Shift represents some
changes occurring in a translation process. Translation shifts occur
both at the lower level of language, i.e. the lexicogrammar, and at the
higher thematic level of text. Catford (1978: 73) states that by shift
we mean the departure from formal correspondence in
the process of going from the source language to the target language.
Further, he states that basically, in shift of translation, or
transposition he says, it is only the form that is changed. In addition,
he urges the translation shift is done to get the natural equivalent of
the source text message into the target text (1978: 76). Translation
shifts also occur when there is no formal correspondence to the
syntactic item to be translated (Machali, 1998: 3). According to Bell
(1991: 33), to shift from one language to another is, by definition, to alter the forms.
Catford (1978) divides the shift in translation into two major types, level/rank shift and category shift. Level/rank shift refers
to a source language item at one linguistic level that has a target
language translation equivalent at a different level. In other words, it
is simply a shift from grammar to lexis.
Category shift refers to departures from formal correspondence in translation. What is meant by formal correspondence is
any grammatical category in the target language which can be said to
occupy the same position in the system of the target language as the
given source language category in the source language system (Machali,
1998: 13). The category shift is divided again into structure shifts, class shifts, unit shift, and intra-system shifts. Structure shift is the changing of words sequence in a sentence. Class shift occurs when the translation equivalent of a source language item is a member of a different class from the original item. Unit shift is
the changes of rank; that is, departures from formal correspondence in
which the translation equivalent of a unit at one rank in the source
language is a unit at a different rank in the target language. Intra-system shift refers
to the shifts that occurs internally, within the system; that is for
those cases where the source and the target language possess systems
which approximately correspond formally as to their constitution, but
when translation involves selection of a non-corresponding term in the
target language system.
Machali (1998: 152) also proposes the kinds of translation shift. She divides the shift in translation into two kinds: obligatory shift and optional shift. An obligatory shift refers
to the kinds of shift that occurs when no formal correspondence occurs
in the translation. It is the shift that its occurrence is dictated by
the grammar. The other kind of shift is the optional shift. It refers to a case of shift that is caused by the translator's discretion It is called optional shift since the translator could have chosen the more equivalent clauses with the readers’ orientation in the target language text.
In addition, Machali (1998: 160) states that there are two basic sources of translation shifts: source language text-centered shift and target language text-centered shift. The source language text-centered shifts are of three kinds, namely, grammatical shift, which mainly concerns particle markedness, foregrounding, and tenses; shifts related to cohesion, which mainly concern ellipsis; and textual shifts, which mainly concern genetic ambivalence, and embodiment of interpersonal meaning. The target language text-centered shift causes
the main problem concerned with achieving effectiveness, pragmatic
appropriateness (including the cultural one), and information
(referential) explicitness.
Nida
and Taber (1969: 171) say that some of the most common shifts in
meaning found in the transfer process are modifications which involve specific and generic meaning.
Such shifts may go in either direction from generic to specific or
specific to generic. A shift may result from a difference of the system
in both languages. The difference can be in the form of vocabulary or
structure, the shift caused by the vocabulary results in a shift in
meaning. It can be concluded that there are two kinds of shifts in
meaning. The first is the meaning shift from general to specific
meaning. The second is the meaning shift from specific to general
meaning. These kinds of shifts often cause incorrect translation. The
shift of structure, however, usually does not change the meaning or the
message of the original text.
