History of Translation Studies 14

Translation of Cultural Words

Translation of Culture-Loaded Words in Li Qingzhao's Ci-Poetry Based on Scopos Theory 周思庆 Zhou Siqing 英美文学

周思庆 Zhou Siqing, 202020080673

Abstract

This paper attempts to illustrate the influence of Skopos theory on translation strategies and the influence of translation strategies on translation effect by analyzing the different translations of culture-loaded words in Li Qingzhao’s Ci-Poetry based on Scopos Theory according to Nida’s classification of culture-loaded words. This research is of great significance to refresh blood into the study of Li Qingzhao’s Ci Poems and promote excellent Chinese traditional culture to go abroad.

Key word

culture-loaded word, Li Qingzhao, Scopos Theory

题目

从目的论看李清照词中的文化负载词英译

摘要

本文主要以目的论为指导，以奈达对文化负载词的分类为依据，从对不同英译版本的李清照词中文化负载词的翻译进行分析，说明目的论对翻译策略的影响以及翻译策略对译文效果的影响，旨在为李清照词的英译研究注入新鲜血液，推动中国优秀传统文化走向世界。

关键词

文化负载词， 李清照， 目的论

Introduction

Li Qingzhao, is the representative of the graceful and restrained school well-known for her elegant, fresh and refined language as well as rich and vivid images. Her poetry is an unparalleled cultural treasure in the history of Chinese literature. Culture-loaded words are those words rich in cultural connotations.(Fu Guiying, 2013：3) Nida divided culture-loaded words into five categories, namely ecological, material, social, religious and linguistic culture-loaded words.(Nida, Eugene A, 1993:25) As the representative of the “German school”, Hans J. Vermeer proposed the Scopos Theory and continued the functionalist tradition. Analyzing the culture-loaded words in different translations of Li Qingzhao's Ci Poems according to Scopos theory is conducive for the readers to grasp the elegant style of Li Qingzhao, to figure out the proper translation strategies, and to encourage more creation of excellent translation works.(Reiss and Vermeer, 1984:196)

Chapter 1 Introduction of Li Qingzhao and her Ci-Poetry

1.1 Brief introduction of Li Qingzhao

Li Qingzhao, a well-known poetess in Song Dynasty, is the only woman who is generally compared with the most outstanding poets. As a female writer, she suffered a lot in that unstable age full of oppression and discrimination, but still kept a resolute and resistant attitude toward life no matter how much turns and twists in the process of struggle. Li Qingzhao was born in a rich and cultured family in 1083. Thanks to her father Li Gefei, the Minister of Rites, and her well-educated mother, she had a peaceful and favorable childhood and received a good education, which paved the way for her literary career. Unlike most ignorant women in that age, she had great talents in many aspects, such as painting and music, especially writing. She was a versatile writer whose Ci Poems and prose are both excellent. Her contribution in literature earned great fame for her.(Fu Guiying, 2013：3)

She married to Zhao Mingcheng, the son of a vice-president of the Board of Rides when she was eighteen years old. The marriage life was happy and idyllic in the early years. They collected and appreciated rare books, paintings and antiques together. However, their peaceful and harmonious life was ruined by the invasion of the Jurchens in 1127. They were forced to fled to the southern areas and separated with each other. The bulk of precious collections, including the ancient paintings, vessels, and books, lost during the fugitive way. Her husband was dispatched to a new official post in Zhe Jiang province and died on the way. Since then, Li Qingzhao lived lonely and homelessly with endless sorrow. The miserable and painful life experiences didn't destroy her poetry proposition but deepened the theme of her literary works. The concern for the fate of the masses and country showed her great integrity and patriotic passion.(Fu Guiying, 2013：3)

1.2 Development and characteristics of Li Qingzhao's Ci-Poetry

As a literary form, Song Ci, also called Ci Poems or long-short lines, emerged in Tang Dynasty and popularized in Song Dynasty. Ci Poems revolved from a kind of folk music used for expressing emotions through its original melody. Li Qingzhao is regarded as the representative of the graceful and restrained party. (Fu Guiying, 2013：4)

Generally, Li Qingzhao's Ci Poems can be divided into two periods according to the critical historical events in Song Dynasty and her personal life experience. The former period works mostly depicted her delightful life as a young girl. The theme includes the praise of nature and beauty, her pure love to her husband, and the memories of the innocent childhood, such as Rumengling( 如 梦 令 ), Dian Jiangchun( 点 绛 唇 ), Jianzimulanhua( 减 字 木 兰 花 ) ， Cai Sangzi( 采 桑 子 ), Zuihuayin(醉花阴), Yijianmei(一剪梅). As for the latter period, her works changed dramatically because of the downfall of the Northern Song Dynasty as well as the death of her husband. The theme of her poems turned to homesickness, the grief for the instability of the nation and the melancholy meditation of the miserable life. She transmitted her feelings in the images implicitly rather than cry out her sorrow directly. The poems written in this period include Spring in Wulin(武陵春), Shengshengman(声声慢), Yongyule(永遇乐) and so on.(Fu Guiying, 2013：4)

To conclude, her elegant and pure language and sensitive emotion were demonstrated in both of her literary period. Her Ci Poems are full of accurate and vivid images, leaving readers a wide imagery space. No other poetess in Song Dynasty can replace her position in the Chinese history of literature.(Fu Guiying, 2013：4)

Chapter 2 Introduction of Scopos theory

2.1 Historical development of Scopos theory

Functional approaches emerged in 1970s and developed through three stages: (1)Katharina Reiss introduced the functional category of translation criticism; (2) Hans J. Vermeer proposed Scopos theory; (3) Justa Holz-Manttari put forward the theory of translation action.(Zhang Chenxiang, 2007:32)

In the first stage, Katharina Reiss proposed the text function and translation strategy, which paves the way for the Scopos theory. The theory foundation of Reiss’s theory is the functional equivalence theory, which aims to establish a model of translation criticicm based on the functional relationship between source text and target text (Zhang Chenxiang, 2007:32). Katharina Reiss divided text into three categories: expressive text, informative text and vocative text. The proposal of functional translation theory signifies that translation study gradually gets rid of static linguistic typologies.(Zhang Chenxiang, 2007:32)

In the second stage, Hans J. Vermeer established the initial theory of functional group, Scopos theory, further developing the functional translation theory. He pointed out that translation is a human activity and a kind of transformation. Every human activity has its purpose and will create certain consequence, a new situation or event or a new thing.(Zhang Chenxiang, 2007:34) This is the origin of Scopos theory. Reiss mentioned, “the source text can be assigned to a text type and a genre, and in making this assignment, the transoator can decide on the hierarchy of postulates which has to be observed during target-text production”. Vermeer thinks that translators needn’t be restrained to certain translation method, instead, the translators should consider the purpose of translation and the psychology of the target audience and use the translation strategies flexibly. In the process of translation, the translator can adapt literal translation or free translation according to the situation to make sure the expected effect can be realized. (Reiss and Vermeer, 1984:196)

In the third stage, Justa Holz-Manttari developed Vermeer’s theory and proposed the theory of translation action 1n 1984. She avoided using the term“translation” and focused on the process of translation which concludes traditional translation and other text building activity. In Holz-Manttari’s model, translation was defined in a broader sense as “a complex action designed to achieve a particular purpose”, or an intercultural communication whose product is the target text which achieves appropriate function in a particular cultural context. According to the functional approach, all participants have certain functions or roles in the interaction. The TT addressees are crucial in specification of the purposes of translation(Nord, 2001:20).

2.2 Basic rules of Scopos theory

In the Scopos theory, there are three basic rules, namely skopos rule, coherence rule and fidelity rule. Among the three rules, scopos rule is the most significant one. “Each text is produced for a given purpose and should serve this purpose. The skopos rule thus reads as follows: translate/interpret/speak/write in a way that enables your text/translation to function in the situation in which it is used and with the people who want to use it and precissely in the way they want it to function.” This rule can help solve the contradiction between literal translation and free translation. It means that the choosing of translation strategies depends on translation purpose. When the scopos focuses on the original language, as long as the features of the original culture is well expressed, literal translation or even word for word translation can be adopted.(Reiss and Vermeer, 1984: 98)

The coherence rule is also named intra-textual coherence by functionalists. It requires that the translated text should make sense on the communicative situation in which it is received. It specifies that a translation should be acceptable in a sense that it is coherent with the receivers’ situation (Reiss and Vermeer, 1984: 100) Being coherent means being “part of the receiver’s situation”, so the cultural aspects should be taken into consideration. Besides, the target readers’ culture-specific world-knowledge, expectations and communicative needs are also important factors which may affect the way of handing a text, translators ought to analyze these factors carefully. (Li Zhao, 2011:24)

Since the source text is the offer of information , it should also be taken into account. Fidelity rule is also named “intertextual coherence”. This coherence balances the source text and the target text and the form and degree of such intertextual coherence are determined by the translator’s interpretation of the source text and the translation skopos. However, intertextual coherence is subordinate to intra-textual, and both of the two are subordinate to the skopos rule.(Li Zhao, 2011:28)

Chapter 3 Introduction of culture-loaded words

3.1 Definition of culture-loaded words

Since Bassnett and Lefervere put forward the concept of “cultural turn” in 1990, the interaction between translation and culture has been drawn more attention. During the five thousand years’ civilization, China has accumulated its unique culture due to the unique geographical locations, living environments, historical background, etc. Many scholars have made different definitions to cultural loaded words. J. F Aixel gave these words another name “cultural-specific items” and defined them as: “some items appearing in the source text do not have equivalent items in the target reader’s cultural systems” (J. F Aixel, 1996:58).

Later, Mona Baker defined culture-loaded words as: “The source-language word may express a concept which is totally unknown in the target culture. The concept in question may be abstract or concrete; it may relate to a religious belief, a social custom, or a type of food. Such concepts are often referred to as ‘cultural-specific’.” This paper studies the translation of culture-loaded words according to Nida’s classification of cultural elements. Nida divided culture into five categories: ecological culture, material culture, social culture, religious culture and linguistic culture. This paper will analyze the culture-loaded words according to the five categories. (Baker, 2004:21)

3.2 Classification of culture-loaded words

3.2.1 Ecological culture-loaded words

Culture develops in certain ecological environment, so different region has different culture. Ecological culture-loaded words refer to those words that reflect the distinctive geographical conditions, the natural surroundings, feature of the climate, plants and animals, etc. in a language. Even the connotations of the same thing in western and eastern culture are different or even opposite. (Liao Huihua, 2010:9)

For example, the “west wind” in China is totally different from that in western countries. Because China lies in the Eastern Hemisphere, with mountains to the west and oceans to the east. This location makes it dry and cold in autumn and winter when the west wind blows. Therefore, the west wind in Chinese culture often refers to the cold wind in autumn an winter, which is often used to describe the desolate, cold, and sometimes also compared to the decadent force of the fall of the sun with a derogatory meaning. (Liao Huihua, 2010:9)

Such as “古道西风瘦马” in Ma Zhiyyuan’s 《天净沙·秋思》. On the contrary, Britain is located in the western hemisphere, the west Atlantic island, and the east is the continent of Europe. When the west wind blows from the Atlantic Ocean, Britain is in the season of revival. Therefore, in English culture, the west wind is the symbol of hope and strength. For example, Ode to the West Wind, a famous British poem, reflects this meaning. Obviously, through the above analysis, we know that “西风” and the west wind have the same conceptual meaning but have very different associative meaning due to different ecological environment. (Liao Huihua, 2010:9)

3.2.2 Material culture-loaded words

Material culture-loaded words include the words related to the economic life, daily supplies, commodities, food, transportation, etc. Different nations have different living habits, so the material products are quite different. For example: “旗袍”(qi pao), “麻将”(ma jiang),”馄饨”(Wonton), etc. (Liao Huihua, 2010:10)

3.2.3 Social culture-loaded words

The tradition, custom, living habit, social activity, etc. All belong to the category of social culture. Due to different historical background, political feature, tradition and custom, the social culture-loaded words formed and developed. For instance, “重阳节”(chong yang jie) is a traditional Chinese festival to give the blessings to the old people, which is familiar to Chinese but unfamiliar to foreigners.(Han Zhouwen, 2014:18)

3.2.4 Religious culture-loaded words

Religious culture is composed by the religious faith and and ideology under the different nation’s cultural background, which demonstrates the difference in psychology and language behavior. Chinese people advocate Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism whereas western people mainly believe in God. Therefore, the cross-cultural communication barriers and language translation barriers emerged. Religious culture-loaded words reflect the characteristics of religious beliefs, so it is quite difficult for the foreigners to understand the Chinese religious culture-loaded words. For example, western people believe in God while Chinese people believe in “天”(tian), “菩萨”(pu sa), “佛”(fo). (Han Zhouwen, 2014:23)

3.2.5 Linguistic culture-loaded words

Language as one part of culture also produces translation problems. Since the two languages belong to two different language systems, their different language features will be involved in translation. These particularities may be reflected in phonetics, morphemes, vocabulary and syntax. For example, reduplicative words and four-character words and expressions are frequently seen in Chinese but are rarely seen in English.(Han Zhouwen, 2014:24)

Chapter 4 The application of Scopos theory in the translation of culture-loaded words

Chinese culture and western culture are so different due to different geographical location and historical background. And these differences also reflect in the two language systems, which is also known as cultural gap. In the process of translating Li Qingzhao’s Ci-Poetry, the translator may face all kinds of problems due to the cultural gap. In this chapter, the focus is on analyzing the suitable translation strategies from the perspective of Scopos theory.(Fu Guiying, 2013:56)

4.1 Translation of ecological culture-loaded words

(1)梨花欲谢恐难禁。(《浣溪沙》）

I am afraid pear blossoms cannot bear at all

—translated by Xu Yuanchong (Xu Yuanchong,2003:25)

O bright pods/ Of the pepper plant, you do not/ Need to bow and beg pardon./ I know you cannot hold back/ The passing day.

