Abstract

My Country and People, one of Lin Yutang’s masterpieces, is a shot to fame in the Western literary world. The book has introduced Chinese culture, society and history to the West in a humorous style. However, due to various reasons, the Chinese translations of My Country and People have not getting enough attention as they deserve. There are three existing translating versions, two of them are translated by translators in Taiwan, one is translated by translators in China mainland in 1994.

The paper tries to compare the existing three different Chinese versions through comparing the background and the times of the translators. It is found that there are differences between Chinese mainland translation version and Taiwanese translation, even though these translations were of one English text. Through making a comparison between the translators’ and the author’s own social background, this paper also tries to present the reasons of such differences from a perspective of history, cultural and social factors briefly, along with the development of language environments. The translators in Taiwan, Huang Jiade and Song Biyun, were more inclined to attempt to preserve and to imitate the style of Lin Yutang's language sytle. Huang and Song had tried to imitate the original characteristics of that time, and the translation works were different due to the translators' personal feelings and positions. On contrast, the version of Shen Yihong and Hao Zhidong’s translation is more likely to be accepted and easier for modern readers to understand. To sum up, it is hard to make a judgment of which version is “good” or “bad”. The translation work should be put into the context and frame of the translators’ time and regional background

It is hoped that the result of this thesis can be a supplement to the exploration of translating and language differences between China mainland and Taiwan, and be able to provide some reference to the study of Lin Yutang’s My Country and My People.

Key words: translation, comparison study, Lin Yutang, My Country and My People