英语（商务方向）毕业论文（设计）-中式菜名英译浅析.doc

1 分类号 分类号 I I 单位代码 单位代码 104104 密密 级 级 一般一般 学学 号 号 10403080140241040308014024 本科毕业论文 设计 本科毕业论文 设计 题题 目 目 中式菜名英译浅析中式菜名英译浅析 专专 业 业 英语 商务方英语 商务方 向 向 姓姓 名 名 指导教师 指导教师 职职 称 称 讲讲 师师 答辩日期 答辩日期 20122012 年年 6 6 月月 2 2 日日 2 ON THE TRANSLATION OF CHINESE DISH NAMES BY DUAN YUANYUAN A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF ARTS TO THE SCHOOL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES YAN AN UNIVERSITY JUNE 2012 3 Acknowledgements This paper would not have been completed without the help of my supervisor Mrs Zhang who has devoted her precious time to guide me on my each writing stage I really appreciate her support and guidance Then I offer my regards and blessings to all of those who supported me in any respect during the completion of the paper And finally I would like to offer my sincere gratitude to my dear friends who spent much time with me on my thesis and gave me advices and supports 4 Abstract Culinary art is an important part of a nation s cultural connotation Since China s reform and opening up the interaction among peoples of different nations is becoming increasingly close Chinese catering culture is widely spread all over the world In addition with China s accession to WTO and the development of the Globalization Chinese dish names as a window of Chinese catering culture are actually an effective means to inform foreigners of China s special cultural environment Therefore it is very urgent and necessary to translate Chinese dish names into English However the foreigners have some difficulties to know and accept Chinese dishes connotation due to language cultural background and so on Therefore to translate Chinese dishes into English is essential for carrying forward our Chinese catering culture This essay discusses the current situation of the English translation of Chinese cuisines and seven practical translation methods of Chinese dishes names The author also analyzes the reasons why it is hard to translate Chinese dishes into English and also puts forward a few suggestions on how to translate Chinese dishes while keeping their original features Key words translation methods catering culture Chinese dish names Cultural connotation 5 摘摘 要要 饮食艺术是一个国家文化内涵的重要组成部分 改革开放以来 我国与世 界各国的联系日益紧密 中国的饮食文化在全世界得到广泛传播 另外 随着 我国加入世贸组织和全球化的不断发展 中国菜已成为越来越多国际友人了解 中国的一个重要窗口 扮演着重要角色 但是 由于语言 文化背景等方面限 制了外国人对中国菜的了解与接受 因此 将中国菜翻译成英语 将中国饮食 发扬光大是非常重要的 本文介绍了中式菜名英译的现状 并结合实例归纳提 出了七种具体实用的菜肴名称的翻译方法 分析了中式菜名英译难的原因并且 提出了翻译好中式菜名的几点建议 关键词 关键词 翻译方法 饮食文化 中国菜名 文化底蕴 6 Introduction China is a country with profound culinary art The Chinese are particular about culinary art since ancient times To date Chinese cuisine has been developing for four or five thousand years its superb culinary art and rich cultural connotation make it the first class cuisine in the world In China people always say people regard food as their prime want and food safety should be given the top priority Therefore we can see people regard food as the first thing to concern in their daily life and cooking culture is a very important part in traditional Chinese culture With China s entering into the World Trade Organization 2008 Olympic Games holding in Beijing and the booming of tourism industry China has attracted more and more foreign travelers As they feast the breath taking scenery of China they must desperately want to enjoy delicious Chinese food for Chinese cuisine has long enjoyed a reputation of delicate extravagant food throughout the world However there are problems arise With Chinese characters of intelligence and humor in it the name of the Chinese dish is hard understood by the foreigners For instance 金玉满堂 Assorted Barbecued Meat platter with portion of suckling pig or crispy Barbecued suckling pig 龙凤呈 祥 phoenixes 286 and so on So we can see from the above to translate Chinese Cuisines into English properly and make it easily understood by the foreigners is very important and urgent if we can translate it well enough we will surely do some contribution to our country s tourist industry and even make Chinese Cuisine and culture shining in the 7 world Many scholars in dictionaries or articles have made efforts on dish name translation These studies only list the Chinese English translation of dish name It s not systematic This paper is focused on systematic research of Chinese dish names Summarizes seven translation methods of Chinese dish name and puts forward several suggestions on its name In general this paper can be divided