An E-C Translation Report On Gene Eating:the Science Of Obesity And The Truth About Dieting (Excerpts) From The Perspective Of Translation Shifts Theory

This translation report is based on the translation of the book Gene Eating: the Science of Obesity and the Truth about Dieting,from which 20,000 words were selected as the material of this translation practice,for the purpose of analyzing the translation methods and strategies the translator has used,the problems the translator experienced and the solutions to these problems.The source text belongs to the popular science text,featuring accurate and scientific languages and formal style,with the aim of introducing the concept of healthy weight loss to more people.The target readers are from all walks of life who are interested in gene eating and obesity.British translator J.C.Catford put forward translation shifts theory,in which he believed that shifts in translation include various forms of shifts in the process of translating the source text into the target text.He divided translation shifts into two major types: level shifts and category shifts.Catford’s shifts theory places particular emphasis on semantic equivalence,which is expected to play an important guiding role in the translation of popular science text whose focus is on conveying information.To reproduce the semantic equivalence between ST and TT,the translator decides to choose translation shifts theory as guidance to conduct the translation practice.Based on the translation of the source text and the analysis of translation shifts theory,this report offers an analysis of the translation strategies and methods utilized in the translation process in terms of level shifts including lexis shifts and grammar shifts,and category shifts including structure shifts,class shifts and unit shifts with the characteristics of popular science text taken into account.At last,this report concludes that translation is not an isolated act and should be put into a specific context for discussion.This report points out that the application of Catford’s translation shifts theory can guide the translation of scientific and technical texts with the feasibility of applying the theory to the translation practice,and if the form is not equal,various methods of shifts should be used to strive for the maximum equivalence of the form.