University of Mosul
College of Basic Education
Department of English Language
Investigating Shifting in English-Arabic Translation
A Research Submitted by:
Abeer Hani Khalil
Rund Jamal Ibrahim
Zainab Saad Abdulrahman
Safa Talal Fadel
To the Council of the College Basic Education /Department of English in Partial Fulfilment of
the Requirements for Bachelor Degree in Education/English Language
Supervised by :
Assistant Professor:
Omer Dawood Omer
2024A.D
1446A.H
﷽
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Dedication
To our first teacher Prophet Mohammad (peace and prayer
being upon him), who has guided us from darkness to lightness.
To our parents,
To our supervisor:
Assistant Professor :
Omer Dawood Omer
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Our appreciation first and foremost goes to the Almighty Allah, the creator of the
heavens and the Earth for his endless generosity, grace, blessings, and for giving us
the breath of life and keeping us in good health all through the period of the study.
We would like to thank our supervisor : ( Omer Dawood Omer ) for supporting us
to do this research.
We would also like to extend our sincere thanks to the teaching staff of the English
department for their help. In addition, We would like to thank everyone who gave us
a hand to accomplish this work.
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TABLE OF CONENTS
Title
Page
DEDECATION
Ⅰ
ACKNOWLEDEMENT
Ⅱ
TABLE OF CONENTS
Ⅲ
1-Introduction
1
2- Literature Review
2
3- Adapted Model of Translation Shift
5
4- Data Analysis
6
REFRENCES
12
Ⅲ
1.
Introduction:
Translation is a multifaceted process that involves transferring content and
meaning from one language to another while maintaining its accuracy, fluency, and
cultural relevance. One of the challenges in translation is understanding and
managing shifts, or changes, that occur when moving from the source language (SL)
to the target language (TL). These shifts can be linguistic, cultural, or structural and
have a significant impact on the quality of the translated text.
In this study, we aim to investigate the phenomenon of shifting in English to Arabic
translation. Shifting refers to the alterations or adaptations made in the target
language text to accommodate differences between the source and target languages.
Such shifts can occur in various linguistic aspects, including syntax, semantics,
pragmatics, and culture-specific references.
Understanding shifting in translation is crucial for translators, language
professionals, and researchers, as it plays a vital role in producing translations that
are both accurate and natural-sounding in the target language. By exploring the types
of shifts that commonly occur in English to Arabic translation, this research seeks to
shed light on the challenges faced by translators and identify strategies to enhance
the quality of translated texts.
This investigation will contribute to the broader field of translation studies and
provide valuable insights into the intricacies of the translation process, ultimately
facilitating more effective and culturally sensitive translations between English and
Arabic.
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Grammatical shifts are classified into three main categories according to their
degree of compatibility with and translatability into the target language (Arabic). As
a general procedure for analyzing these shifts, English grammatical structures are
here identified and their functions explained and exemplified. Then they are
examined from the point of view of Arabic: whether they are renderable into it, and,
if so, what options (native structures) there are to replace them, or, alternatively, what
other (perhaps borrowed) methods of expression are used to convey the SL message,
and to what extent these new methods correspond to natural usage in Arabic. The
examples cited here are drawn from Standard English and translated into Standard
Arabic. Sometimes more than one translation version are provided with a view to
demonstrating the range of possibilities available to the translator, drawing the
reader's attention to certain linguistic and/or translational aspects of the particular
point under discussion, or in the case of non-native structures, illustrating the type
of influence English has had on Arabic.
2.
Literature Review:
The Concept of Shift : means departures from formal correspondence in the
process of going from the SL (source language) to the TL (target language). Two
major types of “shifts” occur: level shifts and category shifts Level shifts : By a shift
of level we mean that a SL item at one linguistic level has a TL translation equivalent
at a different level. We have already pointed out that translation between the levels
of phonology and graphology—or between either of these levels and the levels of
grammar and lexis—is impossible. Translation between these levels is absolutely
ruled out by our theory, which posits “relationship to the same substance” as the
necessary condition of translation equivalence. We are left, then, with shifts from
grammar to lexis and vice-versa as the only possible level shifts in translation; and
such shifts are, of course, quite common.( Catford, 1965:140 ).
