A Tentative Study of Lin Yutang’sCultural Borrowing

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.以三畝蔭竹樹栽花果，二畝種蔬菜。（《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，長一寸又半;于腰間折而縫之，外加馬褂。（《浮生六記》）

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. “三畝” and “馬褂”. 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.“世傳月下老人專司人間婚姻事，今生夫婦已承牽合，來世姻緣亦須仰借神力。”（《浮生六記》）

“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 “專司人間婚姻事” 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.張振玉譯文：您走的橋比我們走的街也長。

5. My intestines are broken and I cannot think. What was wrong？ It was not my fault， was it？張振玉譯文：我肝腸寸斷了。我心也不能想。我有什么不對呢？

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 “您走的橋比我們走的路還長” 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， “肝腸寸斷” was distinct from westerners’ way of thinking， but when it was connected with “ My heart is broken”， “肝腸寸斷” 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.

【作者簡介】孫振亮（1978-），男，漢族，山東濱州人，山東工藝美術學院，講師，研究方向：大學英語教學與翻譯。