中国菜名的翻译策略

中国菜名的翻译策略STRATEGIES FOR THE TRANSLATION OFCHINESE DISH NAME摘要在中国，烹饪是一门古老的艺术。

早在3000多年前，中国人就已经知道如何美味调配酸、甜、苦、辣、咸这五味。

在清朝年间，一些海外华人在英国和其他国家开设了中国餐馆，从那时起中国菜开始名扬世界，中国餐馆也遍布世界许多国家和地区。

中国菜做工精细，品种多样，被世界不同民族的人们所喜爱。

随着世界全球化的不断发展，中国菜会成为越来越多的国际友人了解中国的一个重要窗口。

中国菜名本是汉语自身的问题，其文化含义也非常清楚，但是当我们将中国菜名译成英文，介绍给外国人时，就出现了语际问题。

相应地，中国菜名的文化含义也就变成了一个跨文化问题，因为翻译是一个跨文化和跨语言的问题，我们必须考虑到两种语言和两种文化的差异。

本篇论文从理论和实践两个角度分析了翻译策略，指出如何正确的翻译中国菜名，并详细讨论了一些特殊菜名。

归纳总结翻译中餐菜名的通用方法:直译法,直译加注法，意译法，同时强调了文化在翻译和交流中的重要作用。

关键词：奈达的翻译理论;中国菜名的翻译;翻译策略;跨文化交际1 IntroductionChinese dishes are known for their variety and abundance. The dishes can be classified into four major cuisines, namely, Northern Cuisine, Sichuan Cuisine, Jiangzhe Cuisine and Southern Cuisine.With more and more contact with the world, Chinese food has become one of cultures symbolizing our country. As one part of our country’s culture, it has a long history and rich culture essences. When foreigners taste our delicious food, they also want to know the name essence of the dish, the raw material, and the cooking ways. Therefore, the translation of Chinese dish names plays a very important role in introducing dishes and spreading our diet culture. A well-translated dish name will help attract customers and inspire their desire for taste; while a dish name translated improperly sometimes will bring negative effect or ever lead to spoilage of the image of the dish.In following paper, we will discuss specific strategies for the translation of Chinese dish names from theoretical and practical perspectives. There are mainly three approaches in translating Chinese dish names: literal translation, literal translation with notes, and liberal translation.2 The Theory Applied to Translation of Chinese Dish Names2.1 Eugene NidaEugene A .Nida, a famous American translator of the Bible, is well known for his works in semantic structure and translation theory. Nida’s theory of translation developed from his own practical work in the 1940s onwards when he was translating and organizing the translation of the Bible. His theory generally contains two concepts: Formal Equivalence and Dynamic Equivalence.2.2 Eugene Nida’s theory of translation2.2.1 Formal equivalence translationFormal Equivalence is defined by Nida as one of “two different types of equivalence”,which “focuses attention on the message itself, in both form and content”. Formal equivalence is thus the “quality of a translation in which the features of the form of source text have been mechanically reproduced in the receptor language” (Nida&Taber, 1969\1982: 201). The aim of a translator who is striving for formal equivalence is to allow ST to speak “in its own terms” rather than to attempt to adjust it to the circumstances of the target culture; in practice this means, for example, using “Formal Equivalents” rather than “Functional Equivalents” wherever possible, not joining or splitting sentences, and preserving formal indicators such as punctuation marks and paragraphs breaks (Nida, 1964: 165). The frequent result ofsuch strategies is of course that, because of differences in structure between SL and TL, a translation of this type “distorts the grammatical and stylistic patterns of the receptor language, and hence distorts the message” (Nida&Taber, 1969\1982:201). For this reason, it is frequently necessary to include explanatory notes to help the target reader (Nida, 1964:166). So a general tendency towards formal than dynamic equivalence is characterized by, for example, a concern for accuracy and a preference for retaining the original wording wherever possible. In spite of its apparent limitations, however, formal equivalence is sometimes the most appropriate strategy to follow: besides frequently being chosen for translating biblical and other sacred texts, it is also useful for Back-Translation and for when the translator may for some reason be unwilling to accept responsibility for changing the wording of TT (Hatim&Hason, 1990:7).2.2.2 Dynamic Equivalence TranslationDynamic Equivalence is based on what Nida called “the principle ofequi valent effect” where “the relationship between receptor and message should be substantially the same as that which existed between the original receptors and the message” (1964:159). The message has to be modified to the receptor’s linguistic needs and cul tural expectation and “aims at complete naturalness of expression”. He defines the goal of dynamic equivalence as seeking “the closest natural equivalent to the SL message” (1969:12).In other words, a dynamically equivalent translation is one which has been produced in accordance with the three fold process of Analysis, Transfer 2, and Restructuring (Nida&Taber, 1969\1982:200); formulating such a translation sill entail such procedures as substituting TL items which are more culturally appropriate for obscure ST items, making linguistically implicit ST information explicit, and building in a certain amount of Redundancy to aid compression. In a translation of this kind one is therefore not so concerned with “matching the receptor language message with the s ource language message”; the aim is more to “relate the receptor to modes of behavior relevant within the context of his own culture” (Nida,1964:159).Nida&Taber argue that a “high degree” of equivalence of response is needed for the translation to achieve its purpose, although they point out that this response can never been identical with elicited by the original (Nida&Taber,1969\1982:24).2.3 Comments on the TheoryNida played an important role in pointing the road away from strict word-for-word equivalence. His introduction to the concepts of formal and dynamic equivalence is crucial in introducing a receptor-based (or reader-based) orientation to translation theory. However, both the principle of equivalent effect and the concept of equivalence have come to be heavily criticized for a number of reasons. Lefevere (1993:78) consider equivalent or response to be impossible. One of Nida’s fiercest critics is Edwin Gentzler, who denigrates Nida’s work for its theological andproselytizing stand point with the concept that dynamic equivalence serves the purpose of converting the receptors, no matter what their culture, to the dominant discourse and ideas of Protestant Christianity. However, Nida has “achieved what few of his predecessors attempted” and his in fluence in translation studies spans five decades and has left an indelible mark in the field of translation (Munday, 2001:43).3 Cross- cultural Communication3.1 Relationship between Culture and translationWhen learning a language, a saying is “learni ng a language is a kind of learning the culture and habit of the country where the language is spoken”. In translation, we may say that translating a source language text is a kind of translating the source language culture and habit of the country where the source language is spoken.3.1.1 The Definition of CultureWhat does the word” culture” mean? It may mean many things. For example, we sometimes say that people who are able to read and write or who know about art, music and literature are cultured. For different people, the word has a different meaning.In fact, culture is really a large and evasive concept, very complex and difficult to define. It is said that there have been at least over 150 definitions of culture, but none of them seems to be able to tell us everything about culture. The following definitions are just some of the well-known ones.“Culture may be defined as what a society does and thinks” (Sapir, 1921).“What really binds men together is their culture—the ideas and the standards they have in common”(R. Benedict, 1935).“Culture is man’s medium; there is not one aspect of human life that is not touched and altered by culture. This means personality, how people express themselves, including shows of emotion, the way they think, how they move, how problems are solved, how their cities are planned and laid out, how transportation systems function and are organized, as well as how economic and government systems are put together and function”.(Edward T. Hall, 1959)3.1.2 The Definition of TranslationTranslation is also an incredibly broad notion which can be understood in many different ways.As Jakobson defines translation as “an interpretation of verbal signs by means of some other language” (1959\1966:233). An approach based on the importance ofpreserving the effect of the original is reflected in Nida&taber’s definition: “translation consists in reproducing in the receptor language the closest national equivalent of the source-language message, first in terms of meaning and secondly in terms of style”(Nida&taber,1982:12). Vermeer, rejecting notions of translation as a two-stage process of decoding and recording, offers a similarly non-normative definition of translation as “information about a source text in another language” (1982:97). This