Lin Yutang as a Successful Cultural Interpreter:A Case Study of Lin’s Translated Version of Six Chapters of a Floating Life
Abstract
Lin Yutang was always accredited with “One mind seeking the learning of ancients and moderns; two legs straddling the cultures of east and west”. Actually, it is Lin’s culture attitude—a combination of both eastern and western culture. Translating reveals the fact that cultural elements are translatable. Therefore, how to deal with cultural differences in translation is a question that deserves close investigation. Generally speaking, translation strategies concerning this question may be divided into the following two schools of thought: “domestication”, which is target language culture-oriented and “foreignization”, which is source language culture-oriented. Lin Yutang’s translation of Six Chapters of a Floating Life provides three ways to meet the needs of target language readers: using idiomatic expressions of the target language, retaining Chinese linguistic characteristics and changing the syntactic structures. Lin Yutang has done this well. This successful reproduction, to a great extent, is attributed to his skillful diction and idiomatic expression. His usage of simple but proper words and idiomatic expressions endows his translation with naturalness and fluency.
Key Words: Lin Yutang; Six Chapters of a Floating Life; translation strategy;
domestication; foreignization
摘 要
作為1個文化人，林語堂1向以“兩腳踏中西文化，1心評宇宙文章”自況，這句話確實標明瞭林語堂非常自覺自明的文化姿態—他的文化觀走的是中西融合的道路。翻譯活動體現了不同文化之間的交流，同時也揭示了文化差異存在可譯性。因此如何處理文化差異現象是值得認真研究的問題。籠而統之，對文化因素的處理有兩種主要方法：1是以源語文化為歸宿的`“異化”；2是以目的語文化為歸宿的“歸化”。林語堂的《浮生6記》英譯本為翻譯實踐方面的研究提供了1系列可參照的方法。林氏譯本中對文化差異的處理有下面3個特點：譯文在說法上儘量符合英語表達習慣；有時需要保留中國文化的特點；有時需要在形式上作適當的變通。林語堂做得很好。譯文遣詞準確、簡潔、富有表現力；在句子表達方面，如人物刻畫、風景描寫等與原文和諧1致，因而讀來清新自然，毫無斧鑿痕跡。
關鍵詞：林語堂、浮生6記、翻譯策略、歸化、異化
..............
收費英語畢業論文【包括：畢業論文、開題報告、任務書、中期檢查表】