English Translation Of Chinese Menu From A Cultural Aspect

Food, an essential prerequisite for existence, plays an irreplaceable role in the development of society and in the progress of human beings, whether in ancient times or in modern times, and whether in the East or in the West. Chinese cuisine culture holds a highly important position in Chinese culture. As a thread going through the long history of Chinese cuisine culture, Chinese dish names not only reflect the variety of ingredients, cooking methods, color, aroma, taste, appearance of the dishes, but also contain a lot of cultural elements such as dish inventors, original places, and auspicious words. Accurate and elegant translation of Chinese dish names plays a significant role in promoting the interaction among peoples of different nations in an era when cultural exchanges have been increasingly taking place.However, menu translation has rarely been considered worthy of serious academic study mainly because there is a widely-held view that only "serious" subject matters deserve that. As a result, the study of menu translation has not been taken seriously enough. We can easily find many collections of Chinese cookbooks on bookshelves, but seldom do we come across research books on Chinese food written in English.Based on cultural translation theory, this thesis aims to undertake a systematic exploration of English translation of Chinese menu from a cultural aspect. On the basis of a discussion of the relationship between language, culture and translation, the feasibility of cultural translation is presented. Cultural translation is a newly-emerged theory aiming at conducting culture-oriented studies for the translation activity, which shows the trend of translation studies both at home and abroad. Translation is not only the transfer between two languages, but also between two cultures. The cultural translation theory is, therefore, proposed to deal with this cross-cultural transmission.Then, the thesis provides some related information of Chinese cuisine culture and Chinese dishes. Problems existing in the current English translation of Chinese menu and the causes are also pointed out. After that, some translation principles and criteria are carried out, which include comprehending of the dish's name, transmitting of aesthetical values and considering of cultural elements. According to the characteristics, Chinese dish names are classified into seven major groups and specific translation techniques for each group are proposed such as literal translation, literal translation plus explanation, free translation, free translation plus explanation, transliteration and transliteration plus explanation. It is suggested in the thesis that the translator should flexibly choose to apply these techniques according to the cultural connotation of dish names. Through the systemic analysis, the writer believes that much more attention should be paid to English translation of Chinese menu, and cultural awareness should be increased in the process of translation.