-
A
Study
on
the
Cross-
cultural
English
Translation
of Chinese Dishes
浅谈中文菜名的跨文化英文翻译
Abstract:
There are many
differences between eastern and western diet
cultures. As
one of the world ancient
nations, its diet has a history almost as long as
that of Chinese
civilization. Chinese
cuisine holds a highly important position in
Chinese culture. As one
of the famous
international tourism countries, China welcome
more and more foreigners
to go
sightseeing here. Correct and elegant translation
of dish names plays an important
role
in
promoting
the
image
to
international
world
as
visitors
from
different
cultural
backgrounds are increasing.
Its diet culture has also been getting
rich gradually, which makes English translation of
Chinese
menu
more
difficult.
Therefore
it
is
needed
to
surmount
double
barriers
to
language
and
culture
between
eastern
and
western
diet.
In
order
to
let
foreigners
understand and
accept the name of Chinese dish, there are some
criteria that we must
followed
when
translating.
Based
on
these
aspects,
some
translation
principles
and
methods will be
discussed in this theses.
Key words:
Chinese dishes,
diet culture, translation principles, translation
methods
1
摘要
:
中西
方文化存在着许多差异。
中国,
作为世界文明古国之一,
其饮食历
史几乎和中国文化一样源远流长。
在
中国文化中,
中国菜拥有一个高度重要的地位。
作为一个著名的
国际旅游的国家
,
中国欢迎越来越多的外国人来这里观光。正确
和
高雅的中餐菜名翻译可以给来自世界不同文化背景的游客树立中国的良好形象。
它
的饮食文化日渐丰富,
使得中餐菜谱的翻译
越加困难。
因此,
我们需要克服中西方
文化和语言的双重障碍。
为了让国外朋友理解并且接受中餐菜名,
在翻译过程中我
们必须遵循一些标准。基于此,这篇文章提供了一些翻译原则和方法。
关键词
:
中国菜肴
饮食文化
翻译原则
翻译方法
2
Contents
Introduction
…………………………………………………………
…………………1
1.
Differences between Chinese and Western
diet Cultures………………………
..
…
..2
1.1.
the
Difference between Chinese and Western Diet
Idea…………………………
.2
1.2. the
Difference between Chinese and Western Food Ob
jects…………………
..
…
2
1.3
. the Difference
between Chinese and Western Dishes
Naming…………………...2
2. the
Naming Methods of Chinese
Cuisine…………………………………………
...2
e Dishes Translation
Principles……………………………………………
.....3
3.1. Faithfulness to the Original Dish
Names………………………………………
.3
3.2.
Deep-
understanding of the Original Dish
Names……………………………
....3
3.3.
Taking Cultural Factors into
Consideration……………………………………
.4
3.4. Keeping Aesthetic
V
alues
Transmitted…………………………………………
5
4. Chinese Dishes Translation
Skill…………………………………………………
...5
4.1. Literal
Translation……………………………………………………………..
5
4.1.1.
Dish Names without Co
okeries………………………………
...
…………
p>
.6
4.1.2. Dish Names
Concerning Cultural
Background……………………………
7
4.1.2.1. Dish Names
Conc
erning People‘s
Names……………………………
...7
4.1.2.2.
Dish
Names Concerning
Places………………………………………
...8
4.1.2.3. Dish Names Concerning
Numbers……………………………………
..9
4.1.2.4. Dish Names Concerning
Auspiciousness………………………………9
3
4.2. Liberal Translation……
……………………………………………
....................10
4.2.1. Dish Names Concerning Chinese
Local Jargon……………………………
...10
4.2.2. Dish Names Concerning Chinese
Medicinal Foods…………………………
.11
4.2.3. Dish Names Concerning Chinese
Legends or Poems………………...............
11
4.3. Transliteration…………………………………………………
………………
..12
5 .
Co
nclusion……………………………………………………………
........
............13
Bibliography………………………………
…………………………………………
.13
Introduction
Chinese
diet
culture
is
an
important
part
of
Chinese
historical
culture,
which
is
famous
for its variety and abundance. As China has
intensified its communication with
the
rest of the world, more and more foreign tourists
would like to visit China and they
enjoy Chinese food a lot. Meanwhile,
foreign tourists also want to know more about the
literal as well as the inner meaning of
names of the dishes, and also how and with what
raw
materials
the
Chinese
dishes
are
cooked.
Therefore,
the
accurate
translation
of
Chinese dishes into
English is a key to the spread of Chinese diet
culture. To translate
Chinese
dishes
into
English
is
not
only
the
linguistic
transference
but
also
the
transference at the cultural
level.