into four parts In the first part the author introduces the current situation and the necessity to translate Chinese cuisine into English In the second part difficulties in translating the Chinese dishes into English is raised and in the third part several translation methods of Chinese dish names is listed aims to deals with the previous translation problems At last in order to translate Chinese dish names correctly as well as with Chinese culture in it the author puts forward several translation principles to follow 8 1 The necessity and current situation of Chinese cuisine translation 1 1 The necessity of Chinese cuisine translation Chinese Cooking has a long history and is famous all over the world for its rich flavor and delightful colorings Chinese dishes names are especially full of intelligence and humor of the Chinese people However because of region restriction language cultural background and so on it is not easy for the foreigners to know and accept the connotation of our dishes so it is very important to translate Chinese cuisine names accurately and vividly to make foreign friends understood the art and cultural connotation of the names of dishes while tasting the unique flavor of Chinese dishes Since the 2008 Olympic Games held in China it is very obvious that more and more foreign travelers choose China to be their destination Hence to translate Chinese dishes into the widely used English properly is very urgent It will surely let more and more people know Chinese catering culture and help China better gear to international standards 1 2 The current situation of Chinese cuisine translation Chinese dish enjoys a high reputation and attracts numerous diners through out the world Since ancient times people are engaged in translating Chinese dishes into English To date we have made a great progress in translating Chinese dishes into English nevertheless it is still not getting standard even in disarray Here is some examples 回锅肉 there are several translation of it such as sliced pork doubly saut ed twice cooked pork twice cooked spicy pork slices double saut ed 9 Si chuan style Hui guo rou and so on 宫保鸡丁 chicken with dried red pepper grand duke s chicken with peanuts spicy diced chicken with peanuts kung pao chicken Gong pao chicken A modern Chinese English dictionary 2001 577 麻婆豆腐 bean curd Si chuan style pork marked grandma s bean curd Ma Po s bean curd Ma Tofu etc Besides there are someone who translate 四喜丸子 into four rolling meatball and translate 童子鸡 into chicken without sexual life Ren 2001 57 this will mislead the foreigners and may leave a bad impression on them about Chinese cuisine 2 Difficulties in translating Chinese dishes into English 2 1 The ingredients of Chinese dishes are very extensive As the proverb goes people regard food as their prime want In China a cook is very much like a magician A lot of stuff can turn into delicious food by the cook s hands And some food you can only find it in China For example Chinese Cabbage we usually call it Da bai cai It is a very common vegetable in China but how to translate Xiao bai cai Actually there is no restaurant translating it into pakchoi while according to Chinese pronunciation people translate it into Xiao bai cai and the foreigners are glad to accept it 2 2 The art of Chinese cuisine is very complicated and stresses a lot Chinese Cuisines stresses on reconcile of the five flavors knife skills and culinary art And all these can be seen from the name of the cuisines On the contrary western dishes pay little attention to the knife skills Through western dishes names we can hardly find a word which can tell us what knife skill it uses In English the 10 words can express Chinese Cook s knife skills are shred dice slice mince segment cutting boning peeling scaling shelling and so on Secondly China s culinary art is very extensive such as stir frying pan frying quick frying deep frying which include dry deep frying soft deep frying and crisp deep frying braising boiling steaming stewing smoking broiling or grilling roasting baking basting scalding etc All these add difficulties to the dish translation 2 3 Chinese people s pursuit of elegance in naming the cuisine The name of a dish is very important for it has both business function and sales value The function of a cuisine s name is mainly including information function aesthetics function and social cultural function In China people name a dish according to its ingredients flavor shape coloring times