A Report On E-C Translation Of Cross-Cultural Pragmatics:Requests And Apologies (Excerpts) Under The Guidance Of Translation Shifts Theory

Translation involves transformation between two languages.In this process,the transfer of information is the premise of effective communication.Translation shifts theory was put forward by John Catford who defines shifts as the departures from formal correspondence in the process of going from the source language to the target language.The theory focuses on information equivalence rather than formal correspondence,which has a high feasibility in translation practice.The source text is excepted from Cross-Cultural Pragmatics: Request and Apologize written by professors Shoshana Blum-Kulka,Juliane House and Gabriele Kasper et.al.,which belongs to academic text.The frequent use of passive voice and complex sentences makes the language of the source text objective.The linguistic features mentioned above require the translator to break formal limitations and to highlight information equivalence.Based on linguistic features of the source text,the report adopts case analysis and discusses the applicability of translation shifts theory in translating academic text from aspect of category shifts.Because translation shifts theory only pays attention to the shifts of level below sentence,this report also analyzes the cases from the levels of cohesion and coherence,trying to provide reference for the E-C translation of academic text.