福建省光泽第一中学2020高中英语教师论文 从跨文化角度谈中餐菜名英译

福建省光泽第一中学2020高中英语教师论文 从跨文化角度谈中餐菜名英译AbstractAs a form of material culture, catering culture is an all-embracing field. Chinese catering culture occupies a highly important position in the Chinese culture. As a thread going through the long history of Chinese catering culture, Chinese dish names not only reflect the variety of ingredients, cooking methods, color, aroma, taste, appearance of the dishes, but also contain much cultural elements such as dish inventors, original place, literary images and auspicious words. The English translation of Chinese dish names plays a significant role in promoting the interaction among peoples of different nations.Many scholars, in dictionaries or articles, have made efforts on dish-name translation. But these studies only list the Chinese-English translations of dish names, or introduce some translation methods without a systematic explanation on the classification, features, functions and translation principles of dish names. This paper is focused on the systematic research of Chinese dish names. After giving the catering culture difference between china and the western countries, the writer makes a compare of the naming principle of Chinese and western countries, then the writer classifies the Chinese dish names into four major groups and puts forward specific translation techniques like literal translation, literal translation plus explanation, free translation, free translation plus explanation. The writer points out that the translator should flexibly apply these techniques according to dish names culture.Key Words: catering culture; dish-name; translation principles摘 要饮食文化属于物质文化，是最为基础的文化类型，广泛地渗透于人类生活的方方面面。中国的饮食文化在中国文化中的地位尤其重要。作为贯穿悠久饮食文化的一条线索，中式菜名生动反映了林林总总的原料名称、烹制方法、菜肴的色香味形，而且菜肴的创始人或发源地、文学诗词、吉祥语也大量出现在菜名中。在这个文化交流频繁的时代，将中式菜名翻译成准确、优美、同时传递中国文化的译文，对于促进不同国家的人民之间的交流有着十分重要的意义。部分旅游词典、语言工作者已经在中式菜名英译方面做出一些努力，列出了部分菜名的译文，探讨了一些翻译技巧、方法，但.并没有系统地对中式菜名的分类、特点、功能及其英译的指导理论做出归纳。本文主要研究中式菜名的英译。作者在介绍中国饮食文化的相关理论后，分析了中本西饮食文化的差异，并在此基础上对中西菜名的命名原则进行比较并分类，通过对具体译例的分析，作者根据菜名分类提出翻译的主要方法：直译、意译等，并提出根据菜名的文化内涵灵活选择最佳翻译方法，忠实于原文使译文有可读性,又不去一味臆造。关键词：饮食文化；菜名；翻译原则ContentsIntroduction错误！未定义书签。1. The Difference of Catering Culture Between China and West21.1 Catering culture21.2 Diet conception21.3 Diet composition22. Classification of Chinese and Western Dish Names22.1 Classification of Chinese Dish Names22.1.1 Self-descriptive names22.1.2Names with metaphors22.1.3 Names after a person/place22.1.4 Names with literary images22.1.5 Auspicious Names22.2 Classification of Western Dish Names83. Suggested Translation Techniques for Chinese Dish Names23.1 Literal Translation23.2 Giving up the Metaphor and Translating the Reality23.3 Literal Translation with Cultural Explanations23.4 Zero Translation2Conclusion2IntroductionNowadays, China plays an increasingly important role on the global stage. More and more people from other countries want to have a better understanding of China, especially this Oriental Lions culture. Since Chinas reform and opening up to the outside world, foreigners are given more opportunities to personally step on this splendid land to enjoy its scenery and kinds of national culture. Chinese cuisine has long enjoyed a reputation of delicate, extravagant food throughout the world. Moreover; Chinese catering culture takes up a significant position in the Chinese cultural system. To introduce our catering culture to the coming visitors and to the outside world is an important task. Chinese dish names, as a window of Chinas catering culture, are actually an effective means to inform foreigners of Chinas special cultural environment. Therefore, Chinese dish names are highly worthy of being translated. Needless to say, successful translation of them serves as a bridge for the communication between China and other countries. To our delight, many versions of these dish names have been provided in various settings, including menus, cookbooks, food guides, tourist brochures, cuisine dictionaries, journalism or even literary works, all targeted at foreign readers. However, the quality of current translations is uneven, and many low-quality versions will probably give rise to misunderstandings and loss of cultural elements. Such consequence should undoubtedly be minimized or avoided with great efforts of translators.There have been only a few articles and dictionaries that specifically deal with the translation of Chinese dish