A Report On English-Chinese Translation Of Being A Presence For Students (Excerpts)

Higher education is a decisive cause to the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.In current era of rampant credentialism and cynicism,it is necessary to appropriately learn from the concepts of higher education development in other countries.The translator selects Being a Presence for Students as the translation material,which was published in2019 by American pedagogy professor Jeff Frank.Introducing the viewpoints of this book can bring inspiration to China’s higher education development,and provide suggestions on how to cultivate students in the current era.There are a total of over 30000 words in the first three chapters.As the main body of the book,the three chapters are selected for the study.Guided by Catford’s Translation Shift Theory,the translator makes many shifts in the translation process.From the perspective of level shifts and category shifts,the translator manages to deliver an authentic and accurate target text.In level shifts,the translator focuses on shifts of lexis and grammar,with shifts on tense,mood,plural nouns and four-word phrases.In category shifts,the translator focuses on structure,class,unit and intra-system shifts.In structure shifts,there are shifts between passive and active voice,negative and positive,postpositive and prepositive attributives,inanimate and animate subjects.In class shifts,there are shifts from nouns,adjectives,prepositions to verbs and from prepositions to adverbials.In unit shifts,there are shifts among phrases,clauses,sentences and sentence groups.Intra-system shifts are also made to get an authentic translation.Under the guidance of Catford’s Translation Shift Theory,most difficulties caused by the differences between Chinese and English are overcome.Following the expression habit of target audience,the target text becomes smooth and natural.It is expected that the high-quality translation of Being a Presence for Students may attract attention to the translation of pedagogical books,so as to provide new ideas and directions for the education industry.This translation project could also help other translators accumulate translating experience in pedagogical content.