目的论视角下中式菜名英译——以孔府菜为例.docx

ContentsChinese Abstract2English Abstract31.Introduction42. Literature Review43. Rules of Skopos Theory54. Problems and Causes of Chinese Dish Translation75. Translation Strategies of Chinese Dish Names85.1 Literal Translation85.2 Free Translation125.3 Transliteration146. Conclusion15References17目的论视角下中式菜名英译以孔府菜为例 摘 要文章以目的论为视角，通过阐述中式菜名的特点，指出中式菜名英译中存在的问题，进而以孔府菜为例分析中式菜名的英译，并提出直译、意译、音译的实用性翻译策略，体现出中式菜名的英译为文化交流服务的目的，以期为更多中式菜名的英译思路和方法提供参考和借鉴意义。关键词：目的论；中式菜名；英译On the Translation of Chinese Cuisine Names from the Perspective of Skopos Theory:Take Confucian-style Dishes as an ExampleAbstractBased on the perspective of Skopos Theory, this paper points out the problems in the English translation of Chinese dish names by explaining their characteristics. Then it discusses the translation of Chinese dish names by taking Confucian-style dishes as an example. And it proposes the practical translation strategies of literal translation, free translation and transliteration to better serve cultural exchanges, so as to provide reference for more ideas and methods of the translation of Chinese dish names.Key words: Skopos Theory; Chinese dish names; translation1. Introduction With full development and broad influence, Chinese cuisine culture has become one of the crystallization of the splendid culture of Chinese nation. The naming of the Chinese dishes incorporates immense culinary skill, deep historical background, as well as folk custom and local flavor (谢天振, 2011). A well-translated Chinese menu is a bridge for foreigners to understand China and Chinese food culture. Nevertheless, many issues have not be addressed in the translation. In other words, the previous translation of dishes has helped Chinese food introduced to the world, but did not spread the profound Chinese diet culture equally (刘清波, 2003). In this case, Skopos Theory gives theoretical foundation for the translation of Chinese dish names. Skopos Theory is the core theory of German functionalism. It is a mode of translation theory proposed and developed by Han Vermeer, a German translator (谭载喜, 2014). This paper is composed of six parts. Part one reveals that the translation of Chinese dish names has been instrumental in our understanding of Chinese cuisine culture. Part two shows the literature review including the recent researches in the translation of Chinese dishes. Part three states the functional approaches-the theory of Skopos Theory. Part four focuses on the problems and causes of the translation of Chinese dish names. Part five concentrates on the practical translation strategies, in which the concrete techniques are suggested in details. Part six offers a conclusion.2. Literature Review The study of dish name translation in China, recently, has mainly focused on the exploration of translation theory, language features and translation techniques. With regard to the exploration of the regulation of dish name translation, domestic translation scholars have discussed it from different theoretical perspectives, such as linguistic perspective and so on. Liu Qingbo (2003) believes that the principles of avoiding deficiency and simplicity must be obeyed in the translation of Chinese dishes when necessary. From the perspective of Skopos Theory, Wu Weixiong (2007) maintains that the translation of Chinese recipes should jump out of the shallow meaning of the text, and translate its pragmatic meaning, fully consider the cultural background and psychological factors of foreign diners, and romantic dish names, in order to achieve semantic and pragmatic walking on two legs. Ding Li (2010) holds that the translation of Chinese dish names should be led by the basic principle of "replacing deficiency with reality, simplifying complexity into simplicity and proper annotation". Most of these translation principles and standards are analyzed from the perspective of pragmatics and function, which have certain practicability and maneuverability in the field of recipe translation. in addition, some scholars, such as Wang Tong and Hu Liangcai (2007), Zhu Xiaoqin (2008), Liu Huan (2008), Zheng Wei (2009), Xie Ke (2009) have tried to explore the translation of dish names from the perception of adaptation theory, cognitive linguistics and post-colonial perspective. In the study of language features and translation techniques, scholars pay attention to different directions. Liu Zhaoyang (2010) discusses that the names of Chinese dishes have beautiful phonology, exquisite use of words, rich cultural connotations, beautiful language style with the translation view of domestication and foreignization. Literal translation, free translation and transliteration are put forward.At present, more and more foreign scholars are interested in the translation of Chinese dishes names. Amal Sankar (2017) talked about the influence of cultural differences on the translation of names of Chinese