A Tentative Study of Lin Yutang’sCultural Borrowing

来源 :校园英语·月末 | 被引量 : 0次 | 上传用户:c1133186
下载到本地 , 更方便阅读
声明 : 本文档内容版权归属内容提供方 , 如果您对本文有版权争议 , 可与客服联系进行内容授权或下架
论文部分内容阅读
  Cultural borrowing means borrowing expressions existing in the source language. The concept was put forward by Hervey and Higgins, and refers to a kind of cultural transposition, for there is no equivalent expression in the target language. Because there are many differences between the source language and the target language, it is very common for translators not to find equivalent things or expressions. Generally speaking, Cultural borrowing is used to deal with the differences between the source language and the target language.
  Lin Yutang adopted Cultural Borrowing to deal with the differences between the Chinese culture and the western culture. From the angle of cross-culture, fundamentally, it can be attributed to Lin Yutang’s Oriental culture complex. Lin Yutang was familiar with Chinese culture and had a strong passion for it, which could reasonably explain that he borrowed some Chinese expressions in his Chinese-English translations just because of his efforts to keep the features of Chinese and Chinese culture. In addition, from the angle of target readers, western readers would like to know about Oriental culture by means of Lin Yutang’s works, so Cultural Borrowing was one effective way to satisfy their psychological needs. Please appreciate the two following examples:
  1.以三畝荫竹树栽花果,二亩种蔬菜。(《不亦快哉》)
  Three mow of land will be devoted to growing bamboos, flowers and fruit trees and two mow to planting vegetables.
  2 服余衣,长一寸又半;于腰间折而缝之,外加马褂。(《浮生六记》)
  Although my gown was found to be an inch and a half too long, she tucked it round the waist and put on a makua on top.
  The two examples contains two things peculiar to Chinese culture, i.e. “三亩” and “马褂”. It was very obvious that Lin intended to keep the features of the original culture, for he expressed the two things directly in Pinyin. For English readers, the foreign information was certainly fresh and attractive. But English readers might have a wrong or incomplete understanding of them because there was no explanation. If there is enough information in the context as reference , Cultural Borrowing can not lead to difficulty in understanding. For example:
  3.“世传月下老人专司人间婚姻事,今生夫妇已承牵合,来世姻缘亦须仰借神力。”(《浮生六记》)
  “It is said that the Old Man under the Moon is in charge of matrimony,” said Yun. “He was good enough to make us husband and wife in this life, and we shall still depend on his favour in the affair of marriage in the next incarnation.”   “月下老人” is a god in charge of matrimony in Chinese folk stories. In the third example, there is information of “专司人间婚姻事” in the original text. So Lin Yutang could not cause difficulty of English readers in understanding when borrowing “the Old Man under the Moon”, moreover, he could show the original feature of Chinese culture to western readers.
  Cultural borrowing was striking in Moment in Peking created by Lin Yutang. In the novel, Lin retained the features of Chinese culture deliberately to realize his purpose of spreading Chinese culture. In the first place, Lin Yutang borrowed Chinese idioms and common sayings without any explanation or revision. Please appreciate the following examples:
  4. You have crossed more bridges than we have crossed streets.張振玉译文:您走的桥比我们走的街也长。
  5. My intestines are broken and I cannot think. What was wrong? It was not my fault, was it?张振玉译文:我肝肠寸断了。我心也不能想。我有什么不对呢?
  Idioms originated from classic allusions or ways of thinking and philosophy of life, which determines the fact that some idioms in one culture can have an equivalent expression in another culture and others are peculiar to only one culture.
  Lin Yutang borrowed “您走的桥比我们走的路还长” from Chinese into English. English readers could know it meant “You are more experienced than I” on the basis of the context. In the sixth, “肝肠寸断” was distinct from westerners’ way of thinking, but when it was connected with “ My heart is broken”, “肝肠寸断” could be easily understood.
  It is surely important to put into account the cultural differences, but a translator should also pay much attention to the increasing vocabulary, the rapid development of the cultural exchange and the improvement of readers’ comprehension and tolerance. With the development of the global village, readers’ ability to understand and accept foreign culture has developed a lot. Under the circumstances, the means of Cultural borrowing can satisfy readers’ increasing cultural tolerance and expectations, and is in accordance with the present tendency to exchange cultures.
  References:
  [1]Lin Yutang.Famous Chinese Short Stories:Retold by Lin Yutang[M].Melbourne/London/Toronto:William Heinemann LTD, 1953.
  [2]Lin Yutang.Six Chapters of a Floating Life[M].Beijing:Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press,1999.
