ONMETHODSOFTRANSLATINGCHINESEMENUINENGLISH_开题报告

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Literature Review

Current Research in China 

As China is increasingly becoming part of the world economically and a significant economic superpower, Chinese culture has gradually been recognized internationally. As one of the Chinese culture’s divisions, Chinese cuisines have emerged as well across the world being well received by people from different cultural backgrounds. For foreign people who are fond of Chinese cuisines, translation of Chinese menu has undoubtedly become the very first and basic step to understand Chinese delicacy. Therefore, the gracefully and decently translated Chinese menu could not only spark their expectation in delicious Chinese cuisines, but also motivate their interest and desire to learn deeply about Chinese food culture. However, paradoxically currently in China, the translation of Chinese cuisines is not optimistic as English translation of menus in a lot of restaurants and cafeterias are not graceful, accurate, correct even not standardized. According to some findings, English translation of Chinese menus in some restaurants is far-fetched, or garble, or in some cases, the translation is nothing to do with original name of the cuisines. Such problems regarding translation can even be found in star-rated hotels. 

The Problems in Menu Translation

The biggest problem in English translation of Chinese menu is randomness and disconnection between theories and practices. For instance, the Chinese dish “童子鸡” is translated in English as “Chicken Without Sexual Life”. Literally it is translated fully in standard of “faithfulness”, however it fails to deliver the meaning in practice. It can’t be understood not only by foreign people from other cultures, but also would be confused by Chinese people. In another case the name  “童子鸡” is translated as “Spring Chicken” which was allegedly verified by foreign linguistic experts. Apparently this version is more creative and romantic. However it is still a regret this translated version is still far irrelevant with the terms popularly used in menus of western restaurants. Beyond that, “Spring Chicken” is an American slang which is used to describe active girls. It is very hard for customers from non-Chinese cultures to literally understand what really is the Chinese dish “Spring Chicken”. In the West, the terms “tender”, “young” or “baby” are always used to describe something edible is young or fresh. For example in supermarkets, “Baby Corn” and “Baby Carrot” are commonplaces. Thus the correct translation of “童子鸡” should be Baby Chicken or Tender Chicken or Young Chicken or Tongzi Chicken (transliteration and free translation). In the article On English Translation of Chinese Cuisines from “Burning Red Cliff” and “An Auspicious Start”, Mr.Xie Xianze concluded that there are two problems which should be solved: Firstly there is a need to have deep research on translation principles of Chinese cuisines; secondly it is not enough to pertinently translate cuisines in Chinese menus. Conclusively it is urgent to have systematical and standardized methods in English translation of Chinese cuisines. 

Solutions

Mr.Liu Zengyu is an expert who focused attention on English translation of Chinese cuisines at the earliest stage. In the 5th edition of the journal Chinese Translation of 1990, Mr. Liu released an article titled “An Urgency to Verify English Translation of Chinese Cuisines”. Based on then situation of the problematic translation of Chinese cuisines, he set up the Chinese Cuisine Verification Committee. In the 2nd edition of the journal Chinese Translation of 1993, Mr.Chen Jiaji released an article titled “Initial Study on English Translation Methods of Chinese Cuisines” where he raised some types of Chinese cuisine translation: realistic (literal translation), freehand (based on free translation and supplemented with transliteration), semi-realistic-semi-freehand (transliteration plus free translation), local flavour, allusions (transliteration or free translation plus interpretive translation) and medicinal diet (simple translation plus annotation). 

To reflect meaning of the original text in the furthest way, the translators should try to widely use transliteration and literal translation. In the article on Translation of Mao Zedong’s Poems, Mr.Qian Zhongshu came up with the dilemma about transliteration or liberal translation (Kong Qingmao, 1995: 189), which is quite significant for us to refer to. Most of the Chinese dish names are similar with Chinese idioms which are composed of four characters. English translation of Chinese cuisines should reflect cultural characteristics of Chinese-----tempo and rhythm. In other words, the total number of syllables in English translated versions should be roughly similar with the number of the characters in the original texts, or with no differences of more than 2 syllables. This viewpoint is enlightened by the theory of Synaesthesia raised by Mr.Qian Zhongshu (Qian Zhongshu, 1962). In practice, the translators should follow the principles above to carry out necessary adjustment and selection to the original texts and their English translated version. For instance, in cases when the number of characters in the translated version is too excessive, the translators should highlight the main information plus adding an explanation of the secondary information in the follow-up instruction. A perfect English translation of Chinese cuisines should be composed of two parts: 1. Name 2. Explanation of the Name. The explanation of the name should be of three parts: 1. Raw materials in use 2. Main ingredients in cooking 3. Some possible stories and cultural elements behind it to make the translated version more understandable to both customers and waiters. Meanwhile more than the cuisines themselves, the customers from other non-Chinese cultures can receive some more understanding about Chinese cultures. 

Outline

1.Introduction

1. 1 Reasons behind the English Mistranslation Behind Chinese Cuisines

1.2 Differences between Chinese Cuisines and Their Western Counterparts

1.3 Differences between Chinese Food Culture and Its Western Counterpart

Problems in English Translation of Chinese Cuisines

2.1 Pinyin Transliteration

2.2. Misuses of Literal Translation

3.Strategies in English Translation of Chinese Cuisines

3.1. I. Literal Translation

3.2. II. Free Translation

4..Conclusion

References 

[1] Newmark , P. About Translation[M]. Toronto : Uni2versity of Toronto Press, 1990.[2] Qian Zhongshu. Synaesthesia [J ]. Literature Commentary, 1962, (1) .[3] Qian Zhongshu. Translation of Lin Shu [A]. Thesis Collection of Translation Research [C]. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Publishing House, 1984.[4] Kong Qingmao. Biography of Qian Zhongshu [M]. Nanjing: Jiangsu Literature and Art Publishing House, 1995.

[5] Zhu Qixin, A Must Read of English Guide [M]. Beijing: China South Tourism Publishing House, 2005.

[6] Wu Weixiong. An Initial Discussion on English Translation of Chinese Cuisines [J]. Chinese Translation, 1986（5）.

[7]Yang Tianqing. Sichuan English Guide [M]. Beijing：Tourism Education Publishing House, 2005.

[8] Ren Jingsheng. My Discussion on English Translation of Chinese Cuisines and Staple Food[J].Chinese Translation, 2001（6）.

[9] LIU Zengyu.An Urgency to Verify English Translation of Chinese Cuisines[J]. Chinese Translation, 1990（5）

[10] The Editing team of “Tourist English” of the Ministry of Education. Tourist English [M]. Beijing：Higher Education Publishing House，2002.

[11] Chen Jiaji’s Article “Initial Study on English Translation Methods of Chinese Cuisines” . The Journal “Chinese Translation”, 1993.