论文总字数：47661字

摘 要

中国向来是一个民以食为天的国家，中国菜名担负着传承中华文化、对外交流的重要任务，因而菜名的英译显得尤为重要。然后目前许多中菜名翻译差强人意。

本文从纽马克理论出发，总结中国菜名的特点与分类，并着重阐述了菜名目前英语存在的问题和造成翻译不精准的原因。从而进一步提出纽马克理论指导下的菜名英译方式。最后笔者得出结论，根据语义理论和交际理论，菜名英语主要将分为直译和意义，并遵循真实、简洁、灵活的原则。

本文作者通过分析现存的菜名特色和所在问题提出了有用的菜名翻译方法。纽马克理论在分析翻译重点以及合适的解决方案方面提供许多协助。纽马克的翻译理论主要由语义翻译理论和交际翻译理论组成，前者强调翻译对源语言内容以及句子结构的重视，后者强调目标语言翻译体现原文内涵。在这两个理论的指导下，作者探索了一些实际的翻译手段：语义翻译和交际翻译下的菜名翻译。语义翻译适合含有原材料，烹饪方法，食物味道，烹饪其次的菜名，而交际翻译适用于含有文化背景内涵，如人们地名，典故或者传说的菜名。

关键词：中菜名翻译 纽马克翻译理论 问题 原则和解决方法

1. Introduction

1.1 Study Background

China, an ancient country with 5000 years’ history, devotes particular attention to its dishes. The various kinds of distinctive Chinese cuisines are products of its vast territory, long historical standing, diversified religions, and unique geography. The world-renowned Eight Major Cuisines and Four Major Flavors are vivid representatives: the food materials, the creative ways of cooking, the enchanting flavors, fragrance and tastes... What’s more, the various names of dishes carry historical background and cultural connotations.

As the CCTV-documentary A Bite of China prevails, foreigners are inevitably amazed at the abundance and beauty of Chinese dishes. There is no doubt that China should take Chinese dishes as a showcase to promote international cultural communication and national status. Usually the first thing foreigners do in Chinese restaurants is to browse the menus.It is indispensable to translate Chinese dish names into graceful and precise English names which enable foreigners rediscover the concealed implications of China. However, there is little information or researches about the English translation of Chinese dish names in current academic fields. The existing translations are mostly tanglesome and inaccurate while the lacking in a unified standard in dish name translation fails to satisfy the urgent demand of cultural communications on food. Due to cultural differences, some complex and inventive Chinese dish names appear to be ridiculous once translated without thinking. A simple instance: many Chinese restaurants translate a famous Sichuan dish “口水鸡” as “ drooling chicken”, but actually the name was intended to express that the chicken dish consists of sour and spicy flavor as well as tempting fragrance, so that the eaters are dying to enjoy this dish. The example explains that translations of dish names have to express Chinese culture as well as its correct concealed connotation, otherwise the meaning of the dish would be totally distorted.

1.2 Purpose of the Study

This thesis aims to analyze the English translation of Chinese dish names through a thorough study of Newmark’s Translation Theory and practical examples. Its main purpose is to classify various kinds of dish name translations as well as the causes for existing translation problems and finally work out appropriate ways to translate dish names vividly and precisely.

1.3 Study Methodology

In order to get a comprehensive study and to make the thesis valid, the writer study the Newmark’s Translation Theory as well as many thesis in this field, especially communicative translation and semantic translation and their applications. In addition, abundant samples of translated Chinese dishes are offered and analyzed during the thesis, most of which are from the web and others from the book of higher interpretation, providing the writer with abundant clues to make a more accurate analysis. Through these endeavors, the author tends to find out the causes for translation errors and the categories of dish name translations, thus finally figure out ways to translate Chinese dish names that will be of great help for the cross-cultural communication and understanding.

1.4 Structure of the Thesis

This thesis is organized into six chapters, with the introduction as Chapter One.

The arrangements in each chapter are summarized as follows:

Chapter Two concludes some previous studies about English Translation of Chinese dish names and of Newmark’s Translation Theory.

Chapter Three examines previous approaches of theoretical studies, i.e. Newmark’s Semantic Translation and Communicative Translation.

