A Report On Translation Of Chinese Diet Culture(Excerpts)

As the further development of the multi-polar world and economic globalization has made the position and function of the cultural soft power more important for a country’s overall national strength and the demand of enhancing the cultural soft power and enlarging the international influence of the Chinese culture more urgent,we need to attach great importance to cultural output.Therefore,the translation of Chinese cultural texts is one of the most direct and important ways to strengthen cultural exchange and transmission,and the quality of translation will also influence the output and communication of Chinese culture directly.This thesis is a translation practice report based on the cultural text Chinese Diet Food.Wang Xuetai,the author of the book,who specializes in studying the relationship of ancient Chinese literature and ancient Chinese culture,describes the relationships of diet and people by focusing on both the material and spirit pursuits of Chinese diet culture in Chinese Diet Culture.The two parts "Preface" and "The Seasoning-centered Chinese Cooking Philosophy" are selected as the original text of this translation practice report.Based on the Skopos Theory of the German translation theorist Han Vermeer,it explores the translation skills,and strategies of Chinese culture texts.Vermeer believes that the highest law of translation should be "Skopos Rule",that is,the purpose of translation determines its strategies and methods.As the selected chapter is mainly centered on the development of Chinese Cooking Philosophy,it includes a great number of ancient Chinese languages among which classical Chinese makes an indispensable part of the long history of Chinese cooking culture.Classical Chinese plays a decisive role in the history of Chinese literature,but its language is obscure,and most of it cannot be translated exactly in English language.Therefore,effective and accurate expressions of classical Chinese will help target language readers fully understand Chinese diet culture and deeply feel Chinese culture.This translation reported specifically focuses on the translation strategies of diet culturally-loaded words and the Classical Chinese.Its main content is:Based on Vermeer’s Skopos Theory and features of classical Chinese in this translation project,such translation methods as literal translation and free translation and translation strategies as transliteration and annotation are adopted to analyze important and difficult cases from the three aspects of words,sentence patterns and texts.Based on this translation practice report,the author will make a primary summary of translation methods and strategies of Chinese cultural texts especially diet culture so as to provide with references for future research on Chinese diet culture and create more conditions for foreign translators and readers who want to study Chinese diet culture to further promote cultural exchange.