Translation Shift Approaches
Introduction
The term “shift” commonly refers to changes which occur or may occur in the process of translating. As long as translating is a language use, the notion of shift belongs to the notion of linguistic performance as opposed to that of theories of competence. Although the term “shift” was initially adopted by Catford as “departures from formal correspondence in the process of from the Source Text (ST) to the Target Text (TT), other scholars like Levy, Popovic, Blum-Kulka, Hatim, M. Shlesinger, and Van Leuven-Zwart also attempted to produce and apply a model of “shift analysis”.
In this paper, we are going to scrutinize into the topic of shift by giving a detailed account of the theories and discussions on the topic.
However, as mentioned above, shifts are parts of the linguistic aspect of language, and therefore, they are closely interwoven with “Equivalence”. Hence, it is deemed necessary to give a brief description of “Equivalence” as an introduction to “shift approach”.
I. Equivalence
A. Dictionary definition of “equivalence”
A typical dictionary definition of “equivalence” is as follows:
As an adjective it means: * Equal or interchangeable in value, quantity, significance, etc. - Having the same or a similar effect or meaning.
And as a noun it means: - The state of being equivalent or interchangeable.
B. Equivalence and Translation
It is evident that differences between the systems of the source language (SL) and the target language (TL) bring about the loss of certain functional elements whereas they also give rise to new ones through translation. This can be clearly observed when a target-language text (TLT) is compared with its source-language text (SLT).
The literature in translation studies has generated a lot of discussion on the sources of this phenomenon known as ‘translation loss’ which has caused heated controversy in the theory of translation. This could be attributed to differences in views held by various
The term “shift” commonly refers to changes which occur or may occur in the process of translating. As long as translating is a language use, the notion of shift belongs to the notion of linguistic performance as opposed to that of theories of competence. Although the term “shift” was initially adopted by Catford as “departures from formal correspondence in the process of from the Source Text (ST) to the Target Text (TT), other scholars like Levy, Popovic, Blum-Kulka, Hatim, M. Shlesinger, and Van Leuven-Zwart also attempted to produce and apply a model of “shift analysis”.
In this paper, we are going to scrutinize into the topic of shift by giving a detailed account of the theories and discussions on the topic.
However, as mentioned above, shifts are parts of the linguistic aspect of language, and therefore, they are closely interwoven with “Equivalence”. Hence, it is deemed necessary to give a brief description of “Equivalence” as an introduction to “shift approach”.
I. Equivalence
A. Dictionary definition of “equivalence”
A typical dictionary definition of “equivalence” is as follows:
As an adjective it means: * Equal or interchangeable in value, quantity, significance, etc. - Having the same or a similar effect or meaning.
And as a noun it means: - The state of being equivalent or interchangeable.
B. Equivalence and Translation
It is evident that differences between the systems of the source language (SL) and the target language (TL) bring about the loss of certain functional elements whereas they also give rise to new ones through translation. This can be clearly observed when a target-language text (TLT) is compared with its source-language text (SLT).
The literature in translation studies has generated a lot of discussion on the sources of this phenomenon known as ‘translation loss’ which has caused heated controversy in the theory of translation. This could be attributed to differences in views held by various
References: Baker, Mona (1992) In Other Words: a Coursebook on Translation, London: Routledge. Catford, John C. (1965) A Linguistic Theory of Translation: an Essay on Applied Linguistics, London: Oxford University Press. House, Juliane (1977) A Model for Translation Quality Assessment, Tübingen: Gunter Narr. Jakobson, Roman (1959) 'On Linguistic Aspects of Translation ', in R. A. Brower (ed.) On Translation, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, pp. 232-39. Munday, Jeremy. 2001. Introducing Translation Studies – Theories and Applications. London and New York: Routledge. Chapter Nida, Eugene A. (1964) Towards a Science of Translating, Leiden: E. J. Brill. Nida, Eugene A. and C.R.Taber (1969 / 1982) The Theory and Practice of Translation, Leiden: E. J. Brill. Vinay, J.P. and J. Darbelnet (1995) Comparative Stylistics of French and English: a Methodology for Translation, translated by J. C. Sager and M. J. Hamel, Amsterdam / Philadelphia: John Benjamins.