Research Background in Paper Towns

Nowadays, communication has important roles in the society, especially in the term of interaction with others. In communication, language is defined as a system of words or signs that people used to express their thoughts and feelings. There are many languages in the world that have different characteristics and structure. In this case, it will cross the mind about how if the languages in the world can be in the same way for each other.

If they are same, there will be no problem in the use of language as communication way to others.

In the fact, they are different. People have to understand different languages in order to achieve the goal of communication. The solutions for that problem is through translation.

Furthermore, the term of translation is about how the meaning of language can be changed to another language which includes of lexical, semantic and pragmatic. According to Larson (1984: 3) translation is transferring the meaning of a text from SL (Source Language) into TL (Target Language). Catford (1965: 20) asserts that translation as “the replacement of textual material in one language (SL) by equivalent textual material in another language (TL)”.

Similar to the Catford statement, Machali (2009: 26) also assumes that translation is means in changing a source language text into the target language text in a corresponding way. Fundamentally, translation not only concern on how to transfer the meaning of language but also how to construct the audiences’ understanding of the language. Though the issue or problem of shifts in translation seems to be the main point, a translator has to understand about it well.

Catford (1965: 7) asserts that translation shift is the departure from the formal correspondence in the process of going from the SL into TL. The shifts cover up level shifts and category shifts. Hatim and Munday (2004: 26) also states that shift is linguistic changes in translation. In his book entitled A Linguistic Theory of Translation book, Catford (1965) proposes that translation shift is divided into two, which involve level shift and category shift. Category shift itself is divided into four shifts, they are class shift, unit shift, structure shift, and intersystem shift.

Class shift is a shift which occurs when the changes of SL and TL from one part of speech to another. Emzir (2015: 94) concludes that class shift occurs when the translation equivalence of SL item is a member of a different class from the original item. Class shift occurs when there is a shift from the class word or part of speech in translation. For instance, in English the word discussion is a noun but when it is translated into Indonesia, it becomes a verb, which means berdiskusi. Since part of speech is one of the important points in grammatical structure, shifts may occur on the term of it. Thus, it is interesting to investigate such as the issue of the shift in the term of class shift.

Shift not only occurs in the term of linguistic but also in the term of literature. One of literary works is novel. A novel is one of literary work which can be translated into other languages. Kosasih (2008: 54) explains that novel is one kind of literary prose. She also assumes that novel is an imaginative literary work which illustrates someone or several characters’ life problematics. Koesnosoebroto and Basuki assert that novel is a long work of fiction which has complex elements. There are a lot of shifts that occur in the translation of novel since a novel is telling about culture and moral values form different areas, though it is a fiction of literary work.

Therfore, the problem of shifts in translation, especially on the term of class shift is interesting to be analyzed. This research is conducted to analyze the class shifts that is existed in Paper Towns novel by John Green. This novel is translated from English into Indonesian by Angelic Zaizai. Paper Towns novel is one of best seller fiction novel which tells about friendship. In addition, this novel has been translated into Indonesian and it published in 2014.

Practically, this research can give some benefits and knowledge in regard to the matter of translation shifts for the students, especially English department students who are interested in translation studies. This research contributes variants example of class shift which focus on part of speech. Since part of speech is one of the important points in grammatical structure, this research can be the addition information about part of speech used through the shift in translation. On the other hand, for the lecturers, it is supposed to give a contribution to the English teaching process in order to avoid misunderstanding in the issue of translation shift.

There are two major types of translation shifts established by Catford, namely: level and category. This research concerns on the category shift but it is limited only to the term of class shift. In this case, the shifts in translation will be discussed through the Paper Towns novel by John Green, of which novel is translated into Indonesian by Angelic Zaizai as Kota Kertas. It is only discussed on the term of class shift that is found in that novel.

In order to avoid misunderstanding and misapprehension, the researcher provides the definition of key terms as follows: Translation is a process of translating words or text from one language into another language. It is also defined as the conveying process of written text from the original language to another, in which it is conducted by translators in a certain socio-cultural context (Hatim and Munday, 2004).

Translation Shift is changing position or direction. Shift also defined as states that shift is the change of formal structure of the Source Language into the Target Language (Catford, 1965). Class Shift is one of the translation shifts which concerns on the changes of SL to TL from one part of speech to another. Class Shift occurs when the TL class is different with the original item (Catford, 1965).

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