names so far. This paper presents a tentative study on Chinese dish names, and their English translation. By studying and evaluating a number of typical examples of Chinese dish names, this thesis aims to categorize them, sum up their features and functions, analyze the guiding principles, and propose the techniques for their translation.1. The Difference of Catering Culture Between China and WestCulinary habits, also a kind of carrier of culture, cannot separate itself from culture. Chinese and Western foods share some similarities in ingredients, cooking methods and so on while possessing their own distinctions of diet conception and diet composition.1.1 Catering cultureCatering culture, a sub-category of culture, which shares the common features of culture but simultaneously has its own characteristics. Catering culture refers to all the production fields that expand food sources and produce food, all kinds of social lives related to catering practice, and the ideology embedded within (Lin, 1997:2).Catering culture, as a type of culture, is also a constantly changing adaptive mechanism that is learned by people, with the ethnocentric feature. But catering culture also has its unique features as follows:1) It is an ever-lasting culture. Catering culture will never separate itself form mens lives as long as human beings still exist on this planet.2) It is the oldest as well as the youngest culture. Catering culture starts from the moment when men produced the first tool to get food, thus it is of the longest history. Whether in Stone Age or Bronze Age, in Iron Age or modern times, the manufacturing of utensils, equipment and food always displays the most advanced technologies in the according period. In this sense, it is also the most dynamic culture.3) It is a systematic culture. Catering culture covers many fields of material culture and spiritual culture with its unique network and style. It is closely related to the expand food sources, cooks to create well-known cuisine, food therapists to employ medicine in food, as well as writers and artists to praise the delicate cuisine and labor in their literary or artistic works1.2 Diet conceptionChina is a time-honored country with a long history as well as a brilliant civilization. Chinese food, likewise, has a long history as well. The preparation and appreciation of food has been highly developed in china. The art of Chinese cooking has been developed and refined over many centuries .China focus more on the color, aroma and taste while the western countries focus more on the nutrition of the food.According to Chinese tradition and culture, cuisine is a special kind of art, reflecting a sense of beauty and harmony in aesthetics. As a result, every detail of Chinese cuisine, including the dishes themselves and other accessories, must be finely made and designed to give customers not only good taste, but a visual enjoyment to arouse their appetite. For this reason, Chinese dishes are always known for their combination of scrumptious taste and aroma with pleasant color and form in harmony plus elegant tableware.As for the west, they all place a heavy emphasis on three major characteristics, they are nutrition, freshness, and easiness to prepare particularly with varying degree in comparison with Chinese cuisine. These factors have a close connection with the national characters and dispositions of western nations. Nutrition is the fundamental and primary concern of any Western cuisine. Freshness, to a large extent, ensures good nutrition. Of course, balance of food structure is also an important factor contributing to good nutrition, and it is also reflected in Western cuisine. Easy preparation expressly demonstrates the practical nature of Western nations compared to that of the Chinese. Compared with the features of Chinese cuisine that pays more attention to fine details, Western cuisine seems to heed more certain simple and practical values of making food, which are consistent with the independent, individualistic and pragmatic characters of Western nations.1.3 Diet compositionChinese cuisine holds grain as its staple diet, including specifically rice, wheat, millet, etc. and their products such as noodle and rice noodle. Meat and vegetable are supplements in Chinese cuisine and are usually treated as dishes. In terms of meat, the prominent portion of meat consumption china for the majority of people is