On Lin Yutang’s Translation Of Six Chapters Of A Floating Life

Lin Yutang is a very famous translator, scholar and writer. He has abundant knowledge of Chinese and western literature, and he can use both Chinese and English very skillfully. Lin Yutang devoted his whole life to the communication of Chinese culture and western culture with his translation and works and he attained great achievements in these two fields. Six Chapters of a Floating Life is his most typical and favorite translation. This thesis intends to analyze the translation art and strategy of this translation from the the perspectives of cultural attitude and translator’s subjectivity, and tries to find out how the translator’s cultural attitude and subjectivity influence translation, translation strategy and methods.This thesis begins with the theory of cultural attitude and translator’s subjectivity, and analyzes Lin Yutang’s translation of Six Chapters of a Floating Life and his uniqueness as a translator. Because of his special family and educational background, Lin Yutang is deeply influenced by both the western culture and the traditional Chinese culture, and that makes him form a unique cultural and translation attitude, and he is in an irreplaceable place in the translation field. Lin Yutang has a lot of works during his whole life, and Six Chapters of a Floating Life is one of the most typical ones to show his love of the traditional Chinese culture. He wants to introduce the traditional Chinese culture to the West by his translation of this work, and the whole translation shows his attitude toward both life and culture. Lin Yutang’s cultural attitude shows in his translation of culture-loaded passages and cultural words. He follows the faithful and complete translation principle, adopts the proper translation methods, and they both sufficiently reflect the translator’s subjectivity.Lin Yutang proposes his translation theory with the translation standard as "faithfulness", "smoothness" and "beauty". His translation Six Chapters of a Floating Life fulfills his translation theory very well, and shows his unique cultural attitude, and we can see the exertion of his creation of subjectivity and his art of translation. Lin Yutang has deeply influenced the study of translation, and to analyze his translation works is benefitial for promoting the communication of various cultures in today’s world.