On Translation Problems And Countermeasures Of Chinese Famous Local Delicious Food And Special Products

With a long history and popularity both at home and abroad, Chinese cuisine culture plays an impressive role in cultural exchange between china and other countries. Dish names (including snack names here) function to promote the sale of dishes because of the commercial value of the food, as well as cultural exchanges due to their cultural connotation and regional characteristics, in which translation for Chinese dish names shoulder heavy responsibilities.This thesis precedes its research under the guidance of Relevance Theory on C-E translation of Chinese famous local dish and snack names (all referred as "dish names" here) in the book Chinese Famous Local Delicious Food and Special Products (CFLDFSP), in hope of helping the improvement of dish name translation in the book. First of all, the thesis focuses on the major problems that exist in the book, three of which have been fully analyzed, namely, improper expression of Chinese dish names, improper use of transliteration or pinyin, and inconformity of English expressions of dish names. Then, examples and causes for the problems are carefully presented, based on which, the author introduces the core ideas of the Relevance Theory:duel ostensive-inferential process, cognitive environment evaluation and optimal relevance to help improve translations in the book. In the following part, the author puts forward three approaches for improvement:full preparation before translating, proper maintenance of figurative feature, and correct avoidance of inconformity of English expressions. Translation methods are proposed depending on the classification of Chinese dish names. For fact-telling names, literal translation, literal translation plus notes are proposed; for figurative names, free translation plus literal translation, transliteration plus notes are suggested; while for half-figurative and half-fact-telling names, free translation, and free translation plus literal translation are suitable.Relevance Theory, though not put forward for translation study, still possesses strong power for the explanation of translation phenomenon. It certainly has the same power for Chinese dish name translation. Based on the theory, Chinese dish name translation, a dual ostensive-inferential process, aims at seeking optimal relevance between the two cognitive environments of the source Chinese dish name writer and target English readers. To establish such optimal relevance, translators should balance emphasis on comprehension of Chinese dish name and conveyance of artistic elements. What’s more, translators should resort to different translation methods to reach the optimal relevance successfully.