Theme Shifts in the Translation of Student and Professional Translators

Abstract

Any translation practices aim at producing a target text (TT) which is equivalent in meaning to the source text (ST) and corresponding to the style and lexicogrammar applicable in the target language (TL). One of the ways to arrive at such purpose is through shift. From the SFL point of view, shifts involve the elements of language metafunctions, one of which is shifts in textual metafunction element, i.e. theme. This study aims at analyzing the so-called theme shifts in the translation of student translators and professional translators. This study used a content analysis method taking student translators and professional translators as the participants who were asked to translate a text from English into Bahasa Indonesia. Based on the data analysis, it was found that most of theme shifts done by student translators were at the lexicogrammatical level, while professional translators did more theme shifts at the discourse level. This study concludes that student translators’ theme shifts focus on the form, while professional translators focus on the meaning. Keywords—professional translator; SFL; student translator; theme shift; translation