On Approaches To Translating Chinese Dishes Names Into English

With the rapid pace of globalization, an increasing number of foreign friends have been coming to China, which provides us a wonderful opportunity to show the world our history, cultures and the image of being a great power. During this process, Chinese food service plays a significant role. In the food service, menus serve as the bridge connecting service staff and customers. As the communicating tool in the food industry, a high-quality menu can not only spread Chinese food culture, but also enhance the friendship between Chinese people and the people all over the world. Therefore, studying on the approaches to translating Chinese dish names into English is of great importance.This thesis studies the three factors affecting the translation of Chinese dish names, namely their genre, popularity and culture-specific reference (the cultural information contained in the Chinese names of the dishes). Based on this, the paper justifies three hypotheses:first, the genre of text determines the translation of the names of Chinese dishes; second, the more popular a Chinese dish is, the more likely the translation found on menus is the same; third, one effective strategy for the translation of Chinese dish names into English is Peter Newmark's theory of communicative translation and semantic translation.This dissertation first introduces the status, functions and characteristics of the Chinese food. Besides, it discusses translation theories applying to translating Chinese dish names into English with focus on Peter Newmark's theory of communicative translation and semantic translation. Moreover, in order to justify the three hypotheses, this paper carries out three programs:first, it studies the dish name translation in different texts (recipe books, novels and restaurant menus); second, the author interviews the managers/owners of Chinese restaurants and non-Chinese customers, and analyzes the results of the interviews; third, this dissertation, with the help of Peter Newmark's theory of communicative translation and semantic translation, provides approaches to translating the materials, cooking methods, shapes, colors, tastes, containers, people's names, places'names, and the "Chinese-style" words in Chinese names dishes. Finally, the three hypotheses are justified and the final conclusion is drawn. What is more, suggestions for further study are presented.