A Brief Study Of Translation Shift:Reflections On The Translation Of The Pool

Catford put forward the notion of "Translation Shift"in his A Linguistic Theory of Translation in1965. He considered the core mission in the practice of translation as finding out equivalent elements. However, the incompatibility between the two languages leads to the result that the translator has to deviate from the form of the original text appropriately to achieve text equivalence. Although the theory was introduced into China a long time ago, its significance has been somewhat neglected in China. This commentary, by analyzing the examples in the Chinese translation of The Pool, explores the application of "Translation Shift" from two perspectives—"level shift" and "shift of category". However, Catford, who confines his theoretical research on the level of linguistic structures, fails to recognize the influence of non-linguistic factors, including discourse, culture and readership, on translation practice. The author of this commentary realizes this limitation and tries to make up for it during the translation.