—translated by Kenneth Rexroth (Kenneth Rexroth,1979:66)

Some plants and flowers have certain connotation in Chinese, which leaves the gap of further imagination. Snow is often compared to pear-blossom, which is a common metaphor in Chinese poetry, for example: “忽如一夜春风来，千树万树梨花开” is used to describe the beautiful snow-covered landscape. Here, Xu Yuanchong translated “梨花”into “pear blossoms”directly is to reproduce this often-used metaphor. Both the basic meaning and the cultural content have been well transmitted. Xu Yuanchong adopted literal translation to realize foreignization. In contrast, Kenneth Rexroth adopted demestication and free translation and translate “梨花” as “the pepper plant” to achieve the skopos of translation. Here, “the pepper plant” is used to serve as a substitution because it is a New Year decoration which shows the passion of spring. This passionate image can contrast the depressed mood of Li Qingzhao for the fleeting time.(Liao Huihua, 2010:40)

(2)试问卷帘人，却道海棠依旧？（《如梦令》）

I ask the maid rolling up the screen./ “The same crab-apple tree,”she says, “is seen”

—translated by Xu Yuanchong (Xu Yuanchong,2003:34)

I asked my maid as she rolled up the curtains,/ “Are the begonias still the same?”

—translated by Kenneth Rexroth (Kenneth Rexroth,1979:44)

In Chinese culture, “海棠” usually symbolizes bitter love. When people encounter twists and turns in love, they often use it to express the sad feeling of parting. Xu Yuanchong adopted literal translation and translated “海棠” into “crab-apple tree”, which maintains the traditional Chinese culture by employing foreignization. However, Kenneth Rexroth translated it into”begonias” by demestication, which makes this image more familiar to the target readers. The aim of Xu Yuanchong is to introduce Chinese culture to foreigners whereas the purpose of Kenneth Rexroth is to make the text be accepted by the taget readers, therefore, the former uses foreignization while the latter uses demestication.(Liao Huihua, 2010:41)

4.2 Translation of material culture-loaded words

(3)常记溪亭日暮 (《如梦令》)

I oft remember what a happy day/ We passed in creekside arbour when it glooming.

—translated by Xu Yuanchong (Xu Yuanchong,2003:38)

I remember in Hsi T’ing/ All the many times/ We got lost in the sunset.

—translated by Kenneth Rexroth (Kenneth Rexroth,1979:21)

The meaning of “溪亭” can be interpreted as the name of a place in Ji’nan, Shandong Province or a pavilion by the river side. Therefore, different versions of this word appears according to the different understanding of this word. Xu Yuanchong translated it as “creekside arbour” by employing literal translation whereas Kenneth Rexroth translated it into “Hsi T’ing” according to its sound by using transliteration. The version “creekside arbour” is more acceptable by Chinese readers because it shows the basic meaning of this word. But the version “Hsi T’ing” is more understandable for foreigners because it’s just a name of a place.(Liao Huihua, 2010:48)

(4)轻解罗裳，独上兰舟。(《一剪梅》)

My silk robe doffed, I float/ Alone in orchid boat

—translated by Xu Yuanchong (Xu Yuanchong,2003:49)

I open/ My silk dress and float alone/ On the orchid boat.

—translated by Kenneth Rexroth & Chung Ling (Kenneth Rexroth,& Chung Ling,1979:56)

Generally speaking, “兰舟” refers to a small boat which is made of the trunk of a magnolia tree. However, both Xu Yuanchong and Kenneth Rexroth translated “兰舟” into “orchid boat” in order to reproduce the poetic language of the original text. If they translate it according to the literal meaning, the beautiful poetic language cannot be reproduced in the target language. So, they associated the boat with orchid, a kind of beautiful flower to achieve “literariness”, making poetry as poetic as possible.(Zheng Yanhong. 2001:129)

4.3 Translation of social culture-loaded words

(5)海燕未来人斗草。(《浣溪沙》)

The swallows not yet come, a game of grass we play.

—translated by Xu Yuanchong (Xu Yuanchong,2003:55)

People are gathering wild flowers and herbs in the meadow.

—translated by Kenneth Rexroth (Kenneth Rexroth,1979:93)

Viewed literally, “斗草” is mostly interpreted as “to fight with grass”. But actually, it refers to a particular custom on the Dragon Boat Festival according to the notes in various anthologies of Li Qingzhao. On the Dragon Boat Festival (the fifth day of May), people usually participate a kind of game in which every one needs to gather flowers and plants to be the winner. Xu Yuanchong knows that “斗草” is a traditional game, so he adopted literal translation as “a game of grass we play”, which is direct and correct. While Kenneth Rexroth adopted amplification and translated it as”gathering wild flowers and herbs in the meadow” in order to create concrete scene for the target reader. Generally speaking, both the two versions realized the skopos of translating the cultural connotation of “斗草” by adopting different translation strategies.(Liao Huihua, 2010:49)

(6)佳节又重阳(《醉花阴》)

The Double Ninth comes now again.

—translated by Xu Yuanchong (Xu Yuanchong,2003:54)

Again it is the Ninth of the Ninth Month.

—translated by Kenneth Rexroth (Kenneth Rexroth,1979:47)

“重阳” is a traditional Chinese festival on the ninth day of the ninth lunar month. People would always miss their families and relatives on this day every year. Here, when this festival was coming around, the poetess felt sad and lonely because of the separation from her husband, Zhao Mingcheng. In Xu Yuanchong’s version, he translated it literally as The Double Ninth and made a annotation to explain the cultural meaning of this festival to make target readers know the background information about this term. The unique feature of the ST is fully conveyed in the TT through foreignization. The skopos of Xu Yuanchong is to maintain the original feature of Chinese culture as much as possible, so he adopted foreignization to achieve this goal. In contrast, Kenneth Rexroth translated it into “the Ninth of the Ninth Month”. Although the time of the event was translated, but the connotation of this festival was lost. Sometimes literal translation for words with rich connotation can cause cultural loss. Here, Rexroth omitted the cultural meaning because he thought it was not necessary to add the burden of understanding the text. In this way, the target reader can easily understand the TT within their own knowledge.(Liao Huihua, 2010:49)

4.4 Translation of religious culture-loaded words

(7)仿佛梦魂归帝所 (《渔家傲》)

In leaf-like boat my soul to God’s abode would fly.

—translated by Xu Yuanchong (Xu Yuanchong,2003:62)

I am rapt away to the place of the Supreme/ And hear the words of Heaven.

—translated by Kenneth Rexroth (Kenneth Rexroth,1979:33)

As we all known, Chinese culture is much influenced by Taoism whereas western culture is much affected by Christianity. Here, “帝所” refers to the place of the Jade Emperor. Because western people are not familiar with the myths of Taoist culture, here “God” is the substitution of “帝” in Xu Yuanchong’s version by literal translation. In contrast, Kenneth Rexroth translated it as “the place of the Supreme”, which means the Sovereign. We can see the religious devotion of the ST is neglected. To conclude, Xu Yuanchong’s version is more faithful to the original text because he aims to introduce Chinese culture to foreigners. Kenneth Rexroth translated it without Taoist culture because he aims to remove cultural barriers and make target readers easier to understand the meaning of the text.(Li Qing, 2005:148)

(8)造化可能偏有意，故叫明月玲珑地。(《渔家傲》)

You find a special favor in Creator’s eye,

The moon caresses you with pure beams from on high.

—translated by Xu Yuanchong (Xu Yuanchong,2003:76)

Making the bright moon shine splendid on your curving flesh.

—translated by Kenneth Rexroth (Kenneth Rexroth,1979:45)

In Xu Yuanchong’s version, “造化” was translated directly into “Creator” but in Kenneth Rexroth’s version, this image was deleted. In China, “上天”（heaven）is the governor of the universe under the influence of Taoism and Buddhism. “造化” is a unique concept in Taoist culture. Xu Yuanchong aimed to maintain the Taoist culture and introduce it to foreigners. However, in western countries, Christianity is the mainstream of religious belief. Therefore, Kenneth Rexroth neglected this image to make the TT more acceptable to western people who believes in Christianity. In summary, Xu Yuanchong focused more on the culture of the ST whereas Kenneth Rexroth payed more attention on the acceptability of the target readers.(Liao Huihua, 2010:45)

4.5 Translation of linguistic culture-loaded words

(9) 寻寻觅觅，冷冷清清， 凄凄惨惨戚戚。(《声声慢》)

I look for what I miss;

I know not what it is.

I feel so sad, so drear,

So lonely, without cheer.

—translated by Xu Yuanchong (Xu Yuanchong,2003:81)

Search. Search. Seek. Seek.

Cold. Cold. Clear. Clear.

Sorrow. Sorrow. Pain. Pain.

—translated by Kenneth Rexroth & Chung Ling (Kenneth Rexroth,1979:78)

Tune: Slow, Slow, Song is recognized as the representative of reduplication. The use of seven sequential reduplicative words add the powerfulness of the miserable tone. We can find some similarities between these reduplicative words such as “清清”, “凄凄” and “戚戚”. They sound quite similar or even the same, which really strengthen the melodious effect of the language. Xu Yuanchong adopted free translation in order to reproduce the beautiful artistic conception in the ST. The form of reduplication is neglected but the sad atmosphere that the reduplicarive words create is reproduced. Rexroth used literal translation to imitate the original reduplicative words. The repetition of the same word reproduces the sound of reduplication in ST, and words with one syllable are also very similar to Chinese character. But the sense is not well conveyed. The target readers fail to experience the painful atmosphere and the great sadness of the poetess in the TT.(Li Qing, 2005:149)

(10) 小风疏雨萧萧地 (《孤雁儿》)

A grizzling wind and drizzling rain

—translated by Xu Yuanchong (Xu Yuanchong,2003:90)

Small wind, fine rain, hsiao, Hsiao

—translated by Kenneth Rexroth (Kenneth Rexroth,1979:56)

In the ST, “萧萧” is a reduplicative word in order to foil the depressed and sad atmosphere. It is difficult to reproduce this unique structure in the TT. We can see in Xu Yuanchong’s version, he omitted the original form and tried to reproduce the beautiful sound and sense. The rhymes of “grizzling” and “drizzling” are the same. This internal rhyme can make compensation for the loss of reduplication. And the strong sad mood is fully conveyed. Here, foreignization is employed. Kenneth Rexroth focused on the reproduction of the form, so he adopted transliteration to maintain the form of reduplicative word. Although the sound and form are beautiful, in this way, the sad cultural conception may lose at the same time.(Li Qing, 2005:75)

Conclusion

In this paper, the present author studies the translation of cultural-loaded words in Li Qingzhao’s Ci-Poetry from the perspective of Scopos theory. By contrast analysis, we can find that Xu Yuanchong and Kenneth Rexroth adopted different translation strategies: the former adopted foreignization whereas the latter adopted domestication because of their different translation skopos. Xu Yuanchong devoted himself to introduce excellent Chinese culture to foreigners and Kenneth Rexroth aimed to make target reader better understand the TT. This study still has some shortcomings. ((Liao Huihua, 2010:64)

Although this paper can shed some light on the study of culture-loaded word, it still has some limitations. If more samples of culture-loaded words are taken for the analysis, the study could be more comprehensive and systematic. Thus, the English translation of the culture-loaded words of her Ci poetry based on Skopos theory deserves further study. The author believes that wider cases will be involved in this study.((Liao Huihua, 2010:64)

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• Zheng Yanhong 郑燕虹. (2001). 风筝之线——评王公红、钟玲翻译的李清照诗词[The String of the Kite -Comments on Kenneth Rexroth and Chung Ling's Translation of Li Qingzhao's Ci-Poetry]. [J].外语学刊,160(3):125-129.

--Zhou Siqing (talk) 07:19, 21 December 2020 (UTC)

A Study on Culture-loaded Words in Six Chapters of a Floating Life Translated by Lin Yutang from the Perspective of Domestication and Foreignization 蒋淇玮 Jiang Qiwei 202070080592 英语笔译

Abstract

Six Chapters of a Floating Life is an autobiographical prose written by Shen Fu, who was a Chinese scholar in Qing dynasty, in 1808. It is popular among readers for its genuine words and sincerity between the lines.

Among the current English versions of this book, Lin Yutang's Six Chapters of a Floating Life is written first and the closest with the original version in style, which enables lots of foreign readers to catch a glimpse of the life of an obscure Chinese scholar.

Six Chapters of a Floating Life is written in classical Chinese and has a long history, which both make the translation more difficult, especially the translation of its culture-loaded words.

Culture-loaded words refer to words, phrases and idioms that demonstrate specific things in a culture. As we all know, China has a centuries-old history and rich civilization, possessing plenty of unique cultural phenomena, not to mention numerous culture-loaded words. In Six Chapters of a Floating Life, there are many culture-loaded words that are worthy of study.

By consulting relevant materials, I find that there are only a few works analyzing cultural-loaded words in Six Chapters of a Floating Life from the perspective of domestication and foreignization.

This pair of translation terms was put forward by Lawrence Venuti, a famous American translation theorist, in The Translator's Invisibility in 1995. As a matter of fact, domestication and foreignization are a unity of opposites and complement each other. Neither absolute domestication nor foreignization exists. There are different degrees of domestication and foreignization in all translation activities and works. Therefore, it is reasonable, scientific and feasible to analyze Mr. Lin’s translation from this perspective, which can fill certain research vacancy and benefit future studies in this field.

Thus, in this thesis, the author will subdivide domestication and foreignization into several detailed translation methods so as to analyze representative culture-loaded words in Six Chapters of a Floating Life. By doing this, this paper aims to prove the instructiveness of the translation strategies of domestication and foreignization, find out the reasons of the success of Mr. Lin’s translation, point out the positive role of this translation in the "going out" of Chinese culture, and provide reference for the translation of culture-loaded words.

