Translation Shift

The Analysis of Meaning

Dynamic Equivalence and the

Receptor of the message

Presenter:
Early Amalia Arniz
Ita Miftahussaidah Rivai
Miftahul Hakim
Sibghatullah Mujadidi
 Content

Introduction
The definition of translation shift
The classification of translation
shift
The analysis of meaning
referential meaning and connotative
meaning.
Dynamic Equivalence and The
Receptor of The Message

2
Introduction
Translation is the process of transferring the meaning
of a text from the source language into the target
language. Basically, the text is reconstructed by
translating the words from the source language into
the target language and is arranged based on the
structures of the sentence in the target language,
therefore, the structures are suitable with the target
language and certainly there will be no loss of
meaning.
Each language has its own characteristics or even
distinction. Therefore, the translation from the source
language into the target language cannot be exact
equivalents as both languages are widely different in
structure and cultural background. The understanding
of the structure and the culture in both languages is
required by the translator as it makes the translator
capable of grasping the meaning in the text
accurately and allows him to transfer the same
meaning.
TRANSLATION SHIFT
Translation Shift

Do you know what it is?

Warning notice on some international trains in
Europe.

Italian
French
German

English
What is the correlation between this warning
notice with translation shift?

The warning is clear, even if the form is different in

each language.
English : Do not lean out of the window
(Negative Imperative)

Italian : pericoloso sporgersi (Statement)

It is dangerous to lean out.

French : Ne pas se pencher au dehors

German : Nicht hinauslehnen
(Negative infinitive construction)
Not to lean outside.
What is translation shift?

The small linguistic changes that

occur between ST and TT are known
as translation shifts.
 Translation Shift

Catford (1978: 73) states that by shift, we mean the

departure is made of from formal correspondence in the
process of going from the source language to the target
language. Shifts occur when the source language text is
translated into different grammatical or phonological form
in the target language text.

ST : Gravity

TT : Gaya Tarik Bumi

9
The classification of translation shift

Catford (1965:80) in Hatim (2001:15)

classified the translation shift into two
major types of shift are identified:

Level Shift and

Category shift.
Level Shift

Shift of level is when a source language item at

one linguistic level has a target language
translation equivalent at a different level.

For example:
Source Language: She is eating
Target Language: Dia sedang makan

In this translation, there is a shift from grammar to

lexis in which the patterns to be + V-ing(grammar) in
the source language text is translated into lexicon
sedang in the target language.
Category Shifts

Category shifts refer to unbounded and rank-

bounded translation. The first being approximately
normal or free translation in which source
language and target language equivalents are up
at whatever rank is appropriate. It is clear that
category shift is unbounded, which might be
normal of free translation, depends on what rank is
appropriate. It includes structure shifts, class
shifts, unit shifts, and intra system shifts.
Structure Shifts

Structures, where one element is typically

obligatory while other elements are optional, an
agreement between the head and its modifiers, are
usually observed in some languages.

For example:
Source Language Old man
Target Language Laki-laki tua

Old man in the source language text is constructed

of modifier (old) + head (man). Meanwhile in the
target language it becomes laki-laki tua which is
constructed of head (laki-laki) + modifier (tua).
Class Shifts

A class shift means the grouping of the

constituents of a unit according to the way they
operate in the structure of another unit next higher
in rank. In other words, a class refers to any set of
items having the same possibilities of operation in
the structure of a particular unit. Class shift occurs
when the translation equivalence of a source
language item is a member of a different class
from the original item. It is a change in word class.

For example:
Source Language Medical students
Target Language Mahasiswa kedokteran
Intra-System Shifts

intra system shifts refer to those changes that

occur internally within a system. The equivalence
is said to occur at a non-corresponding term in the
target language system. intra-system shifts
happen when a term is singular in the source text
and its textual equivalent is plural, or vice versa (a
change in number even though the languages have
the same number system).