pork, supplemented by beef and mutton, which are mainly consumed by some minority nationalities as the staple meat. besides pork, the staple meat for most of Chinese people, fish and chicken are also common on dinner table. Chinese people also take other kinds of meat which are not accepted by westerners such as snake, frog and donkey.Western cuisine considers meat as their staple supplemented by vegetable. They also eat rice, noodle and other cereal products, but to a much lesser degree compared with Chinese, and mainly as a healthy and exotic supply rather than a main diet. As to meat, beef occupies the most prominent position as the indisputable staple. Mutton and pork are also consumption in last decades. Fish is another major part of meat consumption, as well as eggs and dairy products which are also daily necessities. In recent years, vegetable has gained more importance and recognition for its healthy effect and environmentally friendliness.The so-called green food, natural food, mainly including vegetable and cereals have become more appealing to the public.To compare the food structures of the Chinese and Western cuisine, one finds that they have different structures of nutrition. In terms of the composition of various nutrients, Chinese cuisine definitely has more percentage of starch and carbohydrate, but less fat and calorie because of its staple diet of grain and cereal products. On the other hand, Western cuisine has a composition of much more protein, fat, sugar and calorie because meat products are their staple food. While the former is considered inadequate in nutrition traditionally, and the latter good for building a strong body, they have switched their roles to certain extent lately. Now, the traditional Western diet with a heavy emphasis on meat and dairy is considered less wholesome, and prone to cause heart and artery diseases. In contrast, the traditional Chinese diet based on grain and vegetable is more and more popular among the western people, thought as healthy food to keep fit and ward off diabetes, obesity and other related illnesses2. Classification of Chinese and Western Dish NamesA dish name is like a persons name. There are almost no dishes without a proper name, no matter Chinese dishes or western ones. As an important part of the dish, a wonderful name is not only a lively advertisement, but also makes people enjoy the beauty of the dish. When ordinary dishes were given beautiful names, it raised the attractiveness of the dishes and made diners happy. As chapter 1said,there is a clear difference between Chinese and western catering culture, because of which there is a difference between Chinese and western dish names. Many of the Chinese dishes are named after the ingredients or cooking methods. And there are many dishes which are named by means of metaphor or are connected with allusion, history, legend, a persons name, etc. while most western dish names are named after the ingredient or cooking methods.2.1 Classification of Chinese Dish NamesAlmost all Chinese dish names are characterized by elegance. “Its no wonder some Americans say that eating Chinese food is really an enjoyment. You can not only reward yourself and repay others, but also have a chance to appreciate the dish names.”2.1.1 Self-descriptive namesA large number of Chinese dish names are self-descriptive, that is, to give the basic information of its ingredients，cooking methods or seasonings to the readers by the name itself. It has no obstacles in understanding then. These names, again, can be subcategorized into names with cooking methods, names with flavor and names with ingredients.Name with cooking methods:The variety of Chinese cooking methods is clearly seen in this kind of names, together with an ingredient. The basic structure would be a verb-object word group, begins with a verb and ends in its object, as in the examples:“炒鱼片”,“炖牛肉”,“清蒸鱼”,“炸明虾”,“红烧猪肉”and“熏黄鱼”.In a more complex name, another minor ingredient would be added, forming the structure of an object-verb-object group, such as“菜炒鸡球”and“鸡丝烩鱼肚”.Name with flavor:Word group consisting of a modifier and the word it modifies is very productive in forming this type of dish name. The form is basically “modifier+head word”, with the first half as the attribute to clarify the flavor of the dish, and the latter half as the name of the ingredient. It still belongs to the self-descriptive names. Examples :“麻辣豆腐”,“鱼香肉丝”,“怪味鸡”,“糖醋石斑鱼”,“香酥鸡”and“五香牛肉”.Name with ingredients:With its name explicit, the main ingredient(A)s is compared with an animal, an object or anything(B),under the format of“B+A”.