A Report On The Translation Project Of E-Services Toward A New Model Of (Inter)active Community(Excerpt)

The source text of this translation practice is an excerpt from the second chapter of e-Services Toward a New Model of(Inter)active Community written by Alfredo M.Ronchi.Its main content includes educational institutions policies,improvements due to technology,it is time to reshape educational methodology.The chapter focuses on e-learning,so the translation of this chapter is of great significance and can be read or studied by professors and the public.Stylistically,this text is an informative text about e-learning.Its language is objective,formal and rigorous with clear logic.In terms of vocabulary: terminologies,proper nouns,abstract nouns and prepositions are widely used in the source text.In syntax: passive sentences,long and difficult sentences can be frequently found in the source text.Since English belongs to the Indo-European family and Chinese belongs to the Sino-Tibetan family,there are many differences between the two languages.In the translation process,the gap between the two languages is inevitable,so the conversion of the two languages is essential.Based on the analysis of the characteristics of the source text and the summary of translation difficulties,Catford’s translation shifts theory is used to solve the problems in the process of translation.First of all,under the guidance of class shifts,the prepositions,nouns and adjectives in the source text are often converted into verbs in Chinese.Secondly,English words in the original text are transformed into Chinese phrases,English phrases into clauses or sentences,and the English sentences are converted into Chinese sentence groups guided by the unit shifts.Finally,the passive voice is shifted into active voice,post-positive attribute to pre-positive attribute,subject-prominent sentences to topic-prominent sentences guided by structure shifts.The above shifts make the translation more consistent with Chinese expression habits.Practice has proved that Catford’s translation shifts theory is of guidance and significance in translation process.