On Level Shift of the Translation Shift Theory and Compensation Techniques

Level shift,one of the translation shifts classified by Catford,means the shift between grammar and words.The study of translation compensation has been paid closer attention in recent decades in the translation circles inside and outside China;its branch——grammar compensation,i.e.the shift in grammar level,strategically shares the same ideology with the level shift.For the differences in grammar structure between English and Chinese,translators need to combine the level shift and grammar compensation strategies to make the translation natural and expressive.This paper attempts to analyze the relevance of level shift and grammar compensation as well as their specific application in English-Chinese translation in grammar domains through induction and summarization of shift theory and translation compensation as well as the contrastive studies of their respective branches,i.e.level shift and grammar compensation.