| Translation is a complicated process of bilingual decoding and trans-coding.This process involves not only the conversion linguistic symbols but also the smooth and correct conveyance of information,especially in practical texts.Due to the differences between Chinese and English,there is almost no possibility to achieve the correspondence in both form and content at the same time.As a result,the translators are supposed to make proper translation shifts in order to guarantee a full delivery of the original information.Catford’s translation shifts theory makes a detailed discussion about the“shifts”occurring in the translation process.Under the guidance of Catford’s translation shifts theory,the translator made a C-E translation of the first chapter of A Practical Research on Modernization of the Primary and Secondary School Governance.Taking the original texts and targeted texts as the analytic content,this report discussed level-shifts and category-shifts in the process of translation and analyzed the reasons for those shifts.It is found that through level-shifts,time,aspect and number,which are expressed by Chinese vocabulary,will be expressed by means of grammar in English;through class-shifts,verbs can be transformed into nouns and prepositions,so that the translated text can be more fluent and the expression can be more accurate.Sentence structure can be balanced,compact,and logical through structure-shifts,including shifts from pre-modifier to post-modifier,from active voice to passive voice,and from negative expression to positive expression.Unit-shifts may occur between phrase,sentence and a group of sentences,in order to make the structure more compact and expression more concise.To sum up,Catford’s translation shifts theory provides practical help for Chinese-English translation at the micro level,allowing the translator to deliver a more fluent and accurate translated text. |
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