Key Words

domestication; foreignization; Six Chapters of a Floating Life; Lin Yutang; culture-loaded words

摘要

《浮生六记》是清代文人沈复于1808年所著的自传体散文，以真言诉真情，为历代读者所推崇。目前流传较广的《浮生六记》英译本中，林语堂先生的Six Chapters of a Floating Life成文最早且与沈复原文风格最为接近，让不少外国读者得以一窥中国一无名文人的若梦浮生。

沈复此书以文言文著就，加上距今年代较为久远，译者的翻译之路可谓困难重重，这其中文化负载词的处理更是值得反复推敲。文化负载词是标志某种文化中特有事物的词、词组和习语。众所周知，中华民族的历史文明源远流长，独有的文化现象数不胜数，应运而生的文化负载词自然不在少数。《浮生六记》一书中就有相当数目的文化负载词具有研究价值。

通过查阅相关资料，本人发现从归化和异化角度来解读林译中文化负载词的研究还少之又少。归化和异化这对翻译术语是由美国著名翻译理论学家劳伦斯·韦努蒂（Lawrence Venuti）于1995年在《译者的隐身》中提出的。作为两种翻译策略，归化和异化是对立统一、相辅相成的，绝对的归化和绝对的异化都是不存在的。所有的翻译活动及作品都存在不同程度的归化和异化现象，故而，从这一角度来分析林译具有合理性、科学性和可行性，且能填补一定的研究空缺，为之后的相关研究提供可参考的思路与借鉴。

因此，本文作者将聚焦这一文学经典，将归化与异化这两种翻译策略细分为不同的翻译方法，对林译中有代表性的文化负载词进行分析解读，以小见大，从词见章，进而证明归化与异化的翻译策略的指导性，找出林译在国内外成功的原因，指出其在中国文化“走出去”中所起的积极作用，并为文化负载词的翻译难题提供解题思路及开口，引起大众对于文化翻译的重视与思考。

关键词

归化，异化，《浮生六记》，林语堂，文化负载词

Chapter One Introduction

With globalization surging ahead, cultural communication and exchange have become rising tides that no one can fight against. Chinese and English, as the language with the largest number of users and the language most widely used around the globe, are both crucial languages, which work as vital bridges in cultural world. (Shen Fu 2019)

However, as is known to all, China is a nation of age-old history and rich civilization. On her vast earth, there grows plenty of unique cultural phenomena. As a result, quite a number of culture-loaded words have been emerging. For culture-loaded words have their specific cultural connotations, it is hard to render them so that foreign readers could understand, which is a real and tough task for translators. (Shen Fu 2019)

Six Chapters of a Floating Life is an autobiographical prose written in classical Chinese by Shen Fu, who was a Chinese scholar in Qing dynasty, in 1808. It is popular among readers for its genuine words and sincerity between the lines. In this book, there are many culture-loaded words, which are worth studying. (Shen Fu 2019)

Among the current English versions of it, Lin Yutang's Six Chapters of a Floating Life is written first and the closest to the original version in style, which enables lots of foreign readers to take a look at the life of an obscure Chinese scholar. (Shen Fu 2019)

Thus, in this thesis, under the guidance of translation strategies, domestication and foreignization, the author will subdivide them into several detailed translation methods so as to analyze representative culture-loaded words in Six Chapters of a Floating Life. By doing this, this paper aims to prove the instructiveness of the translation strategies of domestication and foreignization, find out the reasons of the success of Mr. Lin’s translation, point out the positive role of this translation in the "going out" of Chinese culture, and provide reference for the translation of culture-loaded words. (Shen Fu 2019)

Chapter Two Literature Review

2.1 A Study on Six Chapters of a Floating Life

For the sake of carrying on this study, we must have a basic understanding of both our original and translated text sources: Six Chapters of a Floating Life. Hence we will have a brief review of its original version and English version translated by Mr. Lin in the following paragraphs. (Shen Fu 2019)

2.1.1 A Brief Review of Its Original Version

Six Chapters of a Floating Life is an autobiographical prose written by Shen Fu, who was an unknown scholar in Qing dynasty, in the 13th year during the Jiaqing period (AD 1808). It includes six chapters, of which only four remain, recording Shen Fu’s wedded bliss, pleasures of life, ups and downs, travel experiences, experiences in Formosa and the way of life. The phrase in this book’s title "floating life" derives from a passage in Li Po's poem, “ Our floating life is like a dream; how often can one enjoy oneself ?” (Shen Fu 2019)

Shen Fu, whose courtesy name is Sanbai, and alternative name Meiyi, was born in Suzhou, Jiangsu province in China in the 28th year during the Jiaqing period (AD 1763). He was a man of letters, who was once an assistant to ranking officials and a merchant. (Shen Fu 2019)

The remaining four chapters of Six Chapters of a Floating Life was accidentally found on a stall in Suzhou by a man called Yang Yinchuan. Yang passed it on to Wang Tao, his brother-in-law, who then published it with a movable type in 1877. Subsequently, this book gradually established itself on the literary field. (Shen Fu 2019)

This book is a pure and fair record of Shen Fu's ordinary but difficult life, which is still full of unforgettable and beautiful moments. It is incredibly touching, for Mr. Shen wrote down his real experiences and sincere feelings in plain words naturally, without traces of sham. (Shen Fu 2019)

Nowadays, Six Chapters of a Floating Life has become a classic and owned a mass of readers. Many people even called it “little A Dream in Red Mansions” for its description of the conflicts in the feudal family and society, which highly affirms its literary value and achievements. (Shen Fu 2019)

2.1.2 A Brief Review of Its English Version Translated by Lin Yutang

In the spring and summer time of 1935, Lin Yutang successively translated Six Chapters of a Floating Life into English and serialized them in the English magazines T'ien Hsia Monthly and Hsi Feng published in Shanghai. For the sake of better work, Mr. Lin has modified his translation no less than ten times. Now, his translation version has been acknowledged as the most popular one for it is the closest to the original text in terms of writing style. (Shen Fu 2019)

Lin Yutang once highly praised Shen Fu’s wife Yün, “Yün, I think, is one of the loveliest women in Chinese literature.” Mr. Lin said he translated the work for two reasons, one is to let the world know Yün by her name, and the other is that he has found lots of things in the simple life of this couple, the pursuit of beauty, the experience of ups and downs, and the unswerving love for carefreeness. (Shen Fu 2019)

In February of 1999, Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press reprinted Six Chapters of a Floating Life with Mr. Lin’s translation in the form of picture book. Its introductory notes claim that the reprinting is first due to Mr. Lin’s translation work, which has contributed a lot in the promotion of Chinese culture, secondly Mr. Lin’s superb artistic attainments and extraordinary cultural accomplishments, and lastly his beautiful and skilled use of English language. It demonstrates that Mr. Lin's translation has a far-reaching influence. (Shen Fu 2019)

2.2 An Introduction of Culture-loaded Words

Here we will focus on another important item in this study: culture-loaded words. This introduction covers three aspects, including definition, categorization and previous studies on them in Six Chapters of a Floating Life, which enable us to distinguish, select and analyse culture-loaded words in future steps. (Eugene, A. Nida. 2001)

2.2.1 Definition of Culture-loaded Words

There are many definitions for culture-loaded words, and I have presented three different versions below. First, Mona Baker claims that "the source-language word may express a concept which is totally unknown in the target culture. The concept in question may be abstract or concrete; it may relate to a religious belief, a social custom, or a type of food. Such concepts are often referred to as `culture-specific' ". (Mona Baker 2000,21)

This definition mentions three fields, namely religion, custom and food, which are now recognized to be among the main sources of culture-loaded words. Second, it means that the cultural information words carrying in the source language finds no equivalent in the target language. (Bao Huinan 2001,10)

In this version, the focus is “no equivalent”, which reveals why it is significant to study the translation of culture-loaded words. For in numerous cases, there is no equivalent in the target language. Third, J.F. Aixelá, a Spanish translator and translation theorist, defines them as "culture-specific items" and states in his book Culture-specific Item in Translation that "Some items appeared in the source text do not have equivalent items in the target readers' cultural system or these items have different textual status with those in the target readers' cultural system, thus leading to translation difficulty while transferring the function and meaning of the source text to the target text". (Zhang Nanfeng 2004,19)

From this definition, we are able to get a new perspective. Besides “no equivalent”, it makes a point that culture-loaded words can exist in the target cultural system but with different function and meaning.

To sum up, as barriers to translation, culture-loaded words have no equivalent in other cultural systems and are marks and mirrors of a nation’s distinct environment, which are often seen in fields like religion, custom, food etc. (Eugene, A. Nida. 2001)

2.2.2 Categorization of Culture-loaded Words

Eugene Nida considers that "if translators want to do a good job in cross-cultural translation, there are five types of cultural factors: 1) ecological culture; 2) material culture; 3) social culture; 4) religious culture; and 5) linguistic culture". (Hu Zhuanglin, Jiang Wangqi，2002)

In line with Nida's categorization of cultural factors, culture-loaded words can also be classified into five types accordingly, namely ecological culture-loaded words, religious culture-loaded words, material culture-loaded words, social culture-loaded words and linguistic culture-loaded words. This thesis will analyze Lin Yutang’s translation of culture-loaded words in Six Chapters of a Floating Life on the basis of Nida's categorization. (Eugene, A. Nida. 2001)

2.2.3 Previous Studies on Translation of Culture-loaded Words in Six Chapters of a Floating Life

Among those studies of the English versions of Shen Fu’s Six Chapters of a Floating Life, the studies of Mr. Lin’s account for a large proportion of it. In Quan Shulian’s article “Translator’s Cultural Orientation: Comparative Study of Translation of Culture-loaded Words in Six Chapters of a Floating Life”, she compares the translation of culture-loaded words done by Mr. Lin and Shirley Black and then claims that Shirley Black tends to use domestication while Mr. Lin applies foreignization more frequently. With a different focus, Li Yi, who has studied the culture-loaded words in Six Chapters of a Floating Life translated by Lin Yutang, analyzes the translation of culture-loaded words in three aspects: wording, Chinese idioms and the looks of women, and concludes that it is the purpose of translation determines which translation strategies to use and domestication and foreignization are a unity of opposites which should not be discussed apart. (Li Yi 2013,43-44)

Chapter Three An Analysis of Translation Strategies Based on Six Chapters of a Floating Life

3.1 Translation Strategy of Domestication

Domestication, as opposed to foreignization, refers to a translation strategy, which aims to translate the source text into target language in a transparent, fluent and natural style so as to minimize the strangeness for target readers. (Xiong Bing 2014,82-88)

As free translation is the most widely used translation method pertaining to domestication, we will discuss it and its two branches paraphrase and idiomatic translation. (Xiong Bing 2014,82-88)

3.1.1 Free Translation

Free translation refers to a translation method that reproduces the transferred meaning of the source text, which can be further divided into paraphrase and idiomatic translation. (Xiong Bing 2014,82-88)

3.1.1.1 Paraphrase

When applying paraphrase, the translator translates the source text explanatorily, without application of collocations and idioms in the target language as replacement of those parts in the source text. (Xiong Bing 2014,82-88)

1a. 合卺后，并肩夜膳，……（沈复，2018：7）

1b. After the drinking of the customary twin cups between bride and groom, we sat down together at dinner… (Lin Yutang, 2019: 35)

The Chinese phrase “合卺” refers to a characteristic part of ancient Chinese wedding ceremonies that the newlyweds drink cross-cupped wine in their wedding room. Foreign readers would have difficulty comprehending this phrase as there is no such a rite in their countries. Thus, Lin Yutang applies the translation method of paraphrase, explaining exactly what the custom is, which enables foreign readers to understand this special activity.

3.1.1.2 Idiomatic Translation

Idiomatic translation is an explanatory method of translation as well, with application of collocations and idioms in the target language as replacement of the parts in the source text. (Xiong Bing 2014,82-88)

2a. 井井然未尝稍失。（沈复，2018：9）

2b. Whatever she did was done well, and it was difficult to find fault with her. (Lin Yutang, 2019: 40-41)

“未尝稍失”means that someone handles things incredibly well, without anything wrong. And we can translate this Chinese phrase just in such an explanatory way, for it is clear and correct in meaning. But it is comparatively lengthy. That’s why here Mr. Lin adopts the English phrase “find fault with”, which is quite familiar to English users. For it conveys the meaning of the source text precisely and concisely, and improves the smoothness of foreign readers’ reading activity.

3.2 Translation Strategy of Foreignization

Compared to domestication, foreignization refers to a translation strategy that retains the original expressions and differences between source and target languages to a larger extent. This translation strategy can offer foreign readers more exotic information if they are willing to explore, but the reading process is less natural and efficient. (Xiong Bing 2014,82-88)

And foreignization consists of three translation methods, namely transliteration, word-for-word translation and literal translation, which will be presented below. (Xiong Bing 2014,82-88)

3.2.1 Transliteration

Transliteration refers to the rendering of alphabets, words or phrases in one language with symbols of similar or even the same pronunciations in another language. (Xiong Bing 2014,82-88)

3a. 服余衣，长一寸又半；于腰间折而缝之，外加马褂。（沈复，2018：31）

3b. As my gown was found to be an inch and a half too long, she tucked it round the waist and put on a makua on top. (Lin Yutang, 2019: 108)

The Chinese phrase “马褂” refers to the mandarin jacket worn over a gown, which is a kind of special costume of Chinese characteristics. It is popular in Qing dynasty and the Republic of China. Originally, it’s worn by the Chinese Manchu people on horseback. “马” means “horse” in English. “褂” means a short gown. And that is the reason why this costume is called “马褂”in Chinese. Though foreign readers barely know this kind of clothes and its origin, Mr. Lin translates it as “makua” tersely according to its Chinese pronunciation, which offers foreign readers an opportunity to get a clue of the new item “makua” and shows his confidence of Chinese history and culture.

3.2.2 Word-for-word Translation

Word-for-word translation is the rendering of text in which a word is used to replace another in the source text without considering the differences between the two languages in morphology, syntax and semantics, so as to translate a word in accordance with the paraphrasing method. (Xiong Bing 2014,82-88)

4a. 一场，主考得香钱百文。（沈复，2018：57）

4b. The official examiner would get one hundred cash “incense money”. (Lin Yutang, 2019: 253)

“Incense” translated into Chinese is “香”, while the English equivalent of “钱” is “money”. From this we can find that “incense money” is a word-for-word correspondence with “香钱”. There are much fewer people in English-speaking countries who are Buddhists, compared with China. So the concept of “incense money” may be strange to them. Here, Mr. Lin translates this phrase literally without transforming or considering morphological differences in two languages, which shows a brand-new concept to plentiful foreign readers. And it might arouse their interest to figure out what this phrase implies and what’s the culture connotation behind it.

3.2.3 Literal Translation

Literal translation, or directed translation, is the rendering of text in which a word is used to replace another word in the original text correspondingly, with consideration of the differences between the two languages in morphology, syntax and semantics, so as to enable the translation to conform to the lexical and syntactic norms of the target language. (Xiong Bing 2014,82-88)

5a. 急人之难，成人之事，嫁人之女，抚人之儿，指不胜屈，挥金如土，多为他人。（沈复，2018：63）

5b. He used to help people in trouble, bring up other people's sons and marry off other people's daughters in innumerable instances, spending money like dirt, all for the sake of other people. (Lin Yutang, 2019: 299)

“挥金如土” in Chinese means to throw one’s money about. There is a set expression in English both in meaning and construction, which is “spending money like water”. But instead of the image “water”, which is more common and well-accepted among English people, Mr. Lin keeps the original image “dirt” in his translation. That’s because the image “dirt” is more acknowledged by Chinese people, who have been rooted in agriculture civilization and dealt with dirt all the time. Hence, the literal translation of “dirt” into English is able to let readers of different culture background grasp more of the source text and aware of the culture differences.

