On Lin Shu’s Translation In Terms Of Translation Ethics

Lin Shu is a controversial translator. Kuai Rou Yu Sheng Shu is one of translatedversions completed. Lin Shu thinks that it is his favorite translated version comparedwith other foreign novels he translated before. Kuai Rou Yu Sheng Shu is always acontroversial topic. The reason is that the version is full of deletion, supplement andalterment. But this version was very popular among readers at that time. This paper isintended to give all analysis of this phenomenon from the perspective of translationethics.As a crossing subject of translation studies and ethics, translation ethics studiesthe specific application of the ethics principle in the field of translation studies. It beganin the1980s, marked by the proposal of the concept of translation ethics by Frenchtranslation theorist Antoine Berman. According to the ethics of translation, translationneeds the guidance of ethics. Translation ethics is concerned with ethical problems intranslation studies. Chesterman points out that the translation ethics is divided into fourmodels: the ethics of representation, the ethics of service, the ethics of communicationand the norm-based ethics. The norm-based ethics is divided into professional normsand expectancy norms. The four models reflect the four kinds of understanding of thetranslation and each model have their own ethical thoughts or ideas, namely, ethics ofrepresentation—to represent the source text; ethics of service—to fulfill the aim of thetranslation as set by the client; ethics of communication—to communicate culture;norm-based ethics—to behave in accordance with the norms.This thesis discusses Kuai Rou Yu Sheng Shu in terms of the four models of thetranslation ethics making a detailed systematic analysis on Lin Shu’s translationtechniques and language features and gets a conclusion about Lin Shu’s specialtranslation style, including his translation strategy of deletion, supplement and alterment,his translation ideas of patriotism and interaction between traditional culture andwestern culture, his translational contribution to Chinese literature and Chineseliterature’s translation and his positive impact to the authors at that time. So it is provedthat Lin Shu’s translation strategies are rational and acceptable. It confirms the value of his translation and his important status in translation so as to comment the Lin Shu’stranslation fairly in the hope of expanding our minds on the study of Lin Shu’stranslation thoughts and practice, and proving the necessity and positive effect ofintroducing ethics into translation studies, which the author thinks would be of somevalue to the development of Chinese translation cause.