dishes in “Creation of Indian-Chinese Cuisine: Chinese Food in an Indian City” . On the other hand, in “Umami (Xian-Wei) in Chinese Food” , Tokiko Nakayama and Haruko Kimura (2008) prefer literal translation of dish ingredients. And in “The Peoples Food: the Ingredients of Ethnic Hierarchies and the Development of Chinese Restaurants in Rome”, Pierpaolo Mudu (2007) talks about the influence of the “ethnic” class and the development of restaurants on the translation of the names of Chinese dishes. This paper conducts a short discussion of past studies of the translation of Chinese dishes generally. Based on the review of the past studies, indisputably, there are increasing researches on the translation of Chinese dishes from various perspectives. However, there are few studies conducted from the aspect of culture. So this paper applies Skopos Theory to guide the translation of Chinese dish names and take Confucian-style dishes, full of Chinese culture, as an example. 3. Rules of Skopos Theory Skopos theory, started in the 1970s, is the most representative translation theory in Germany. Its core idea is that the purpose of the whole translation is an important aspect of the translation practice. The purpose of translation is highly associated to the methods adopted in the process of translation, the choice of content and form of the original work and the transformation of the target text. In the process of translation, it is purpose-oriented, with intra-lingual consistency and adequacy as the way of evaluation. In the 1971 book Possibility and Limitation in Translation Criticism, Katharian Reiss first put forward Skopos Theory of translation, and formed the early relevant theory. After that, her student, Hans Vermeer, mentioned the basic principles of Skopos Theory in early 1978. In 1984, he cooperated with Reiss published General Foundations of Translation Theory. Actually, Reiss laid the base of Skopos Theory of the translation, Vermeer summed up and summarized the rules to be followed in the practice of Skopos Theory of translation, and naturally became the founder of the theory. Jasta Herzmantari, a German translator, mainly studies the translation behavior, situation and other specific problems in the translation process, Nord had made great efforts to improve the theory and certainly expanded the functional usage of it (陈冰月等, 2006). There are three rules in Skopos Theory. One is that the skopos rule is the action guide to all translation activities, that is, in the context and culture of translation, the translation behavior should be developed to satisfy the readers needs (Venuti, 2000). Coherence rule, is also called the rule of consistency, which holds that the translation must follow the intra-textual coherence. Intra-textual coherence refers to the connotation of the target languages culture and the target text ( Nord, 2001). According to Skopos Theory, The fidelity rule belongs to the rule of coherence, and they all belong to the primary principle of Skopos Theory, that is, skopos rule. The fidelity rule was put forward by Nord. Nord believes that under the guidance of the fidelity rule, we should be clearly aware of the cultural differences in the process of translation and the relationship between the translator and the target readers.Whats more, the translator bears a certain responsibility in the translation process, so he has the obligation to explain the translation actions taken in the translation process. The fidelity rule also requires the translator to be faithful to the author of the original text no matter what, which is the essence of fidelity rule. Generally speaking, in the process of translation, the fidelity rule emphasizes the relationship between the translator, the author of the source text and the readers of the target text. In Nords view, a good translation had better follow the communicative purpose and the translation rule of fidelity.4. Problems and Causes of Chinese Dish Translation It is not uncommon to see one dish has multiple translation, and most of them are inaccurate, disordered and lack of unified standards. Some dishes have multiple translation versions, which caused foreign friends to mistake the same dish as several different dishes when ordering, which is not conducive to the development of Chinese food culture and the connection between China and the world. For example, there are several translations of “宫保鸡丁” : Chicken Cubes with Peanuts in Hot Sauce；Chicken Cubes with Peanuts; Palace Teachers Diced Chicken with Chili and Peanuts；Stir-fried Chicken with Dried Red Pepper；Stir Fried Kung Pao Chicken with Chili Pepper and Cashew Nuts; Fried Diced Chicken in Sichuan Style. And in the book Chinese Menu English Translation Discussion Draft released in Beijing, it is called Kung Pao Chicken.After some Chinese dishes are translated into English, it is important for the translators to