Shift In Movie Subtitling The Pursuit Of Happyness
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
1.1
Background of the Study
There are so many languages around the world and each language is unique, it is
obviously different from each other. The diversity of the language can be a problem in the
communication among countries, because every country has their own language. The
problems need to be solved; translation is a way to solve the differences of language.
“Translation is the comprehension of the meaning of a text and the subsequent
production of an equivalent text, likewise called a "translation," that communicates the
same message in another language. The text that is translated is called the source text, and
the language that it is translated into is called the target language. The product is
sometimes called target text. http://en. Wikipedia. Org/wiki/translation/ (Accessed on
January, 18th 2014; 02:00 AM).
To solve this problem, linguistics as the science of language offers a particular
study, which can be used in helping humans as speakers to understand meanings involved
in words from different languages. Traditionally, translation was defined from the
perspective of linguistics. According to Nida (1969:126), the renowned American theorist
on translation, "Translating consists in reproducing the receptor language the closest
natural equivalent of the source-language message, first in terms of language and secondly
in terms of style". And Catford (1965:20) more clearly defined translation as "the
replacement of textual material in one language (Source Language or SL) by equivalent
textual material in another language (Target Language or TL)", Catford comprehension
about translation is more conditional and detail because each material should be translated
according to its way in order to give more specific understanding and to avoid the mistake
which used to be done by an amateur translator about the meaning and structure of the
source language. To support Catford Statement, Machali (2009:95) states in her book
about the explanation of shift, “Shifts are the procedure which must be done in translation
to avoid a mistake. She says “Pergeseran bentuk adalah proses yang harus dilakukan
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dalam penerjemahan, dengan demikian seorang penerjemah tidak membuat kesalahan
seperti yang biasa dilakukan penerjemah pemula.
The importance of translation nowadays can be seen and felt in our daily life. We
often hear or find an interpreter in court of law translating various cases involving
foreigners who do not understand the source language. We can also see many interpreters
in international seminars or conferences who do their job in translating the source
language into the target one. And translators translating one language to other and spread
the translation around the globe according to its nations and its languages.
Translation is also found in various books, newspapers, and magazines. These facts
will indicate that the role of a translator is very important. In addition, the role of a
translator should be clear enough in introducing a certain culture or civilization to his
readers. Therefore, he has to understand the culture of the people who use the source
language so that he can translate it properly.
Machali (2009:26) define Hatim and Mason (1990) definition of translation, she
says,
Penerjemahan adalah kegiatan yang dapat membuktikan tentang peran
sebuah bahasa dalam kehidupan social. Melalui kegiatan penerjemahan,
seorang penerjemah menyampaikan kembali isi sebuah teks dalam bahasa
lain. Penyampaian ini termasuk kegiatan pergantian, karena penerjemahan
dalam hal ini melakukan kegiatan komunikasi baru melalui hasil kegiatan
komunikasi yang sudah ada ( yakani dalam bentuk teks).
In brief, she explains that translation is an activity proving the role of language in
social life. Through translation, the translator re-expresses the message of a text in another
language. This includes the alteration activity, because translation in this sense new
communication activity from the existing activities (text) which asserts Catford‟s
definition of translation.
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Factually, translation brings some problem, among others shifts. Catford (1965:73)
defines two major types of shifts. They are level shifts and category shifts. Level shifts,
where one Source Text (ST) item at one linguistic level (grammatical unit) has a Target
Text (TT); equivalent at a different level (lexical unit), and category shifts which are
divided into four types:
1. Structure-shifts, which involves a grammatical changing between the structure of
the Source Text (ST) and that of the Target Text (TT);
2. Class-shifts, when a 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;
3. Unit-shifts, which involves changes in rank;
4. Intra-system shifts, which occurs, when a Source Text (ST) singular becomes a
plural in Target Text (TT).
As stated in the first paragraph, the diversity of the language can be a problem in
the communication among countries. English and Indonesian head words are not the same.