approach engenders a view of translation in which the way a TT functions in a specific cultural context is paramount: “translation is the production of a functional target text that is specified according to the intended or demanded function of the target text(translation skopos)”(Nord,1991:28 ).3.1.3 Relationship between Culture and TranslationHere we will introduce another term “cross-cultural translation”. This term refers to types of translation which function as a tool for cross-cultural or anthropological research, or indeed to any translation which is sensitive to cultural as well as linguistic factors.Most translators recognize that each language contains elements which are derived from its culture, that every text is anchored in a specific culture, and that conventions of text production and reception vary from culture to culture (Koller, 1979\1992:59-60). An awareness of such issues can at times make it more appropriateto think of translation as a process which occurs between languages. Skopos Theory, Thick Translation and Translational Action are all examples of this type of approach.In other words, a cross-cultural translation is one in which additions are made which cannot be directly derived from the original ST wording; these might take the form of ideas culturally foreign to ST, or even elements which are simply included to provide necessary background information.3.2 Cultural Connotation Embodied in Chinese Dish NamesIn the following, we’l l discuss the translation of Chinese dish names. Eating is also a culture. All individuals must eat in order to survive—but what people eat, when they eat, and the manners in which they eat are all patterned by culture.Chinese dishes are known for their variety and abundance. As one part of our country’s culture, Chinese dish has a long history and rich culture essences. Many cultural connotations are embodied in Chinese dish names. Some interesting stories or legendary stories are contained in the background of a dish name. Furthermore, some special dish names have become a symbol of city or our country.Take “Beijing roast duck” for example. It is a carefully prepared dish. Selected ducks are fed at regular intervals so that they will gain more flesh. The ducksare roasted slowly so that the skin becomes crispy and brown, and the flesh juicy and tender. To eat them, the meat is carefully cut into bite-sized pieces and accompanied by a special Chinese sauce with spring onion, which is then rolled in paper-thin pan cakes before eaten. This dish has become a symbol food of Beijing or even our country. Most foreigners all taste it when they come to <st1:country-regionw:st="on">China, when foreigners hear “Beijing roast duck”, they can easily associate it with Beijing.Take “Beggar’s Chicken” for another example. We called this dish “Beggar’s Chicken” for there is an interesting story. A beggar stole a chicken and kindled a fire by a river bank to eat it. Before it was finished cooking, he heard his pursuers. He doused the fire and buried the chicken in the ground, hoping to come back to it later. He did, dug it up, and found it to be quite succulent. So “Beggar’s Chicken” is added to the list of Chinese dishes. ( 陈小慰，2006：221)In order to deliver more information to readers, translators often add some background information to Chinese dish names, it also sounds interesting for foreigners.4 Strategies for the Translation of Chinese Dish NameTranslation is an art, a bilingual art, which is considered as the cultural bridge and media between two languages. As there exist wide differences in vocabulary andculture between <st1:country-region w:st="on">China and Western countries, translation is no easy job, especially the translation of some traditional Chinese dish names. Therefore, in order to keep the flavor of the original Chinese dish and the beauty of language as well as cater for all the foreigners, translation skills should be reasonably employed in the process of translating, such as the following three.4.1 Literal TranslationLiteral translation can be defined in linguistics as translation “made on a level lower than is sufficient to convey the content unchanged while observing TL norms”. (Bark hudarov, 1969:10 ). In a similar vein Catford also offers a definition based on the notion of the UNIT OF TRANSLATION: he argues that literal translation takes world-for-world translation as its starting point, although because