culinary art place personage allusion metaphor number etc However many foreigners do not know our historical heroes they even do not know the different place in China let alone the meaning of it For example there is a cuisine called The most delicious dish in the world Do you know what is it Actually it is fried shelled shrimps on toast Just because the Ancient Emperor Qian Long had tasted it and thought its flavor was very good so he gave a name to the dish 3 Seven translation methods of Chinese dish names 3 1 Literal translation From the point of linguistics there are big difference between Chinese and English so we often use realistic nomenclature to translate Chinese dishes Using this method we shall focus on translating its raw materials cooking techniques taste 11 shape the color even container in order to let our guests understand it at the first sight 3 1 1 Translation methods start with cooking skill To be specific this section can be divided into three parts 3 1 1 1 Cooking skill material shape 炒鳝片 Stir fried Eel Slices 煨牛肉 Simmered Beef 清蒸鳊鱼 Steamed Limande 酥炸鲜鱿 Deep fried Squid 韭菜盒 Fried Leek Dumplings 蛋炒饭 Fried Fice with Egg 3 1 1 2 Cooking skill main material shape with subsidiary material 鱼香茄子 Fried Eggplant with Ground Pork 辣子炒肉丁 Stir fried Diced Pork with Green Pepper 腐乳汁烧肉 Braised Pork with Preserved Bean Curd 香葱煎鱼 Fried Fish with Green Onion 葱爆牛肉 Fried Beef with Green Onion 双冬蒸肉片 Steamed Pork with Preserved Winter Vegetable 3 1 1 3 Cooking skill main material shape with in Condiment 红烧鲤鱼头 Braised Carp Head with Soy Sauce 辣味烩虾球 Braised Prawn Balls with Chili Sauce 清炖猪蹄 Stewed Pig Hoof in Clean Soup 香辣肉丝 Fried Shredded Pork with Sweet and Spicy Sauce 12 红烧鸡块 Braised Chicken with Brown Sauce 3 1 2 Translation method start with main material There are some dishes that we can not know the cooking skill from its name In this situation we shall only translate its main material and then plus its subsidiary material or condiment 3 1 2 1 Main material shape with subsidiary material 杏仁鸡丁 Chicken Cubes with Almond 牛肉豆腐 Beef with Bean Curd 鸡丝凉面 Cold Noodles with Chicken Shred 时蔬鸡丁 Diced Chicken with Seasonal Vegetables 柠檬鸡 Lemon Chicken 3 1 2 2 Main material shape with in flavoring 糖醋鱼 Fish with Sweet and Sour Sauce 椒盐排骨 Spare Ribs with Pepper and Salt 米酒鱼卷 Fish Rolls with Rice Wine 甜汁酱鸭 Braised Duck with Sweet Sauce 椒盐里脊 Pork Fillet with Hot Pepper 3 1 3Translation method start with the shape of main material or taste of the dish Some dishes are well known for its taste or shape Hence in order to reflect its salient features we d better translate it starting with its taste or the shape 3 1 3 1 Taste Cooking skill main material 13 水煮嫩鱼 Tender Stewed Fish 香煎鸡块 Fragrant Fried Chicken 酥炸芋球 Crisp Deep fried Taro Ball 香酥里脊 Crisp Fried Pork Fillet 3 1 3 2 Shape taste main material with subsidiary material 黄酒脆皮鱼 Crisp fish with Rice Wine 冬笋牛肉丝 Fried Beef Shred with Bamboo Shoots 陈皮兔丁 Diced Rabbit with Orange Peel 香脆虾腰 Frisky Shrimp with Hog Kidney 3 1 3 3 Shape taste main material with flavoring 茄汁鱼片 Sliced Fish with Tomato Sauce 黄酒脆皮虾仁 Crisp Shrimp with Rice Wine Sauce 糖醋咕咾肉 Fried Pork Slices with Sweet and Sour Sauce 3 2 Literal translation transliteration To some famous dishes which have local features we should use the method raw material place style to translate it it can add more Chinese characters to the dish For example 湖南双鲜 Hu nan Scallops and Shrimp OR Scallops and Shrimp Hu nan Style 日本豆腐 Japanese Tofu 扬州炒饭 Fried rice Yangzhou style 14 京酱肉丝 Shredded pork Peking style 北京烤鸭 Beijing Roast duck 东坡肉 DongPo Braised pork 潮州卤水鸭 Braised goose Chaozhou style For food especially local feature food or special local products Literal Translation to a certain extend is widely used in the world No matter hamburger ice cream salad or Jiao zi Woo long tea Mao Tai has already been accepted in overseas countries However this kind of translation may confuse foreign guests sometimes Let s say Dong Po Braised Pork who is Dong Po Or in Song Sao fish potage who is Song Sao In this situation we should use the method transliteration introduction 3 3 Transliteration Introduction Transliteration means using Chinese Pin yin instead of English is very simple and easy in the methods of translation but foreigner can not understand it either So translation here means nothing So we should avoid this pure transliteration but put some notes in them For example the famous food in Si Chuan called Dan Dan Noodle We should add notes behind it Dan Dan Noodle