  【作者简介】孙振亮(1978-),男,汉族,山东滨州人,山东工艺美术学院,讲师,研究方向:大学英语教学与翻译。
其他文献
1921年1月,一批优秀的知识分子成立了文学研究会。他们对当时文坛上黑幕横行、鸳鸯蝴蝶乱飞深感不满,起而要求建设一种新的文学观。“将文艺当作高兴时的游戏,或失意时的消遣的时候,现在已经过去了。我们相信文学也是一种工作,而且又是于人生很切要的一种工作。”为了这人生,并且要改良这人生,从此成为了现代作家讲述中国故事的主流思想。后来,人们自然意识到游戏的、消遣的文学自有其价值,或许那样的小说才是小说之正
Q 我准备买一台独立显卡的笔记本电脑,看上了采用HD4530、HD4570和GT240M这三款显卡的机型,不知道该选谁好。HD4550这种显卡玩游戏够用吗?  A 从这三款显卡的性能上来说,GT240M毫无疑问是最强的,HD4570次之,HD4530性能最弱。从玩游戏的角度来讲,HD4530玩普通的游戏并没有太大问题,但要是玩大型3D游戏就会力不从心。如果你是大型单机游戏迷,还是选择采用GT240
一个人寻找古树,并不是什么新闻。然而,梁衡在中国大地上寻找古树,却成为了一个重要的文化事件。  若干年前,梁衡说,他要找到一百棵人文古树,写出一百篇关于人文古树的文章。他还建议,应当设立“人文森林学”,实施“人文森林工程”——“借森林来保护文化,借文化来保护森林”。在更深层次上,调整人与森林的关系,改善森林生存环境,也改善人类自身的生存环境。我当时听了,以为他只是说说。——在中国,很多文化名人,往
解读80后创业者的成功秘诀    7月5日,盛大以上亿的价格成功收购成都锦天科技发展有限公司后,又一个80后创业者的典范彭海涛浮出水面。当在人们眼中的“80后”还代表着浮躁和反叛时,这个词却在悄悄地与财富画上连接符号。当同龄人刚刚迈出大学校门走向社会的时候,李想、高燃、茅侃侃、戴志康这些20多岁的小伙子已经凭借着自己的奋斗登上了中国的商业舞台并成为了新贵。    一鸣惊人彭海涛    彭海涛的成功
一、教材分析    《汉字输入》选自福建教育出版社《信息技术》三年级上册。教学任务是通过对智能ABC输入法的学习,掌握在计算机上进行汉字输入的步骤与方法。由于学生对画图软件的文字工具还未学习,因此,本课把画图软件的学习也加入到了教学中。另外,我选用一首古诗作为素材,希望能同时提高学生的语文水平。    二、学情分析    学生已经基本掌握画图软件的一些功能。另外,部分学生对全拼输入法、智能ABC输
Moodle是一个免费的开放源代码的软件。由于其容易理解和接受,至今已得到广泛的使用。基于Moodle平台搭建的网络课程可用于日常教学和教师培训。它针对农远教师培训的种种互动方式,对于提高培训效果有很好的推动作用。以下笔者将结合自身设计基于Moodle平台的农远教师培训课程的实践与感悟,初步探究基于Moodle平台的农远教师培训的种种互动方式。    1.WIKI协作共创,挖掘隐性知识    WI
2018年10月30日下午,金庸先生在香港逝世,享年94岁。我悲痛不已,因为我是金庸先生的读者,更与金庸先生有过几面之缘。  金庸的一生,跨越两个世纪,往来于海峡两岸,穿梭于笔墨与历史现实的风云激荡间,他办报纸,写评论,拍电影,写小说,指点江山,激扬文字,晚年参与香港回归立法,舌战群儒,受聘于大学,传道授业……无不体现了一个知识分子的淑世精神、家国情怀。  如今,我回忆起1999年秋天我与他相处的
几十年前,叶老就对语文教学“少慢差费”痛心疾呼。十八年来,我从事语文学科教学,个人成绩全部位居全系第一名,但每扪心自问:究竟教了些什么?学生究竟学了些什么?到底有多少终身受益的学习方法、学习习惯、学习品质?却常常痛心疾首,寝食难安。对于当前语文教学的若干问题,如刺在喉,不吐不快!  为此,我只有不揣浅陋,把目光投向我们的课堂教学。    一.橡皮课    常有老师抱怨语文课是“橡皮课”。其理由是“
我这辈子出的第一本书,是1988年書目文献出版社(对这个社名我很留恋,也非常喜欢,可惜这个名后来改过好几次,先是北京图书馆出版社,后又改国家图书馆出版社,我觉得还是“书目文献”最雅)出版的《郑振铎年谱》。但是,我本来更早应该出版的第一本书并不是这本年谱,而是《郑振铎研究资料》。我必须从这本未刊书稿开始说起。这件事对我来说是有点遗憾的。  上世纪80年代初,我作为当时全国最早的研究生在复旦大学就读。
投资要点:1、美国军事战略重心将向亚太地区迁移,基于安全考虑,国内军工行业将迎来新的发展契机;2、与军工关联度较高的航空业2011年实现了良好增长,可推动军工实现产业链纵深发展。    近期美国全球战略收缩,但加强了重点地区的军事力量投放,尤其是亚太地区,由此对中国的周边战略安全局势产生了较大的压力。  美国新军事战略重心移向亚太地区,客观上利好国内军工行业。2008年经济危机后,中国经济对海外扩