Strategies for the English Translation of Reduplicated Words in the Naxi Poem The Song of Migration (Lu Ban Lu Rao)
This article examines how reduplicated words (AABB, ABAB, ABCC, AAB, ABB, ABA, AA patterns) in the Naxi narrative epic Lu Ban Lu Rao (The Song of Migration) — which tells the tragic love-suicide story of Kaimei Jiuming Jin and Zhugu Yulepai — are rendered in the Chinese-English parallel edition translated by Zhang Liyu and Li Ming. Analyzing numerous paired examples, the author identifies four correspondence patterns: same word translated identically, same word translated with near-synonyms, same word translated differently depending on context, and different words translated identically (often due to English polysemy or Chinese lexical richness). Beyond word-for-word (interlinear) translation, the translators flexibly used replacement, paraphrase, and omission strategies to handle culturally specific or untranslatable reduplicated forms, prioritizing meaning while still preserving rhythmic and formal beauty where possible. The article concludes that this English version has strong academic and reference value, and calls for broader comparative research on reduplication translation across more minority-nationality poems and translators.
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