English Translation Of Chinese Dish Names From A Cultural Aspect

An old Chinese saying goes,“To the people foodstuff is all-important”, whichpoints out the indispensible significance of food to human beings. Since ancient times,Chinese people have the habits of loving eating and being expert at eating, thusCuisine culture becomes an important part of Chinese culture. Chinese dish namescould illustrate raw materials, cooking methods and the dish’s color, aroma, taste aswell as shape. Some dish names even comprise origin, inventor or contain auspiciouswords. Currently the globalization is hot and the communication at home and abroadbecomes increasingly frequent. Foreign people have keener interests in Chinesecuisine culture. Therefore, the English translation of Chinese dish names are of greatsignificance to the spread of Chinese traditional culture and the promotion ofcommunications among people from different countries. Nowadays some scholarshave been already aware of the importance of English translation of Chinese dishnames and started to conduct studies, however, majority of the studies are notsystematic and overlook the communication of cultural connotations of Chinese dishnames.This thesis researches the English translation of Chinese dish names from acultural perspective by employing cultural translation theory and reception aestheticstheory. First of all, the author introduces the characteristics of Chinese cuisine cultureand discusses the translatability of Chinese dish names. Then the author points out theexiting problems of English translation of Chinese dish names and their causes. Onthis basis, the author puts forward the translating principles of Chinese dish namesand proposes translation methods for different types of dish names. All in all, theauthor believes that much more attention should be attached to the significance ofEnglish translation of Chinese dish names, cultural awareness should be increased inthe process of translation and the most appropriate translating method should be selected according to specificconditions and cultural connotations flexibly.