A Report On The C-E Translation Of Foods In The Song Dynasty:a Bite Of Song (Excerpts) From The Perspective Of Cultural Translation Theory

With the accelerating process of globalization,economic engagements and cultural exchanges between China and other countries are becoming increasingly intensive.Communication and interaction about food have already been an integral part of the cultural exchanges between China and the West.With the increasing internationalization of China’s diet trend,more and more overseas people have seen excellent meals with Chinese characteristics and caught the broad and profound Chinese diet culture.Under this background,it is a significant task for translation practitioners to introduce Chinese culture to western readers through diet and spread Chinese culture in diet to the west through translation.How to choose appropriate translation strategies,use effective translation methods,and let Chinese culture approach western diners with the help of food publicity has become the topic of our times.The source text of this translation report is selected from some chapters of Foods in the Song Dynasty: A Bite of Song(Chapters II,III,and VI).Taking diet as the starting point,this book presents the daily eating habits,tableware,cooking condiments and other details of the people of the Song Dynasty in a panoramic way.The writing style is straightforward,concise,and jocular.Although a large number of ancient books and records are quoted,it is not obscure for readers with the original author’s interpretation,which reads more like an interesting and readable “cookbook”about the Song Dynasty.Based on the type of this book and its language characteristics,the author chooses Susan Bassnett’s cultural translation theory as the guiding theory of this translation practice report.Taking the selected chapters as examples,the author analyzes the application of cultural translation theory in the English translation of texts about eating.Bassnett placed particular emphasis on cultural exchange—culture as the overriding factor and information as the secondary one—in her “Views of Cultural Translation.” Through translation,various nations can introduce their own unique cultures,revealing the cultural enchantment and promoting the comparative studies of two distinct languages and cultures.Meanwhile,they can also accept and absorb foreign cultures to boost their cultural innovation and development.From a macro perspective,translation can also help build the amity of bridge between diverse nations and countries.Through this translation practice,the author found that despite there are significant differences in language features between Chinese and English and the dissimilar concepts of dietary cultures between China and the West,the author can still maneuver translation methods under the guidance of the cultural translation theory to display the profound cultural connotation carried by the Chinese dietary language,rediscover the original language style,maximize the cultural function equivalence,and improve the effectiveness of translation in the field of diet.