For example:
Source Language Trousers
Target Language Celana

The word of trousers in the source language is a

plural form. It is translated into celana in the
target language in a singular form.
Unit Shifts

Unit shifts occur when translation equivalent of a

source text unit at one rank is a unit at a different
rank in the target language. It includes shifts from
morpheme to a word, word to phrase, clause to
sentence, and vice versa.

Phrase to word:
Source Language The lord
Target Language Tuhan
Analysis of Meaning
Analysis of Meaning

The main objective of translation is to transfer the

meaning from the source language to the target
language. In transferring the meaning, a good
translator should have the knowledge of source
and target language, the grammar and cultures,
and also the skills in translation.

Since translation main objective is meaning, it is

very important to study about theory of meaning.
Semantics is a branch of linguistics which studies
about meaning. Thus, we can see that semantics
plays a very important role in translation.
 There are many different ways to approach the
problems of meaning, since meaning is related to
many different functions of language.

Nida and Taber (1982: 56) classifies meaning into

two classes, referential meaning and connotative
meaning.
Referential meaning

Referential meaning is word as symbol which

refers to an object, process, abstract thing, and
relation. Giving the meaning of a word
referentially, a translator must be aware of any
markers appear in the text. There are two markers
that can be used to give meaning of words,
syntactic marking and semotactic marking. Here
are the examples:
Syntatic Mark
No I II
1 He picked up a stone They will stone him.
2 He saw a cloud The quarrel will cloud the issue

3 She has a beautiful face He will face the audience

4 He fell in the water Please, water the garden
Continue

Semotactic mark
Meaning of a word is also determined by its
relationship with other words in a certain context. In
other words, semotac environment differentiates
meaning. Here are the examples :

I II

The horse runs fast The water runs through the path

Your hand is dirty All hands up!

1. Hierarchical Structuring And Componential Analysis

At other times the problem is more one of locating

an equivalent on the same level in the TL. This
occurs where one language has a wider range of
specific terms for a given semantic field operating
at various levels.
Nida and Taber (1969:68) give the example of a
series of motion verbs under the generic verb
move, which they ordered hierarchically: Generic
term move Lower level walk, run, skip, hop, crawl
(more specific forms of move) Lower level march,
stroll (more specific forms of walk) The generic
term is known as the superordinate and the lower
level terms as hyponyms their more specific
meaning is included within the meaning of the
superordinate.
analysis contrasts elements in the same semantic
area

Componential Analysis
Componential Analysis of Meaning:
Definition and History
Linguistic Basis for Componential
Analysis
Componential Analysis

Palmer says that the total meaning of a

word can be seen in terms of a number of
distinct elements or components of
meaning (1976: 85). Components have a
distinguishing function and serve to
distinguish the meaning of a lexeme from
that of semantically related lexemes, or
more accurately they serve to distinguish
among the meanings of lexemes in the
same semantic domain.
Continue

In the semantic domain of man, woman,

boy, and girl, [human] is the common
component, and they are distinguished by
[adult], [male], [female] as the diagnostic
components. The meanings of the
individual items can then be expressed by
combinations of these features:
Man +[human] +[adult] +[male]
Woman +[human] +[adult] -[male]
Boy +[human] -[adult] +[male]
Girl +[human] -[adult] -[male]
Componential Analysis of Meaning:
Definition and History

Componential analysis (CA) is based on the

presumption that the meaning of a word is
composed of semantic components. So the
essential features that form the meaning are
elementary units on semantic level. By
componential analysis, it is possible to state the
smallest indivisible units of lexis or minimal
components (Aitchison, 2003: 92).