Some features of current translation, existing translation problems and main causes are introduced in Chapter Four. The current problems can be concluded as too many names for one dish, failure in conveying connotation and vacancies caused by different eating patterns. And the main causes for this are difference in thinking and expressing as well as a lacking in translation competence and cultural awareness.

Chapter Five introduces some basic principles for translation of dish names: fidelity, simplicity and flexibility. In light of Newmark’s Translation Theory, then it concentrates on the literal and communicative translation of Chinese Dish Names.

Chapter Six is a conclusion, in which the major findings are summarized. The theoretical and practical implications of the present research as well as suggestions for further research are also talked about in this chapter.

2. Literature Review

2.1 Previous Studies of English Translation of Chinese Dish Names

Over the past years, many academic Chinese scholars have been increasingly aware of the importance of translating dish names. After the writer’s comprehensive analysis, it turned out that researches in this field mainly focused on following four aspects.

Wang Fengxing (2003) stated that the English translation of dish names should be given by main material, auxiliary material, slicing method, way of cooking etc. Two other scholars who held the same opinions are Professor Guo Jing and Wang Qian. Guo Jing argued that translation should be done from three aspects: main material, cooking method and food shape and taste. Wang Qian (2012) insisted that translations should depend on main material, slicing method, way of cooking and taste. These three scholars translated dish names in terms of food characteristics. The translation of “糖醋里脊” --- “pork with sugar vinegar flavor” is a typical example translated with that method.

Zhang Yuan, in her paper, argued that communicative translation should be given priority because it directly tells reader what kind of food they would enjoy. “Most dish names were born with informative functions, therefore the communicative theory can be applied in most situations. For instance, ‘ 番茄炒蛋’can be translated into ‘Stir-Fried Egg and Tomato’ ( Zhang Yuan, 2011). “The readers of English translation of dish names are all kinds of guests instead of other specific groups, and the discourse, loaded with informative functions, should regard communication as their goals so as to be suitable to different people with simple and easy-understandable translations. Thus, the communicative translation plays a fundamental role in guiding the textual information” (Gong Yingfen, 2012). Besides targeting dish names translation under the guidance of Communicative Translation Theory, Yang Qunyan further segmented three dish-name functions: information conveying, culture conveying and aesthetic values.

Nida’s Functional Equivalence Theory is another important one in translation field. “On the perspective of readers, what they need is the specific object or its concepts, rather than those gaudy and modificatory names translated on purpose for embellishing” (Zhang Meigang, 2002). British translator Susan Bassnett emphasizes that translation in essence is to find the maximized meaning equivalence as much as possible between the target language and the original language, so the first important thing in translation is to achieve the meaningful equivalence, not only in achieving a literally accurate expression. In this sense, the English translation of dish names should involve cultural implications and historical connotations at the same time. Otherwise, the lack of meaningful equivalence will jeopardize the abundant meanings of Chinese dishes.

There are also many other views upon the translation of dish names. The Skopos Theory proposed by Hans Vermeer stated that the skopos---- which means “goal” in English, determines the whole process of translation (Guojing, Discussion on the Translation of Chinese Dish Names [A]. Language and Words 2009.) That is--- skopos determines translation methods. “ Due to all the difference between the East and the West, as well as other factors like Chinese history and culture, the translation of Chinese dish names should be able to overcome a double obstacle which refers to the language obstacle and the cultural one. If we want foreigners to understand our translations, we should do it under the guidance of the Skopos Theory” (Chen Shuang). However, domestic brilliant translator Lin Yutang , Yan Fu and Zhang Peiji (Wang Lihua, 2004) all insisted the prior status of “be faithful to the original context”, thus they created standards like “ Faithfulness, Coherence and Elegance”, providing readers with aesthetic enjoyments as well as precise information. Another view is Domestication Principle and Dissimilation Principle. “These two principles have duality, either of which can be applied to translation. When under a cross-culture background, Dissimilation Principle has more advantage in transmitting cultures. So translation of Chinese dish names should apply more Dissimilation Principle while the Domestication Principle can only be used when the outcome would neither damage to original meaning nor cultural transmission” ( Wang Yingying, Zhang yu, 2009).