3.3 A Brief Conclusion on the Translation Strategies

In this Chapter, we have mainly discussed five translation methods based on Six Chapters of a Floating Life. Among them, two belong to the translation strategy of domestication while three the translation strategy of foreignization. (Xiong Bing 2014,82-88)

The former instances from the book have proved that the application of the translation methods under domestication enables foreign readers to comprehend and accept literary works in a closer and more natural way, while the translation methods under foreignization provides them with a choice to feel the cultural differences and find out more valuable information. There is no absolute domestication or foreignization and no perfect choice of translation strategies. It is the purposes of translation that determine which translation strategy or methods to use. As to Mr. Lin, he has combined the usage of both the two superior strategies and their translation methods in his translation of Six Chapters of a Floating Life. (Xiong Bing 2014,82-88)

Chapter Four An Analysis of the Translation of Culture-loaded Words in Six Chapters of a Floating Life

4.1 Domestication Applied in Culture-loaded Words

In this part, we will center upon some culture-loaded words in Six Chapters of a Floating Life that are translated by Mr. Lin with the adoption of domestication. (Xiong Bing 2014,82-88)

4.1.1 Free Translation of Culture-loaded Words

As we have mentioned before, free translation is the most commonly used translation method pertaining to domestication and it includes paraphrase and idiomatic translation. Therefore, we will discuss them with examples of culture-loaded words in the book. (Xiong Bing 2014,82-88)

4.1.1.1 Paraphrase of Culture-loaded Words

The following two examples are able to demonstrate the brilliant use of paraphrase by Mr. Lin in his translation of culture-loaded words. (Xiong Bing 2014,82-88)

6a. 自此耳鬓相磨，亲同形影。（沈复，2018：9）

6b. And so every day we rubbed shoulders together and clung to each other like an object and its shadow… (Lin Yutang, 2019: 42)

The Chinese phrase “耳鬓相磨” is culture-loaded, which just derives from this book of Shen Fu. It literally means the rubbing of people’s ears and sideburns, whose extended meaning refers to the close relationship among people. Here Mr. Lin applies the new image of shoulders instead of the original images of ears and sideburns, for it would be hard for foreign audience to grasp the connection between ears and sideburns and the intimacy within them. Meanwhile, rubbing shoulders can accurately express the meaning of closeness in English. So he uses the phrase “rubbed shoulders” to convey the original meaning in an explanatory way.

7a. 粉颈 （沈复，2018：8）

7b. Beautiful white neck (Lin Yutang, 2019: 38)

In China, scholars conventionally adopt the word “粉”, which is “pink” in English, to modify one’s face, neck, etc. to show that one’s skin is white touched with red. However, if translating the Chinese term “粉颈” literally, we will get the phrase “pink neck”. There is no doubt that it will be odd for foreign audience. Therefore, Mr. Lin uses “beautiful white” rather than “pink” to modify “neck”, which expresses the meaning of “粉” briefly and precisely without causing troubles to readers and makes their reading activities more natural and pleasant.

4.1.1.2 Idiomatic Translation of Culture-loaded Words

The following example is able to demonstrate the fine use of idiomatic translation by Mr. Lin in his translation of culture-loaded words. (Xiong Bing 2014,82-88)

8a. 大醉而卧（沈复，2018：7）

8b. I fell asleep drunk like a fish. (Lin Yutang, 2019: 37)

This four-character Chinese phrase means one is lying in a state of terrible drunkenness. In the processing of this phrase, Mr. Lin uses a set English phrase “drunk like a fish”, which describes that one is terribly drunk. The adoption of this ready-made phrase in translation does convey the meaning of the source text correctly and vividly, which makes it easy for foreign readers to catch on and picture the scene. From this we can see that wise use of idiomatic translation may yield twice the result with half the effort.

4.2 Foreignization Applied in Culture-loaded Words

In this part, we will center on some culture-loaded words in Six Chapters of a Floating Life that are translated by Mr. Lin with the adoption of foreignization. (Xiong Bing 2014,82-88)

4.2.1 Transliteration of Culture-loaded Words

The following two examples are able to show the use of transliteration by Mr. Lin in his translation of culture-loaded words. (Xiong Bing 2014,82-88)

9a. 故上下呼芸为“三娘”。后忽呼为“三太太”……（沈复，2018：63）

9b. hence they used to call Yün “san niang” at home, but this was later suddenly changed into “san t'ai t'ai”. (Lin Yutang, 2019: 301)

“San” refers to “number three” in Chinese. “Niang” generally means a young married woman in a big household, while “t’ai t’ai” suggests the mistress of an independent home. “Niang” and “t’ai t’ai” are two of those unique terms of addressing people in ancient Chinese society, so there are no equivalents in English. That’s why Mr. Lin chooses to introduce their Chinese sounds to foreign audience, which leaves them a hint to learn two interesting addresses with era characteristics and know the distinct Chinese system of addressing.

10a. 余则从之学画，写草篆，镌图章…… （沈复，2018：56）

10b. They would then either write “grass-script”, or “chüan-script” or carve seals… (Lin Yutang, 2019: 247)

“篆书” refers to a style in Chinese calligraphy, often used on seals. If we translate the Chinese character “篆” literally into English it would be “seal”. However, Mr. Lin abandons the easy translation of “seal- script” and renders this calligraphy style as “chüan-script” according to its Chinese pronunciation, which exhibits an individual kind of Chinese writing style to foreign readers. There will be problems that most people who know little about China will feel difficult to understand this ancient “script”. And if they desire to figure it out, they need to do extra work beyond reading this book. Nevertheless, in this way, they have chances to know much more about China, which is an efficient way of spreading Chinese culture and driving cross-cultural communication.

4.2.2 Word-for-word Translation of Culture-loaded Words

The following example is able to show the masterly use of word-for-word translation by Mr. Lin in his translation of culture-loaded words. (Xiong Bing 2014,82-88)

11a. 芸笑曰：“白字有缘，将来恐白字连篇耳。”（沈复，2018：13）

11b. “It is all right,” Yün smiled and replied. “to have one's life bound up with the Po's, only I am afraid I shall be writing Po characters all my life.” (Lin Yutang, 2019: 54-55)

The so-called Po characters are words written wrong. This kind of words indeed exists in Chinese writing system, but they are used in a wrong way by people for they are of similar pronunciations and forms while in different meanings. In translation of this sentence, Mr. Lin renders “白字”, which means misspelt words, as “Po characters” word for word. “Po” is close to the pronunciation of Chinese character “白”, while “character” literally means “字” in Chinese. Mr. Lin translates the culture-loaded phrase like this to demonstrate a new term to foreign readers, instead of “misspelt word” which is easy to grasp but lack of Chinese charm. In this way, foreign readers can be more conscious of the original cultural genes lie behind those English words.

4.2.3 Literal Translation of Culture-loaded Words

The last two examples will show the tactful use of literal translation by Mr. Lin in his translation of culture-loaded words. (Xiong Bing 2014,82-88)

12a. 但李诗宛如姑射仙子，有一种落花流水之趣，令人可爱。（沈复，2018：12）

12b. but Li Po’s poems have the wayward charm of nymph. His lines come naturally like dropping petals and flowing waters, and are so much lovelier for their spontaneity. (Lin Yutang, 2019: 53)

In Chinese, “落花流水” is an idiom, which usually refers to the beauty of the scenes is waning in the late spring or one is defeated utterly. But this phrase is used here to compliment Li Po’s poems’ fluency and naturalness. Even though this expression is full of Chinese features, it is not too hard for foreign readers to get its implication from the images of “dropping petals” and “flowing waters”. For we have a common sense about these two natural scenery that they are both in the state of harmony and fluency. So Mr. Lin’s adoption of the method of literal translation is quite appropriate here and leaves some space for readers to imagine and taste by themselves.

13a. 芸曰：“世传月下老人专司人间婚姻事……” （沈复，2018：27）

13b. “It is said that the Old Man under the Moon is in charge of matrimony,” said Yün. (Lin Yutang, 2019: 92)

“月下老人” is the god of marriage who is in charge of human love relationships in Chinese mythology. This image is peculiar to China, so it stands to reason that there is no equivalent expression in other countries. When rendering this culture-loaded phrase, Mr. Lin chooses the method of literal translation with words of capitalized initial letters, which enables readers to feel that it is obviously a new culture symbol for them and the Old Man may be a Chinese god. Then it is up to the readers themselves if they want to search for some more information about this “Old Man under the Moon” or not. In this way, the translation becomes briefer and it rests with the readers concerning how much information they will get beyond the lines.

Chapter Five Conclusion

Concerning the current fact that different cultural systems around the world are becoming increasingly connected, translation activities have been literally taking place at every moment. However, the cultural differences in different counties have made it an arduous task. In view of the tremendous differences between China and English-speaking countries, the translation works are no easy tasks as well. As symbols which carry lots of cultural information, culture-loaded words are obstacles in translation, for they have no equivalents in other languages. So when translating these words, translators need to be alert and adopt the most proper translation strategies and methods so as to achieve the translation purposes to the deepest extent. (Eugene, A. Nida. 2001)

In this thesis, guided by domestication and foreignization, the author has discussed several culture-loaded words in Six Chapters of a Floating Life, which translated by Lin Yutang. Different from other theses focusing on this issue, the author probes it in five detailed translation methods under the two translation strategies we have mentioned before.Through the analysis of former examples, we can come to the point that domestication and foreignization are the unity of opposites. There is no standard answer that which translation strategy should be used in which circumstances. It is the purposes of translation that determine our choice. In the translation of Six Chapters of a Floating Life, Lin Yutang has proved this to us by using different translation methods in accordance with his purposes, which contributes to his translation success both at home and abroad and the cultural exchanges between China and other countries. (Xiong Bing 2014,82-88)

In total, this thesis has basically fulfilled its tasks to prove the instructiveness of the translation strategies of domestication and foreignization, and find out the reasons why Lin Yutang’s translation version turns out to be a huge success and receives warm responses. At the same time, it points out that this translation has played an active role when Chinese culture steps out to the global stage, and provides reference for the translation of culture-loaded words. (Li Yi 2013, 43-44)

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How to Keep "Chineseness" in Idiom Translation from Chinese to English 瞿淼 202070080604 Qu Miao 【专业 is missing】

Abstract

Idiom is a form of expression natural to a language, person, or group of people. With rich cultural information, Chinese idioms carry the characteristics of Chinese language and culture. In the translation of idoms from Chinese to English, "Chineseness" in idioms is often lost in the translation, since Chinese and English belong to different language systems so there exist great cultural differences between them. (Wang Tao, 2018, 32)

Idiom is a form of expression naturally to a language, person, or group of people. With rich cultural information, Chinese idioms carry the characteristics of Chinese language and culture. In the process od translating idoms from Chinese to English, "Chineseness" in idioms is often lost, since Chinese and English belong to different language systems,there exist great cultural differences between them. (Wang Tao, 2018, 32)--Luo Yuqing (talk) 01:39, 18 December 2020 (UTC)

This article, from the perspective of domestication and foreignization, compares the different effects of the text translated repectively by domestication and foreignization method and discusses the way to keep "Chineseness" in idiom translation form Chinese to English. And the article ends with the conclusion that in idiom translation from Chinese to English, it is advisable to translators should, according to the needs of a specific context, find a balance between foreignization and domestication, so that "Chineseness" in the original text is kept in translated text as much as possible.

This article, from the perspective of domestication and foreignization, compares the different effects of the text translated repectively by domestication and foreignization method and discusses the way to keep "Chineseness" in idiom translation form Chinese to English. And the article ends with the conclusion that in idiom translation from Chinese to English,translators should, according to the needs of a specific context, find a balance between foreignization and domestication, so that "Chineseness" in the original text can be kept in translated text as much as possible. --Luo Yuqing (talk) 01:39, 18 December 2020 (UTC)

Key Words

idiom translation; cultural deficiency; cultural differences; foregnizing; domestication

idiom translation; cultural deficiency; cultural differences; foreignization; domestication--Luo Yuqing (talk) 01:39, 18 December 2020 (UTC)

摘要

俗语是流传在人民群众口头上的，结构相对稳定的通俗语句，一般包括谚语、歇后语、惯用语和俗成语。汉语俗语承载着中国语言文化特色，蕴含着丰富的文化信息。在汉英俗语翻译中，因为汉语和英语属于不同的语言系统，并且文化差异较大，所以常常出现译文丢失了中国特色的情况。（王涛，2018，32）

本文从归化和异化的角度，对比了分别使用归化和异化翻译方法的译文的效果，讨论汉英俗语翻译保持中国特色的方法，得出结论，在中文习语的翻译过程中，译者应该根据特定语境的需要，在异化和归化之间找到一个平衡点，以此来最大限度地保持俗语的中国特色。

关键词

习语翻译；文化缺失；文化差异；异化；归化

Introduction

An idiom is a set phrase of two or more words that means something different from the literal meaning of the individual words．Generally speaking, idioms include colloquialisms, allegorical sayings, proverbs, slang, jargon and so on. The composition and semantics of idioms are very conventional, which is inseparable from the social and cultural background of idioms. Language is the carrier of culture, and idioms are an essential part of language. Idioms are deeply rooted in the social and cultural background where they are produced, and fully reflect the geographical environment, customs, religious beliefs and social, political, economic, and cultural systems in this background. Therefore, idioms are very national and cultural. (Wang Tao, 2018, 32)

An idiom is a set phrase of two or more words that means something different from the literal meaning of the individual words．Generally speaking, idioms include colloquialisms, allegorical sayings, proverbs, slang, jargons and so on. The composition and semantics of idioms are very conventional, which is inseparable from the social and cultural background of idioms. Language is the carrier of culture, and idioms are an essential part of language. Idioms are deeply rooted in the social and cultural background where they were produced, and fully reflect the geographical environment, customs, religious beliefs and social, political, economic, and cultural systems in this background. Therefore, idioms are national and cultural. (Wang Tao, 2018, 32)--Luo Yuqing (talk) 01:39, 18 December 2020 (UTC)

As an effective means to promote cross-cultural communication, translation is a bridge connecting different languages and can enhance communication between different cultures. As the essence of national culture, the translation of idioms plays an increasing important role in promoting cultural exchanges, and the biggest difficulty in translation is how to deal with the cultural conventions of source idioms. For translators, idiom translation must not only be fluent and express meaning, but also realize the transfer of cultural connotations implied by idioms. (Jiang Lei, 2003, 54)

