A Brief Analysis Of Lin Yutang's Translation Of Six Chapters Of A Floatins Life

Six Chapters of a Floating Life, a collection of short stories written by Shen Fu in Qing Dynasty, reveals the author's carefree life and the devoted love he and his wife Chen Yun had for each other. Lin Yutang, the translator of this book, was an expert in both Chinese and English languages and the two cultures, popular at home and abroad. In his translation, even the smallest ounce of emotion and information in the original book is fully captured. Lin held strong interest in this book mainly because his experiences, tastes and values echoed Shen Fu's in a large extent. Therefore, he had successfully reproduced the beauty of the original text.This thesis briefly analyzed the translation. It is made of five chapters:chapter one is the introduction and literature review; chapter two explains the translator Lin Yutang and the original book Fu Sheng Liu Ji (the source text of Six Chapters of a Floating Life); chapter three introduces the motivations for Lin's translation of this book and the similarities between his experiences, natural dispositions and values and Shen Fu's; chapter four lays out examples to analyze the translation from three aspects, including the intercultural translating techniques, aesthetic empathy and flaws in translation; chapter five includes the conclusion of the entire study, reflection on the limitations of the thesis, and my personal expectation of future studies in the same area.