Tactics of C—E Translation of Chinese Cuisine’s Names under the Guidance of Economy Principle

【Abstract】American linguistics （Zipf） pointed out that the fundamental principle of information transmission is the Economy Principle. That is， people should use as fewer words as possible to express a whole meaning， thus achieving the goal of minimum input and maximum output. According to the economy principle， the translation of dishes names can use literal translation to highlight the excellence of their ingredients， use images to highlight the beauty of their shape， use transliteration plus literal translation to highlight the uniqueness of their flavors， and use transliteration to highlight their profound historical and cultural connotations. In this way we can make the translation short and understandable.

【Key words】Chinese food culture； dishes names； literal translation

Introduction

With the rapid development of Chinas economy， many people come to China. However， most of them are often facing the problem of understanding Chinese culture with distinctive characteristics.

Sichuan cuisine， as one of the “eight major cuisine” in China， has gained wide popularity both at home and abroad. However， the translation of these dishes names is a mixture of both good and evil versions. Therefore， it is necessary for us to explore an efficient translation principle in order to let foreigners know Chinese food cuisine more easily and correctly.

For C-E translation of Chinese cuisines names， none of them studied the translation of the names of Chinese dishes from the perspective of Economy Principle， which emphasizes expressing meaning in a quick and easy way. In essence， the names of dishes also reflect such effect both in their naming and translation， so the principle fits the translation of dishes names well.

1. An Overview of Economy Principle

The main idea of this principle can be simply summarized into this： to produce maximum achievements with minimum consumption of energy （Zipf， 1949： 67）.

1.1 Development of Economy Principle

Economy Principle， as a new theory used to define the ways of communication and a fundamental basis in communication process， originated in America in the 1950s. G.K.Zipf， an American linguist and psychiatrist （Zipf， 1949： 12）， found that human activities must abide by a fundamental principle： the Principle of Least Effort， or the Economy Principle. Another linguist， P. Grice， （Grice， 2003： 27） proposed four maxims in his Cooperative Principle （CP）： Maxim of Quantity， Maxim of Quality， Maxim of Relation and Maxim of Manner， which are closely associated with the Economy Principle. Later， on the basis of Grices CP and other maxims， G. Leech （Leech， 1983： 64）concluded his own four principles on economy， that is， first， be humanly processible in ongoing time； second， be clear； third， be quick and easy； four， be expressive. In Ideas and Ideals， N. Chomsky regarded Economy as a component of the Minimalist Program， and tried to add details to old ideas about “Economy”. He claimed that the Principle of Least Effort is a prominent characteristic of the language faculty （Chomsky， 1999： 86）.

1.2 Functions of Economy Principle

The Economy Principle was once believed to work only in sound level， however the factual knowledge tells us that it works in other levels as well， such as the phonetic， syntactic and textual level.

At phonetic level， it can lower any superfluous sounds and moderate transition from one sound to another， which leads to convergence and assimilation. From a syntactic view of point， the Economy Principle on the one hand favors the most distinctive structure instead of vague one. At the textual level， if the two parties share more information between each other. They probably need less linguistic resources than others who dont share any common information. （向明友， 2002： 310） According to the previous statements， we can see that no matter what linguistic level we are focusing on， each word and each sentence should function well.

2. Naming Principles of Chinese Cuisine

Chinese cuisines names dont come easily and most of them follow by certain principles. By exploring these principles， people can find out lots of unthinkable rules rooted in dishes names and make translation of these names more acceptable（高瑞芬， 2007： 31）.

2.1 Implicitness

Chinese Cuisines Names contain profound historical and cultural connotations. Besides， Chinese people always desire for good things， such as happiness， auspiciousness， safety， health， harmony， rank and wealth. This has been passed on for thousands of years. Therefore， Chinese cuisines names should transmit some “auspicious information” to pray for a good luck（呂爾欣， 2013： 79）. For example， the most famous dish “Dragon and Phoenix Bringing Prosperity”（龍鳳呈祥） is made from snake and chicken， embodying the artistic conception of good luck and harmony.

2.2 Conciseness

There is a resemblance between the names of dishes and other names of objective things， since the names of dishes are just a code of communication. So it should not be too long， or it will prevent people from remembering and communicating. First the names should be concise in its meanings and then in its form. In the naming process， ingredients are indispensable part for the nomenclators consideration. But people will generalize this characteristic with numbers when there are too many ingredients. For example， “three delicacies”， “eight treasures”and “eight dainties” often appear in Chinese cuisine.

