On The Cultural Adaptation Of Translation Of Chinese Dish Names

China is an ancient country with a long history. Its dish culture is greatly profound and considered to be one of the miracles in Chinese cultures. Chinese dishes become an important bridge of cultural exchange. The translation of Chinese dish names is a new field of translation studies in recent years. The academic value and practical significance both lie in the translation of Chinese dish names. Thus it enhances the popularity of Chinese dishes through the whole world. The translation of Chinese dish names has made much achievement in recent years, which is analyzed by scholars and experts from different angles. Many rules and methods have been concluded, which can be used as references. However, some troubles are not resolved, for instance, how to realize the balance between the simplification of dish names and the transferring of Chinese cultures is the center of controversy.This thesis tries to research into the translation of Chinese dish names from the perspective of Adaptation Theory. The Adaptation Theory holds that pragmatics is a functional perspective and any aspects concerned with language can be studied by pragmatics. From a functional perspective, we can figure out that many layers of language can be better explained. The deep reason probably is that the social, physical and mental cognition of the language users have melted into the language organization, which is clearer in the daily language use. In the academic circle, the experts have put the Adaptation Theory into practical use and achieved a lot. The Adaptation Theory widens pragmatics by viewing it as a functional perspective. From that perspective, there is no limitation to study any types of language materials. That is the reason why the author in this thesis tries to make use of Adaptation Theory as the theoretical framework to explain the translation of Chinese dish names. The author adopts the way of case analysis to make the comparative study through various kinds of translated versions of Chinese dish names. Then, the shortcomings and strength are indicated and conclusions are made afterwards. The cases mostly are extracted from English Versions of Chinese Dish Names compiled by Beijing Tourism Bureau for the 2008 Olympic Games. Of course, some of them are from other translators' works and the menus of restaurants or hotels. The author has selected materials from a large corpus and made analytical study in order to find the rules and methods and then set up a unified model for the translation of Chinese dish names. Therefore, in this way, the author expects to serve the spread of profound Chinese cultures to the rest of the world.Through a great number of case analysis and scientific conclusions, the author has summarized several practical rules of the translation of Chinese dish names. Finally, the author indicates that it is reasonable and meaningful to use the Adaptation Theory to explain the translation of Chinese dish names.In chapter one, the author firstly puts forward the new idea of the thesis, that is, Jef. Verschueren's Adaptation Theory is used to analyze the translation of Chinese dishes. Then the aim and significance of the thesis are given, that is, the author tries to set up a unified theoretical frame work for the translation of Chinese dish names, make the efforts to enhance the transferring of Chinese cultures to the rest of the world and offer references for the translation of other practical texts alike. The second chapter is literature review. In this chapter, the author has collected approximate twenty papers concerning the translation of Chinese dish names in recent ten years and chosen several of them as the representatives. Then their focal points are discussed in detail and simple comments are made finally. The theoretical basis, Adaptation Theory, is carefully introduced in the third chapter. The focal points and practical significance are elaborated in this chapter. In the forth chapter, the authors makes a detailed introduction of the features of Chinese dishes and concludes some typical problems in the translation process. The fifth chapter is the most important part of the thesis, in which the author analyses the translation of Chinese dish names from the perspective of Adaptation Theory and attempts to set up a unified theoretical framework. The sixth chapter is the last chapter, in which conclusions are made. The author concludes the research findings, implications and limitations in this chapter.