The Application Of Catford’s Category Shifts Theory In The Translation Of Social Science Texts

The book Schooling and Social Change Since 1760(chapters1-2)written by Roy Lowe in 2021 is chosen as the source text of this translation report.The first two chapters introduce the influence of the industrial revolution on the British society,and elaborate on a completely new context for schooling generated by the transformation of society from 1760 to 1895.This book will give readers a unique perspective on understanding social distinctions in Britain.The source text belongs to the social science text which is rigorous in wording and complex in sentence structure.To make the translation more faithful and fluent,the translator finds that it is necessary to depart from formal correspondence and convert the parts of speech of some words and sentence structures in the process of translation.Catford’s translation shifts theory analyzes different kinds of shifts in the process of translation from the perspectives of level shifts and category shifts.Based on this,the translator adopts Catford’s category shifts theory as the theoretical basis and analyzes the applicability of this theory in the translation of social science texts.Category shifts consists of four types of shifts: structure shifts,class shifts,unit shifts and intra-system shifts.This paper mainly aims to analyze the guiding role of these four shifts in the translation of social science texts.This translation report is mainly composed of five chapters.The first chapter introduces the source text and the significance of the report.The second chapter primarily elaborates on the three steps of the translation process,including pre-task preparation,while-task translation and post-task modification.The third chapter expounds the Catford’s translation shifts theory and the applicability of this theory in the translation of social science texts.The fourth chapter is about the case analysis.Nineteen cases selected from the source text are analyzed under the guidance of this theory.The last chapter summarizes the findings and limitations of this report.