A Report On The E-C Translation Of The Sociologist’s Eye: Reflections On Social Life (Excerpt) Under The Guidance Of Translation Shift Theory

The translation practice report revolves around the translation of The Sociologist’s Eye: Reflections on Social Life(excerpt)from English to Chinese.The language structure of translation material is changeable.It contains lots of passive and compound sentences,which generally characterizes by objectivity and logic,thus making it more challenging to translate those objectively descriptive sentences.Therefore,in this translation practice,the translator must be fully prepared before translation,combine the theories with practice during translation,and proofread it rigorously after translation.Translation shift theory,the basic theory guiding this report’s translation,is first put forward by John Catford,mainly emphasizing dynamic equivalence and avoiding the limitation of formal equivalence,which aims to solve translation problems at a micro level.Based on conveying the original information as accurately as possible,the equivalence of form and content can be adjusted through the translation shift theory to improve the consistency and readability of the translation.This report adopts case analysis method by employing level and category shifts to explore the guiding significance of translation shift on social science texts.Based on the translation of the source text and the combination of translation shift theory,this report offers an analysis of the translation strategies and methods utilized in the translation process in terms of level shifts,including lexis shifts and grammar shifts,and category shifts,including structure shifts,class shifts and unit shifts by taking the characteristics of social science text into account.If the form is not equal,various shifts methods could be used to strive for the maximum equivalence of the form.Therefore,this report points out that the application of Catford’s translation shift theory can guide the translation of social science texts with the feasibility of applying the theory to the translation practice.