“A”is in the shape of“B”.For example,“松鼠(B)黄鱼(A)”is a dish in which“黄鱼”is in the shape of“松鼠”.Similar examples are“玉簪田鸡腿”,“元宝肉”,“桂花鱼翅”,“荷花鱼肚”,“蝴蝶香酥鸡”,“太极芋泥”,“香葱琵琶翅”.2.1.2Names with metaphorsWith its name omitted, the ingredient is compared with an animal, an object or anything. No definite format can be followed. In this category, many beautiful images can be created. For instance,“蚂蚁上树”,a well-known dish, is to compare the minced pork with“ants”,and vermicelli with“trees”.“乌云托月”is to compare laver with“dark clouds”,and poached egg with moon. Other names, like“掌上明珠”,“七星伴月”,“雪塔观燕”,“雪夜桃花”and“雪映红梅”fall into this group.2.1.3 Names after a person/placeName after a person:Such dishes are normally named in honor of their inventors or relevant people in history. Many historical figures, widely known or anonymous, connect themselves with dish names. It is the unique feature of Chinese dish names. Lin(1998:331)says, “In England, a Wordsworth steak or Galsworthy cutlet would be unimaginable”.Typical Examples are“东坡肉”,“宫保鸡丁”,“贵妃鸡翅”,“沛公狗肉”,“叫化鸡”.Name after a place:Local flavors and specialties are commonly reflected in these dish names. The format is“Place+ingredient”as shown by“广东香肠”,“北京烤鸭”,“南京板鸭”and“潮州豆腐鸡”.2.1.4 Names with literary imagesThis kind of names borrows the images from legends, poems, or other types of literary works to express a certain emotion or aesthetic value. But these images are not related to the invention of the dishes, which differentiate themselves with the last group. Some of them may be metaphorical, but they still fall into this group because of the cultural elements they have loaded. Two subcategories can be further classified, that is, names after a legend and names after a poem.Names after a legend:Legendary images of ancient figures are included in dish names, which constitute a popular element in the secular Chinese culture. The typical examples are“八仙过海闹罗汉”,“贵妃出浴”,“西施浣纱”.They are also the subject of many artistic creations, like paintings and sculptures.Names after a poem:Poems, a representative of literary works, are often quoted in the Chinese dish names. The poetic image will be created by citing a line from a famous poem. Like the dish names“霜叶红花”and“黄鹂鸣翠柳”come from a line“霜叶红于二月花”and“两个黄鹂鸣翠柳”,which connect the common ingredients with the beautiful poetic image. The dish name“佛跳墙”comes from a poetic line“坛起荤香飘四邻，佛闻弃禅跳墙来”.2.1.5 Auspicious NamesThe Chinese people like lucky names, whether on a person, place or a dish. The auspicious names of Chinese dishes cover six areas such as (fu,lu,shou,xi,cai,ji)with different emphasis and a common goal-to express the yearning for auspiciousness. They constitute an important group to transmit the cultural elements to the receptors. The typical dishes are:“全家福”,“满堂五福”,“锦绣中华”,“五子登科”,“带子上朝”,“龟鹤延年汤”,“菊花延龄饮”,“鸳鸯戏水”,“百年好合”,“连年有余”and“发财好市”.2.2 Classification of Western Dish namesThe majority of Western dishes are factual. One can easily perceive the meaning of a dish and knows what it is as the dish name usually contains the cooking method or ingredients and supplementary items. In specification, the names of western dishes can be divided into four smaller subtypes as follows.1) Place and other features +ingredient(s)Fish and chips the British way.Kangaroo tail soup.Scotch mutton broth.California salad.American soup.Roast leg of lamb, French style.2) Cooking method(s) +ingredient(s)White stewed fish.Sliced smoked salmon.Roast beef slices.Grilled flatfish.Stewed ox tail.3) Cooking method(s)+major ingredient(s)+with/in other ingredient(s)Fried fish cakes with lemon.Cheese bakes fish.Braised mutton in butter.Fried shrimp/or fish on toastRoasted wood cock on toast.Baked pomfret in butter.4) Omission of cooking method(s)Veal sausage.Hot cakes with syrup.Mixed old meat.Sliced tomato salad.Triple-decker sandwich.Pig feet salad.3. Suggested Translation Techniques for Chinese Dish NamesIn the Chapter 2, this writer has discussed the classification of Chinese dish names on the basis of which the suggested translation techniques for Chinese dish names would be made in this chapter. By evaluating some current translations in light of the principles proposed in this Chapter, this writer puts forward some effective techniques of translatio