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Translation Shift

The document discusses translation shifts as proposed by J.C. (Ian) Catford. It summarizes that Catford identified two main types of translation shifts: 1) level shifts where an item shifts between linguistic levels like grammar and lexis, and 2) category shifts which include four subtypes - structure shifts, class shifts, unit shifts, and intra-system shifts. Structure shifts involve grammatical changes, class shifts involve changing parts of speech, unit shifts change linguistic rank, and intra-system shifts select non-corresponding terms within similar language systems. Catford viewed identifying target language equivalents as the central task of translation and used the concept of shifts to categorize and analyze translation processes.

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304 views11 pages

Translation Shift

The document discusses translation shifts as proposed by J.C. (Ian) Catford. It summarizes that Catford identified two main types of translation shifts: 1) level shifts where an item shifts between linguistic levels like grammar and lexis, and 2) category shifts which include four subtypes - structure shifts, class shifts, unit shifts, and intra-system shifts. Structure shifts involve grammatical changes, class shifts involve changing parts of speech, unit shifts change linguistic rank, and intra-system shifts select non-corresponding terms within similar language systems. Catford viewed identifying target language equivalents as the central task of translation and used the concept of shifts to categorize and analyze translation processes.

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The Translation Shift Approach

BY
Bushra Tabassum
University of Gujrat
J. C. (IAN) CATFORD
•Full Name:
J. C. (Ian) Catford
•Date of Birth:
March 26, 1917
•Place of Birth:
Edinburgh, Scotland
•Date of Death:
October 06, 2009
•Place of Death:
Seattle, washington
Two main types of
translation shifts :
 level shifts, where the SL item at one
linguistic level (e.g. grammar) has a TL
equivalent at a different level (e.g.
lexis), and
 category shifts
category shifts, divided into four sub-
types
 Structure-shifts , which involve a grammatical change
between the structure of the ST and that of the TT;
 Class-shifts, when a SL item is translated with a TL item
which belongs to a different grammatical class, i.e. a verb
may be translated with a noun;
 Unit-shifts , which involve changes in rank;
 Intra-system shifts , which occur when 'SL and TL possess
systems which approximately correspond formally as to their
constitution, but when translation involves selection of a non-
corresponding term in the TL system' (ibid.:80). For instance,
when the SL singular becomes a TL plural.
Translation shift
• Small linguistic changes occurring in
translation of ST to TT
• Since 1950s there has been variety of
linguistic approaches to the analysis of
translation that have proposed detailed lists in
categorizing the translation process
Cont..
• Catford used the term “shift” in linguistic
approaches to translation
• Catford considred two kind of translation
o Shift of level
o Shift of category
Cont....
• He also stated that the central task of any
translation is to find out the target language
equivalents.

• Two kinds of shifts:


• Level Shift:
•A level shift would be something which is
expressed by grammarss in one language and
lexis in another.
Category Shifts
• Structural Shift: This shift is the most common
form of shifts and to involve mostly a shift in
grammatical structure
• For example the structure of English is s+v+o
and when the text is translated into French it
would be o+v+s.
Class Shift
• These shifts are from one part of speech to
another
• When a SL item is translated with TL item
which belonges to a different class.A verb may
be translated as a noun.
Unit Shifts/Rank Shifts
• “Rank” referes to the hierarichal linguistic units
of sentence, clause, group, word and morpheme.
• These are the shifts where the translation
equivalent in the TL is at a different rank to the
SL.
• Intra-system Shifts
When we try to translate within the same language
this is called intra-system shift .
For example précis, and explanation of a text.

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