On The Translation Of The Gentlemen’s Book Of Etiquette,and Manual Of Politeness Under The Theory Of Translation Shift

The Gentlemen’s Book of Etiquette,and Manual of Politeness was written by Cecil B.Hartley,an American biographer and etiquette expert back in the 19th century.Billed as a behavioral bible,it gives advice on how to behave properly at table,in conversation,in the street,and in a place of amusement.Though dating back hundreds of years,the book is still relevant and worth reading.With this book selected as the translation sample,this translation report aims at helping the Chinese young people know the western etiquette and wisdom.Translation shift is a theory put forward by J.C.Catford,a Scottish linguist and phonetician of global renown in his book A Linguistic Theory of Translation back in 1965.Catford divides the shift in translation into two major types,level/rank shift and category shift which is subdivided into class shift,structure shift,unit shift and intra-system shift.The translation text of this report is dotted with nouns,adjectives and prepositions,sentences in passive voice and long sentences with relative clauses,non-predicate verbs and prepositional phrases.In E-C translation,level and category shifts are needed when it comes to the translation of voice,parts of speech and grammatical structure,to ensure that translation is smooth and grammatically correct.Under the theory of Catford’s translation shift,this report analyzes the translation in terms of level shift,class shift,structure shift and unit shift.Level shift,the shift between lexis and grammar,is often applied to the translation of sentences in tense and passive voice.When it comes to the translation of words,like English nouns,adjectives and prepositions,class shift is often needed.Unit and structure shifts often coexist in the translation of long sentences which tend to be broken into smaller parts,and then these parts are rearranged or taken to a higher or lower unit to make the translation accurate and smooth.This report aims to provide some instructive strategies to E-C translation of word of class,long sentences and sentences in passive voice.It is hoped that the results of this translation project can provide some valuable references for the translation practice and research of similar texts.