On The Translator's Mindset And Translation Strategies

Lin Yutang was the first great writer and translator to grow up inChina and study in both America and Europe. He returned to China as amiddle-aged man, heavily influenced by Western culture and bringingwith him a vast background in translation and English writing. LinYutang had formulated his personal translation theory, which reached acertain level. In the 1930s and 1940s, Lin Yutang successfully introducedChinese poetic culture to the Western world through his active popularinterpretation method, which was based on his unique mental model.Given the situation of Western cultural domination, he had a good idea ofthe mentality of Western readers, which enabled him to develop histranslator's subjectivity to the fullest extent. As a result, he successfullybuilt a bridge of communication between China and the Western World.This paper tries to analyze Lin Yutang's interpretation of Chineseculture in his translation of Shen Fu's Six Chapters of a Floating Lifeandhis English writings Moment in Peking, My Country and My People andThe Importance of Living from the viewpoints of psychology andtranslatology, to draw conclusions from his translation strategies and hismindset in his interpretation of Chinese culture to the Western world, andto find some useful insights for the art of translation in our own age.Firstly, the author thinks that Chinese culture is a poetic culture, and what is more, because of the national pride in his deep heart, Lin Yutang paidspecial attention to traditional Chinese culture, which is a mixture ofConfucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, as opposed to what he saw as theisolated culture of his age. He applied a popular translation strategy in hisinterpretation. This strategy originated from the harmonious mixing of theChinese and western cultures, which is shown in his own comment "twofeet covering Eastern and Western cultures; one heart tasting articles inthe world". His mind enjoys world literatures as a true picture of life;secondly, Lin Yutang's translation and popular writings were alsoinfluenced by his respect for Gu Hongming and Lin Shu, his own ripenedinsight, the responsibilities of a writer and the introduction of the femaleAmerican writer Pearl S. Buck. Thirdly, the shift from an invisibletranslator to a visible writer brings him more freedom in materialselection; fourthly, as to the aspect of the translator's subjectivity, theforeignization in his translation covers a large area, at the same time,domestication is also being widely used for his consideration of the tasteof and acceptability to the English readers, and the readability of thetranslations and writings. The interpretation of Chinese traditional cultureis Lin Yutang's main aim, for which he was ideally suited because of hisculturally oriented Eastern mindset and his adaptation to the Englishreaders. Sometimes for this reason, rewriting is also a strategy for easyunderstanding. Fifthly, a comparison between the sinologists in the West and Lin Yutang will also be made in this paper. And finally, a case will bemade for Lin Yutang's unique qualifications and paradoxical approach.With the development of China's power, the introduction of Chineseculture to the Western world is becoming more and more important, so itis not a realistic idea to let Sinologists in the West finish this job. It isnecessary to improve our translation ability of Chinese into English byanalyzing the success of Lin Yutang's popular translation strategies.This thesis consists of five chapters. The first one is the introductionpart, introducing Lin Yutang career and main works and defining keywords like Chinese poetic culture, mindset and subjectivity. Chapter 1analyses Lin Yutang's mental journey from the view of psychologyperspectives. Chapter 2 explores Lin Yutang's Chinese cultureinterpretation career and how he manipulates Chinese traditional culture.Chapter 3 analyses Lin Yutang's subjectivity and his translation strategies.Chapter 4 analyses the instructions from the different altitudes of LinYutang and Western translators to Chinese culture.