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In the literature of translation studies, the term ‘shift’ is used to refer to
changes that occur or may occur in the process of translating . Although the term
was first introduced by Catford (1965). The concept of ‘shift’ was also referred to in
other earlier studies by other terms such as oblique strategy (Vinay and Darbelnet,
1958/1995), and techniques of adjustments (Nida, 1964: 226). Catford (1965: 73)
defines ‘translation shifts’ as “departures from formal correspondence in the process
of going from SL to TL”. Van Leuven-Zwart (1989: 154) provides more general
definition of shifts which is “the differences between a translation and its original”.
One of the earliest systematic linguistic-oriented studies that examined the
similarities and differences in translation was offered by the two French linguists
Jean-Paul Vinay and Jean Darbelnet whose book Stylistique Comparée du Françaiset
de l' Anglais was first published in French in (1958) and later translated into English
in (1995). Following a contrastive linguistic and stylistic analysis approach, they
introduced a systematic taxonomy of the different translation strategies and
procedures used in translation between French and English.
In their book, they propose two main translation strategies that are: direct
or literal translation (which adheres to the ST) and oblique translation (which departs
to the TT) which in turn classified into seven procedures (Vinay and Darbelnet,
1995: 31-40)27. Within the seven procedures, three belong to the direct strategy and
they are borrowing, calque, and literal translation (ibid.). As for the remaining four
procedures, they fit in the oblique strategy and they are transposition, modulation,
equivalence, and adaptation (ibid.:36-40). All of these seven translation procedures
operate on three levels of text analysis that are lexicon, syntactic structures, and
message (i.e. the extralinguistic context into which the utterance fits) (ibid.: 27-29).
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According to Toury (1995: 56-57), since translation is the type of activity that
involves at least two languages and two cultural traditions, the inevitable occurrence
of shifts is a true universal of translation. As mentioned in (3.4.2) in the previous
chapter, the term ‘shift’ in translation is used to indicate any difference in
the text produced through translation in comparison to the original (van LeuvenZwart, 1989: 154). This study loosely draws on van Leuven-Zwart’s (1989-1990a)
idea of combining micro-level comparative analysis and macro-level descriptive
analysis to account for any changes in the translation compared to the original.
While the comparative analysis involves investigating syntactic, semantic,
stylistic, and pragmatic shifts within sentences, clauses, and phrases of texts and
their translations (van Leuven-Zwart, 1989: 155), the descriptive analysis
investigates how these micro-level shifts affect the macro-level structure of texts (i.e.
on ideational, textual and interpersonal levels), in order to reconstruct and formulate
hypotheses regarding the reconstructed translation process and the norms underlying
the translation (van Leuven- Zwart, 1990a: 91-93).
At the micro-level, changes in the lexico-grammatical realisation of each
subcategory of interactional “metadiscourse markers” (MDMs) of stance and
engagement at the grammatical, semantic, and/or pragmatic levels are identified. So,
on the one hand, instances of shifts at the micro-level of analysis, that are identified
in the subcategories of hedges, boosters, attitude markers and self-mentions, are
grouped under the macro-level of interaction and referred to as shifts in interactional
MDMs of stance. On the other hand, translation shifts in reader-mentions, directives,
questions, asides and appeals to shared knowledge are grouped under the macrolevel of interaction and referred to as shifts in interactional MDMs of engagement .
However, only a certain type of shifts is considered in this study. In his DTS
approach , Toury (1995: 57) distinguishes between two kinds of shifts: ‘obligatory
shifts’, which are caused by the different grammatical structures of the SL and the
TL, and ‘non-obligatory shifts’ (i.e. optional), which are motivated by literary,
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stylistic or cultural considerations. It should be noted that, in the analysis of
translation shifts in this study, obligatory shifts caused by differences in the syntactic
structures between Arabic and English linguistic systems (e.g. word order) are
excluded, since the main objective here is to identify non-obligatory (optional) shifts
at the grammatical and semantic level that were motivated by pragmatic , stylisticand
cultural differences. As pointed out above, the aim of the micro-level and macrolevel analyses of shifts is to uncover the overall norms underlying the translation of
interactional MDMs at these two dimensions of interaction. In other words, the
results of the micro-level comparative and macro-level descriptive analysis of the
ST-TTs segments are used to reconstruct the norms that were in operation during the
translation process. The types of norms investigated in this study are defined in the
next sub- section.
