中国美食英译问题.ppt

Another example is Sichuan cuisine “夫妻肺片”，if translated into “husband and wifes lung slice”, foreigners are likely to feel lost and confused. “Pork lungs in chili sauce” is much better. 拌双耳 Two ears tossed together (×) Tossed black and white fungus (√) 童子鸡 Chicken without sexual life(×) Spring chicken (√) 蚂蚁上树 Ants climbing a tree (×) Vermicelli with spicy minced pork(√) 八宝菠菜 Literal translation can be adopted as the first step, for instance,“八宝菠菜”should firstly be literally translated as “Spinach with eight delicacies”. Hence the technique of literal translation plus free translation should be adopted. 驴打滚儿Donkey rolling on dust-ground--Rolls made of glutinous rice flour coated with soybean flour，looks like donkey rolling on dust-ground. 全家福 Happy family--a combination of shrimps, pork, beef, chicken, lobster and mixed vegetables with brown sauce. “The names of some dishes are so eccentric that they may confuse people, both Chinese and foreigners. If you only translate the names literally with no explanation, you could make a fool of yourself.”I cannot agree with the author more. Take Jiangsu cuisine “红烧狮子头” for example. If people translate it word for word, that would be “Red-braised lions heads”. Foreigners will face the difficulty of building up the courage to try this dish. Therefore, it can be translated into “Stewed meatballs with brown sauce”. How can we translate the dish name while taking into the consideration of diet culture? This is a problem that deserves to be looked into more. 八宝菠菜 Then, an explanation, or description of the eight ingredients is needed: fresh almond, walnut kernel, sesame, mushroom, carrot, winter bamboo shoots, needle mushroom and egg. * *