Abstract

This study examines the effects of translation shifts on the level of readability in translating children’s literature. It conducts this study on three Persian translations of “Alice’s Adventures in the Wonderland” to rank Catford’s shifts based on their effects on the readability of translation. To do that, in this study, the typology of Catford’s shifts will be extended, and the way to measure text readability will be modulated to include the effects of these shifts on the translation readability.

Thus, Ranking 14 types of shifts, the study reveals that complex shifts (represented as clauses and groups in the texts) are more effective than simple shifts (which are symbolized as single word -nouns and adjective, determiners- in the text) on the readability of translations. This means the complex shifts are more recognizable for children. Of course, verbs, although are mostly the representatives of simple shifts, are very effective on readability of text. Since, they, along with clause and group segments, are will recognizable for them. Therefore children cannot determine the place of single words in the text, but are expert in realizing word clusters in form of clauses and groups.

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