On Translation of Chinese Menu into English—Through a Cultural Perspective英語專業(yè)畢業(yè)論文

1、本科畢業(yè)論文（設(shè)計(jì))題目 on translation of chinese menu into englishthrough a cultural perspective 院 系 外國語言文學(xué)系_專 業(yè) 名 稱 英語_年 級 2009級_學(xué) 生 姓 名 _ 學(xué) 號 09044212_ 指 導(dǎo) 教 師 _二零一三年五月on translation of chinese menu into english through a cultural perspectivea thesis submitted in partial fulfillmentof the requirements for t

2、he degree of bachelor of artsin the school of foreign languages and literatureschongqing university of educationschool:school of foreign languages & literaturesmajor:english class: twoname: lan tingtingstudent no.:09044212supervisor:bao gangdate:may 10th, 2013重慶第二師范學(xué)院本科畢業(yè)論文（設(shè)計(jì)）原創(chuàng)性聲明本人鄭重聲明：所呈交的論文是本人在

3、導(dǎo)師的指導(dǎo)下獨(dú)立進(jìn)行研究所取得的成果。除了文中特別加以標(biāo)注引用的內(nèi)容外，本論文不包含任何其他個人或集體已經(jīng)發(fā)表或未發(fā)表的研究成果。本人完全意識到本聲明的法律后果由本人承擔(dān)。作者簽名： 年 月 日acknowledgementsfirst of all, i would like to extend my sincere gratitude to my supervisor, bao gang, for his instructive advice and useful suggestions on my thesis. in the preparation of the thesis, he

4、has spent much time reading through each draft and provided me with inspiring advice. i also would like to thank professor zhang xiaoqing for her guidance in the essay writing course last term. from her devoted teaching and enlightening lectures i have benefited a lot and academically prepared for t

5、he thesis.my gratitude also extends to all the teachers who taught me during my undergraduate years for their kind encouragement and patient instructions. meanwhile, i want to thank the college library from which i got enough useful information, with the help of which i finished my paper.finally, i

6、would like to offer my particular thanks to my friends and family, for their encouragement and support for the completion of this thesis.abstract: since china has joined the wto, with the continuous development of globalization, chinese food has become an important window for more and more foreigner

7、s to comprehend china. thus, in order to make foreigners know our chinese cooking culture deeply, the trend for translating chinese foods name into english cannot be ignored. however, menu translation is a new field in china. foreigners have a limit to know chinese food and to accept dish translatio

8、ns. the difference of language and culture between western and china is the main reason for this limit. chinese menu translation is not only a new area to study cultural differences between western and china but also an urgent and arduous task for the translation industry in china. the paper aims to

9、 undertake an exploration of english translation of chinese menu from a cultural aspect. after the description of the background of chinese menu translation at present and the features of chinese menu, the cultural discrepancies between china and the west countries are presented. then theproblems wi

10、th chinese menu translation are pointed out. after that, some translation strategiesare carried out, which are based on materials, regions and creators or literary quotation. at the same time, some examples in beijing olympic game menu are respectively analyzed. through the systematic analysis, the

11、writer believes that it is very important to do the translation of chinese menu into english, and cultural awareness should be increased when translating. at last, some problems when translating chinese menu are stated in details and solutions are set forth too, which can provide the theoretical sup

12、port and reasonable advice for further research of the translation of chinese menu into english. key words: cultural differences; the translation of chinese menu; cultural awareness; problems of translations; solutions摘要：隨著中國加入世界貿(mào)易組織和全球化的不斷發(fā)展,中國的飲食已成為越來越多的外國朋友了解中國的一個重要窗口。因此,為了讓外國朋友能更加深入地了解中國飲食文化, 研究

