to Catford in A Linguistic Theory of Translation (1965), category-shifts, which are departures from formal correspondence in translation, consist of structure-shift, class-shift, unit-shift (rank-changes), and intra system-shift. A) Structure Shift According to Catford a structure shift involves a change in grammatical structure between the source language and the target language.

Example “147 short-term measures and 31 middle- term measures have already been fully taken.” 147 kısa vadeli, 31 orta vadeli önlem aldık. B) Class shift (parts of the speech) It occurs when the translation equivalent of a SL item is a member of a different class from the original item.

Example: The neighbours were hostile to the family. Komşular aileye düşmanca davrandılar. C) Unit shift Translation, by unit-shift we mean changes of rank-that is, departures from formal correspondence in which the translation equivalent of a unit at one rank in the SL is a unit at a different rank in the TL.

Example: When “In these days” translated into “Günümüzde” (from phrase to a single word) instead of “bu günlerde”.

D) Intra-system Shift We use the term intra-system shift for those cases where the shift occurs internally, within a system; that is, for those cases where SL and TL possess systems which approximately corres­pond formally as to their constitution, but when the translation involves selection of a non-corresponding term in the TL system. This shift may work for French and English, but it is difficult for Turkish and English.

Level Shifts By a shift of level we mean that a SL item at one linguistic level has a TL translation equivalent at a different level. It emphasizes structural formal differences between the language system.Example: Working with you is a pleasure. Sizinle çalışmak bir zevk. Once upon a time there was a girl living deep in the forest. Bir zamanlar ormanın derinliklerinde bir kız yaşayan bir kız varmış.

The study of shifts needs to distinguish between (1) obligatory and (2) optional shifts, not forgetting that the process also involves (3) non-shifts. Each category may increase or decrease the distance between the source and the target text. Obligatory shifts, even if unavoidable as a result of differences between language systems, inevitably have an impact on the final product, and non-shifts, i.e. parts of the text where no shift takes place (except for the change of language system), may have shift-like impacts, since they involve the transfer of an unchanging element (e.g. sentence, clause, phrase, word, image or metaphor) into a different language and culture. Thus, a non-shift may also act as a means of foreignization.

Obligatory shifts can be described as arising from (1) structural-syntactic, (2) semantic, and (3) phonological differences between two languages and (4) cultural differences. For instance, when translating ‘there were several people in the room’ into Finnish, the translator must leave out the word ‘there’ (no equivalent structure exists in the Finnish language) and say ‘in the room were several people’. There is no other feasible alternative.

Optional shifts, on the other hand, may take place without any linguistic or cultural necessity. If a shift is obligatory, but there are two or more alternative translations for the translator to choose from, the resulting shift is considered optional for the purposes of this study. Optional shifts thus always involve the agency of the translator (see examples 1 and 2). Factors that may influence translators’ decisions include language and translation skills, cultural awareness, the translators’ own idiolects, the author’s style, source language interference and various other extralinguistic and extraliterary factors, such as the translation brief, which Nord (1997: 43) regards as a decisive factor.

Shifts and the study of style Popovic (1970: 16-84) regarded shifts as a stylistic category and called them ‘shifts of expression’. In Popovic’s view, linguistic features of source and target texts could not be compared in isolation; he recommended the study of the entire system of expression based on the expressive values of the respective linguistic devices. What Popovic calls ‘constitutive shifts’ are close to language-bound obligatory shifts and his ‘individual shifts’ are equivalent to optional shifts reflecting the translator’s stylistic propensities and idiolects. Thus Popovic already links style and shifts.

Four major problems arise in the study of shifts: (1) choosing the unit of comparison for the source and target text, (2) categorization of the shifts found, (3) finding a method that is both easily replicable and applicable to more than one language pair, and (4) linking (local) microlevel shifts to (global) macro-level effects in the translated work.

Some examples "Bedtime Story" by Jeffrey Whitmore. "Careful, honey, it's loaded," he said, re-entering the bedroom. Her back rested against the headboard. "This for your wife?" "No. Too chancy. I'm hiring a professional." "How about me?" He smirked. "Cute. But who'd be dumb enough to hire a lady hit man?" She wet her lips, sighting along the barrel. "Your wife."