A Report On The C-E Translation Of E-commerce Text From The Perspective Of Catford’s Translation Shifts

This paper is a practice report based on a C-E e-commerce text translation project.Guided by Catford’s Translation Shifts Theory,the author has selected 28 typical translation cases and discussed the corresponding translation techniques in response to the problems encountered in translation practice,intending to provide some references for the translation of similar e-commerce text.To be specific,the author explored the shift phenomena at the lexical and syntactic levels in the C-E translation of e-commerce text from four dimensions: level shifts,class shifts,unit shifts,and structure shifts.In terms of level shifts,the translator effectively solved the problems of unequal tense markers and different forms of singular and plural embodiment in C-E translations;as for class shifts,the translator flexibly shifted the lexical nature of the source language,such as translating verbs into nouns or adjectives,to reflect the static character of English;in unit shifts,the translator transformed Chinese words,phrases,and sentences into English words,phrases,clauses,and sentences at different levels to enhance the readability of the texts;and in structure shifts,the translator used techniques such as converting prepositive attributes to postpositive attributes,active voice to passive voice,and affirmative sentences to negative sentences to make the translations not only convey the information of the original text faithfully but also keep the expressions simple and appropriate.This report expands the research perspectives of e-commerce text translation and enriches its research results;at the same time,in a professional sense,proper and appropriate translation is also conducive to promoting the image of domestic e-commerce enterprises and the long-term development of domestic enterprises.