of the necessity of confirming to TL grammar, the final TT may also display group-group orclause-clause equivalence. (1965:25)In translating Chinese dish names, by literal translation, the translator can keep the original form of Chinese dish names without causing confusion in meaning. What’s more, it introduces the raw material to foreigners and avoids some troubles between two different diets. The most important point lies in the function of keeping the full flavor of Chinese Dish.We will discuss this translation according to three different structures:(a)cooking method +raw material烧鹅roast goose涮羊肉instant boiled mutton脆皮锅酥肉deep fried pork(b)cooking method +raw material +with +ingredients酿豆腐bean curd stuffed with minced pork糖醋排骨spareribs with sweet and sour sauce干烧明虾fried prawns with pepper sauce(c)cooking method +raw material +and + raw material虾仁扒豆腐stewed shelled shrimps and bean curd凤肝虾仁fried shelled shrimps and chicken liver红烧什肉虾仁豆腐fried bean curd, shelled shrimps and missed meat withbrown sauceThe feature of these Chinese dish names is actually describing materials, cooking methods and features of dishes.The notion of literal translation has been formalized by Nida as formal equivalence. It was defined by Nida as one of “two different types of equivalence”, which “focuses attention on the message itself, in both form and content” (1964:159). Readers can understand easily when they see the dish names, because this translation embodies the original information of the dishes.4.2 Literal Translation with NotesGood literal translation can help foreigners to acquire the direct information of Chinese dish, including raw material, flavor, and so on. But sometimes literal translation without any notes will puzzle readers so that trouble will be naturally produced. As Nida said, “ Since no two languages are identical, either in the meanings given to corresponding symbols or in which such symbols are arranged in phrases and sentences, it stands to reason that there can be no absolute correspondence between languages . Hence there can be no fully exact translation” (1966:156). So this kind of translating skill, literal translation with notes, may supply notes to Chinese dish names, for example, raw material, sources, background, special meaning, etc, thus may strengthen the comprehension of Chinese dish for foreigners, and deliver a more exact information of the dish and Chinese diet culture.Let’s see the following examples:(1)龙虎斗The dragon fighting with the tiger—Stewed snake and wild cat [注：在广东，“龙虎斗”是一道用蛇肉烧猫肉的名菜](2)佛跳墙Buddha-Jumps-Over-the Wall (This is Fujian’s Number1 special dish, carefully prepared with Shark’s fin, abalone and more than 20 other ingredients. This delicious dish is so tempting that even a Buddha will give up his sutra and jump over the wall for a taste of this irresistible dish).( 陈小慰，2006：219)(3)狮子头Lion’s head—pork meat balls(4)全家福Happy family—A combination of shrimps, pork, beef, chicken, lobster and mixed vegetables with brown sauce.(5)龙凤配Dragon&Phoenix—Two separate dishes characterize this distinctive plate. On one side, lobster meat in Sichuan chili sauce, which is inviting. On the other is house special chicken, which never fails in delighting.(6)左宗鸡General Tso’s chicken—A mouth watering dish made with large chunks of marinated chicken, sauteed with scorched red chili peepers in special, tangy sauce. （顾维勇，2005：94）(7)太平燕Fuzhou-style wonton and duck egg soup—The wrapper of the wonton is made of meat and sweet potato starch instead of flour and the dish is most often served on joyous occasions such as weddings and New Year’s Eve which is supposed to bring peace and good luck.Example (1) adopts “literal translation with notes”. Obviously, it is better than “literal translation” in this case. We can easily understand the dish—its material. If we directly adopt “literal translation”, it should be translated to “The dragon fighting with the tiger”. Such translation probably gives readers scare and surprise, “what’s this?” And it also doesn’t deliver the exact information of the dish; it can not correspond to the standard of translation. “A text which is not obviously a translation in the traditional sense is thus created. Here, we must in the first place define translation. Translation consists of providing, in the receptor language, the closest naturalequivalent of the source language message, first in terms of meaning and secondly in terms of style.”