2.2 Previous Studies of Newmark’s Translation Theory

Peter Newmark, an outstanding founder of Translation Studies, has achieved great success in translation field. Devoting himself to English and Spanish, Newmark has a very influential position. His theory has been frequently adopted as criteria to analyze and evaluate the translation of some famous work and various kinds of texts.

Liao Qiyi has compared Newmark's translation theory with Nida's, and thinks that the two great translators are similar in their research methods, but not in aspects like form, content and evaluation criteria of a translation. Compared with Nida, Newmark pays more attention to the text meaning and emphasizes that form, being carrier of information, equals with content. Later Newmark puts forward semantic translation and communicative translation methods which stress the utilization and reflection of original connotation.

To sum up, though Newmark and Nida share different views on translation, they both make contributions to translation practice, and provide theoretical foundations for successive generations. (Liao Qiyi, 2002)

3. Theoretical Framework

3.1 Newmark’s Translation Theory

Under the influence of Nida and other western translators, Newmark began to be interested in translation and embarked on his study in this field. Thanks to his teaching experience, he published his first paper on translation on the Journal of Education in 1977.

At the embryo period of his research, when the translation theory was not complete, Newrnark thought that the appeal of translation is in all levels of languages, like words, sentences, paragraphs and text. Later under the invitation of Vaughan James, Newmark published more papers in which he reproduced lots of academic and cultural propositions about translation.

During his study, Newmark never stopped absorbing the relative theories to broaden his mind, enrich his theory and exploring more useful and effective theories to guide the practice of translation. For example, in Some Problems of Translation Theory and Methodology, Newmark analyzed synonymy; in Incorporated Linguist, he published papers on medical translation; and in the British Medical Journal, he discussed technical translation.

Newmark’s translation achievements can never be underestimated for he had always been teaching people how to translate precisely while maintaining the original meaning and style. He will always be an outstanding guider to enlighten translators marching toward the right direction.

3.2 Semantic Translation and Communicative Translation

The semantic translation and communicative translation are proposed by Newmark during the constant arguments between semantic translation and communicative translation. He thinks that both the two sides ignored the translation goal, the reader group and the type of text, and are both too idealized about translation. Newmark also admits that the eternal confliction of translation theory is whether we should pursue fidelity to the original text or the translated text. In order to reconcile the conflictions, Newmark adopted a “V” shape diagram:

SL emphasis TL emphasis

Word for word translation Adaptation

Literal translation Free translation

Faithful translation Idiomatic translation

Semantic translation Communicative translation

The diagram shows that the eight types of translation are generally complementary. Through comparison, semantic translation has advantages of word for word, literal and faithful translation while communicative translation has advantages of adaptation,free and idiomatic translation.

In semantic translation, Newmark insists that the target text should convey the original context and meaning with a maxim consideration of the original grammar and sentence structure. Compared with literal translation, semantic translation puts the fidelity of original culture at the first place and only explains when misunderstandings occur in the original language. However, literal translation only focuses on translating the basic meaning but ignores the context and the situation where target language is applied. Thus, semantic translation tends to be more complicated and clumsy than communicative translation, which is called over-translation.

In communicative translation, Newmark thinks that the effect produced by the target text should be best shown. Communicative translation insists fidelity to the target language and culture so as to avoid misunderstanding and unintelligibility, which means it focus more on effect than on content. Thus, communicative translation sometimes appears to be unloaded- translation and it is always more simple and coherent compared with semantic translation.

To conclude, semantic translation is more objective and precise while the communicative translation is more subjective and understandable. Meanwhile, semantic translation focuses on the content while the communicative translation emphasizes the translation effect. Newmark’s translation theory can be regarded as significant criteria for today’s translation problems. The semantic translation and communicative translation provides a brand-new vision for contemporary translation.

4. Existing Problems in Current Translation and Main Causes

4.1 Features and Categories of Chinese Dish

Chinese foods consist of a number of cold and hot dishes, and are prepared in different ways and served on different occasions. The aroma, wonderful tastes and diversified colors enable Chinese food be one of the best cuisines in the world. It will not be wrong to say that the marvelous tastes and appearances contribute a rich part to China’s food culture. The Chinese cuisine is not only tasty but also a work of art appreciated by people around the world. Its distinct characteristics and categories are shown in the following contents:

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