J.C Catford Translation Shift

The actual of term shift was introduced by Catford (1965) in the field of translation. It means "departure from formal correspondence in the process of going from SL.

Types of translation shift "level shift and categories shift"

Level Shifts

An SL item at a linguistic level has a TL translation equivalent at a

different level.

In theory there are 4 possible levels:

●grammar

●lexis

●phonology

●graphology

Level Shifts

English                                       Indonesian

Present perfect tense                no equivalence (normally)   

         I have finished my homework Saya sudah menyelasaikan pekerjaan rumah saya I am writing a letterSaya sedang menulis surat

In this way, the translation of a grammatical structure has been

accomplished by the use of a word. 

There is a level shift from grammar to lexis here.

          Category Shifts are divided into four types: 

lStructure-shifts, which involve a grammatical change between the structure of the ST 

and that of the TT. example: 

SL Text:                                                TL Text:

Yesterday,  i went to Bandung  >>              saya pergi ke Bandung kemarin

Class-shifts, when an 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;

example:

Dmitri has chosen well >>                  pilihan Dmitri tidak keliru 

●Unit-shifts, which involve departures from formal correspondence in which the translation equivalent of a unit at one rank in SL at a different rank in TL.  

example: 

SL  : kok mahal?

TL  : why was it so expensive ?   

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.   

example:

Singular-plural system is common in Indonesian and English

Wolves are animals    >>>>  serigala itu binatang