As an effective means to promote cross-cultural communication, translation is a bridge connecting different languages and thus enhance the communication between different cultures. As the essence of national culture, the translation of idioms plays an increasingly important role in promoting cultural exchanges, and the biggest difficulty in translation is how to deal with the cultural conventions of source idioms. For translators, idiom translation must not only be fluent and express meaning precisly, but also realize the transfer of cultural connotations implied in idioms. (Jiang Lei, 2003, 54)--Luo Yuqing (talk) 07:00, 18 December 2020 (UTC)

Idioms in Chinese are the carriers that convey the rich connotations of the Chinese language. They have the characteristics of concise language, brilliant meaning, typical connotation, and wide range of uses. Since idioms are the most quintessential and typical part of Chinese culture and the shining pearl in Chinese culture, idiom translation is of great significance for achieving the most perfect state of communication between China and the West. Due to the differences between Chinese and Western cultures, there exist cultural deficiencies in the translation of Chinese idioms, which makes it difficult for people of different cultural backgrounds to establish coherent and unobstructed semantics when communicating. (Liu Ning, 2016, 81)

Idioms in Chinese are the carriers that convey the rich connotations of the Chinese language. They have some characteristics such as, concise language, brilliant meaning, typical connotation, and wide range of uses. Since idioms are the most quintessential and typical part of Chinese culture and the shining pearl in Chinese culture, idiom translation is of great significance for the communication between the China and the West. Due to the differences between Chinese and Western cultures, there exist cultural deficiencies in the translation of Chinese idioms, which makes it difficult for people in different cultural backgrounds to establish coherent and unobstructed semantics when communicating. (Liu Ning, 2016, 81)--Luo Yuqing (talk) 07:00, 18 December 2020 (UTC)

The first chapter of this article is an overview of Chinese idiom translation, analyzing the problems of Chinese idioms translation and the importance of keeping "Chineseness" in idiom translation. In the second chapter, this article discusses the reasons for cultural deficiency in Chinese idiom translation form four aspects: different emotional orientation, historical and cultural background, religious beliefs and ways of thinking. The third chapter is a comparative analysis of foreignization and domestication translation in idiom translation. This chapter begins with a brief introduction of foreignization and domestication translation method, and then compares the application of the two methods in idiom translation. At last, this article ends with the conclusion that translators should, according to the needs of a specific context, find a balance between foreignization and domestication.

The first chapter of this article is an overview of Chinese idiom translation, analyzing the problems of Chinese idioms translation and the importance of keeping "Chineseness" in idiom translation. In the second chapter, this article mainly discusses the reasons for cultural deficiency in Chinese idiom translation from four aspects: different emotional orientation, historical and cultural background, religious beliefs and ways of thinking. The third chapter is a comparative analysis of foreignization and domestication translation in idiom translation. This chapter begins with a brief introduction of foreignization and domestication translation methods, and then compares the application of the two methods in idiom translation. At last, this article ends with the conclusion that translators should, according to the needs of a specific context, find a balance between foreignization and domestication.--Luo Yuqing (talk) 07:00, 18 December 2020 (UTC)

Chapter One An Overview of the Idiom Translation form Chinese to English

Chinese idioms are mainly created by the folk and widely circulate. From the expression content of Chinese idioms, it has a large connotation, rich and profound content, hence it is surely informative with a good expression effect. As for language structure, it is usually characterized by popularity and colloquialism. In view of the current situation of the translation of Chinese idioms, the cultural connotation is obviously missing due to the influence of cultural forms. Idiom is a window for foreigners to understand Chinese culture. Therefore, it is of significance to keep Chinese characteristics in the translation of Chinese idioms as much as possible to spread Chinese culture. (Jia Yunpeng, 2015, 65)

Chinese idioms are mainly created by the folk and widely circulated. From the expression of Chinese idioms, it has a large connotation, rich and profound content, hence it is surely informative with a good expression effect. As for language structure, it is usually characterized by popularity and colloquialism. In view of the current situation of the translation of Chinese idioms, the cultural connotation is obviously missing due to the influence of cultural forms. Idiom is a window for foreigners to understand Chinese culture. Therefore, it is of significance to keep Chinese characteristics in the translation of Chinese idioms as much as possible to spread Chinese culture. (Jia Yunpeng, 2015, 65)--Luo Yuqing (talk) 07:00, 18 December 2020 (UTC)

1.1 The Problems of Idiom Translation form Chinese to English

Chinese idioms involve many contents and cover a wide range of knowledge. There is no doubt that this colloquial language has the characteristics of popularity, reflecting common and commonly used factors in daily life, so that the meaning of Chinese idioms can be fully expressed.Chinese idiom is a kind of inheritance of folk culture. In the process of translation, it is affected by its own cultural form and historical factors, and there is a certain cultural deficiency, or "loss of Chineseness", in the translation of Chinese colloquial language. (Liu Ning, 2016, 81)

Chinese idioms involve many contents and cover a wide range of knowledge. There is no doubt that this colloquial language has the characteristics of popularity, reflecting commonly used factors in daily life, so that the meaning of Chinese idioms can be fully expressed.Chinese idiom is a kind of inheritance of folk culture. In the process of translation, it is affected by its own cultural form and historical factors, and there is a certain cultural deficiency, or "loss of Chineseness", in the translation of Chinese colloquial language. (Liu Ning, 2016, 81)--Luo Yuqing (talk) 11:49, 18 December 2020 (UTC)

The manifestation of cultural deficiency in the translation of Chinese idioms is mainly due to the errors in the interpretation of the inherent meanings conveyed by the Chinese idioms, and the discrepancy in the intrinsic values between the translator and the original Chinese idioms after translation. As a result, the inheritance and development of culture are hindered, and there is a lack of comprehensive understanding in the process of foreign translation. (Guo Jianzhong, 2000, 65)

The cultural deficiency in the translation of Chinese idioms is mainly due to the errors in the translation of the inherent meanings conveyed by the Chinese idioms, and the discrepancy in the intrinsic values between the translator and the original Chinese idioms after translation. As a result, the inheritance and development of culture are hindered, and there is a lack of comprehensive understanding in the process of foreign translation. (Guo Jianzhong, 2000, 65)--Luo Yuqing (talk) 11:49, 18 December 2020 (UTC)

The emergence of this phenomenon is a manifestation of cultural deficiency, and the contradiction of cultural mechanism orientation between readers and translators leads to the emergence of cultural deficiency.On the basis of the semantic meaning of the original text, the translation of Chinese colloquial language is in accordance with the linguistic environment and the operational environment of grammar. The translation process emphasizes the cultural inheritance and the expression of intrinsic value.It is precisely the collision between different cultures that causes the phenomenon of culture loss. (Liu Ning, 2016, 82)

The emergence of this phenomenon is the manifestation of cultural deficiency and the contradiction of cultural mechanism orientation between readers and translators, which lead to the emergence of cultural deficiency.On the basis of the semantic meaning of the original text, the translation of Chinese colloquial language is in accordance with the linguistic environment and the operational environment of grammar. The translation process emphasizes the cultural inheritance and the expression of intrinsic value.It is precisely the collision between different cultures that causes the phenomenon of culture loss. (Liu Ning, 2016, 82)--Luo Yuqing (talk) 11:49, 18 December 2020 (UTC)

1.2 The Importance of Keeping "Chineseness" in Chinese Idiom Translation to English

Idioms are the condensed and quintessence of human language. As the treasures of national culture, they carry the cultural information such as geography, history, religion and living habits of a country or a nation. Translation is a kind of cross-cultural communication activity, which conveys cultural characteristics. If it is separated from the culture of a nation, translation would miss its due role. (Wang Tao, 2018, 33)

Idioms are the quintessence of human language. As the treasure of national culture, they carry the cultural information such as geography, history, religion and living habits of a country or a nation. Translation is a kind of cross-cultural communication activity, which conveys cultural characteristics. If separated from the culture of a nation, translation would miss its due role. (Wang Tao, 2018, 33)--Luo Yuqing (talk) 11:49, 18 December 2020 (UTC)

Since the 1980s and 1990s, translation studies have ushered in a new stage, namely the shift of translation. Susan Bassnett is a representative of the school of "cultural translation". Her view of cultural translation emphasizes the special status of culture in translation -- as language and culture are closely related, culture, rather than text, should be regarded as the basic unit of translation. In short, translation is by no means an act of pure language. It is deeply rooted in the culture in which the language is located. Translation is the communication within and between cultures, and translation equivalence is the cultural function equivalence between the source language and the target language. In a word, it is significant to keep Chinese characteristics in Chinese Idiom Translation to English as much as possible to spread Chinese culture. (Jiang Lei, 2003, 53)

Since the 1980s and 1990s, translation studies have ushered in a new stage, namely the shift of translation. Susan Bassnett is the representative of the school of "cultural translation". Her view of cultural translation emphasizes the special status of culture in translation -- as language and culture are closely related, culture, rather than text, should be regarded as the basic unit of translation. In short, translation is by no means an act of pure language. It is deeply rooted in the culture in which the language is located. Translation is the communication within and between cultures, and translation equivalence is the cultural function equivalence between the source language and the target language. In a word, it is significant to keep Chinese characteristics in Chinese idiom translation to English as much as possible to spread Chinese culture. (Jiang Lei, 2003, 53)--Luo Yuqing (talk) 11:49, 18 December 2020 (UTC)

Chapter Two The Reasons for the Loss of "Chineseness" in Idiom Translation from Chinese to English

Chinese and English have completely different cultural backgrounds. The cultural differences between the two are huge, which makes the Chinese and Western people have huge understanding barriers in language exchanges, especially idioms in traditional Chinese culture. Since idioms contains rich and profound cultural background knowledge, translators will inevitably encounter the problem of cultural deficiency in the process of idiom translation, transplanting one culture to another. The problem of cultural deficiency in idiom translation occurs frequently. The reasons for the Loss of "Chineseness" in Idiom Translation from Chinese to English are mainly reflected in the following four aspects. (Qiu Nengsheng, 2019, 51)

Chinese and English have completely different cultural backgrounds so that they have large cultural differences, which make the Chinese and Western people have huge understanding barriers in language exchanges, especially idioms in traditional Chinese culture. Since idioms contains rich and profound cultural background knowledge, translators will inevitably encounter the problem of cultural deficiency in the process of idiom translation, transplanting one culture to the other one. The problem of cultural deficiency in idiom translation occurs frequently. The reasons for the loss of "Chineseness" in idiom translation from Chinese to English are mainly reflected in the following four aspects. (Qiu Nengsheng, 2019, 51)--Luo Yuqing (talk) 11:49, 18 December 2020 (UTC)

2.1 Different Emotional Orientation

Although there are many words that refer to the same thing in Chinese and English, the word may mean differently in different language contexts, for the same word may bear different associative meanings. (Jia Yunpeng, 2015, 65)

For example, Chinese people and Westerns often have different understanding to color words. The semantic associations of the word "yellow" are different in English and Chinese cultures. In Chinese culture, yellow is the symbol of imperial power and status, so it plays an important role.For example, "黄袍加身"（the yellow robe adds the body） refers to being an emperor.However, in modern Chinese, the word "黄" often has a derogatory meaning, which means lewdness and depravity. It forms many new words with other words and is widely used.For example: "黄色影片", "黄色书籍" and so on, most of them are related to the concept of sex. Nevertheless, yellow represents justice, wisdom and glory in Western culture.In Western art St. Peter is dressed in yellow.Of course, yellow also has a bad symbolic meaning. It reminds people of the color of the clothes worn by Judas, who betrayed Jesus. Therefore, yellow can be used to express "timid, unreliable, jealous, sensationalist, low-level sensationalism" and other derodic meanings. But in English the word "yellow" doesn't have an obscene meaning. (Jia Yunpeng, 2015, 66)

For example, Chinese people and Westerns often have different understanding words about colors. The semantic associations of the word "yellow" are different in English and Chinese cultures. In Chinese culture, yellow is the symbol of imperial power and status, so it plays an important role in Chinese culture. For example, "黄袍加身"（the yellow robe adds the body） refers to being an emperor.However, in modern Chinese, the word "黄" often has a derogatory meaning, which means lewdness and depravity. It forms many new words with other words and is widely used.For example: "黄色影片", "黄色书籍" and so on, most of them are related to the concept of sex. Nevertheless, yellow represents justice, wisdom and glory in Western culture.In Western art St. Peter is dressed in yellow.Of course, yellow also has a bad symbolic meaning. It reminds people of the color of the clothes Judas dressed, who betrayed Jesus. Therefore, yellow can be used to express "timid, unreliable, jealous, sensationalist, low-level sensationalism" and other derodic meanings. But in English the word "yellow" doesn't have an obscene meaning. (Jia Yunpeng, 2015, 66)--Luo Yuqing (talk) 11:49, 18 December 2020 (UTC)

Chinese people has regarded the "dragon" as the symbol of the nation since ancient times, and the Chinese nation called themselves the "descendant of the dragon". However, in western culture, "dragon" is a lizard with scales, wings and tails, an can breathe fire. It is a symbol of evil and cruelty. Therefore, if the Chinese idiom "望子成龙" was translated into "hope one’s children to become a dragon", it would lead to great misunderstanding. But we translate it into "hope one’s children will have a bright future", foreigners may not get the metaphoric meaning of the word "龙". This is what we said the loss of "Chineseness", namely, cultural deficiency. (Qiu Nengsheng, 2019, 52)

Chinese people has regarded the "dragon" as the symbol of the nation since ancient times, and they call themselves as the "descendant of the dragon". However, in western culture, "dragon" is a lizard with scales, wings and tails, which can breathe fire. It is a symbol of evil and cruelty. Therefore, if the Chinese idiom "望子成龙" was translated into "hope one’s children to become a dragon", it would lead to great misunderstanding. But we translate it into "hope one’s children will have a bright future", foreigners may not get the metaphoric meaning of the word "龙". This is what we said the loss of "Chineseness", namely, cultural deficiency. (Qiu Nengsheng, 2019, 52)--Luo Yuqing (talk) 11:49, 18 December 2020 (UTC)

2.2 Different Historical and Cultural Background

Chinese culture has a long history and bears a profound and sophisticated cultural nature. As the essence of Chinese culture, Chinese idioms often contain many historical allusions. And idioms originated from literary quotation or historical events should not be conceived literally because they have deeper meanings. Without cultural background knowledge, it is not easy to understand this kind of idioms, not mention to translate them. (Wang Tao, 2018, 114)

