A Report On The E-C Translation Of China Room (an Excerpt) From The Perspective Of Catford’s Translation Shifts Theory

The killing of George Floyd by a white policeman in America two years ago sparked waves of protests against racism around the world.China Room is the third novel of the Indian-British novelist Sunjeev Sahota.There are two protagonists: Mehar and her unnamed descendant.The chapter 7 of China Room describes several stories,including Mehar’s tragedy under the background of Indian history,her unnamed grandson’s experience of racism in childhood and his self-recovery in India.The author of this report thus selected most part of Chapter 7 as the translation material.In order to get natural expressions and smooth translated text,the author of the report chooses Catford’s translation shifts theory as the guideline for this translation practice.On the basis of this translation practice,the report will illustrate the application of translation shifts in terms of lexis,sentences and grammar.There are two major translation shifts: level shifts and category shifts.Level shifts contain the shifts of tenses,aspects and plurals.Category shifts include structure shifts,class shifts and unit shifts.Provided the fact that English and Chinese belong to two different systems,intra-system shifts will not be discussed in this report.The author of the report finds that Catford’s translation shifts theory is applicable to this novel translation.Besides,more than one type of shifts are used in some cases.The author of the report also puts forward solutions to problems that arose during the translation process.This report is aiming to provide literary translation experiences for future study on Catford’s translation shifts theory.