CA is particularly applicable to distinguishing the

meanings of lexemes that are semantically related
or in the same semantic domain. It is often seen as
a process of breaking down the sense of a word
into its minimal distinctive features; that is, into
components which contrast with other
components.
Linguistic Basis for Componential Analysis

The actual linguistic procedures employed

in CA consists of four types, they are:
Naming
Paraphrasing
defining,
classifying.
2. Connotative Meaning

Understanding meaning of a word is not

merely based on the referred object of the
word. Sometimes, a translator also needs
to give emotional reaction to the word.
The reaction might be strong, weak,
positive or negative. This kind of meaning
is closely related to individual emotional
reaction which, then, is named as
connotative meaning. In other words,
giving the meaning of a word is not merely
from its concrete or abstract dimension,
but it also involves the senders emotional
condition.
Three main principle to understand connotative
meaning

The relationship between the word

and the speaker
Condition of the speaker
Linguistic factor
Dynamic Equivalence and The
Receptor of The Message
Dynamic Equivalence

Dynamic equivalence is defined as a translation

principle according to which a translator seeks to
translate the meaning of the original in such a way
that the TL wording will trigger the same impact
on the TC audience as the original wording did
upon the ST audience.

They argue that 'Frequently, the form of the

original text is changed; but as long as the change
follows the rules of back transformation in the
source language, of contextual consistency in the
transfer, and of transformation in the receptor
language, the message is preserved and the
translation is faithful' (Nida and Taber, 1982:200).
Dynamic VS Formal Equivalent

The two methods are not absolute

techniques but general orientations. In fact,
experienced translators seem to do most of
the time is to:
Resort to a literal kind of equivalence
initially,
Reconsider the decision in the light of a
range of factors,
Ultimately make a choice from literal,
formal or dynamic equivalence in this
order and as appropriate.
Adjustment

Adjustment or gradual move away from

form-by-form renderings and towards
more dynamic kinds of equivalence is an
important technique for producing correct
equivalents and achieving dynamic
equivalence in translation and also to cope
with the wider range of purposes which
translations might serve and subsumes a
set of techniques for restructuring the ST
message in the TL .
Form of Adjustment

Redundancy, explicating or repeating

information when appropriate for dense
translation
Gisting for languages characterized by a
high degree of repetition of meaning
Re-ordering an entire sequence of
sentences if the ST order of events does
not match normal chronology, or proves
too cumbersome to visualize
Compensation
Adjustment and Meaning

The more form-bound a meaning is (e.g. a case of

ambiguity through word play), the more formal the
equivalence relation will have to be. Alternatively,
the more context-bound a meaning is (e.g. an
obscure reference to source culture), the more
dynamic the equivalence will have to be.

FE <<<<<<<<< adjustment >>>>>>>>>> DE

Form-bound Meaning Context bound
Translation process: Analysis, Transfer

Translation process is the ST message is first

broken down into its immediate constituents (or
kernels), then mentally transferred, and ultimately
to undergo a process of adjustment that restores
to the TT linguistic and stylistic appropriateness.

Analysis is to discover the kernels, that is, basic

structural elements to which syntactically more
elaborate surface structure of a language can be
reduced then analyze the SL message into its
simplest and structurally clearest forms (or
kernels).
Kernels consist of combinations of items from of four
basic semantic categories:
Object words (nouns referring to physical objects
including human beings)

Event words (actions often represented by verbs)

Abstracts (qualities and quantities, including

adjectives)

Relational (including linking devices, gender

markers)
Analysis

Transfer is the analyzed material which

transferred in the mind of the translator
from language A to language B. Kernels as
raw material are modified in preparation
for restructuring (the stage of putting pen
to paper) then, strategy are worked out,
decisions regarding such matters as
register and genre are initially taken and a
dynamic process of reconfiguration in the
TL of sets of SL semantic and structural
components.
CONCLUSION

the translation from the source language into the

target language cannot be exact equivalents as
both languages are widely different in structure
and cultural background. The understanding of the
structure and the culture in both languages is
required by the translator as it makes the
translator capable of grasping the meaning in the
text accurately and allows him to transfer the
same meaning.
In transferring the meaning, a good translator
should have the knowledge of source and target
language, the grammar and cultures, and also the
skills in translation.
Thank you!