Influence of Lin Yutang’s My Country and My People on Chinese Culture Transmission from the Perspective of Foreignization in Idiom Translation_英语论文

摘要

通过《吾国与吾民》，林语堂成功向西方传播了中国文化，引起了海内外轰动。在此书中，他将大量具有中国文化特色的俗语翻译成英文。其中，既有异化翻译，又有归化翻译，不过全书以后者为主。

本论文从书中的66例俗语出发，将其分成三大类：人物类，社会现象类，宗教类，并从中抽取九大典例，然后结合德国功能学派的理论和当时的时代背景具体分析其翻译策略。通过研究发现，由于林语堂自身的翻译文化观和传播中国文化的目的，其委托人赛珍珠女士的意愿以及目的语读者的意识形态，80%以上的俗语采用异化翻译策略，如直译、音译、直译加注等。这有利于保留中文的语言特色，吸引西方读者的注意力，并将中国文化原滋原味地展现出来，促进中西文化交流。当然，其中也有一些不足，如错译和殖民地文化现象。在21世纪的今天，译者可以借鉴林语堂的成功，根据源语和译入语的文化差异和文化地位、目的语读者情况、翻译目的和翻译观等具体情况灵活地进行翻译活动，大胆使用异化翻译，促进中国文化的传播。

关键词:  林语堂  《吾国与吾民》  俗语  异化  中国文化传播 

Abstract

It is through My Country and My People that Lin Yutang successfully introduced Chinese culture to the western readers and has caused a great sensation in the world. In this book, Lin Yutang translated a great number of culture-loaded idioms into English. He employed both foreignization and domesticaiton, but the former was the primary one.

 This thesis carries out the case study on 66 Chinese idioms. First, they will be divided into three groups: idioms relating to Chinese people, idioms relating to social phenomenon and idioms relating to religion. Then combined with German Functionalist Translation Theory and the historical background, nine typical examples will be extracted and analyzed at length. It concludes that owing to his own translation concept and translation purpose, the willing of his client Pearl Buck and the ideology of target readers, over 80% are translated by foreignization, for instance, literal translation, transliteration, literal translation plus annotation. It helps to maintain the linguistic feature of Chinese, draw Westerners’ attention, represent the taste and flavor of the Chinese culture and promote intercultural communication between the East and the West. Of course, it has its own limitation, for example, misinterpretation and colonial culture phenomenon. Nowadays, inspired by Lin’s success, translators should bravely apply foreignization in accordance with the cultural difference and cultural identity of source language and target language, target audience, translation philosophy and creation purpose to effectively spread Chinese culture.      

Keywords:  Lin Yutang  My Country and My People  idiom  foreignization   Chinese culture transmission

Contents

1 Introduction 1

1.1 Research Background 1

1.2 Significance of the Study 1

1.3 Thesis Structure 2

2 Literature Review 3

2.1 Idiom Translation in My Country and My People 3

2.2 Intercultural Elements in My Country and My People 4

3   Theoretical Foundation 5

3.1   Foreignization 6

3.1   Brief Introduction to German Functionalist Translation Theory 6

4 The Analysis of Idiom Translation in My Country and My People 7

4.1   Factors Influencing Lin's Translation 7

4.1.1   Lin Yutang and Historical Background 7

4.1.2   The Initiator's Assignment 8

4.1.3   The Reader's Need 9

4.2    The Analysis of Foreignization in My Country and My People 10

4.2.1   The Analysis of Idioms Relating to Chinese People 11

3.3.2   The Analysis of Idioms Relating to Social Phenomenon 13

3.3.3   The Analysis of Idioms Relating to Religion 15

4.3     Limitation 16

Conclusion 18

Acknowledgements 19

References 20

Appendix  22