The Compound Cultural Identity of Lin Yutang and his Intercultural Communication of Chinese Ethnic Culture

Abstract

This paper analyzes the construction of Lin Yutang's compound cultural identity and the strategies employed in his English translation of Chinese culture with Lin Yutang's literary translations as the case. Lin Yutang prides himself on mastering both Chinese and western cultures. With his Chinese and western cultural backgrounds, he promoted the spreading of Chinese culture around the world. On the one hand, he maintains the characteristics of the source text, thereby introducing Chinese thinking to enhance the influence of traditional Chinese culture. On the other hand, in the face of cultural differences in translation and the needs of readers, he, as the main body of the translation process, must be responsible for readers who used western culture to interpret Chinese thoughts or change the forms of the source text. In translation, Lin Yutang flexibly used two cultural identities to construct a unique compound cultural identity, with Chinese as the center and western as the media, to introduce the Chinese culture to the world.