【
Chinese Dishes
Translating and Chinese Diet Culture
LIU
Xuanchuan
(College
of
Liberal
Arts,
Three
Gorges
University,
Yichang
443002,
Hubei, China)
】
This paper aims to undertake a
systematic study of English translation of Chinese
dish names from a cultural aspect. It
presents some related information of Chinese
cuisine
culture
and
characteristic
of
Chinese
cuisine
culture.
It
then
points
out
differences
4
between
Chinese
and
western
cuisine
cultures.
Then,
principles
and
methods
of
translation
are
mentioned
in
detail,including
literal
translation,liberal
translation
and
transliteration ,etc. The translator
should choose suitable translation methods
according to
the cultural factors. At
last,it is suggested that cultural awareness
regarding
translation
processes should be promoted so that
the services of catering and tourism commodities
will be improved and the cuisine
culture will get lasting prosperity.
It
is a breakthrough in this field that Bassnett and
Lefevere proposed the ―cultural
turn‖
in translation studies. From then on, many
scholars at home and abroad work on
this field. Hence, the translators take
cultural factors into consideration while
translating
and fast-growing
development in cultural translation could be seen.
David Katan (1999) stated
the relationship between culture and translation
as ―the
words ?culture‘ and
?translation‘ are being increasingly linked.
‘‘
Culture plays an
important role in translation. Due to the close
tie between language
and
culture.
the
cultural
connotation
can
not
be
ignored
in
translating
process.
The
cultural connotation in
the original text should be transferred into
target text as exactly as
possible.
O
f
course,
in
the
trend
of
―cultural
turn‖,
translation
can
not
neglect
the
linguistic
study
for
the
close
relationship
between
language
and
culture.
Cultural
translation,
on
one
hand,
focuses
on
cultural
source
of
language,
politics,
economic,
society, and some other cultural
backgrounds; on the other hand, it also centers on
the
linguistic matters. Meanwhile,
there are some other tendencies in translation
studies: one
argues
that
translation
theory
is
branded
with
communication;
the
other
proposes
that
more attention should
be paid to culture transference.
―
Translation is not merely a mirror branch of
comparative literary study, not yet a
specific
area
of
linguistics,
but
a
vastly
complex
field
with
many
far-reaching
ramifications
‖
(
Bassnet,
1980:1
),
an
d
furthermore
the
process
of
translation
is
not
merely a linguistic one
but a complicated process which ?? involves a
whole set of extra
linguistic criteria
also‖ ( Bassnett, 1980: 13 )
.
1.
Differences between Chinese and Western
Diet Cultures.
1.1
. the
Difference between Chinese and Western Diet Idea
Chinese diet idea is the five senses
being well distributed and western diet idea is
the
individuality to be prominent.
There
is
a
folk
saying
―
food
is
the
paramount
necessity
of
people,
taste
is
the
priority
of
eating ‖ . Chinese cuisines are
famous for their excellence in color, aroma and
taste. Chinese usually pay more
attention on the color, aroma and taste of
cuisine. They
are the standard of a
dish as well as a dinner.
However,
western countries emphasizes on the reasonable
food concept. When they
are dining,
they basically care more about the nutrition of
the food.
5
1.2
. the
Difference between Chinese and Western Food
Objects
Someone
called
Chinese
the
plant
disposition,
the
western
person
the
animal
disposition according to the different
diet objects of eastern and western. Although this
saying is not correct but reasonable in
some way. Westerners think the food can make
them feel full. Therefore, they eat
large piece of meat. However, Chinese rely on the
taste
so the Chinese cooking style is
known for its wide variety of ingredients.
1.3
.
the Difference Between Chinese and Western Dishes
Naming
The
naming
of
Chinese
food
is
very
e
dish
names
not
only
reflect a great deal of
ingredients, cooking methods, taste, appearance,
aroma, color of the
dishes, but also
reflect some culture elements such as the dish
creators, stories, places,
legends,
which combines more association.
On
the
other
hand,
western
dishes
naming
is
relatively
straightforward.
They
highlight the raw
material. It is less artistic but more functional.
2. the Naming Methods of
Chinese Cuisine
There has
been
a wide variety of
Chinese food dishes, the name of the dish also
extremely
rich.
The
naming
methods
of
Chinese
dish
is
strict
and
distinctly
different.
There are two main approaches:
realistic and the impressionistic style of
romanticism.
The former includes
the name of raw materials, the way of
cutting, cooking methods,
cuisine
color, smell, taste and the founder, the
birthplace of the dishes or historical stories,
which
reflects
the
content
and
features
of
dishes.