Chinese culture has a long history and bears a profound and sophisticated cultural nature. As the essence of Chinese culture, Chinese idioms often contain many historical allusions. And idioms originated from literary quotation or historical events should not be conceived literally because they have deeper meanings. Without cultural background knowledge, it is not easy to understand this kind of idioms, not to mention to translate them. (Wang Tao, 2018, 114)--Luo Yuqing (talk) 11:58, 18 December 2020 (UTC)

For instance, the Chinese idiom "三顾茅庐", which means repeatedly requesting somebody to take up a responsible post, derives from a historical story of Zhuge Liang. At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Zhuge Liang lived in a thatched cottage in Longzhong. Xu Shu, a counsellor, recommended zhuge Liang to Liu Bei and said, zhuge Liang was a genius. In order to ask Zhuge Liang to help him conquer the war, Liu Bei went with Guan Yu and Zhang Fei to ask him to leave the mountain. However, Zhuge Liang was not at home, so Liu Bei had to leave his name and went back unhappy. A few days later, Liu Bei learned that Zhuge Liang had returned and went with Guan Yu and Zhang Fei against the wind and snow.But Zhuge Liang went out again, and Liu Bei and his men left again. Liu Bei went to Longzhong for the third time and finally met Zhuge Liang.In the conversation, Zhuge Liang made a very incisive analysis of the situation, which impressed Liu Bei. Liu Bei visited the thatched cottage three times, which greatly moved Zhuge Liang and he promised to go out to help him. Zhuge Liang helped Liu Bei win many victories and laid the foundation of the state of the Han dynasty for him. (Qiu Jixin, 2002, 43)

For instance, the Chinese idiom "三顾茅庐", which means repeatedly requesting somebody to take up a responsible post, derives from a historical story of Zhuge Liang. At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Zhuge Liang lived in a thatched cottage in Longzhong. Xu Shu, a counsellor, recommended zhuge Liang to Liu Bei and said that zhuge Liang was a genius. In order to ask Zhuge Liang to help him win the war, Liu Bei went with Guan Yu and Zhang Fei to ask him to leave the mountain. However, Zhuge Liang was not at home, so Liu Bei had to leave his name and went back unhappily. A few days later, Liu Bei learned that Zhuge Liang had returned and went with Guan Yu and Zhang Fei against the wind and snow.But Zhuge Liang went out again, and Liu Bei and his men left again. Liu Bei went to Longzhong for the third time and finally met Zhuge Liang.In the conversation, Zhuge Liang made a very incisive analysis of the situation, which impressed Liu Bei. Liu Bei visited the thatched cottage three times, which greatly moved Zhuge Liang and he promised to go out to help him. Zhuge Liang helped Liu Bei win many victories and laid the foundation of the state of the Han dynasty for him. (Qiu Jixin, 2002, 43)--Luo Yuqing (talk) 11:58, 18 December 2020 (UTC)

This idiom comes form this story.If we just translate "三顾茅庐" into "repeatedly to request somebody to take up a responsible post” or "have visited the cottage thrice in succession to call on somebody repeatedly", foreigners would not get the allusion of it, hence the Chinese characteristics is lost somehow. (Qiu Jixin, 2002, 43)--Luo Yuqing (talk) 11:58, 18 December 2020 (UTC)

Likewise, the idioms like "班门弄斧" and "卧薪尝胆" are all relevant to some historical figures, who are known by all Chinese people but unfamiliar to foreigners. Only when they have learned something about Zhuge Liang, Lu Ban, and Gou Jian can they get the meaning of these idioms. And it is the profound historical and cultural backgrounds that make the Chinese idioms hard to translate. (Qiu Jixin, 2002, 43)

2.3 Different religious beliefs

As a special form of human culture, religion is produced and developed almost synchronously with human culture, and all ethnic groups have their own religious beliefs and cultures. Religion not only exerts a certain influence on people's values and ways of thinking, but also express language expression. (Jia Yunpeng, 2015, 65)

As a special form of human culture, religion is produced and developed almost synchronously with human culture, and all ethnic groups have their own religious beliefs and cultures. Religion not only exerts a certain influence on people's values and ways of thinking, but also on language expression. (Jia Yunpeng, 2015, 65)--Luo Yuqing (talk) 12:07, 18 December 2020 (UTC)

In the late Western Han Dynasty, Buddhism was introduced into China, and it has a history of more than one thousand years in China. Accompanied with the introduction of Buddhism came some idioms Buddhism or related to Buddhism, such as "放下屠刀，立地成佛", "苦海无边，回头是岸", and "醍醐灌顶". Most Chinese people believe in Buddhism and Taoism, while most Westerners believe in Christianity. In the context of two different religious cultures, translators often meet translation difficulties. (Jia Yunpeng, 2015, 65)

In the late Western Han Dynasty, Buddhism was introduced into China, and it has a history of more than one thousand years in China. Accompanied with the introduction of Buddhism came some idioms of Buddhism or related to Buddhism, such as "放下屠刀，立地成佛", "苦海无边，回头是岸", and "醍醐灌顶". Most Chinese people believe in Buddhism and Taoism, while most Westerners believe in Christianity and Catholicism. In the context of two different religious cultures, translators often meet translation difficulties. (Jia Yunpeng, 2015, 65)--Luo Yuqing (talk) 12:07, 18 December 2020 (UTC)

Take "放下屠刀，立地成佛" as an example. The idiom "放下屠刀" (lay down the butcher's knife) does not refer to the butcher's knife that actually kills. The "butcher's knife" here refers to malice, evil deeds and all delusions, delusions, confusion, differentiation and persistence. The sentence "放下屠刀，立地成佛" (Put down the butcher's knife and become a Buddha on the spot) means: the one who put down delusion, distinction, persistence, is the Buddha! The essence of "butcher knife" is "man's confusion to himself". Many translation versions of this idiom are given, like "A killer becomes a Buddha at the moment he drops the knife to kill." and "A wrongdoer may become a man of virtue once he does good."; however, these versions both neglect the original Buddhist factors. If the cultural connotation is not expressed in translation, westerners would feel confused while reading. (Jia Yunpeng, 2015, 65)

Take "放下屠刀，立地成佛" as an example. The idiom "放下屠刀" (lay down the butcher's knife) does not refer to the butcher's knife(lethal weapon). The "butcher's knife" here refers to malice, evil deeds ,all delusions, confusion, differentiation and persistence. The sentence "放下屠刀，立地成佛" (Put down the butcher's knife and become a Buddha on the spot) means: the one who puts down delusion, distinction, persistence, is the Buddha! The essence of "butcher knife" is "man's confusion to himself". Many translation versions of this idiom are given, like "A killer becomes a Buddha at the moment he drops the knife to kill." and "A wrongdoer may become a man of virtue once he does good."; however, these versions both neglect the Buddhist factors of original idiom. If the cultural connotation is not expressed in translation, westerners would feel confused while reading. (Jia Yunpeng, 2015, 65)--Luo Yuqing (talk) 12:07, 18 December 2020 (UTC)

2.4 Different Ways of Thinking

As for the characteristics of the deep structure of Chinese culture, from Hager to Derrida, the western academic circle has formed a prejudice that China has no rationality and no philosophy. Previous Chinese scholars have found some similarities and differences between Chinese and Western cultures in material, institutional and ideological aspects, but they have neglected the role of rationality in the Chinese and Western cultures. (Jiang Lei, 2003, 54)

As for the characteristics of the deep structure of Chinese culture, from Hager to Derrida, the western academic circle has formed a prejudice that China has no rationality and no philosophy. Previous Chinese scholars have found some similarities and differences between Chinese and Western cultures in material, institutional and ideological aspects, but they have neglected the rationality in the Chinese and Western cultures. (Jiang Lei, 2003, 54)--Luo Yuqing (talk) 12:17, 18 December 2020 (UTC)

Reason has different contents and categories. Different categories of reason make up different rational structures. Although the outbreak of rationality is the common characteristic of Chinese and Western civilizations in the axial age, their rational structure is not the same.The rational structure of the ancient West includes logical reason, natural reason, practical reason, and aesthetic reason, but it lacks historical reason. Its rational structure is dominated by pure reason, while logical reason occupies a dominant position. (Jiang Lei, 2003, 54)

The rational structure of China includes historical reason, natural reason and moral reason. It has logical thought which has not developed into logical reason. Among which historical reason occupies a dominant position. Logical reason dominates western thinking, while historical reason leads Chinese thinking. This difference in rational structure is the fundamental reason for the difference in Chinese and Western thinking. (Guo Jianzhong, 2000, 66)--Luo Yuqing (talk) 12:17, 18 December 2020 (UTC) sorry,这一段忘记粘贴复制，直接改动了

The difference between Chinese civilization and Western civilization lies in the difference of rational structure. The difference between the western civilization and the Chinese civilization lies in the difference of dichotomy.Some of the differences between Chinese and Western dichotomies can be traced back to the differences between Chinese and Western languages. Different language features are the source of the differences between Chinese and Western cultures. (Jia Yunpeng, 2015, 66)

Chapter Three Comparative Analysis of foreignization and domestication Translation in Idiom Translation

As a literary form, Chinese idioms have many inherent and connotative meanings. In the process of translation, the phenomenon of loss of Chinese characteristics is quite serious. In order to induce the loss of Chinese characteristics in translation to minimum, we should choose the appropriate translation method. (Guo Jianzhong, 2000, 65)

As a literary form, Chinese idioms have many inherent and connotative meanings. In the process of translation, the phenomenon of loss of Chinese characteristics is quite severe. In order to reduce the loss of Chinese characteristics in translation to minimum, we should choose the appropriate translation method. (Guo Jianzhong, 2000, 65)--Luo Yuqing (talk) 13:12, 18 December 2020 (UTC)

Domestication and foreignization translation have always been the focus of debate in the field of translation. The essence of the contradiction lies in the proposition that the expression form of the original language introduced into the target language or the idiomatic expression in the target language. This article, from the perspective of domestication and foreignization, compares the different effects of the text translated repectively by domestication and foreignization method and discusses the way to keep "Chineseness" in idiom translation form Chinese to English. (Guo Jianzhong, 2000, 65)

Domestication and foreignization translation have always been the focus of debate in the field of translation. The essence of the contradiction lies in the proposition that the expression form of the original language introduced into the target language or the idiomatic expression in the target language. This article, from the perspective of domestication and foreignization, compares the different effects of the text translated by domestication and foreignization methods repectively and discusses the way to keep "Chineseness" in idiom translation form Chinese to English. (Guo Jianzhong, 2000, 65)--Luo Yuqing (talk) 13:12, 18 December 2020 (UTC)

3.1 A Brief Introduction of foreignization and domestication Translation

Foreignization and domestication Translation are systematically put forward by Lawrence Venuti in his book Translator's Invisibility: A History of Translation (1995).

Foreignization and domestication translation are systematically put forward by Lawrence Venuti in his book Translator's Invisibility: A History of Translation (1995). --Luo Yuqing (talk) 13:12, 18 December 2020 (UTC)

Domestication translation is to transform the foreign element in one culture into something familiar in another culture.It puts aside the sentence and image of the original text, but grasps its pragmatic meaning. From the target language and the original text of the pragmatic meaning of the same way of expression.Strictly speaking, domestication is a revision of the culture of the target language. However, it reduces the difficulty of the readers to accept the translation text at the expense of the large culture contained information as well as the appreciation and understanding of the meaning of heterogeneous culture to some extent. (Jiang Lei, 2003, 53)

Domestication is to transform the foreign element in one culture into something familiar in another culture.It puts aside the sentence and image of the original text, but grasps its pragmatic meaning. From the target language and the original text of the pragmatic meaning of the same way of expression.Strictly speaking, domestication is a revision of the culture of the target language. However, it is easier for the readers to accept the translation text at the expense of the large culture contained information as well as the appreciation and understanding of the meaning of heterogeneous culture to some extent. (Jiang Lei, 2003, 53)--Luo Yuqing (talk) 13:12, 18 December 2020 (UTC)

On the contrary, foreignization is to transform the information from one culture and language to another culture and language in a way that remains almost as it is. It endows the target language with new linguistic elements and also novel and unique forms of expression, which is conducive to the mutual communication and penetration of two heterogeneous cultures and languages, so as to promote their mutual integration. (Jiang Lei, 2003, 53)

In his book, Venuti makes a critical study of western translation from the early 17th century to the present, and reveals that the strategy of "smooth translation" has always been dominant in the history of Western translation. The fundamental reason is to form a norm of foreign literature in English based on the western ideology. Venuti puts it bluntly that his purpose writing this book was to go against tradition, namely, to advocate the visibility of translators. Venuti opposed domestication and advocated foreignization in tradition. This translation strategy, he says, can be called "resistance". (Venuti, 1995,105)

In his book, Venuti made a critical study of western translation from the early 17th century to the present, and revealed that the strategy of "smooth translation" has always been dominant in the history of Western translation. The fundamental reason is to form a norm of foreign literature in English based on the western ideology. Venuti put it bluntly that his purpose of writing this book was to go against tradition, namely, to advocate the visibility of translators. Venuti opposed domestication and advocated foreignization in tradition. This translation strategy, he says, can be called "resistance". (Venuti, 1995,105) --Luo Yuqing (talk) 13:12, 18 December 2020 (UTC)

Such translation not only avoids smooth translation, but also challenges the culture of the target language, because smooth translation tamper with the foreign text with the ethnocentrism of the culture of the target language. "Resistance" means resistance to the ethnocentrism of the target language culture, so that the translator is no longer invisible in translation. (Jiang Lei, 2003, 53)

Such translation not only avoids smooth translation, but also challenges the culture of the target language, because smooth translation tampers with the foreign text with the ethnocentrism of the culture of the target language. "Resistance" means resistance to the ethnocentrism of the target language culture, so that the translator is no longer invisible in translation. (Jiang Lei, 2003, 53)--Luo Yuqing (talk) 13:12, 18 December 2020 (UTC)

Nida is the representative of the domestication translation. He put forward the concept of functional equivalence, "The relationship between the target receptor and the target text should be equivalent to that between the source language receptor and the source text", in order to eliminate the differences in language and culture in the translation. (Nida, 1993)

3.2 The Application of domestication Translation in Idiom Translation

The ideal of Nida's domestication translation is the closest natural equivalent. Domestication translation maximizes the dominant position of the target language and makes the target language close to readers. It tries to overcome cultural differences to realize the equivalent translation. Due to the cultural differences between different languages, translators are required to have a keen sense of culture and ability to fully and accurately interpret the national psychology and cognitive mode of the source culture, so that they can reproduce the profound cultural connotations of the source language. (Qiu Jixin, 2002, 42)

