On Lin Yutang's Translation Of Six Chapters Of A Floating Life From The Perspective Of Translation Norms

The concept of norms is widely used in the social sciences, from law and ethics to social psychology and international relations. Being first introduced into translation in 1963 by Ji?i Levy, translation norms have become a key concept of Descriptive Translation Studies. Translation norm theory intends to provide a way to construct the theoretical system of translation studies and to guide the process of translation as well as translation related activities. As a beak with the traditional"prescriptive"approach and an important complement to translation theories, translation norms thus opens up a descriptive and target-oriented perspective for the translation practice and study.Based upon the translation norm theory proposed by Gideon Toury, the thesis makes a comparatively overall analysis of Lin Yutang's translation of Six Chapters of a Floating Life, from the selection of the source text to the actual adoption of translation strategies. The author tries to take a thorough and objective analysis of translation norms based on a concrete translation case. Besides introduction and conclusion, the thesis consists of three chapters. In Chapter One, the author gives a brief literature review of the concept and features of norms, as well as its relationship to DTS (descriptive translation studies) and other related concepts. In Chapter Two, the author elaborates translation norm theory in terms of its definition, classification, nature and merits in translation studies, and then explores translation strategies under its frame. In Chapter Three, this thesis gives an in-depth descriptive case study of Lin Yutang's translation of Six Chapters of a Floating Life in light of translation norms, discussing respectively the translator's selection of source text under preliminary norms and his adoption of translation strategies under initial norms and operational norms.In conclusion, the author points out that the success access of Lin Yutang's translation to the target culture is due to his right selection of source text and translation strategy. If the literary works of a comparatively weak culture are to be accepted by a stronger one, above all they should not be in radical contradiction with the target norms, and also they should fulfill readers'expectations of the source culture to some extent. And the study, in return, proves that translation norm theory can really solve the problems and explain the phenomena in translation practice, thus it has practically directive function.