The Translation and Interpretation of Tujia Love Songs “Adieu: A Tujia Love Duet” and “Visiting Sweetheart Solo” in Enshi

Abstract

Tujia Love songs, as a means of expressing love, are one of the important parts of the folk songs in Enshi, Hubei Province. The love songs are the exposure of Tujia’s history, life, beliefs and values, as well as the reflection of their specific needs, national psychology, national survival relationship and life concept. It reflects the national emotion and personality characteristics. The research on it is of great value for the development of national culture and intercultural communication. This article focuses on the translation and interpretation of two representative love songs, “Adieu: A Tujia Love Duet” and “Visiting Sweetheart Solo” to interpret the typical artistic characteristics and cultural images and promote communication and understanding across cultures. By using case-studying method, these two love songs are used as models to dig out the characteristics of Tujia love tradition and Tujia love songs in common. While in translating these songs, cultural images, metaphors, terms of addresses and lining words are the most important parts which need to be closely studied, lingered on and treated with. Thus the artistic conception, dialect characteristics and cultural context can be disclosed through the process of translation, with the goal of readability and reader acceptability being realized as well as the combination of information and cultural atmosphere being reconstructed. In a word, the unique language artistic characteristics by using lining words is the result of dialect characteristics; rich and diverse rhetorical devices are the common means to make folk songs more vivid, humorous and interesting; different performance methods are adopted to perform diverse and wonderful folk songs; while the culture images and the terms of address have made rich cultural connotation. The love songs are the window of displaying the beautiful soul of Tujia people and also the accumulation of Tujia history and culture. Their pursuit of free love “with songs as the match-maker” is in line with the contemporary concept of freedom in marriage and love.