A Report Of The Translation Of An Excerpt Of 5G Basics From The Perspective Of Catford’s Translation Shift Theory

This paper is a report on the translation of an excerpt of SG Basics which is an information technology(IT)text.The 21st century has witnessed rapid economic development.Moreover,it is an era in which the scientific and technological revolution,with information science technology as the main force,continues to make significant progress.The development of IT has driven the progress of the entire era.There is no doubt that IT has become one of the key phrases of the 21st century.It has provided a strong momentum for the development of global economy and society and is increasingly playing a pivotal role in the global market.In the modern society,IT springs up like mushrooms.Therefore,translation,especially IT English translation,is an important way to knowledge dissemination and the promotion of scientific research achievements.The materials involved in this translation report are novel and difficult to translate.Based on the English-Chinese(E-C)translation of an excerpt of 5G Basics,the author strives to examine its application of Catford’s translation shift theory in the translation of IT texts.Catford is not only a famous translation theorist,but also a famous linguist.On the basis of Halliday’s systemic-functional linguistics,he interprets translation phenomena from the perspective of linguistics,and holds that translation shifts involve two aspects,namely,level-shifts and category-shifts.Level-shifts include four levels of language,including phonology,graphology,grammar and lexis.Category-shifts consist of structure-shifts,class-shifts,unit-shifts and intra-system-shifts.Under the guidance of this theory,this report analyzes translation cases in combination with the characteristics of English for IT,systematically analyzes and summarizes the application of level-shifts and category-shifts in E-C translation of IT text and discusses how to improve the quality with the guidance of Catford’s translation shift theory.This report consists of five chapters.The first chapter introduces the background,research objectives and report structure.The second chapter introduces the pre-translation process,in which the author has done a lot of preparation,such as analyzing the features and the text of IT English,searching the background knowledge and preparing for the theory,tools and materials.The translation and post-translation process are also included in this chapter.The third chapter elaborates Catford’s translation shift theory and its development and previous studies at home and abroad.The fourth chapter,based on the theory,does a case analysis to illustrate its significance in guiding E-C translation of IT texts.The fifth chapter summarizes the experience and limitations of this translation practice.