Cultural Default And Its Compensation Strategies In Translating Six Chapters Of A Floating Life

Proifcient in Chinese and English and versed in Eastern culture and Westernculture, Lin Yutang not only is versatile and productive in literary and translationworks but also enjoys a high reputation and popularity at home and abroad. Hiswriting and literary translating careers are highlighted by the co“uplet two feet set inbi-culture of east and west, one hearts looks into works of heaven and hell”. As atranslation theorist and translator, Lin Yutang provides abundant materials for thetranslation studies on his works. Among them, the most notable was Six Chapters of aFloating Life. Recently, studies on it expand from single perspective to multiple ones.This thesis takes it as the object of the study, employs Relevance Theory (RT) intotranslation studies, elaborates cultural default under the theoretic framework of RTand explores its compensation strategies in translating Six Chapters of a Floating Life.In the light of RT, cultural default translation is based on the principle of optimalrelevance and holds the translator responsible for the removal of obstacles incomprehension caused by the difference in cultural background. The translator shouldendeavor to make his translation attain the goal that target readers achieve adequatecontextual effects without any unnecessary processing effort, and match theexpectation of the target readers with the intention of the source language writer.Based on the culture categories proposed by Eugene Nida，the author summarizes ifvekinds of cultural default in the book and meanwhile, analyzes the relevant translationstrategy Lin adopts. Then the study probes into the close example analysis of Lin’stranslation practice, makes a tentative generalization on Lin’s six major compensationstrategies in handling cultural default and discusses their feasibility along withrespective merits and demerits. Finally, relfections and limitations are made tosupplement and offer some inspiration for future studies in Six Chapters of a FloatingLife，shedding some light on the cultural default translation phenomenon in literaryworks and making some contribution to the cause of cross-cultural communication.