The ideal of Nida's domestication translation is the closest natural equivalent. Domestication maximizes the dominant position of the target language and brings the target language closer to readers. It tries to overcome cultural differences to realize the equivalent translation. Due to the cultural differences between different languages, translators are required to have a keen sense of culture and ability to fully and accurately tranlate the national psychology and cognitive mode of the source culture, so that they can reproduce the profound cultural connotations of the source language. (Qiu Jixin, 2002, 42)--Luo Yuqing (talk) 13:12, 18 December 2020 (UTC)

Generally speaking, idioms are words with rich cultural connotations. Undoubtedly, the choice of foreignization and domestication method will produce different results: whether the culture of the source language can be preserved, and to what extent can be preserved. If we choose domestication method, we should realize that there are two premises to distinguish it: one is the domestication under the principle of fidelity, which is prescriptive and centered on the source language; another is domestication under the premise of non-faithfulness, which is descriptive and oriented by the translation into Chinese. (Qiu Jixin, 2002, 42)

Generally speaking, idioms are words with rich cultural connotations. Undoubtedly, the choice of foreignization and domestication methods will produce different results: whether the culture of the source language can be preserved, and to what extent can be preserved. If we choose domestication method, we should realize that there are two premises to distinguish it: one is the domestication under the principle of fidelity, which is prescriptive and centered on the source language; the other is domestication under the premise of non-faithfulness, which is descriptive and oriented by the translation into Chinese. (Qiu Jixin, 2002, 42)--Luo Yuqing (talk) 13:12, 18 December 2020 (UTC)

That is to say, domestication translation can be divided two way. One is a faithful principle under domestication, we can refer it as equivalent translation. While using this method to translate idioms, translators try to look for expressions from target language which has the same semantic effect as that of the source language, thus to make the translation natural, direct and vivid, improving the readability and acceptability of the translation. (Qiu Jixin, 2002, 42)

That is to say, domestication method can be divided two way. One is a faithful principle under domestication, we can refer it as equivalent translation. While using this method to translate idioms, translators try to look for expressions from target language which has the same semantic effect as that of the source language, thus to make the translation natural, direct and vivid, improving the readability and acceptability of the translation. For example, the Chinese idiom "时间就是金钱" is translated as "Time is money", and "事实胜于雄辩" as "Facts speak louder than words". (Qiu Jixin, 2002, 42)--Luo Yuqing (talk) 13:12, 18 December 2020 (UTC)

For example, the Chinese idiom "时间就是金钱" is translated as "Time is money", and "事实胜于雄辩" as "Facts speak louder than words". The other is a loyal premise of domestication, which is similar to free translation. When the cultural characteristics of source language idioms expressed cannot be transformed through literal translation, translators should adopt free translation, not only to convey the deep meaning of the source language, but also to reflect characteristics of the target language, realizing the harmonious development of the two different languages. For instance, "胆小如鼠" is translated into "as timid as a hare" instead of "as timid as a mouse". (Jiang Lei, 2003, 54)

The other is a loyal premise of domestication, which is similar to free translation. When the cultural characteristics of source language idioms expressed cannot be transformed through literal translation, translators should adopt free translation, not only to convey the deep meaning of the source language, but also to reflect characteristics of the target language, realizing the harmonious development of the two different languages. For instance, "胆小如鼠" is translated into "as timid as a hare" instead of "as timid as a mouse". (Jiang Lei, 2003, 54)--Luo Yuqing (talk) 13:12, 18 December 2020 (UTC)

Another example of the application of domestication is the translation version of the famous Chinese novel 《红楼梦》 by David Hawkes. There are a large number of idioms in the novel, and Hawkes generally translated them by using the method of domestication. For the sentence "癞蛤蟆想天鹅吃。"(曹雪芹 165) , Hawkes translated it into " The toad on the ground wanting to eat the goose in the sky" [Hawkes, 2012, 242]. Here, Hawkes replaced "swan"(天鹅) with "goose"(鹅), since the associative meanings of "swan" and "goose" are completely different in western culture. (He Fang, 2019, 171)

Another example of the application of domestication is the translation version of the famous Chinese novel 《红楼梦》 by David Hawkes. There are a large number of idioms in the novel, and Hawkes generally translated them by using the method of domestication. For the sentence "癞蛤蟆想天鹅吃。"(曹雪芹 165) , Hawkes translated it into " The toad on the ground wanting to eat the goose in the sky" [Hawkes, 2012, 242]. Here, Hawkes replaced "swan"(天鹅) with "goose"(鹅), since the associative meanings of "swan" and "goose" are completely different in western culture.

3.3 The Application of foreignization Translation in Idiom Translation

====3.3 The Application of foreignization translation in Idiom Translation====--Luo Yuqing (talk) 13:12, 18 December 2020 (UTC) Foreignization translation means that, under the pressure of cultural value deviationism, the reader is brought into the context of the translation, accepts the language and cultural differences of the foreign language text. It takes the source language culture as the destination, adopting the source language expression methods that correspond to the original author, approaching the source language text author, and conveying the original content most truthfully. (Qiu Jixin, 2002, 43)

Foreignizing translation means that, under the pressure of cultural value deviationism, the reader is brought into the context of the translation and accepts the language and cultural differences of the foreign language text. It takes the source language culture as the destination, adopting the source language expression methods that correspond to the original author, approaching the source language text author, and conveying the original content most truthfully. (Qiu Jixin, 2002, 43) --Luo Yuqing (talk) 13:12, 18 December 2020 (UTC)

For example, if "一箭双雕" is translated as "kill two hawks with one arrow" instead of "kill two birds with one stone", the cultural information of the source language would be preserved to the greatest extent, so that the different cultural connotations can be truly presented to readers. The differences in the culture of the source language are reflected, allowing readers to experience foreign cultures through their own cultural cultivation. The foreignization translation method reflects a trend of cultural integration, allowing the strong culture and the weak culture to develop in the collision, and finally achieve equal dialogue in the continuous exchange. It not only promotes cultural exchanges, but also contributes to the enrichment and development of the target language culture. (Jiang Lei, 2003, 54)

For example, if "一箭双雕" is translated into "kill two hawks with one arrow" instead of "kill two birds with one stone", the cultural information of the source language would be preserved to the greatest extent, so that the different cultural connotations can be truly presented to readers. The differences in the culture of the source language are reflected, allowing readers to experience foreign cultures through their own cultural cultivation. The foreignization translation method reflects a trend of cultural integration, allowing the strong culture and the weak culture to develop in the collision, and finally achieves equal dialogue in the continuous exchange. It not only promotes cultural exchanges, but also contributes to the enrichment and development of the target language culture. (Jiang Lei, 2003, 54)--Luo Yuqing (talk) 13:12, 18 December 2020 (UTC)

Moreover, another example of the application of foreignization is the translation version of the famous Chinese novel 《红楼梦》 by Yang Xianyi(杨宪益). Contrary to Hawkes’s translation, Yang adopted the method of foreignization while confronting with cultural factors in translating. As for "癞蛤蟆想天鹅吃"[曹雪芹, 1791, 165], Yang translated it into "A toad hankering for a tatste of swan"(Yang Xianyi, 1978). Here, Yang keeps the "Chineseness" in source language through literal translation. (He Fang, 2019, 172)

Choosing domestication or foreignization is not a question of black and white, but a question of grasping "degree", or finding a balance. Translation involves the pragmatic rules of two different languages and is a cross-linguistic and cross-cultural communicative activity. Foreignization and domestication shouldn’t be treated simply separately. In many cases, the use of the two methods is restricted by the pragmatic environment and must be combined. It is impossible for a translator to choose only one method to translate a work and use it to the end. The key to the translation of idioms is to grasp a balance point between domestication and foreignization. If we simply emphasize the readability of the translated version, we may ignore the cultural characteristics of the source language, leading to excessive domestication and loss of the culture of the source language. (Qiu Nengsheng, 2019, 56)

Choosing domestication or foreignization is not a question of black and white, but a question of grasping "degree", or finding a balance. Translation involves the pragmatic rules of two different languages and is a cross-linguistic and cross-cultural communicative activity. Foreignization and domestication shouldn’t be treated separately. In many cases, the two methods must be combined. It is impossible for a translator to choose only one method to translate a work and use it to the end. The key to the translation of idioms is to grasp a balance point between domestication and foreignization. If we simply emphasize the readability of the translated version, we may ignore the cultural characteristics of the source language, leading to excessive domestication and loss of the culture of the source language. (Qiu Nengsheng, 2019, 56)--Luo Yuqing (talk) 13:12, 18 December 2020 (UTC)

However, if we only focus on the transmission of the cultural information of the source language, it may damage the readability of the translated text and lead to excessive foreignization. The loss of readability of the translated text will eventually lead to the failure of the translator's efforts. The selection method of foreignization and domestication should be a dynamic mechanism, flexible and changing with the change of corresponding influencing factors. Due to the need of specific context, the same idiom may be translated in different ways. In the process of idiom translation, whether to adopt domestication or foreignization, communicative purpose and pragmatic environment all affect the choice of methods. (Qiu Nengsheng, 2019, 56)

However, if we only focus on the transmission of the cultural information of the source language, it may damage the readability of the translated text and lead to excessive foreignization. The loss of readability of the translated text will eventually lead to the failure of the translator's efforts. The selection of foreignization and domestication should be a dynamic mechanism, flexible and changing with the change of corresponding influencing factors. Due to the need of specific context, the same idiom may be translated in different ways. In the process of idiom translation, whether to adopt domestication or foreignization, communicative purpose and pragmatic environment all affect the choice of methods. (Qiu Nengsheng, 2019, 56)--Luo Yuqing (talk) 13:12, 18 December 2020 (UTC)

For example, the primary purpose of Yang’s translation of Dream in Red Chamber is to spread Chinese culture; therefore, he mainly adopted the method of foreignization in idiom translation, so that the "Chineseness" in idioms could be kept as much as possible. And Hawkes mainly used domestication in his translation, because he wanted to reduce the difficulties of reading, making it easier for western readers to accept the novel. So we can see, different communicative purposes lead to different chooses of translation methods. (He Fang, 2019, 172)

For example, the primary purpose of Yang’s translation of Dream in Red Chamber is to spread Chinese culture; therefore, he mainly adopted the method of foreignization in idiom translation, so that the "Chineseness" in idioms could be kept as much as possible. And Hawkes mainly used domestication in his translation, because he wanted to reduce the difficulties of reading, making it easier for western readers to accept the novel. So we can see, different communicative purposes lead to different choices of translation methods. (He Fang, 2019, 172)--Luo Yuqing (talk) 13:12, 18 December 2020 (UTC)  

Conclusion

Fomestication and foreignization have always been the focus of controversy in translation circles. The essence of the contradiction is to advocate the introduction of the original expression in the target language or the authentic expression of the target language. The article believes that the contradiction between the two is not irreconcilable under normal circumstances. In fact, mere foreignization or domestication cannot appear alone in translation. The balance between the two should be sought as much as possible on the premise of loyalty to translation duties. (Guo Jianzhong, 2000, 65)

Fomestication and foreignization have always been the focus of controversy in translation circles. The essence of the contradiction is to advocate the introduction of the original expression in the target language or the authentic expression of the target language. The article believes that the contradiction between the two is not irreconcilable under normal circumstances. In fact, mere foreignization or domestication cannot appear alone in translation. The balance between the two should be sought as much as possible on the premise of loyalty to translation duties. (Guo Jianzhong, 2000, 65)--Luo Yuqing (talk) 13:12, 18 December 2020 (UTC)

One of the purposes of translation is to spread the source language culture, promoting cultural exchange and integration as well as the diversified development of the world. The foreignization translation method can reserve enough space for readers to appreciate and analyze foreign cultures. (Qiu Nengsheng, 2019, 56)

One of the purposes of translation is to spread the source language culture, promoting cultural exchange and integration as well as the diversified development of the world. The foreignizing translation method can reserve enough space for readers to appreciate and analyze foreign cultures. (Qiu Nengsheng, 2019, 56)--Luo Yuqing (talk) 13:12, 18 December 2020 (UTC)

The translator should have enough confidence in readers when adopting foreignization strategies, and believe that readers can give full play to their imagination to understand foreign countries on the basis of comparing their own and foreign culture. The ultimate goal of translation is to promote cross-cultural communication. It is necessary to consciously retain relevant cultural factors in the translation process. Simply using domestication translation will inevitably hide or even distort the cultural connotation of the source language. In order to preserve and spread the source language culture, the use of foreignization translation methods should be emphasized when translating idioms rich in cultural meaning. (Guo Jianzhong, 2000, 12)

The translator should have enough confidence in readers when adopting foreignization strategies, and believe that readers can give full play to their imagination to understand foreign countries on the basis of comparing their own and foreign culture. The ultimate goal of translation is to promote cross-cultural communication. It is necessary to consciously retain relevant cultural factors in the translation process. Simply using domestication translation will inevitably hide or even distort the cultural connotation of the source language. In order to preserve and spread the source language culture, the use of foreignizing translation methods should be emphasized when translating idioms rich in cultural meaning. (Guo Jianzhong, 2000, 12) --Luo Yuqing (talk) 13:12, 18 December 2020 (UTC)

However, the foreignization strategy has its limits. Regardless of whether for interpretation or translation, it does not mean that all idioms containing cultural factors should be preserved. Information transmission and cultural transmission are equally important in the translation process. One cannot lose sight of the other. Idioms convey a country’s culture brilliantly. (Qiu Jixin, 2002, 45)

However, the foreignization strategy has its limitations. Regardless of interpretation or translation, it does not mean that all idioms containing cultural factors should be preserved. Information transmission and cultural transmission are equally important in the translation process. One cannot lose sight of the other. Idioms convey a country’s culture brilliantly. (这个brilliantly这里的表达不知道怎么改）(Qiu Jixin, 2002, 45)--Luo Yuqing (talk) 13:12, 18 December 2020 (UTC)

In the process of idiom translation, the expression of cultural factors cannot be ignored. The retention of unique cultural images can attract readers of the target language. The actual acceptance ability of the target language readers cannot be ignored, otherwise it may cause poor communication. In the translation process, the translator must adhere to the principle of the inter-growth of different languages and cultures, and must pay attention to the fact that the translation must achieve communication, coordination and docking with the world, and at the same time, it must not be inappropriately eliminated in order to comply with the needs of the target country. The source language and the target language are inherent in language and culture. (Qiu Jixin, 2002, 45)

In the process of idiom translation, the expression of cultural factors cannot be ignored. The retention of unique cultural images can attract readers of the target language. The actual acceptance ability of the target language readers cannot be ignored, otherwise it may cause poor communication. In the translation process, the translator must adhere to the principle of the inter-growth of different languages and cultures, and pay attention to the fact that the translation must be helpful to communication, coordination and dock with the world, and at the same time, it must not be inappropriately eliminated in order to comply with the needs of the target country. The source language and the target language are inherent in language and culture. (Qiu Jixin, 2002, 45)--Luo Yuqing (talk) 13:12, 18 December 2020 (UTC)

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Translation of English Proverbs from the Perspective of Culture 韩海洋 202020080602 Han Haiyang

Abstract

As close communication between eastern and western countries,nowadays cultural influence is increasingly becoming more and more importance than before in language exchanging. As for translation of English proverbs, proper translation strategies should be considered in order to better understand their meanings and characters. By looking up thesis and documents, some translation strategies need to be concluded. In terms of cultural influence and social communication, foreignization and domestication are chosen in which the former is used more frequently than the latter. It arrives the conclusion that foreignization applied for translation of English proverbs is on the increase.

