從翻譯補償視角看許譯《西廂記》中疊詞的英譯

從翻譯補償視角看許譯《西廂記》中疊詞的英譯IntroductionThetranslationofChineseliteraturehasbecomeincreasinglyimportantintheglobalizedworld.However,translatingChineseliteratureintoEnglishisachallengingtaskduetolinguisticandculturaldifferencesbetweenthetwolanguages.ThispaperaimstoanalyzethecompensationstrategyforthetranslationofthereduplicatedwordsinXuYuanchong’sEnglishversionof“TheStoryoftheWesternWing”(XixiangJi).Inparticular,itdiscussesthedifferentcompensationstrategiesusedtocapturethemeaningoftheoriginaltextandmaintaintheintegrityofthereduplicatedwords.ReduplicatedWordsinXixiangJiReduplicatedwordsareadistinctivefeatureofChineseliterature,representingtherhythm,elegance,andbeautyofthewritingstyle.ThereduplicatedwordsinXixiangJiareusedtoexpressemotions,createvividimages,andconveytheintensityofthestory.ThereduplicatedwordsinXixiangJicanbeclassifiedintothreecategories:parallelism,iteration,andalliteration.Parallelismreferstotherepetitionofsimilarphrasesorclauses,whichareusuallyusedtoemphasizeacontrastorsimilaritybetweentwothings.Forexample,inActI,SceneIofXixiangJi,CuiYingyingdescribesherselfas“apersonwhoisalone,aloneandalone,”highlightingherlonelinessandisolation.Iterationreferstotherepetitionofthesameword,whichisusedtocreateaneffectofaccumulationorintensification.Forexample,inActI,SceneIIIofXixiangJi,ZhangShengdescribesthebeautyofCuiYingying’slipsas“tender,red,red,bright,andlively,”creatingavividandrealisticdescriptionofherlips.Alliterationreferstotherepetitionofthesamesoundatthebeginningoftwoormorewords,whichisusedtocreateasenseofrhythmandmusicality.Forexample,inActIV,SceneIVofXixiangJi,CuiYingyingsingsalovesongwiththeline“Nightcloudsareblack,blacklikeink,”creatingabeautifulandlyricaleffect.CompensationStrategiesforReduplicatedWordsThetranslationofreduplicatedwordsinXixiangJiposesagreatchallengeforthetranslator,asthedistinctivefeaturesofthesewordsaredifficulttoreproduceinEnglish.Toaddressthischallenge,thetranslatoremploysvariouscompensationstrategies,includingrepetition,parallelism,alliteration,andsubstitution.RepetitionRepetitionisthemostdirectandsimplecompensationstrategyforreduplicatedwords.XuYuanchongusesrepetitiontomaintaintheoriginalmeaningandeffectofthereduplicatedwords.Forexample,inActI,SceneIofXixiangJi,CuiYingyingdescribesherselfas“一人獨，獨，獨”,whichXutranslatesas“apersonwhoisalone,aloneandalone”.Xumaintainstherepetitionof“alone”topreservetherhythmandreinforcetheemotionalintensityofthesentence.ParallelismParallelismisacommoncompensationstrategyforreduplicatedwordsinXixiangJi,asitemphasizesthecontrastorsimilaritybetweentwothings.Forexample,inActI,SceneIofXixiangJi,CuiYingyingdescribesherselfas“露衣衫，衫衫衫”,whichXutranslatesas“herclothesarethin,thinandthin”.Xuemploysparallelismbyrepeatingtheadjective“thin”tocapturethesenseoffragilityandvulnerabilityintheoriginaltext.AlliterationAlliterationisacompensationstrategythatisusedtocapturetherhythmandmusicalityofthereduplicatedwords.Forexample,inActIV,SceneIVofXixiangJi,CuiYingyingsingsalovesongwiththeline“夜云黑似墨，墨墨”，whichXutranslatesas“Nightcloudsareblack,blacklikeink”.Xuusesalliterationbyrepeatingthesound“m”tomaintainthemusicalityandlyricaleffectoftheoriginaltext.SubstitutionSubstitutionisacompensationstrategythatisusedtoreplacethereduplicatedwordswithadifferentwordorphrasethatconveysasimilarmeaningoreffect.Forexample,inActI,SceneIIIofXixiangJi,ZhangShengdescribesCuiYingying’slipsas“嫩紅、紅紅、晶晶、明明”，whichXutranslatesas“tender,red,red,bright,andlively”.Xuusessubstitutionbyreplacingtherepetitivewords“紅紅”and“明明”withthewords“red”and“l(fā)ively”toconveyasimilareffectinEnglish.ConclusionThetranslationofreduplicatedwordsinXixiangJirequiresthetranslatortoemployvariouscompensationstrategiestocapturethemeaningandeffectoftheoriginaltext.Repetition,parallelism,alliteration,andsubstitutionareamongthemostcommonlyusedstrategiestocompensateforthedistinctivefeaturesofthereduplicatedwords