中國菜單英文翻譯的策略研究

Abstract:With the rapid development of economy in China， tourism has been booming in recent years. Of course， more and more foreigners choose China as their best destination to enjoy their vacations. And also， tasting Chinese traditional food definitely must be a necessary arrangement in their travel plans. So， the English translation of Chinese menus plays a crucial role in transmitting Chinese culture to the world.This paper tries to find out the skillful and excellent translation methods and it also combines our unique culture with the translation methods so as to not only make foreigners figure out what they exactly eat but also leave them a deep impression of our food culture.

摘 要：隨著中國經濟的快速發展，近年來旅游業也得到了蓬勃的發展。理所當然的，越來越多的外國友人將中國作為他們旅游目的地的首選。因為品嘗中國特有的食物會豐富他們旅游生活。那么，如何翻譯中國食品則成了一個很重要的議題。為了解決這一問題，這篇論文試圖創造性的研究一些食品翻譯方法，提出中國食品翻譯要把中國文化同翻譯策略有機結合。

Key words:Chinese menus; translation methods; food culture; cultural habits

關鍵詞：中國菜單；翻譯方法；飲食文化；文化習慣

[中圖分類號]：H059 [文獻標識碼]：A

[文章編號]：1002-2139(2012)-15-0171-01

Chinese food is an important part of our great traditional culture. How can we make foreign guests understand Chinese food culture better when we try to translate Chinese menus into English?I will give readers some ideas.

1、Literal translation

Nowadays the majority of foreign tourists care about most are what they really eat， how the dish taste or what the cooking method is.Basically， there are several situations under this method.For example， “西紅柿炒雞蛋” it is chiefly translated into English by introducing main ingredients and excipients.So we can find out “Scrambled Egg with Tomato” would be the best translation version.Some dishes may be unique in one certain place， so we must save our precious local culture and characteristics in order to show foreigners our great cultural heritage.“北京烤鴨” is a well-known special dish in Beijing; when we try to translate this kind of dish， we should put the name of the city into English translation to inflect the indigenous food culture. So here is the translation version: “Roasted Beijing Duck”. I think the translation follows the principle mentioned above.

2、Free translation

People in China named some dishes of the natural sceneries， or even historical stories of Chinese idioms in the names of those dishes by analogy and association. It is very difficult for foreign visitors to understand the unique cultural implication of the dishes. Under the circumstances， instead of laying down the jargons or metaphors of original names of the dishes， we can directly translate them into English through free translation by introducing main ingredients， cooking methods and so on. Take “螞蟻上樹” as an typical example， we may use free translation we mentioned just now. So the translation of “Sautéed vermicelli with spicy minced” may be the best choice.

3、Literal translation combined with annotation

One dish named “全家福”(“Happy Family”)， if visitors see nothing but this name when they order the meal， they may totally wondering about it， for the sake of conveying precise meaning， we should add ingredients or cooking method to the translation. So here is the acknowledged translation way， “Happy Family----A combination of shrimps， pork， beef， chicken， lobster and mixed vegetables with brown sauce”.

4、Literal translation and transliteration with annotation

Some names of those dishes contain dense Chinese cultural connotation， on condition that they have no conflicts with Western culture; we should try our best to reserve its special culture moral.Take “開門紅” as a typical case， it is a famous dish in China， it is just kind of fish， we should introduce the main ingredients ，cooking method and at last should add its Bopomofo annotation to the translation. Here is the integrated translation: “Tender Fish Head with Red Pepper (Kaimenhong， literally meaning business opens with a good start)”.