世界各民族的文学都有自己的民族特点，在翻译艺术中，我们主张保持文学作品的民族性，或者说“民族外衣”（普希金语）。
文学作品的民族性首先就在于一个民族的共同心理。一个作家可以取材于其它民族的生活，但总是要表现出本民族的心理。取材于本民族生活的文学作品，更是如此。民族心理并不是抽象的东西，而是一定的历史时代的反映。在翻译艺术中，我们主张保持这种民族心理。
例如，中国人不喜欢感情外露，在文学中，就非常讲究含蓄，在诗歌中尤其注重弦外之音，味外之味。
刘方平《春怨》：“纱窗日落渐黄昏，金屋无人见泪痕。寂寞空庭春欲晚，梨花满地不开门。” Giles译为：
Dim twilight throws a deeper shade across the window screen;
Alone within a gilded hall her tear-drops flow unseen.
No sound the lonely court-yard stirs; the spring is all but through;
Around the pear-blooms fade and fall...and no one comes to woo.
译诗最后一后行半句and no one comes to woo不含蓄，不合乎中国人的心理。我们再看Bynner的译文：
With twilight passing her silken window,
She weeps alone in her chamber of gold;
For spring is departing from a desolate garden,
And a drift of pear-petals is closing a door.
Bynner的译文比Giles的译文含蓄多了，但第三行增加“for”一词，仍不及原诗含蓄。
文学作品的民族性还在于生活画面的民族特点。我们主张保持这种生活画面的民族特点，尤其不主张在译文中使用反映译者本民族事物和概念的词汇。
李白《忆东山》：“不向东山久，蔷薇几度花！白云还自散，明月落谁家？”Fletcher译为：
To Tung Shan Cave so long I have not been!
How often have its roses filled with bloom!
Its silver clouds all pass away unseen.
Descends Diana there? …… To visit whom?
Diana（罗马神话中的月亮和狩猎女神，通常译为狄安娜）出现在李白诗中，是不合适的。文学作品的民族性还在于那个民族的传统的文学手法和文学体装。我们主张在可能范围内尽量保持这种手法和体裁。
中国民歌中还有排比的文学手法。如《木兰词》中的“爷娘闻女来，出郭相扶将；阿姊闻妹来，当户理红妆；小弟闻姊来，磨刀霍霍向猪羊。” Waley把这种文学手法加以移植，译为：
When her father and mother heard that she had come,
They went out to the wall and led her back to the house.
When her little sister heard that she had come,
She went to the door and roughed her face afresh.
When her little brother heard that his sister had come,
He sharpened his knife and darted like a flash toward the pigs and sheep.
又如中国古代诗人很讲究“空灵”。所谓“空灵”，其实就是一种文学手法——诗人的天真。如李清照名句“只恐双溪舴艋舟，载不动许多愁，” Candlin译为：
Ah, but I fear
On River Shuang
The boats are frail.
They cannot bear
My weight of care.
诗人明知“愁”无所谓载动载不动，而故作此说，这就是“空灵”。
王安石诗句“春色恼人眠不得，月移花影上栏杆，” Giles译为：
Yet I am kept from slumber by the beauty of the spring.
Sweet shapes of flowers across the blind the quivering moonbeams fling!
“恼”字未译出，不及原诗空灵。试比较Smith和Kotewell的译文：
Spring's hues tease me, and I cannot sleep,
While the moon moves the shadows of the flowers up the balustrade.
以Spring's hues译“春色”尚可商榷，但“恼”字译出，自较空灵。
传统的民族文学手法中，也有一些不能移植，而必须服从另一条客观规律——文学译品的语言自然性。典故就是难以移植的手法之一。
《西厢记》中张生自述：“暗想小生萤窗雪案，刮垢磨光，学成满腹文章，尚在湖海飘零，何日得就大志呵！”熊式一先生译为：
I thought to myself that though I had studied by light of the fire-fly and reflection of the snow in order to acquire a deep knowledge of literature, I am still a wanderer by lake and do not yet know when I shall be able to fulfil my great ambition.
(The Western Chamber)
“萤窗雪案”照字面直译反失其真。因为这里不过是用两个典故来说明张生十年寒窗之苦，“萤窗雪案”于张生未必实有其事。
一个民族的俗语、谚语、成语之类往往反映出这个民族的文化传统和文学传统。在翻译中，应该根据语言上的考虑和艺术上的考虑，在可能范围内加以移植，以保持作品的民族性。如果语言上或艺术上不许可，读者又不能接受，就不要勉强移植。
1. An' after all her bringin'-up an' what I tol' her an' talked wid her, she goes teh d'bad, like a duck teh water.
[译文] 我生她养她，叮咛来嘱咐去，她还是去干那种丑事，跟鸭子下水一样上了瘾。（孙致礼同志译文，略有改动)
2. Men sent flowers, love notes, offers of fortune. And still her dreams ran riot. The one hundred and fifty! The one bundred and fifty! what a door to an Aladdin's cave it seemed to be.
(Sister Carrie)
[译文] 男人给她送花，送情书，送时运。可是她还幻梦无边。这一百五十块钱！这一百五十块钱！真象藏神灯的山洞给阿拉丁打开了大门。（裘柱常和石灵同志译文）
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