In Indonesian phrases, the head word is in the initial position (first word), while English
head word is in the final position (last word), which is the core position of the phrase is
depends on the language. For example:
Stupid
people
(Modifier)
(Head word)
Orang
bodoh
(Head word) (Modifier)
Therefore, this study tries to find out Shift in subtitling of The Pursuit of
Happyness movie. In the subtitle text of the The Pursuit of Happyness movie, writer found
some examples indicated as one of the Category Shift which shows the differences
between English and Bahasa Indonesia grammatical structure position. There are:
1
The federal budget is out of control
"Keuangan
negara
semakin
tidak
terkendali."
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Sentence (1) shows that structure shift occurs since the head of word in source
Text (ST) “Budged” is in the final position (last word) while in Target Text (TT), the head
Word is translated in the final position (last word).
1.2. Scope of the Study.
Catford classifies the shifts into two major types, namely level shift and category
shift (Venuti 2000: 141). In avoiding an excessive explanation of doing a shift analysis,
the elaboration of category shift would be merely focused on the structure shift, class shift,
unit shift and intra-system-shift. The data of the study taken from the subtitling text of The
Pursuit of Happyness movie.
1.3. Problem of Study
In elaborating the case of category shift in this present thesis, some questions have
been designed as the center to expand the analysis. The study should give answers to:
1. How category shifts are performed in the subtitling of The Pursuit of Happyness
movie?
2. What is the dominant shift found in the subtitling of The Pursuit of Happyness
movie?
1.4. Objective of Study.
The objective of study is arranged to answer the problem appearing in the analysis.
Regarding that statement, the objective of study from this present thesis is to
1. Find shifts in the subtitling of The Pursuit of Happyness movie.
2. Find out the dominant shifts in the subtitling The Pursuit of Happyness movie.
1.5.
Significance of Study.
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This
thesis
is
intended
to
be
helpful
theoretically
and
practically.
Theoretically, this thesis is expected to enlarge the knowledge of translation particularly to
a better understanding of shift. This thesis may also be a reference for those who study
shifts and its other related matter.
Practically, shifts in subtitling can be including as one of topics in translation
subject for the students of English Department. Finally, this study will give guidance for
translators on how to avoid shifts which may change the meaning of a certain text,
especially when he/she translates for subtitling.
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INTRODUCTION
1.1
Background of the Study
There are so many languages around the world and each language is unique, it is
obviously different from each other. The diversity of the language can be a problem in the
communication among countries, because every country has their own language. The
problems need to be solved; translation is a way to solve the differences of language.
“Translation is the comprehension of the meaning of a text and the subsequent
production of an equivalent text, likewise called a "translation," that communicates the
same message in another language. The text that is translated is called the source text, and
the language that it is translated into is called the target language. The product is
sometimes called target text. http://en. Wikipedia. Org/wiki/translation/ (Accessed on
January, 18th 2014; 02:00 AM).
To solve this problem, linguistics as the science of language offers a particular
study, which can be used in helping humans as speakers to understand meanings involved
in words from different languages. Traditionally, translation was defined from the
perspective of linguistics. According to Nida (1969:126), the renowned American theorist
on translation, "Translating consists in reproducing the receptor language the closest
natural equivalent of the source-language message, first in terms of language and secondly
in terms of style". And Catford (1965:20) more clearly defined translation as "the
replacement of textual material in one language (Source Language or SL) by equivalent
textual material in another language (Target Language or TL)", Catford comprehension
about translation is more conditional and detail because each material should be translated
according to its way in order to give more specific understanding and to avoid the mistake
which used to be done by an amateur translator about the meaning and structure of the
source language. To support Catford Statement, Machali (2009:95) states in her book
about the explanation of shift, “Shifts are the procedure which must be done in translation
to avoid a mistake. She says “Pergeseran bentuk adalah proses yang harus dilakukan
Universitas Sumatera Utara
dalam penerjemahan, dengan demikian seorang penerjemah tidak membuat kesalahan
seperti yang biasa dilakukan penerjemah pemula.
The importance of translation nowadays can be seen and felt in our daily life. We
often hear or find an interpreter in court of law translating various cases involving
foreigners who do not understand the source language. We can also see many interpreters
in international seminars or conferences who do their job in translating the source
language into the target one. And translators translating one language to other and spread
the translation around the globe according to its nations and its languages.