This sack is a kind of hot spiced noodles or spicy peanut noodles It is favored with a sauce containing dried shrimp shredded preserved vegetables crushed roasted peanuts sesame seeds chilli oil soy sauce vinegar and garlic Dandan refers to shoulder poles In the earliest time when a noodle peddler shoulders his pole he 15 usually carried two baskets on either side as he walked along streets The baskets contained his noodles and sauce He sold his noodles to passers by and residents who lived on the streets His noodles cost almost nothing and gradually local people called it Dandan Noodle Qin 2008 14 3 4 Literal translation Introduction For the art naming dishes from the name we can neither tell the material nor the cooking skill so we shall tell a story or a period of history to let the others know the dish clearly When we do this we can firstly translate the Chinese meaning and then give an explanation to it Here below are two examples 叫花鸡 Beggar s Chicken There is a legendary story connected to it Long long ago there was a beggar One day he stole a chicken and was pursued by the owner He was almost caught when he suddenly hit upon a good idea He smeared the chicken all over with clay which he found nearby and threw it into the fire he had built to cook it After a long while the beggar removed the mud coated from the fire When he cracked open the clay he found to his astonishment that the clay together with the feather had formed a hard shell in which the chicken had been baked into a delicious dish with wonderful flavor That night he had a very enjoyable meal Hence the name of the dish Ren Jingsheng 2001 56 57 佛跳墙 The Buddhist monk jumping over the wall Ingredients used for the casserole are all delicacies of Chinese cooking Shark s fin sea cucumber abalone dried scallop ham chicken duck lamb bamboo shoots mushrooms and various spices These are sealed inside the casserole and boiled for long hours ensuring the 16 essence of each ingredient is being extracted Thus besides the wonderful taste the casserole also has high nutritive values The meaning of the Buddhist monk jumping over the wall is that this dish is so delicious that the Buddhist monk can not help to jump over the wall and have a taste Zhu Qixin 2005 89 3 5 Literal translation Notes In China medicated food or medical dishes is one of the traditional food therapies and also is the important feature of Chinese diet culture medical dishes is very nutritious it can not only prevents disease but also can strengthen people s body So the foreigners like it very much About translation of medicated food we should tell the dinners its cooking material and cooking skills besides we should also translate its mainly pharmacology function in order to let our foreign guests choose and have a taste if they are not familiar with Chinese diet culture Here below are some medicated foods 雪耳龙眼汤 White Fungus and Shelled Long an Soup with the function of improving lungs and preventing anemia 双鞭壮阳汤 Ox tail Soup with the function of being more energetic 天麻炖乌鸡 Stewed Pheasant with Gastrodia with the function of preventing dizziness and curing headache 银杏子鸡丁 Braised Diced Young Chicken with Gingko with the function of strengthening liver and spleen 西洋参冬虫夏草焖子鸡 Stewed Squab with American Ginseng and Chinese 17 Caterpillar Fungus with the function of tonic and tranquilizer 3 6 Free translation Sometimes people name a dish according to its main material or the color of the subsidiary material or the appearance of the dish they always give an elegance name to the dish in order to get good luck and happiness For a dish name which used art naming or virtual Actual combination we usually use free translation Take 狮子 头 for example if we translate it into lion s head It will make the foreigners misunderstood they may think they have to bite the head of the king of jungle So the celebrated dishes in Jiang Su called 蟹粉狮子头 can be translated into crab meat and minced pork ball in casserole Here below are more 发财好市 Black Moss Cooked with oysters People like to taste this course because they want to obtain great deal of money and they hope the market will be good in the next year 蚂蚁上树 Bean Vermicelli with Spicy Meat Sauce 一卵孵两凤 Steamed Chicken in Water Melon Zhu 1992 273 This dish is to put two steamed chicken into a hollow water melon compare the water melon to egg and chicken to phoenix Here we got a problem From the examples we list above we can see that although we translate the dishes into English it