Translation shifts
In Section A of this unit, we looked at the concept of translation shift and at
some of the taxonomies that have been proposed for describing the changes that
occur in a specific ST–TT pair. The readings in this section are from perhaps the
most noted theorists in this area:J ohn Catford, who was the first to use the term
‘translation shift’ in his A Linguistic Theory of Translation, published in 1965; and
Jean Vinay and Jean-Paul Darbelnet, whose A Comparative Stylistics of French
and English (1958/1995) still remains the most comprehensive categorization of
differences between a pair of languages. The extract from Catford (Text B4.1),
describes the two kinds of translation shifts in his model: level shifts (between the
levels of grammar and lexis) and category shifts (unbounded and rank-bounded
Task B4.1.1
➤ Before you read Text B4.1, look back at Section A, Unit 4 and make sure you
are familiar with the term translation shift.
➤ What would you say would be the aim of translation shift analysis?
➤ What were some of the problems with shift analysis discussed at the end of
Section A of this unit? Do you agree that these really are problems?
➤ As you read the text below, make a list of examples of the different kinds
of shifts described by Catford. Note the difference between level shifts and
category shifts).