Translation is also found in various books, newspapers, and magazines. These facts
will indicate that the role of a translator is very important. In addition, the role of a
translator should be clear enough in introducing a certain culture or civilization to his
readers. Therefore, he has to understand the culture of the people who use the source
language so that he can translate it properly.
Machali (2009:26) define Hatim and Mason (1990) definition of translation, she
says,
Penerjemahan adalah kegiatan yang dapat membuktikan tentang peran
sebuah bahasa dalam kehidupan social. Melalui kegiatan penerjemahan,
seorang penerjemah menyampaikan kembali isi sebuah teks dalam bahasa
lain. Penyampaian ini termasuk kegiatan pergantian, karena penerjemahan
dalam hal ini melakukan kegiatan komunikasi baru melalui hasil kegiatan
komunikasi yang sudah ada ( yakani dalam bentuk teks).
In brief, she explains that translation is an activity proving the role of language in
social life. Through translation, the translator re-expresses the message of a text in another
language. This includes the alteration activity, because translation in this sense new
communication activity from the existing activities (text) which asserts Catford‟s
definition of translation.
Universitas Sumatera Utara
Factually, translation brings some problem, among others shifts. Catford (1965:73)
defines two major types of shifts. They are level shifts and category shifts. Level shifts,
where one Source Text (ST) item at one linguistic level (grammatical unit) has a Target
Text (TT); equivalent at a different level (lexical unit), and category shifts which are
divided into four types:
1. Structure-shifts, which involves a grammatical changing between the structure of
the Source Text (ST) and that of the Target Text (TT);
2. Class-shifts, when a 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;
3. Unit-shifts, which involves changes in rank;
4. Intra-system shifts, which occurs, when a Source Text (ST) singular becomes a
plural in Target Text (TT).
As stated in the first paragraph, the diversity of the language can be a problem in
the communication among countries. English and Indonesian head words are not the same.
In Indonesian phrases, the head word is in the initial position (first word), while English
head word is in the final position (last word), which is the core position of the phrase is
depends on the language. For example:
Stupid
people
(Modifier)
(Head word)
Orang
bodoh
(Head word) (Modifier)
Therefore, this study tries to find out Shift in subtitling of The Pursuit of
Happyness movie. In the subtitle text of the The Pursuit of Happyness movie, writer found
some examples indicated as one of the Category Shift which shows the differences
between English and Bahasa Indonesia grammatical structure position. There are:
1
The federal budget is out of control
"Keuangan
negara
semakin
tidak
terkendali."
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Sentence (1) shows that structure shift occurs since the head of word in source
Text (ST) “Budged” is in the final position (last word) while in Target Text (TT), the head
Word is translated in the final position (last word).
1.2. Scope of the Study.
Catford classifies the shifts into two major types, namely level shift and category
shift (Venuti 2000: 141). In avoiding an excessive explanation of doing a shift analysis,
the elaboration of category shift would be merely focused on the structure shift, class shift,
unit shift and intra-system-shift. The data of the study taken from the subtitling text of The
Pursuit of Happyness movie.
1.3. Problem of Study
In elaborating the case of category shift in this present thesis, some questions have
been designed as the center to expand the analysis. The study should give answers to:
1. How category shifts are performed in the subtitling of The Pursuit of Happyness
movie?
2. What is the dominant shift found in the subtitling of The Pursuit of Happyness
movie?
1.4. Objective of Study.
The objective of study is arranged to answer the problem appearing in the analysis.
Regarding that statement, the objective of study from this present thesis is to
1. Find shifts in the subtitling of The Pursuit of Happyness movie.
2. Find out the dominant shifts in the subtitling The Pursuit of Happyness movie.
1.5.
Significance of Study.
Universitas Sumatera Utara
This
thesis
is
intended
to
be
helpful
theoretically
and
practically.
Theoretically, this thesis is expected to enlarge the knowledge of translation particularly to
a better understanding of shift. This thesis may also be a reference for those who study
shifts and its other related matter.
Practically, shifts in subtitling can be including as one of topics in translation
subject for the students of English Department. Finally, this study will give guidance for
translators on how to avoid shifts which may change the meaning of a certain text,
especially when he/she translates for subtitling.
Universitas Sumatera Utara