The
latter
means
using
allusion,
metaphor, hyperbole, and symbolism in a
variety of ways to make the name of the dish is
not only beautiful but also vivid. This
kind of name is neither to reflect the raw
materials,
nor to reflect the cooking
method. It reflects the profound meaning of the
dishes and the
special traditional
Chinese food culture.
e
Dishes Translation Principles
As China
has become one of the international tourism
countries, more attention is
focused on
Chinese cuisine. However, the current English
translation of Chinese menu is
unsatisfactory, which makes it uneasy
for the foreign tourists to get correct
understanding
of the dishes.
It is necessary to discuss the
suggested principles for English translation of
Chinese
dish
famous
American
translator
Dr.
Eugene
Nida
wrote
a
book
named
Towards a Science of
Translation
, which is regarded as one
of his representative
works. He laid
down the following fundamental:
1. True
to the original
2. Vivid
3.
Smooth and natural
4. Equivalence of
response
Of these fundamentals, the
last one is the key point. The so-called
equivalence of
response
means
that
a
good
translation
can
call
forth
the
response
of
i
ts
readers‘
equivalent to that of the readers of
the original work. The influence of his theory was
so
great in China that almost every
translator thought of it as true and heatedly
discussed it.
But after a long-time
discussion, they began to doubt its feasibility
and to criticize it. This
is because it
overestimates translators‘ abilities in
understanding cultures between both
6
languages,
neglects
readers‘
differences
in
recognizing
things,
neg
lects
the
effect
of
transplanting in translation, confuses
direct communication with indirect communication,
and denies the features of different
styles in writing. Despite the variety of
opinions, the
following criteria in the
translation of dish names are almost unanimously
accepted and
followed, namely, the
criteria of faithfulness, smoothness,
expressiveness, etc.
3.1.
Faithfulness to the Original Dish Names
This criterion is the most important
one because translation tries to match the
receptor
language
message
with
the
source
language
message,
and
the
relationship
between
receptor
and
message
should
be
substantially
the
same
as
that
between
the
original
receptor
and
the
message.
As
to
the
dish
names,
the
translations
must
be
informative
because
the
target
language
receptors
have
the
right
to
know
what
ingredients,
what
cooking ways and what
flavors are. For example ―
仔姜烧鸡条
‖ the main
ingredients
―
chi
c
ken fillet and tender
ginger ‖ and the cooking method ― braised ‖ should
be shown
in the form of ― braised
chi
c
ken fillet with tender
ginger ‖ and ―
清炖猪蹄
‖ would be
― stewed pig hoof
in clean soup ‖ with ― pig hoof ‘‘ as the main
ingredient and ― stewed ‖
as the
cooking way. Hence, it is necessary to get a deep
understanding of the dish before
translation.
3.2. Deep-understanding of the Original
Dish Names
Without good understanding
of the dish names, there will be no faithful
translation.
It is an important step
for a successful translation. The translators
should know the main
ingredients,
cutting skills and cooking methods well.
Cutting styles, as one of
important components in Chinese culinary art, has
been laid
great emphasis on in China.
Almost 40 ways of cutting have been put into
practice. In
these way, the raw
materials can be turned into many kinds of shapes
and size, such as
slicing
(
切片
) , shredding
(
切丝
) , filleting
(
切柳
) , cubing/dicing
(
切块
) , mincing
(
切成
末
)
,
grinding
(
碾碎
)
,
stuffing
(
酿
)
,
flaking
(
切薄片
)
,
cutting
into
pieces
(
切段
)
,
cutting into strap
(
切条
) , ball
(
捏成球形
) , etc.
The Chinese prepare their dishes with
different cooking methods:
1. fry
(
炒
)
Cooking
something in boiling oil is frying, which
can be divided into pan-frying
(
煎
) , stir-frying
(
炒
) and deep-frying
(
炸
).
These three types of frying are divided
according to the amount of oil. eg. pan-fried
salt
fish
(
煎咸鱼
)
,
stir-fried
chicken
(
炒鸡丝
)
,
deep-fried
spring
rolls
(
炸春卷
).
The
amount of oil used in
the dish are increasing one by one from the first
dish to the last.
2.
braise (
烧
).
7
Braising
refers to cooking meat or vegetables slowly with
gravy or other soup in a
closed
container until the meat turns brown. e.g. braise
pork balls (
红烧狮子头
), braise
pork with brown sauce
(
红烧猪肉
), braise turtle in
clear water (
清烧甲鱼
).
3.
roast,barbecued
(
烤
).
Roasting
means cooking in an oven or by exposure to open
heat. e.g. roast suckling
pig
(
烤乳猪
)
4.
stew,simmered
(
炖
,
焖
)
Stewing
usually
means
cooking
fish,
meat,
vegetables,
etc.
slowly
in
simmering
water, gravy or
mixed ingredients in a closed container. e.g.
stewed bamboo shoots with
soy sauce
(
油焖竹笋
)
5.
steamed
(蒸)
.