(Nida,1984). With the notes, readers could acquire more and exact information about this dish.Examples (3) (4) (5) (6) all belong to this case, that is to say, literal translation with notes about material of dish.Example (2) is a little different from the above examples. It not only describes the basic information of raw material, but also tells us an interesting legendary story. In this case, it not only expresses the exact information, but also adds some tastes for the dish.Example (7) is another similar case; it adds some notes about raw material and related cultural customs. It provides readers such information, which can help readers understand the culture and taste at proper occasion.In some sense, this method is better than literal translation. Literal translation “distorts the grammatical and stylistic patterns of the receptor language, and hence distorts the message” (Nida&Taber, 1969\1982:201). For this reason it is frequently necessary to include explanatory notes to help the target reader (Nida, 1964:166). So we suggest that if for linguistic or cultural reasons the source can not be transcribed, we had better make accommodations, for example, add some notes rather than translate it literally. It can achieve a more exact and vivid result.4.3 Liberal TranslationA type of translation in which more attention is paid to producing a naturally reading TT than to preserving the ST wording in fact; also known as sense-to-sense translation. Linguistically it can be defined as translation “made on a level highe r than it necessary to convey the content unchanged while observing TL norms.”(Bark hudarov, 1969:11). Free translation is thus generally more “TL- oriented” than literal translations.When there exists dissimilarity or great differences between Chinese dish names and essence of the dish, free translation can be employed. In this case, readers can easily understand the essence of the dish.Here Chinese dishes can be divided into two kinds in this translation(a)According to raw materials.蚂蚁上树（油炸的绿豆面条）—Fried Mung Bean Noodle乌龙睡雪（海参肚中装上馅，再加蛋清蒸制）—Steamed Stuffed Sea Cucumbers with Egg-white百年好合（用莲子和百合炖成的汤菜）—Lotus Seeds and Lily Pulp四系双发（四个冷拼小菜）—Four Plates of Wonderful Food霸王别姬（甲鱼炖鸡汤）—Soft-shelled Turtle and Chicken Soup (b)According to place names.肉燕—Wonton of Fuzhou Style金陵盐水鸭—Nanjing Salted Duck宫爆鸡丁—Fried Diced Chicken in Sichuan Style麻婆豆腐—Bean curd Sichuan Style石狮牛肉羹—Beef Broth of Sailt Fujian StyleIn (a), Chinese dish names sound wonderful, but if we translate themword-to-word, readers can not know what the dish is. That is to say, this translation can not deliver clear information to readers. As Doctor Nida views “in general it is best to speak of functional equivalence in terms of a range of adequacy”. In this case, the translators should make some adjustments in order to achieve the closest natural equivalence. In the west, there is an interesting saying: A translation is like a woman; if it is faithful, it is not beautiful; if it is beautiful, it is not faithful. Maybe here is a good example.In (b), most of these dishes are famous local food, and they represent the local diet culture. So when we translate this kind of food, this method is better. Through this translation, readers can know relate diet culture and remember this food easily. Take “金陵盐水鸭” for example, for Chinese, we all know that “金陵” is another name of “南京”, but for foreigners, they are familiar with the latter place more than the former, so we translate it to “Nanjing salted duck”, it can enlarge the information of the dish.From the above examples, it is not hard to see that free translation seems better than literal translation when we translate Chinese Dish Names, because one ofthe most important principles of translation is transferring actual information to readers. For Ch inese dish, the most readers want to know is what the food is. “Eugene A. Nida applies the communication theory and information theory to translation research, regarding that translation is communication.”