An investigation into simile and repetition in “truyen kieu” and in its english translational equivalent

Abstract

The thesis is conducted to investigate into simile and repetition in “Truyen Kieu” and its English translational equivalent. The study aims at finding out similarities and differences of these two devices in English and Vietnamese. The thesis is based on the combination of both qualitative and quantitative methods. The samples under investigation are words, phrases and sentences containing simile and repetition collected in the original work and their translational equivalents. The number of samples is 112 similes and 651 repetitions collected from 3254 verses of the work in Vietnamese and their English translational equivalents. With the theoretical background, the structural features of these devices in “Truyen Kieu” and their English translational equivalents are identified and described with in-depth analysis of linguistic features. The study found that both languages have same and different features. Basing on linguistic features of similes and repetitions, we can know that how these stylistic devices are used in the poem as well as the way translator makes his translational version successfully. In the translation work, there are some loss and gain that are unavoidable.