3- Adapted Model of Translation Shift - Catford's (1965:73)
This model is developed by J.C. Catford in his seminal work "A Linguistic
Theory of Translation." It offers a systematic framework for analyzing deviations
from formal equivalence in translation. While aiming to preserve meaning and
function, translators often depart from literal correspondences between source
language (SL) and target language (TL) elements. Catford's model categorizes these
departures as:
1. Level or Rank Shift: This occurs when the equivalent element in the TL belongs
to a different grammatical level than its SL counterpart.
2. Category Shift: This happens when the translator chooses a TL element from a
different grammatical category, even if they are on the same level.
Catford's model equips translators with a deeper understanding of the linguistic
choices they make, allowing for more informed and nuanced translation strategies.
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By analyzing potential shifts and their implications, translators can effectively
navigate cultural and linguistic differences to achieve accurate and impactful
communication across languages.
4- Data Analysis:
The data are quoted from The story "The Lottery" which was written by
American author Shirley Jackson(1948). It was first published in The New Yorker
magazine, and remains one of her most famous works. The story has been
translated into Arabic by a well-known Iraqi translator, Dr. Iqbal Muhammad
Ali (2020)1 who is a highly respected and influential translator in the Arab
world in the Arab Center for Literature & Translation (ACLT). She is known for her
extensive work translating literary and cultural works from English to Arabic.
Source Text (ST)1:
The morning of June 27th was clear and sunny, with the fresh warmth of a
full-summer day; the flowers were blossoming profusely and the grass was richly
green. The people of the village began to gather in the square, between the post office
and the bank, around ten o’clock; in some towns there were so many people that the
lottery took two days and had to be started on June 26th, but in this village, where
there were only about three hundred people, the whole lottery took only about two
hours, so it could begin at ten o’clock in the morning and still be through in time to
allow the villagers to get home for noon dinner.
Target Text (TT)1:
‫كانت لسما في صبيح‬
ٍ ‫ تُبش بي م ٍ صيفي‬، ‫ صافي مشمس‬،‫م لسابع و لعش ن من حز ن‬
‫ ق ب‬، ‫ ْبتَد َ َأ بنا لق‬. ‫ و لحشائش في غا لخض‬،‫د فئ… ألزها متفتح بص لم سبق ؤ تها من قبل‬
، ‫ د َ َ َجت لق ى لمجاو‬.‫ لتجمع بالتد ج في لساح ل قع بين بنا لب د و لبنك‬،ً‫لساع لعاش صباحا‬
‫لتي‬
‫ في هذه لق‬. ‫ من لشه‬26 ‫ م‬، ‫ لش وع في لتحضي لل ُق ع لسن‬،‫ألكث عدد ً في لسكان‬
‫ فتتح نها في لساع لعاش‬،‫ أكث ِمن اعتين‬،‫شخص تأخذ ُق ع ليانصيب‬
‫تجاوز كانها لثالثمائ‬
ٍ
. ‫ لتناول وجب لغد‬،ً ‫ كي ك ن لد هم لمتسع من ل قت للع د إلى بي تهم ظه‬،‫صباحا‬
1
https://alketaba.com/%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%82%d9%8f%d8%b1%d8%b9%d8%a9/
Analysis of Translation Shift:
Level or Rank Shift
There are several instances of level or rank shift in the Arabic translation. For
example, the English phrase "the morning of June 27th" is translated as " ‫صبيح م‬
‫( " لسابع و لعش ن من حز ن‬the morning of the day of the twenty-seventh of June). In
the English phrase, "morning" is a noun, while in the Arabic translation, " ‫"صبيح‬
(morning) is an adjective. This is a level shift because the grammatical function of
the word has changed from noun to adjective.
Another example of level or rank shift is the translation of the English phrase
"the flowers were blossoming profusely" as "‫" ألزها متفتح بص لم سبق ؤ تها من قبل‬
(the flowers are blossoming in a way that has never been seen before). In the English
phrase, "were blossoming" is a verb phrase, while in the Arabic translation, " ‫"متفتح‬
(blossoming) is an adjective. This is a level shift because the grammatical function
of the word has changed from verb to adjective.