(谭载喜，1999：XVIII).Information theory has been widely influential in the process of translation. In other word, translation is a complicated process of language transfer and information transmission. The essence of translation is to transmit the information carried in one language to another language. It conforms to Nida’s “Functional equivalence”. Function equivalence follows the principle of equivalent, that is, the relationship between the receptor and the message should aim at being the same as that between the original receptor and the source language message. It attempts to render receptor words from one language to another, and caters to receptor linguistic competence and cultural needs.For foreigners, they do not know much about Chinese culture and Chinese food. So we should take an action so that they can quickly and easily get the information of dish they want to know. That is to say, we should describe the material of food clearly, avoiding some unnecessary rhetoric, and choosing some ordinary and popular words.5 ConclusionGenerally speaking, the translation of Chinese dishes is challenging, demanding a great deal of translation practice and broad knowledge about our diet culture. From this paper, we may know the basic strategies for Chinese dish names. Firstly, the translator should master the basic principle of translation. Secondly, the translator should de familiar with national culture of different countries. Thirdly, the translator can employ above-mentioned translating skills flexibly in the process of Chinese dish translation.. For the aim of making more foreigners understand the Chinese dish and communicate the diet culture, a good translator should study both language and cultures concerned well.BIBLIOGRAPHY[1] Catford, J.C. A Linguistic Theory of Translation: An Essay in Applied Linguistics[M].London: Oxford University, 1965.[2] Munday, J. Introdusing Translation Studies: Theories and Applications [M].London: Taylor and Francies, 2001 .[3] Nida & Charles R. Taber. The Theory and Practice of Translation [M]. Leiden: E. J. Brill,1969.[4] Nida, E. A. Toward a Science of Translation [M]. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1964.[5] Nida. Language, Culture, and Translating [M]. Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign LanguageEducation Press, 1993.[6] Shuttleworth, M. & M. Cowie, Dictionary of Translation Studies [Z]. Manchester:St. Jerome Publishing, 1999(reprinted).[7] 陈小慰. 新编实用翻译教程[M]. 经济科学出版社, 2006.[8] 顾维勇. 实用文体翻译[M]. 国防工业出版社, 2005.[9] 李和庆、黄皓、薄振杰. 西方翻译研究方法论[M]. 北京大学出版社, 2005.[10] 刘法公. 商贸汉英翻译专论[M]. 重庆出版社, 1999.[11] 谭载喜. 翻译学[M]. 武汉: 湖北教育出版社, 1999.[12]许力生. 跨文化交际英语教程[M]. 上海外语教育出版社, 2004.ABSTRACTIn <st1:country-region w:st="on">China, cooking is an ancient art. As early as over 3,000 years ago, Chinese people already knew how to deploy acid, sweet, bitter, pungent and salty flavor. At Qing dynasty, a number of overseas Chinese set up some Chinese restaurants in English and other countries. Since then, Chinese restaurants areall over the world. Chinese cuisine, of fine work and wide variety, is favorited by the world people of different nationalities. With the continuous development of globalization, Chinese cuisine will become an important window, through which more and more international friends can understand <st1:country-region w:st="on">China better.Chinese dish names is Chinese own problems, their cultural meaning is very clear. But when translate Chinese dish names to English and introduce to the foreiigners, we meet the language issue. Correspondingly, the cultural meaning of Chinese dish names has become a cross-cultural and cross-language issue, we must take into account both language and cultural differences.This paper analyses translation strategies from theoretical and practical perspectives by pointing out how to properly translate Chinese dish names, with a discussion of some specific dish names. And then summarizes a common approach of Chinese dish names: literal translation, literal translation with notes, and liberal translation. Meanwhile, we emphasize the importance of culture in translation and communicationKey words: Eugene Nida’s theory of translation, the translation of Chinese dish names, translation strategies, cross-cultural communicationACKNOWLEDGEMENTSIt was really a laborious task to accomplish a B.A thesis. Many people gave me support and help in the process of writing the paper. I’d like first to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Associate Professor Sun Xiaolei, who generously gave me his kindly help and instructions during the whole process of mypaper-writing. Then I’d like to give my many thanks to my teacher Zhang Yuanyuan, who has shown much consideration for my composition. Finally, I would like to express my thanks to my friends, Chen Leilei and Wan Rui, who have generously offered their help with my computerization。