Steaming means the food is cooked in
steam. It is a frequently used cooking method.
e.g. steamed chicken with mushrooms
(
香菇蒸鸡
), steam
Y
ellow River carp
(
清蒸黄河
鱼
).
6.
scalded
(
白灼
).
Scalding
refer
to
putting
the
slices,
shreds
or
pieces
of
ingredients
in
seasoned
boiling water. Then
boil them for a while. e.g. scalded shrimps
(
白灼虾
)
As a
translator, he has to do his best to find the
semantic equivalence in cooking
methods.
3.3.
Taking Cultural Factors into Consideration
In
the
above
chapters,
the
relationship
between
translation
and
culture
has
been
discussed. The work of translating is
not just one language to language, but
a transfer of
two cultures.
It is regarded as the intercultural communication.
As to Chinese dish names,
many
of
those
are
in
cultural-loaded
words
or
with
historical
stories,
which
require
translators to heighten their cultural
awareness. The methods of informative and
aesthetic
methods
should
be
used
for
translation
.
For
instance,
―
乳猪全体
‖
is
translated
as
― Whole Suckling Pig ‖. From this case,
the cooking method and background information
are lost. In Hainan, there is a
traditional wedding custom that if it is normal
after wedding
for three days, the son-
in-law should prepare a complete roast suckling
pig and take it to
the father-
in-
law‘s house personally. But if
the bridegroom find his bride is not a
virgin
before wedding, he will not take
the roast suckling pig to the father-
in-
law‘s house. Of
course,
it means the bride will not have a happy marriage.
So this dish means perfect and
happiness. So it would be appropriate
to translate it
into ―Perfect Roast
Suckling Pig‖
which conveys the
cultural factors better.
8
3.4. Keeping Aesthetic
Values Transmitted
An
artistically
enjoyable
dish
name
will
touch
the
readers‘
hearts
in the
mood
of
happiness,
curiosity
and
excitement.
Good
dish
names
would
acquire
the
aesthetic
function,
too.
Therefore,
the
dish
translations
should
be
equally
or
approximately
functional in
transmitting the aesthetic value. Only the
translations are in conformity with
commercial
equivalence,
attractive,
and
aesthetically
pleasant,
could
the
translation
of
dish names achieve the same or similar
commercial function as the original name. Hence,
it is essential for translators to try
their best to keep the original beautiful image.
For an
auspicious
name
―
全家福
‖
,
it
is
usually
translated
into
―
happy
family
‖
-
a
combination
of shrimps, pork, beef, chicken, lobster and mixed
vegetables with brown
sauce. This dish
is combined with many materials which means family
gathering. People
will feel happy in
this case. So
―
happy family
‖
is a good translation. For
another dish
name,
―
发财添大利
‖
in
which
―
发财
(get
a
fortune)
‖
is
the
homophone
of
its
ingredient
―
发菜
(Mosses) ‖.
If it plainly translated into stewed mosses with
egg and
egg roll, the wish of ― get a
fortune ‖ would be lost. So it is suggested to
translate it into
― wealth mosses with
egg and egg roll ‖
.
4. Chinese Dishes Translation Skill
After understanding the dishes‘
translation principles, we should try to follow
these
principles.
However,
we
need
to
notice
the
real
conditions
and
adopt
timely
changing
instead of simply
translating mechanically. Otherwise the poor
translation may become
an international
joke. Due to the huge difference between Chinese
and English, we should
put
the
raw
materials
of
dishes,
cooking
methods,
dishes
taste
and
shape
in
the
first
consideration
in
Chinese-English
translation.
If
it
is
necessary,
we
need
to
add
some
information such as the cultural
meaning behind some dishes names. So that
customers
can
feel
clear
with
that
at
first
when
they
open
the
menu.
There
are
three
different
translation skills -- literal
translation, liberal translation and
transliteration.
4.1.
Literal Translation
As we all know that
the most two basic translation techniques are
literal translation
and liberal
translation. If the same conceptual metaphor is
being used in the two cultures
and
there exist the same or similar images, people
usually use literal translation. Literal
translation can efficiently keep the
original images of the Chinese culture, which
helps to
introduce the Chinese culture
to English readers.
Examples:
鱼圆烧海参
stewed sea cucumbers
with fish balls
鸡翼鲍鱼片
braised
abalone with chicken wings
洋葱牛肉丝
fried shredded beef
with onion
荷叶粉蒸肉
steamed
flour-coated pork wrapped in lotus leaves
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