A Study On Translation Methods Of Chinese Image-Telling Cuisines Names Under The Guidance Of Reception Aesthetics

Cuisine name is a business card of cuisine culture and the most direct conveyor of cuisine culture.Image-telling cuisine name is an essential part of Chinese cuisine names.Being different from fact-telling cuisine names,image-telling cuisine names can tell consumers little information about the cuisines,and are often formed by the content which is not close to the basic information of the cuisines.According to the contents,image-telling cuisine names can be divided into six main categories,including metaphorical cuisine name,hyperbolic cuisine names,cuisine names about allusions,symbolic cuisine names and cuisine name with number.Due to complicated methods of naming,as well as the Chinese culture-oriented contents,image-telling cuisine names are difficult to translate.By analyzing the cuisine names collected online or offline,or from authoritative materials,three main problems are found in translated image-telling cuisine names: loss of information,cultural offence and incorrect information transmission.Many scholars have studied the translation of Chinese cuisine names from the perspective of the functions of the text,faithfulness of the translation,etc.,and few have studied it from the point of the consumers,namely the readers of the translated cuisine names.However,the direct receptor of the translation of cuisine names is the consumer.How consumers react to the translation plays a decisive role in judging whether the translation is good or not.Only the translation that can be accepted by consumer can be considered as a good one which possibly enter overseas market.In this study,the author studies the translation of image-telling cuisine names under the guidance of Reception Aesthetic Theory which proposes to create literary works from the perspective of readers,and takes advantage of the main ideas of horizon of expectation,uncertainty of context and response-inviting structure,the problems existing in the current translation and the features of image-telling cuisine names,to conclude three major strategies.In addition,several translations have also been summarized,including free-translation with annotation,literal-translation with annotation,explanation and transliteration.The author hopes to provide some guidance for the translation of image-telling cuisine names and promote the exporting of Chinese cuisine culture through making this study.