13、中餐菜單的英譯問題的趨勢不容小覷。然而,菜單翻譯是中國的一個新領(lǐng)域。又由于中西方飲食文化的差異，外國朋友始終在了解中國飲食文化和菜單翻譯上有所限制而無法完全理解。研究中餐菜單翻譯不僅是一個新的領(lǐng)域，也是一項(xiàng)在中國翻譯行業(yè)中緊迫而艱巨的任務(wù)。本文從文化視角系統(tǒng)地探討了中式菜單的翻譯。在闡述文化翻譯的背景、文化差異與中西方菜單之間的關(guān)系之后，本文介紹了中式菜單的特點(diǎn)。接著指出了菜單翻譯中存在的問題，并在此基礎(chǔ)上，提出了中式菜單翻譯的方法，分別以材料、地域、人物或典故命名的菜單的翻譯方法開展討論。經(jīng)過分析，得出中餐菜單的翻譯應(yīng)被予以足夠的重視的結(jié)論，而且在翻譯過程中要提高文化意識。最后，本文對中英文

14、菜譜互譯過程當(dāng)中可能發(fā)生的一系列問題進(jìn)行了詳盡的闡述，并為這些問題提出了有針對性的解決方案，為廣大翻譯人員進(jìn)行菜譜等文件翻譯提供強(qiáng)大的理論支持和合理建議。關(guān)鍵詞：文化差異；菜譜翻譯；文化意識；翻譯問題；解決方案 thesis statementcultural factors are the most difficult point in the translation of chinese menu into english, so some strategies are proposed to address the problems caused by cultural discrepa

15、ncies. contents1. introduction1 1.1 background of chinese menu translation1 1.2 significance of standardized chinese menu translation12. literature review23. culture and chinese menu4 3.1 cultural discrepancies manifested in chinese menu4 3.1.1 discrepancies in cooking culture between china and the

16、west4 3.1.2 discrepancies in naming dishes between china and the west6 3.2 chinese menu features 6 3.2.1 diversity and regionalism in naming chinese menu6 3.2.2 flexibility and epochal featurein naming chinese menu74. problems with chinese menu translation caused byculturaldiscrepancies8 4.1 incapab

17、ilityto find equivalent words from chinese to english8 4.2 incapabilityto directly translate chinese into english8 4.3 incapabilityto convey accurate culturalinformation95. proposed strategiesto chinese menutranslation into english9 5.1strategy one: naming dishes based on materials9 5.2strategy two:

18、 naming dishes based on regions11 5.3strategy three: naming dishes based on creators or literary quotation126. conclusion13bibliography151. introduction 1.1 background of chinese menu translation china, with a large population, vast territory and abundant resources, is famous for its glorious civili

19、zation. its long history makes chinese cooking be well-known all over the world. about 3000 years ago, the chinese firstly invented the techniques of making and using soy sauce, vinegar, wine, jam and spices during the yin-zhou period. therefore, chinese cuisine becomes a very important part of chin

20、ese culture. those people who know chinese cuisines know better about china. since chinese menu is an important way to help others to know chinese cuisine, chinese menu translation becomes a window of chinese cuisine for foreigners. however, menu translation is a new field in china. making the study

21、 of chinese menu translation is still not enough. even nowadays, chinese menu translation is still not being considered as a serious academic study. 1.2 significance of standardized chinese menu translation standardized chinese menu translation in beijing was showed on the following website: during

22、december 2006 to january 2007, whose purpose is to ask for advice. it is a large-scaled activity of english translation for chinese menu in which experts, citizens and foreigners all join. after then, beijing tourism administration asked for advice again in august 2007 online. as the beijing olympic

23、s game was coming near, chinese menu translation was a matter of great urgency. many experts at home and abroad in this field were organized under the government to revise chinese dish names into english. after seeking ideas and advice through different channels, chinese menu in english version was

24、published on 19th june 2008, which plays a guiding role in standardizing english translation of chinese menu. it is profound to standardize chinese menu into english. first, it conveys chinese menu more accurately to understand by foreigners, which is better to give enormous publicity to chinese cul