3. Translation Tactics of Dishes Names of Sichuan Cuisine under the Guidance of Economy Principle

The translation of the names of Sichuan cuisine should comprehensively use methods such as literal translation， free translation， transliteration， and so on.

3.1 Literal Translation to Highlight the Quality of Main Ingredients

Every dish has its main ingredients and other seasonings. So we should consider them when we translate dishes names.

For example， “游龍戲鳳” was translated into “You Dragon She Phoenix”（you are the dragon and she is the phoenix）. Although the form of its translation is concise， yet the main characteristics are not fully demonstrated. Therefore， the name can be translated into： Stir-Fried Prawns and Chicken. This version is not very long， but it cites all the main ingredients of the dish. Specifically， we can use this translation structure： main ingredients + with + other seasonings.

Other examples include Pork Slivers with Green Peppers

（青椒肉片）； Tossed Clear Noodles with Chili Sauce（川北涼粉）； Minced Chicken with Preserved Mustard Buds（皮蛋海椒）， and so on.

3.2 Borrowing Images to Highlight the Beautiful Shape

There are some complex dishes whose names consist of realistic parts and imagined parts. In these names， many rhetorical devices are used， such as metaphor， metonymy， overstatement， allusions， and so on. But there are many other translations which may confuse foreigners. For example， “虎皮尖椒”，which cannot be translated into “tiger skin and green pepper”， which will make foreigners think that Chinese people like to eat “tiger skin”. The dish can be translated into Tiger Skin-like Fried Green Peppers/Fried Green Pepper in Shape of Tiger Skin. The translation structure can be： main ingredient + in the shape of + image or image +shaped/like + main ingredients. Other dishes include Cherry Pulp-like Meat（櫻桃肉），Maple Leaf-shaped Baozi Stuffed with Sauced Pork（醬肉楓葉包）， Fan-Shaped Fish Paste（扇形魚糕），and so on.

3.3 Transliteration plus Literal Translation to Highlight Unique Flavor

Sichuan cuisine features tongue-numbing and spicy tastes. For example， the dish “五香牛肉” is translated into “ Five Flavors Beef”， which occurs because the translator doesnt know how its flavor is cooked. In semantic level， every word in the name should bear the responsibility of transmitting information. The dish can be translated into Spiced Beef. In the translation of dishes names with flavor， we can use Pinyin or literal translation directly. For example，Hula-Flavored Fresh Scallops（with Scorched Chilies） （胡辣扇貝） is a specialty.

3.4 Transliteration to Highlight Profound Historical Allusions

Sichuan cuisine has profound historical and cultural connotations， which are closely related to their originating places and their creators. But some of them are translated wrongly because the version may incur misunderstanding. For example， the dish “魚香肉絲” is always translated like “Fish-Flavored Shredded Pork”. Actually， the dish is irrelevant with fish， but it uses the skills of cooking fish. The dish can be translated into Yu Xiang Shredded Pork.

For their translation， we can use transliteration to retain their names and places and use literal translation to translate their ingredients. Other dishes names like that include Mapo beancurd（麻婆豆腐），Gongbao Pork Tenderloins（宮保蹄筋），Laoma Rabbit Heads（老媽兔頭），and so on. （車輻，1990： 47）.

Conclusion

This paper briefly introduces Economy Principle， its functions at several levels and Chinese dishes names. On the basis of exploring the characteristics of these names and their connections with the Economy Principle， tactics of translation are discussed.

There was no paper exploring translation of dishes names from the Economy Principle perspective. And this paper makes an analysis of translation of dishes names and comes up with several translation tactics. Due to limited time and references， there are still some shortcomings in this paper. First， this paper does not focus on the functions of Economy Principle in phonetic level. Second， the principle of nomination does not cover all forms.

References：

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[3]Leech，G.Principles of Pragmatics[M].London：Longman Group Ltd.，1983.

[4]Zipf，G.K.Human Behavior and the Principle of Least Effort：An Introduction to Human Ecology[M].New York：Hafner，1949.

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作者簡介：班凱鋒（1992.6-），男，甘肅天水人，漢族，碩士，研究方向：英語筆譯。