Class Shifts in English—Chinese Translation of Film Subtitles

王梦函+宋涛�オ�

Abstract：With the increasingly frequent cultural communication between Chinese and western countries， more and more foreign films have poured into the Chinese market. Film， as a tool， plays a very important role in cross-culture communication. Therefore， the translation of film subtitles is of significance. Taking the subtitles of the film The Kings Speech as an example， on the basis of Catfords translation shifts approach especially class shifts subordinate to category shifts， this thesis is trying to find the application of class shifts in the translation of film subtitles and through analysis， this thesis concludes that there are mainly six types of class shifts occurred in English-Chinese translation of film subtitles： nouns converted into verbs， adjectives converted into nouns， verbs converted into nouns， nouns converted into adjectives， adjectives converted into adverbs and adjectives converted into verbs.

Key words： translation shifts； class shifts； film subtitles； translation； The Kings Speech

1. Introduction

Due to the differences between the English and Chinese languages， there is no way but changes or shifts that may help any translators move in and out of the uncharted realm of translation. This understanding of translation procedures has obviously been part of the crystallized knowledge and skills that are necessary to guarantee the success of translations between languages.（李春蕾， 2007：1） This thesis， by making use of Catfords theory of translation shifts， attempts to analyze， in specific ways， the class shifts needed for the successful production of adequate Chinese versions of English film subtitles. Though there are a lot of studies about class shifts approach， class shifts issues in English-Chinese translation of film subtitles especially the basic rules about class shifts are not clear enough. Thus this thesis is focusing on the fundamental rules of class shifts in English-Chinese translation of film subtitles， trying to find some primary ways of dealing with class shifts in translation in order to provide references for later studies.

It is my conviction that those who know how to implement class shifts in their process of translation are nearer to better translation quality， and therefore， require serious studies to delve into their efforts to uncover their secret of success. It is for this purpose that I take the subtitles of the film The Kings Speech as an example， in the hope of illustrating how class shifts， when used appropriately， help the translator better convey the source message by producing natural and idiomatic target text for the target readership， and how translators， without the necessary knowledge and skills of class shifts， may fail in their job by producing unintelligible and awkward text.

This thesis includes a literature review covered in the second part. It is designated to briefly explicate definitions and classifications of translation shifts put forward by Catford with several typical examples in English-Chinese translation. In the third part， it is devoted to the detailed study of the English-Chinese translation of the film subtitles of The Kings Speech. The fourth part is a conclusion of this thesis.

2. Catfords Translation Shifts

Catford is a famous British linguist and translation theorist； in addition， he is an outstanding representative of the school of translation theory of systemic functional grammar and classification of language on different levels to elaborate translation shift phenomenon. He categorizes translation shifts into two major types： level shifts and class shifts.

2.1 Definition of shift

The term “shift” originates from Catfords A Linguistic Theory of Translation （Catford， 1965：73）， where he explains translation shifts in chapter twelve. Catford defines translation shifts as “departures from formal correspondence in the process of going from the source language to the target language”. （Munday， 2001：14）

2.2 Level shifts

According to Catford， a shift of level means “a source language item at one linguistic level has target language translation at a different level”（Catford， 1965：73）. For example， the present perfect tense（has/had done） and the past perfect tense（had done） in English can all be expressed by “著”， “了”， “过” in Chinese in spite of differences between the two tenses.（李晓洁， 2012：8）

2.3 Category shifts

According to Catford， category shifts are “departures from formal correspondence” in translation（Catford， 1965：76）. It can be further divided into four types： structure shifts， class shifts， unit shifts， intra-system shifts.

2.3.1 Structure shifts

Structure shifts can be explained by changes from a non-animate subject to an animate subject or vice-versa， from passive voices to the active voices or vice-versa， from the negative expressions to the affirmative expressions， etc. A example may make this point clearer by illuminating one sentence where structure shifts occur.

（1） Water boils at 100 centigrade degree.

水在摄氏一百度沸腾。

In this example， there is a change of word order from the source language to the target language， more exactly， is from SVA to SAV， and this is called structure shifts.

2.3.2 Class shifts

Class shifts occur when lexical item in the source language is translated through different grammatical categories in the target language， that is， transformation in part of speech between the two languages.（李晓洁， 2012：9）

（2） The remembrance of these will add zest to his life.

回想起这些事情，使他的生活增添了乐趣。

（3） The new contract would be good for 5 years.

该合同的有效期为五年。

In the first example， the noun “remembrance” in the source language is translated into the verb “回想起” in the target language. The conversion makes this sentence more natural. As for the second example， the source language adjective “good” has a target noun “有效期” as its equivalent. In these examples， the target language and the source language words belong to different word class， therefore， class shifts occur.

2.3.3 Unit shifts

“By unit shifts， we mean 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”（Catford， 1965：79）. For instance， the counterpart of a clause in the source language is a word or sentence in the target language.

（4） Einsteins theory of relativity is too difficult for the average mind to understand.

爱因斯坦的相对论太难，一般人无法理解。

In example 4， “for the average mind to understand” is a phrase， which is converted into a clause “一般人无法理解” in its translation.（曹军， 2010：13）

2.3.4 Intra-system shifts

“We use the term intra-system shifts for those cases where the shift occurs internally， within a system such as number system， reference system and tense/aspect system， that is， for those cases where source language and target language possess systems approximately correspond formally as to their constitution， but when translation involves selection of a non-corresponding term in the target system.”（Catford， 1965：80）

（5） Man came into being and he began to work on the earth.

人類出现了；他们开始在地球上劳作。

Here in the source language， “he”， a singular pronoun， has been translated as “他们”， a plural pronoun， as its translation equivalent in the target sentence. This is an example of intra-system shifts.

Based on the above discussion， we can see that translation equivalence seldom matches formal correspondence. This is especially true with the two languages as distant from each other as are English and Chinese. In English-Chinese literary translation， translation shifts are unavoidable. Since it is impossible to study all types shifts within this thesis， we will only focus on the study of class shifts in English-Chinese translations with examples from the subtitles of The Kings Speech， the English original， and its Chinese translation， which will be the main content of the third part.