25、ture. a single dish name will cause confusion which has more than one translation. even we chinese cant understand what the menu really mean. in fact the multi-translation of chinese menu not only puzzled the foreigners, but also might cause foreigners to misunderstand the culture of china. for exam

26、ple, the former translation of “夫妻肺片” was stated as “husband and wifes lung slice”, which is easily to be misunderstood as lung slices from a couple. second, in the course of translation, a lot of experts in this field who can appropriately do with culture differences between china and the west pay

27、attention to chinese menu and take part in translation. besides, the government has asked for advice at home and abroad widely, so it popularizes through the whole country, arousing chinese peoples enthusiasm to translate chinese menu into english. to some extent, it expands the influence of chinese

28、 menu. whats more, it is of great use for high-rated hotels and restaurants to render new dishes. 2. literature review in the coming nearly ten years, many translators are taking part in cuisine translation to the ranks, and in the field of english translation of chinese dish names they have accumul

29、ated a large number of research results. the research generally can be classified as the language characteristics and translation skills of translation theories or principles exploring for these two categories. i will do some comparative analysis and draw a conclusion for these researches. at the sa

30、me time, i will spend time on the future development direction and trend of translation and outlook the future. moreover, i hope i am able to provide some ideas and references for future chinese menu translation studies, in order to further this kind of field study.first of all, from the level of th

31、eory to make an analysis of translation theory, there is a close relationship between translation and culture, especially for a study of culture, language and translation. bachman explores language testing from a theoretical point of view in this book. it also mentioned how to translate some chinese

32、 dishes into english (bachman, 1990). it is a collection of essays which brings together the two leading international figures in the discipline of translation studies, susan bassnett and andre lefevere. the essays cover a wide range of fields, and combine theory with practical case studies involvin

33、g the translation of literary text（bassnett & lefevere, 2001.04.). the author makes an analysis of two closely related elements that is culture and language during the translations. he emphasizes that language and culture cannot exist without each other. and language not only can reflect culture but

34、 also shape culture, so we should consider cultural differences when translating (eugene a. nida, 1991). clifford landers provides pragmatic techniques for dealing with problems of literary translation. its very useful, informative, and practical. its a great guide for beginning translators (landers

35、, 2008.07). pragmatics is the branch of linguistics that deals with the meanings and effects that come from the use of language in particular situations (levinson s c. 1983: 45). this book presents a comprehensive theory on translation and makes an analysis of bible translation which helps the bible

36、 translators a lot (nida e. a & taber. c. r. 1969:12.). venuti tries to show how the theory and practice of translating literary works has been enacted throughout the centuries. it took me ages to finish. this book has provided me with a lot of insight about translating and what it means, culturally

37、. it has also told me how we adhere to foreign cultures when translating (venuti, 2004.06). it firstly presents the principles of chinese menu translation and then according to different classifications, lists a lot of dishes english names; this book offers great help for the foreign friends who att

38、ended the beijing olympic game in 2008, at the same time it also gives guidance for the standardized chinese menu translations (北京市人民政府外事辦公室和北京商務(wù)局2008). its a good course book on pragmatic translation. it covers a lot. one chapter is tourism translation which mentioned some translation of chinese di

39、shes (方夢之，毛忠明2004). it studies the translation of different types of writing and also presents the discussion of the cultural issue translations（郭建中1999.). actually, it does not cover all aspects of chinese menu translations, it just talks a few about it, but the author emphases a principle of menu

40、translation that the translator should have a good knowledge about the dishes features and also know well about the dishs cultural meanings (黃海翔. 1999，(1). this book presents a lot of examples about translation from different aspects based on the cross-cultural communication. it enriches my knowledg

41、e and also let me know more about cultural differences between china and west countries (金惠康2002.). it is one of the most useful literatures as for my paper. the authors main argument is that chinese menu translation into english first should follow the english language habits and meet foreign frien

42、ds convenience of dinning, and second reach the aim of enhancing national culture, so the translators not only should have good knowledge of every dishs raw materials and cooking methods but also should master cultural discrepancies between china and west countries and then apply corresponding trans