consider whether they can keep the original Chinese characteristics, for example, like “鲤鱼跳龙门”, “东坡肘子” and “佛跳墙”. When translating them into English, it is critical to pay attention to the foreigners' understanding of the meaning of these Chinese dishes. Different regions have different food cultures most of the dishes are not translated properly. Some dish names ignore the cultural allusions and take the form of “literal translation”, which makes the guests stunned. Some translations are almost literally translated. For example, the very auspicious “四喜丸子” is translated into Four Happy Meatballs. “猴魁茶” is translated as Number One Monkey-tea, and “夫妻肺片” is translated as Husband and Wife's Lung Slice. The translation is even more unintelligible. What makes people laugh is that “麻婆豆腐”has actually become Tofu Made by Freckled Women. “童子鸡” has become Chicken without Sex, and “回锅肉” is translated into Double Cooked Pork Slices.Those problems could be attributed to at least three causes. Firstly, there is less adequate consideration to the translation of Chinese dishes and foods. Next, many translators who do menu translation lack the necessary linguistic skills (夏芳莉，2008). The practitioners in the translation practice are not professional enough. Therefore, it is unavoidable that the translating production is thus influenced and mediocre, even with obvious errors. Thirdly, many translators are incompatible in cultural consciousness.With the above discussion of translation of Chinese dishes and the analysis of the problems in the existing English translation, Its concluded that the translation needs to follow some strategies and no one particular method of translation is commonly applicable. With an in-depth study of English translation of many food names, effective methods of translation to each kind of the Chinese dish names can be suggested with corresponding explanations from the perspective of Skops Theory.5. Translation Strategies of Chinese Dish Names5.1 Literal Translation In order to reproduce the imaginative content and aesthetic character of the source text, to preserve the grammatical structure and basic sentence pattern of the original text, and to preserve the figurative image and rhetorical color of the original text, literal translation requires bilingual correspondence and equivalence in the word form and syntactic structure. Therefore, when the word order, grammatical structure and rhetorical devices of the source text and the target text are completely identical or basically consistent, the appropriate literal translation method can be adopted. When we use literal translation, we must not narrowly regard it as word-by-word translation, let alone equate it with mechanical translation or dead translation. Based on the richness of Chinese language, Chinese dish names can be described as various and colorful. If roughly classified, the methods of naming them can be divided into a realistic way and an artistic way (郑玮, 2009). Dishes naming in a realistic way is relatively simple. Most of these dishes are home-made dishes, and most of them are named directly by the raw materials of the dishes or the cooking methods of the dishes. Although they lack the elegant artistic atmosphere and cultural connotation, they are very practical. Those names of dishes are characterized by a true description of the raw ingredients, production techniques and characteristics of the dishes, such as “糖醋里脊Sweet and Sour Pork”, “红烧海参 Braised Sea Cucumber” and “清蒸鸭子Steamed Duck” and so on. For this group of dish names, generally, literal translation is used to directly translate the raw materials, cooking methods and characteristics of the dishes. In details, it can be divided into the following categories:First, The names of dishes introduce the main material and soup. “牛肉豆腐” is a typical one of this kind of dish names. Under the guidance of Skopos Theory, it is literally translated into Beef with Bean Curd, which is obedient to the skopos rule of Skopos Theory, so that the guests can immediately understand what they are going to eat. When translating the names of such dishes, you must choose accurate English words. For example, “茄汁” in “茄汁鱼片” is not a sauce made of eggplant, but ketchup commonly used in cooking; and “琥珀核桃” means that honey and walnuts show the same amber color when cooked, and the raw material “核桃” can be translated directly. If it is translated into “amber walnuts”, it will make people misunderstand that amber is one of the raw materials. Therefore, when translating the name of this kind of dish names, we must understand the real ingredients of the dish, and we should not literally translate it. Therefore, literal translation is an appropriate method to translate the dish names containing the main ingredients. Second, many Confucian-style dish names contain cooking methods, for example, “清炒虾仁 Fried Shrimp Meat ”. 1,500 years ago, Qi M