On Translation Of Chinese Menu From The Perspective Of Skopostheorie

As a result of the quickening pace of China's integration into the global economy and its preparation for especially the 2008 Olympics, the increasing depth and breadth of the China's opening up to the outside world have been greatly promoted. Sharing this general trend, various aspects of foreign exchanges have attracted much attention. The menu translation, which is closely related to daily life, is not an exception. During the Olympics, Chinese Menu in English Version, a book issued by governmental departments, sought to solve some standing problems in menu translation, namely, that there were different English names for the same Chinese dish and unqualified translation. It ultimately aims to make the Chinese meals served at the convenience of athletes and visitors from all over the world.The recent years witnessed that the academic researches on menu translation have been growing rapidly in terms of both quality and quantity. However, it should be pointed out that these researches focus on the cultural aspects of the Chinese menu and aim to preserve characteristically Chinese features. The problem with this is that too much stress on cultural aspects cannot provide for sufficient menu translation in the new period; in other words, the practical aspects have not received enough attention. As a result, they failed to give a satisfactory answer to the translation strategies used in Chinese Menu in English Version.In order to overcome these limitations, this study focuses on the practical aspects of menu translation from the perspective of Skopostheorie, a core theory of German functionalism. By resorting to Peter Newmark's classification of text function and taking Chinese Menu in English Version as the data, we analyze the dish names in terms of the informative and vocative functions.Skopostheorie, a core theory of German functionalism, was developed by the German translator H. J. Vermeer. Based on the principle of "the ends justifying the means", it regards translating as a purposeful activity. In practice, the translation purpose is realized by achieving the intended functions of the text, namely informative function and vocative function. Through the analysis of the intended functions in Chinese Menu in English Version, the present study found that Skopostheorie could be used as an effective perspective to interpret the menu translation, which can shed some light on the translation of menu and other similar genre. Besides, by using these translation skills and strategies, the cultural aspects of dish names in the data have been de-emphasized. Then the study summarizes two reasons for this: first, the informative function has been strengthened, while the vocative function has been changed based on considerations about the target reader and the time and place of the reception of Chinese Menu in English Version; second, because of the special function of the Olympic Games, namely, to publicize China, the traditional Chinese dishes (mainly rice, noodles and local snacks) have been translated by transliteration in order to preserve Chinese characteristics to an the utmost degree.