Translation Strategies For Postpositive Attributives From The Perspective Of Translation Shift Theory

Don’ t Overthink It(chapters 8-14)written by Anne Bogel and published by Baker Books in2020 is chosen as the source text of this translation practice.In the book,the author conveys to readers the idea of not thinking too much in life in a relaxed tone of conversation and encourages people to make easier decisions,to stop second-guessing and to bring joy to their life.The source text belongs to social science text,and contains some complicated postpositive attributives.The purpose of this report is to explore the translation of postpositive attributives in social science texts to solve some difficulties in the translation and to put forward corresponding translation strategies to make the translation clearer.The translation process is under the guidance of English linguist Cartford’ s Translation Shift Theory.According to Translation Shift Theory,it is necessary to adopt some shifts in the process of translation so that the meaning of the translation can be as close as possible to the original text and the integrity of the information can be maintained.Catford divides the shifts in translation into two major types,namely level shifts and category shifts.Category shifts are further classified into structural shifts,class shifts,unit shifts and intra-system shifts.This report divides the postpositive attributives in the source text into four categories.Under the guidance of Translation Shift Theory,the translator adopts five translation strategies to solve the difficulties encountered in the translation of postpositive attributives and to provide more references for the translation of postpositive attributives in social science texts in the future.This report includes six chapters.The first chapter introduces the task,the literature background and the significance of the task.The second chapter describes the source text and translation process.The third chapter expounds the theoretical framework and the applicability of Catford’ s Translation Shift Theory to the translation of postpositive attributives.The fourth chapter classifies the postpositive attributives in the source text into four categories,that is,the attributive clause as postpositive attributive,the adjective phrase as postpositive attributive,the non-finite verb phrase as postpositive attributive and the preposition phrase as postpositive attributive.The fifth chapter is the case study.Under the guidance of Translation Shift Theory,the translator puts forward different translation strategies for different types of postpositive attributives.The main strategies are inversion,division,conversion,synthesis and translation into independent clauses.The sixth chapter is a summary of the findings and limitations of the translation practice.