A Study Of Lin Yutang's English Version Of Ban Qiao Jia Shu From The Perspective Of Toury's Norms Theory

In 1942 Lin Yutang handpicked the best and most typical works in philosophy,literature,religion and etc.from Chinese and Indian classics and then edited and translated it into The Wisdom of China and India,one of his masterpieces.Its publishing made a huge stir.Especially,the second volume The Wisdom of China gives a panoramic display of the essence of traditional Chinese culture,including Chinese core ideology and spirit.Among all sections of the book,Family Letters of a Chinese Poet is most impressive and touching,for they“best show the Chinese people's natural disposition and the best of Chinese culture,the typical spirit”(???,1942).Ban Qiao Jia Shu,16 letters written by Zheng Banqiao and mainly to his brother Zheng Mo in former days,was firstly collected and printed in 1749.These letters mainly treat of Zheng Banqiao's thinking on reading,writing,cultivation of one's moral character,and behaving etc.,leading up to meaningful afterthoughts and endless aftertastes.Toury is the representative of descriptive translation studies,and his most important contribution is that he is the first to systematically discuss the Translation Norms theory.Toury maintains that translation activitiesare conducted under the influence of norms and that Translation Norms function in the whole process of translation.He further divided Translation Norms into three types: Preliminary Norms,Initial Norms,and Operational Norms.Based on Toury's Translation Norms theory,this thesis makes a case study of Lin Yutang's English version of Ban Qiao Jia Shu and finds that Lin Yutang is indeed influenced by norms during the entire process of translation and that his translation activity is closely related to then social environment and social culture.To be more specific,Preliminary Norms influence translators' selection of source material and translation directness,and Lin chose Ban Qiao Jia Shu and other prose of Ming &Qing dynasties owing to the following consideration: the cruel World War? was shaking westerners' sense of superiority in value notion,while Chinese people's heroic anti-Japanese war made Americans treat Chinese people with increased respect,and they longed to have a window to know Chinese people and Chinese culture.With the rise of sinomania,Chinese themed works enjoyed an increasing popularity,leading to a potential book market for Family Letters of a Chinese Poet;in the meanwhile,American industrial pressure on life and rapid pace of living as well as the deterioration of natural environment all made American people eager to go back to a natural life,and Family Letters of a Chinese Poet and other prose of Ming & Qing dynasties contain much description ofnatural life,exactly pandering to this psychological needs of American society.Besides,Lin Yutang himself also prefers to this leisurely and familiar style of works.As to Lin Yutang's direct translation from Chinese to English,it is because this way of translation is more beneficial to correctly spread Chinese culture thanks to his master commanding of both English and Chinese.Initial Norms determine translators' overall translation orientation,and given that western culture possessed a dominant position at Lin's time,it would be easier for western readers to accept Family Letters of a Chinese Poet,works filled with Chinese cultural characteristics,if Lin followed the mainstream strategy of translation—domestication.However,Lin doesn't abandon foreignization totally,for example,when dealing with Chinese culture-loaded words,in order to preserve more Chinese culture information and give target readers an exotic flavor,Lin chose foreignization like literal translation and transliteration most of the time.Operational Norms function at the proper stage of translating,including the construction of matrix and transition of sentence and word choice.Lin constructed the matrix by abridged translation,division of paragraphs and reorganization of sentence groups,presenting a well-bedded and idiomatic translated text.During the translation of sentences,Lin basically adopted the sentence-for-sentence method,and skillfully reproduced the beauty in sound,meaning and form as the original sentences through addition ofsubjects,splitting into more sentences,application of idioms and reproduction of rhythms.While as to the translation of culture-loaded words,he employed more literal translation and transliteration to preserve Chinese culture information and fulfill the anticipation of target readers for an exotic flavor.In short,under the manipulation of norms,Lin successfully stroke a balance between Chinese language and culture and English language and culture,so as to achieve the approval and welcome of target readers.This thesis enriches the research object of Translation Norms,demonstrates the reasonability and explanatory power of Translation Norms theory,and does good to the construction of descriptive translation studies.Besides,taking typical translator and typical translated works as research object makes this research more representative,with a view to casting some light on studies of Lin's English translated works and studies of spreading Chinese culture through translation in both theory and practice.