Category Shift
There are also several instances of category shift in the Arabic translation. For
example, the English word "square" is translated as " ‫( " اح‬square) in the Arabic
translation. This is a category shift because the two words belong to different
grammatical categories. "Square" is a noun, while " ‫( " اح‬square) is a feminine
singular noun.
Another example of category shift is the translation of the English word
"grass" as "‫( "حشائش‬grasses) in the Arabic translation. This is a category shift because
the two words belong to different grammatical categories. "Grass" is a mass noun,
while "‫( "حشائش‬grasses) is a plural noun.
Generally, the Arabic translation of the English text contains several instances
of level or rank shift and category shift. These shifts are necessary in order to produce
a translation that is both accurate and natural-sounding in Arabic.
(ST)2:
The children assembled first, of course. School was recently over for summer,
and the feeling of liberty sat uneasily on most of them; they tended to gather together
quietly for a while before they broke into boisterous play, and their talk was still of
the classroom and the teacher, of books and reprimands.
(TT)2:
‫ كان ألو د أول من َ ِفد َ إلى ميد ن لق للت و ح عن أنفسهم بعد نها لسن لد ي وبد‬، ‫كالعاد‬
‫ إلى لعب صاخب و لمنافس في‬، ‫لعطل لصيفي و عان ما نقلب تجمعهم لذي س ده لهدو في لبد‬
. ‫ عن لمعلم وعن لكتب و لت بيخ‬، ‫لتحدث عن صف فهم لد ي‬
Analysis of Translation Shift:
Level or Rank Shift
There are several instances of level or rank shift in the Arabic translation. For
example, the English phrase "assembled first" is translated as " ‫كان ألو د أول من َ ِفدَ إلى‬
‫( "ميد ن لق‬the boys were the first to arrive at the village square). In the English
phrase, the verb "assembled" is a lexical verb, while in the Arabic translation, the
verb "‫( "كان‬to be) is a grammatical verb. This is a level shift because the grammatical
function of the verb has changed from lexical to grammatical.
Another example of level or rank shift is the translation of the English phrase
"the feeling of liberty sat uneasily on most of them" as " ‫و عان ما نقلب تجمعهم لذي‬
‫ عن لمعلم وعن‬، ‫ إلى لعب صاخب و لمنافس في لتحدث عن صف فهم لد ي‬، ‫س ده لهدو في لبد‬
‫( " لكتب و لت بيخ‬their gathering, which was initially calm, quickly turned into
boisterous play and competition to talk about their classrooms, the teacher, books,
and reprimands). In the English phrase, the noun "feeling" is modified by the
adjective "uneasily," while in the Arabic translation, the adjective "‫( "هادئ‬calm) is
used to describe the noun "‫( "تجمعهم‬their gathering). This is a level shift because the
grammatical function of the adjective has changed from modifying a noun to
modifying a verb.
Category Shift
There are also several instances of category shift in the Arabic translation. For
example, the English word "children" is translated as "‫( "أو د‬boys) in the Arabic
translation. This is a category shift because the two words belong to different
grammatical categories. "Children" is a gender-neutral noun, while "‫ "أو د‬is a
masculine plural noun.
Another example of category shift is the translation of the English word
"liberty" as " ‫( "ح‬freedom) in the Arabic translation. This is a category shift
because the two words belong to different grammatical categories. "Liberty" is an
abstract noun, while " ‫ "ح‬is a concrete noun.
The Arabic translation of the English text contains several instances of level
or rank shift and category shift. These shifts are necessary in order to produce a
translation that is both accurate and natural-sounding in Arabic.
(ST)3:
Bobby Martin had already stuffed his pockets full of stones, and the other boys
soon followed his example, selecting the smoothest and roundest stones; Bobby and
Harry Jones and Dickie Delacroix—the villagers pronounced this name
“Dellacroy”—eventually made a great pile of stones in one corner of the square and
guarded it against the raids of the other boys. The girls stood aside, talking among
themselves, looking over their shoulders at the boys, and the very small
children rolled in the dust or clung to the hands of their older brothers or sisters.