43、lation methods and skills when translating (潘桂娟2008(10). this paper takes the examples from chinese menu in english version and tries to explore the approaches of chinese menu translation into english from the perspective of pragmatic equivalence. let me know how important to try to keep the transla

44、tion pragmatic equivalence with the mother tongue (張志祥2009(4). this website is to set up chinese cuisine brand and improve its international image. i quoted some examples from this website on my paper (中文菜單英文譯法(正式發(fā)布fit) 20090425.). learning chinese menu is not only a new area to study cultural diffe

45、rences between western and china but also an urgent and arduous task for the translation industry in china. there are still lots of problems existing at present. therefore, this kind of field is worth exploring further.3. culture and chinese menu 3.1 cultural discrepancies manifested in chinese menu

46、 3.1.1 discrepancies in cooking culture between china and the west owing to different material abundance and cultural deposits, there are big discrepancies in cooking culture between china and the west. first, it is the concept of diet, which is formed in the course of people making and eating foods

47、, deeply influenced by the natural environment and social environment. the discrepancies in cooking culture lie in the characteristics of cultural roots between china and the west, especially the characteristics of thoughts of creators who coined cultures in china and the west. an old chinese saying

48、 goes like “food is the paramount necessity of the people.” it shows an aesthetic and perceptual concept of diet of chinese people, the pursuit of whom was beyond expression. chinese people believe that cooking is an art. the charming of chinese cuisine is the taste. the color, aroma, taste and appe

49、arance are the quintessence of chinese cooking art. therefore, chinese stress importance ofthe good tasting and spirit enjoyment when eating, rather than the nutrition of foods. instead, the west pays attention to rationality and science, who treat diet as a necessary means and communication method.

50、 they emphasize the nutrient value of foods, the content of protein, fat and vitamin, instead of the color, aroma, taste and appearance. as yutang lin says, the west just believes that “eating” is a process to inject the fuel to a biological machine. they eat to keep the health of their body and fig

51、ht against pathogen infection, not seek ease and comfort. besides, there are also discrepancies in dinner concept. chinese people are fastidious about the food,displaying of splendor when entertaining guests. they usually prepare much more foods than the host and guests can eat in order to show thei

52、r solicitous hospitality. however the foods in the west dinner are relatively simple. people think dinner as a chance to gather and communicate. the food is necessary, but not the most important. because of such concept, the dinner in west attaches importance to the variety of dinner styles. second,

53、 it is the structure and ways of eating. different agricultural structures lead to two different kinds of eating structure and habits. chinese cooking culture is based on traditional farming industry. the early agriculture history makes chinese people live in a settled life by farming. the food is m

54、ostly made up of grains with a little meat, supplementing with green vegetable. farming by the slash and burn method, chinese people found that cooked food is more delicious. so the cooking skills are becoming diverse and people attach importance to food collocation. however, the main traditional ag

55、riculture of the west is animal husbandry where farming only accounts for a little part. the developed animal husbandry provides the west people abundance of meat products and milk products, supplementing with little wheat food. the west doesnt eat the pluck and anything that they think is nonnutrit

56、ive. their cooking skill is simple and they eat raw vegetables. the differences of food structure lead to the differences of dishes. chinese people use the chopsticks, while the west uses forks and knives, which makes different eating habits and affects the concepts of life between chinese people an

57、d the west. professor pan guijuan believes that forks and knives bring to share food, while chopsticks lead to have dinner with family members. 3.1.2 discrepancies in naming dishes between china and the west the names of the dishes, as an advertisement of restaurant merchandises, have to attract cus

58、tomers and promote the dishes. theres a large variety of dishes in chinese menu, as well as staple food, so there are different kinds of chinese dish names too. while naming dishes, many rhetorical skills are used to be elegant, implicative, lucky and festival. the typical example is “佛跳墻(fotiaoqiang-steamed abalone wit