Translating Chinese Dishes In Tongchuan City: A Perspective Of Adaptation Theory

Chinese cuisine is famous in the world, and the names of Chinese dishes alsoattract foreigner’s eyes. With the development of tourism, foreign friends showincreasing interest in Chinese food culture. It is now necessary to standardize theEnglish translation of Chinese dish names so as to better disseminate the Chinese foodculture to foreign friends. In2008, Beijing Tourism Bureau has published a dishescollection book named Enjoy Culinary Delights: the English Translation of ChineseMenus, which became the guide book in Chinese dish name translation. However,some mistranslations still exist in some restaurants of small cities such as Tongchuan,a historical and cultural city in the middle of Shaanxi Province. According to statistics,more than70,000foreigners come to Tongchuan City for visit every year. However,according to the data collected, the improper dish name translations exist in manyrestaurants in the city. Bearing this in mind, this paper tries to summarize thetranslation strategies of the guide book in the frame of reference to Verschueren’sAdaptation Theory, and then tests them in the instances of data collected and furthercorrect the improper translations of dish names in menus in some restaurants ofTongchuan City in the hope that foreigners will find much easier and convenient toenjoy Tongchuan local delicacies and the cuisine culture in the northwest as well.