(TT)3:
‫ ها ي‬.‫حذوه‬،‫ بمل جي به بالحصى لمدو ألملس و عان ما حذ بقي ألو د‬،‫َش َ ع ب بي ما تن‬
‫ تمكنا من تكد س ك م كبي من لحصى‬،)‫ج نس ود كي( د الك و ) لذي نطق لق و ن مه بِ(د الك وي‬
‫ تحدثن فيما‬،ً‫ ُك ّن قفن جانبا‬،‫ لبنات‬.‫في إحدى زو ا لساح و ل ق ف لح تها خ فاً من غا ت بقي ألو د‬
‫ ت ى لبعض منهم متعلقاً بأ دي إخ نه أو‬، ‫ أما ألطفال لصغا‬.‫بينهن و نظ ن من و كتافهن إلى لشباب‬
.‫أخ ته و لبعض آلخ م غ نفسه في لت ب‬
Analysis of Translation Shift:
Level or Rank Shift
There are several instances of level or rank shift in the Arabic translation. For
example, the English phrase "stuffed his pockets full of stones" is translated as " ‫ش َ ع‬
َ
‫ بمل جي به بالحصى لمدو ألملس‬،‫( "ب بي ما تن‬Bobby Martin began filling his pockets
with smooth and round pebbles). In the English phrase, the verb "stuffed" is a lexical
verb, while in the Arabic translation, the verb "‫ش َ ع‬
َ " (to begin) is a grammatical verb.
This is a level shift because the grammatical function of the verb has changed from
lexical to grammatical.
Another example of level or rank shift is the translation of the English phrase
"selecting the smoothest and roundest stones" as " ‫ها ي ج نس ود كي( د الك و ) لذي نطق‬
‫ تمكنا من تكد س ك م كبي من لحصى في إحدى زو ا لساح و ل ق ف‬،)‫ب(د الك وي‬
ِ ‫لق و ن مه‬
‫( "لح تها خ فا ً من غا ت بقي ألو د‬Harry Jones and Dickie (Delacroix), whose name is
pronounced by the villagers as (Delacroix), managed to pile a large pile of pebbles
in one corner of the square and stand guard to protect it from the raids of the other
boys). In the English phrase, the verb "selecting" is a lexical verb, while in the Arabic
translation, the verb "‫( "تمكن‬to be able) is a grammatical verb. This is a level shift
because the grammatical function of the verb has changed from lexical to
grammatical.
Category Shift
There are also several instances of category shift in the Arabic translation. For
example, the English word "stones" is translated as "‫( "حصى‬pebbles) in the Arabic
translation. This is a category shift because the two words belong to different
grammatical categories. "Stones" is a noun, while "‫ "حصى‬is a collective noun.
Another example of category shift is the translation of the English word "girls"
as "‫( "بنات‬girls) in the Arabic translation. This is a category shift because the two
words belong to different grammatical categories. "Girls" is a noun, while "‫ "بنات‬is
a feminine plural noun.
The Arabic translation of the English text contains several instances of level
or rank shift and category shift. These shifts are necessary in order to produce a
translation that is both accurate and natural-sounding in Arabic.
Concluding Remarks:
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REFERENCES:
Catford, J. C. (1965). A Linguistic Theory of Translation. Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
Vinay, J.P. & Darbelnet, J. (1958). Stylistique Comparée du Francais et de
l'
Anglais:Méthode de Traduction. Paris: Didier.
Nida, E. A. (1964). Toward a Science of Translating. Leiden: E. J. Brill.
Van Leuven-Zwart, K. M. (1989). Translation and original: Similarities
and
dissimilarities, I. Target 1(2), pp. 154-155.
Toury, G. (1995). Descriptive Translation Studies and Beyond.
Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Van Leuven-Zwart, K. M. (1990a). Translation and original: Similarities
and dissimilarities, II. Target, 2(1), pp. 91-93.
Venuti, L. (Ed.). (2000). The Translation Studies Reader. London & New
York: Routledge.
Jackson, S.(1948)"The Lottery and Other Stories"The New Yorker.PP.291302.
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