A Report On The Translation Of The Handbook Of Crisis Communication (Excerpt Of Chapter One)

The study of translation shift can be traced back to the 1950 s and it is Western translation theorist J.C.Catford who first put forward the concept of “shift”. Based on Halliday's system-functional linguistics, Catford defines “shift” as “departures from formal correspondence in the process of going from SL to TL”. In Catford's book A Linguistic Theory of Translation, he divides shifts below sentence level into different types and explains each of them in details. Clearly classified and highly practical, Catford's Translation Shift Theory becomes the translator's first choice to guide the translation practice.This is a translation project report on the translation of Chapter 1 to Chapter 8 of The Handbook of Crisis Communication. The material chosen by the translator is an excerpt of Chapter 1. It is an introduction of crisis responds phases in crisis communication process and the crisis respond strategies taken by organizations during different phases.Under the guidance of Catford's Translation Shift Theory, the translator has chosen examples from four aspects, including level shift, structure shift, class shift and unit shift. To start with the differences between English and Chinese language, the translator has combined the translation theory with specific translation strategies and analyzed the application of Catford's theory. At the same time, it should be noticed that Catford only focuses on the lexis or phrases level instead of paragraph or text level and he leaves out the non-linguistic factors, such as cultural differences and styles. Though the theory can serve the translation of expository texts well, other translation theories and strategies may be necessary to make up for the shortcomings of this theory when doing literary translation.This paper cannot only provide guidance for the translator's future translation practice but also help with other translators' understanding as well as application of Catford's Translation Shift Theory. Besides, translators should try to explore the most appropriate kind of shift in the translation process based on thorough understanding of Catford's Translation Shift Theory.