Key Words

proverbs; culture; translation strategies

摘要

由于文化因素在不同语言之间的交流具有一定的影响，特别在中西方交往日益密切的背景下。为了更好的翻译英语谚语，使其达到应有预期效果，适当的翻译策略可以在翻译过程中更好地了解谚语的含义与特色。通过查阅资料和文献，总结出合适的翻译方法。根据现在的社会背景和文化影响，对于归化和异化两种方法，异化的选择得到了更多的倾向。在翻译的过程中，将文化因素考虑进去对于语言翻译上面，异化的趋势将会逐渐增大。

关键词

谚语; 文化; 翻译方法 

1. Introduction

With the advent of 21th century, society has been changed in a wide scope, and shed light on the unparalleled interaction of culture and economy as most exemplified phenomenon happening everywhere. Translation is thereby a way to transfer from one culture to another, in which the effect of cultural background is behind language the essence of best fruit of translation. The history of translation has been lasted for a long time, for example when it comes to English proverbs, which can be traced to centuries ago, like Bible and works of Shakespeare. It is not rare to see that each country has its own unique culture, and under the cover abundant resources mirroring a country can be exploited. English proverbs as a product of culture the bridge for cultural exchange is been studied since centuries ago. The strategies of proverbs translation also have been experimentally discussed from time to time as the rapid development of culture and economy. Translation plays a key role in promoting a country’s own culture, because that is the way of importing and exporting knowledge of culture to another country. Proverbs is the product of culture that cannot be understood directly without any effort to digest it. So translation is needed, which could impose exotic flavors to new conception or understanding, but the premise is that translation is properly chosen in regard to nowadays strongly cultural promotion awareness.

Usually proverbs are concise, concrete and pithy words which are rhythmed and organized for the sake of being simple to remember and spread to people. Proverbs are summarized by certain people from all walks of life in a specialized area, including eating habits, farming, belief, customs and so many. Proverbs composed of words the exact symbol of language, are named as the crystal of culture in a easily understandable way. Culture awareness is highly appreciated whatever it is developed country or developing country. For the fulfillment of translation of English proverbs, therefore this thesis aims to translate English proverbs with appropriate translation strategies-mainly foreignization and domestication from the perspective culture.

With the advent of 21th century, society has been changed in a wide scope, and shed light on the unparalleled interaction of culture and economy as most exemplified phenomenon happening everywhere. Translation is thereby a way to transfer from one culture to another, in which the effect of cultural background is behind language the essence of best fruit of translation. The history of translation has been lasted for a long time, for example when it comes to English proverbs, which can be traced to centuries ago, like Bible and works of Shakespeare. It is normal to see that each country has its own unique culture, and under the cover abundant resources mirroring a country can be exploited. English proverbs as a product of culture the bridge for cultural exchange has been studied since centuries ago. The strategies of proverbs translation also have been experimentally discussed from time to time as the rapid development of culture and economy. Translation plays a key role in promoting a country’s own culture, because that is the way of importing and exporting knowledge of culture to another country. Proverbs is the product of culture that cannot be understood directly without any effort to digest it. So translation is needed, which could impose exotic flavors to new conception or understanding, but the premise is that translation is properly chosen in regard to nowadays strongly cultural promotion awareness.

Usually proverbs are concise, concrete and pithy words which are rhythmed and organized for the sake of being simple to remember and spread to people. Proverbs are summarized by certain people from all walks of life in a specialized area, including eating habits, farming, belief, customs and so many. Proverbs composed of words the exact symbol of language, are named as the crystal of culture in a easily understandable way. Culture awareness is highly appreciated whatever it is developed country or developing country. For the fulfillment of translation of English proverbs, therefore this thesis aims to translate English proverbs with appropriate translation strategies-mainly foreignization

2. Chapter 1 General Introduction to English proverbs

1.1 Definition of Proverbs

As far as history is concerned, proverbs can be dated back to the times that language is produced. According to Dictionary of Proverbs, proverbs are “a succinct and memorable statement that contains advice, a warning or a prediction, or an analytical observation”. Maybe the first definition is given by Socrates that a proverb is noted as brevity, philosophical tone, and common usage. In the 15th century, Michael Apostolius of Byzantium wrote, “A proverb is a statement which clarifies the unclear, or which through concrete images indicates intellectual concepts, or which makes clear the truth in furtive fashion”.(Honeck 1997,12)

Champion (1966:xi) has claimed his idea “a proverb in my opinion is a racial aphorism which has been, or still is, in common use, conveying advice or counsel, invariably camouflaged figuratively, disguised in metaphor or allegory.” According to Mieder (1993), “A proverb is a short generally known sentence of the folk which contains wisdom, truth, morals, and traditional views in a metaphorical, fixed and memorable form and which is handed down from generation to generation”. Although definition is definitely different from one to another, one thing is for sure is that proverbs have been proved to exist for a long time. From all the above have been talked, proverbs can be boiled down to a simple, culture-loaded, and wide-circled saying enjoying great popularity throughout the whole country. Considering it that a majority of elements are included in proverbs, especially when it comes to perspective of culture, some feasible measures should be properly taken to handle it.(Champion 1966,15)

1.1.1 Origin of Proverbs from Abroad Proverbs are not come out from nowhere, and the amounts and meanings of them do not stay the same eternally. As a rule, comparison between at home and abroad is always been found. From abroad, English proverbs could be seen in Bible, and works from Shakespeare and other fables. Part of old proverbs are stemmed from Bible, which largely related to God and so many fairy tales, or in other word like “God” or any related implication are sometimes recorded in proverbs. Like the famous one said: “man proposes, God disposes”, it shows that in western country people faithfully believe in God who is enshrined in most

Except from Bible, in the times of Renaissance Shakespeare’s works can be found in which some proverbs are known from that time. For example, in Romeo and Juliet there is one sentence “a rose by any other means would smell as sweet”. It means that irrespective of how things’ names are changed, the essence embedded in them would still intact. Shakespeare is as one of the most brilliant play writers just on the behalf of renaissance period. There are still amounts of proverbs created by other scholars like Francis Bacon, John Milton and so on.(Li Keshi 2009,35-38)

1.1.2 Origin of Proverbs at home

In china, proverbs can be traced to Spring and Autumn periods. At that time, people mostly work at farm, so there are a lot of proverbs related to farming or country life. with Zuo’s Commentary( 左 传 ) deserves the first.In it, the Chinese proverb “山有木，工则度之；宾有礼，主则择之”has its track, and most of the proverbs mentioned in Zuo’s Commentary are from Zhou Dynasty as “Zhou proverbs”(周谚). Besides, terms like “Xia proverbs(夏谚)” can also be found in Mencius(孟子). Like the proverb “吾王不游，吾何以休？吾王不豫，吾何以助？一游一豫，为诸侯度”from Mencius, though have not been handed down, it is regarded as the earliest proverb that have been recorded (ibid,2003).

Xia is an extremely ancient dynasty in Chinese history, as far as over 4,000years from today. So maybe proverbs are not as popular as today, they are definitely has records and can shed light on Chinese history.It is said that proverbs in China dated back to as early as before the words came into being. People at that time did not pass down their knowledge and experience by writing, while they made it by speaking and saying in a simple and memorable way. With time moving forward, proverbs are gradually been regarded as important as written words which play a great role in future generation in dealing with culture and heritage. No matter what kind of proverbs are produced, from the historical evidence it can be observed that proverbs can across ocean and land, moving to another country, another culture domain.(ibid 2003,31)

1.2 Characteristics of Proverbs

Proverbs are memorable, vivid words which are succinct and simple in form summarized by people from all walks of life. Both Chinese and English are bountiful in considering the thousands of proverbs have been recorded and there are still more proverbs to be created as time goes on. For the record, proverbs are not spoken at random and created at one’s free will. Some rules can be depended on, such as the lifestyle, living environment, education, social value, and so on. Taking environment for example, the British lived near to ocean or sea, and therefore it is common to see proverbs related to sea spoken by English people “In a clam sea, every man is a pilot.”

1.2.1 Cultural Characteristics of Proverbs

Broadly speaking, culture contains all the aspects of the society and gives its people ability to view the world. Meanwhile, culture also can be regarded as a deciding element on distinguishing the difference from each country. It is no exaggeration to say that a country’s most standing heritage is its culture, which keeps changeable in line with the history. Although nowadays similarities of culture are seen more easily than ever before, the reason is under the influence of globalization-culture import and export take place here and there. The logic is culture formed from all walks of life, which means language is included, and proverbs are product of language.

Therefore, proverbs carry characteristics of culture whatever the country is and how singular its culture is. Social customs is one of the big parts in a cultural society, there are some symbols or people are widely used in proverbs. Jack and Jill usually refer to man and woman in general such as: “every Jack has his Jill”. The counterpart in china is also easy to find. To name a few, there are more could be found in each cultural community. The next indispensable one is religion. It is well acknowledged that western countries like America and the UK, are religious countries, in which the words like: “God, devil, and church” are seen here and there. Like it has been said before, language is the product of culture, which contains every aspect of people’s life from individuality to the whole society.

What is more, value concept is also included since it reflects how a country embodies its culture to the outside world. Giving respect for the aged in china is a necessary and ethic social value passed on and on for thousands of years. In Chinese, there is proverb saying that: “不听老人言，吃亏在眼前”. It means youth should listen to what the old men told you, or you will pay the price of what you have done. Instead, traditional values favor in masculinity, people think that men are superior to women and they have direct control over them. Ego and individuality in America is felt deeply, because they think that they are going to be successful by themselves from any given chance. They seldom make big achievement by working in group rather than enjoying doing it by their own hands. Proverbs like “near is my shirt, but near is my skin” is emphasizing that someone himself is more important than others.(Li Keshi 2009,35-38)

1.2.2 Rhetorical Characteristics of Proverbs

As proverbs express concrete meaning by only a few words, sometimes it has to apply some kind of rhetorical devices for perfectly presenting the delicacy of proverbs. Some meaningful proverbs are not understood directly by adding each word all together, however, it only can be realized by using proper rhetorical methods to give their deep meaning, in another word, connotative meaning.

Simile is often seen in proverbs, and it usually compares one thing to another thing, in order to show its vivid or obscure picture to receptor who may not understand directly from plain words. In sentences with simile, “like” and “as” are widely used for example, “March come in like a lion and goes out like a lamb”, and “time tries friend, as fire tries gold”. The former means that the changes of March is different from how it is coming and ending, and the latter means that friend like gold needs to be tested then you would find who is your real friend. Both of them impressively express the core meaning from unfamiliar thing or abstract thing to specific and easily understandable thing.

Metaphor is seemingly like simile, but it is more implicitly explaining meaning than simile. Like “brevity is the soul of wit” and “an empty bag cannot stand upright”. The former means brevity is so important to wit like the soul of a person, the latter one translated in Chinese is “人是铁，饭是钢，一顿不吃饿的慌。” Hyperbole is a rhetoric that uses overstatement or obvious exaggeration to emphasize something, such as “Our life is but a span” and “An unfortunate man would drown in teacup”. The former means life lasts in a few times as short as span, which is obviously overstated. The latter means if a person is feeling unlucky at that day, whatever you do will bring bad lucky. Personification is the ability to endow common lifeless things with features of human-being. For instance, “Money is a good servant but a bad master”, and “fortunate knocks once at least at every man’s gate”. The former means money should be rationally handled or it may be a burden for you. The latter means everyone has a chance to be fortunate at least once.(Guo Min 2008,123-127)

From all above have been discussed, they are just the most common figurative devices formed into proverbs. In terms of the function of rhetorical, proverbs can come into being in a simple, memorable form. It can be inferred that proverbs in a much degree use rhetorical to express refined and concrete meaning. Meanwhile it reflects the problem that when doing translation of proverbs, focus are more than just words themselves needed to be considered, as well as culture, form and connotative meaning.

1.3 Differences Between Proverbs and Maxims, Sayings, Idioms

It seems that proverbs are looked the same as maxims, sayings, and idioms one way or another, but in fact there still exists some differences between them. For one thing, the existence of proverbs is across the whole world, therefore, no one can precisely calculate how many of them are recorded, and how many of them are still unknown to us. In terms of the number of proverbs is uncertain, so making a convincing definition is unrealistic, at least not perfect. If referring to it could be found that the definition in the dictionary is also easy to distinguish from each other. Some researchers disagree with each other on the definitions of these similar terms.

Fergusson (1983) states some proverbs are simple folk sayings. Burton Stevenson (1987)’s idea about proverb is that― “A maxim is the sententious expression of some general truth or rule and it becomes a proverb when it gets its wings by winning popular acceptance.” Some scholars believe that sayings are one stream in the vast ocean of proverbs while others argue that proverbs should be included in the realm of sayings. In one source defining idioms and proverbs, NTC’s American Idioms Dictionary (1987) mentioned that ― “the idiom ‘a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush’ is a proverb meaning that something you already have is better than something you might get.” (Burton Stevenson 1987,20)

As for classifying maxims and proverbs, Cordry (1997) suggests that “one defines a maxim as a rule of conduct and a proverb as a comment or observation with regard to the universal experience of life, the distinction is not always clear.” And as given in Concise Oxford English-Chinese Dictionary (2003), saying is defined as “a maxim, proverb, adage, etc.” Even so, there must be some obvious features we could rely on to categorize them in general. It could be concluded that maxim and saying are mostly the expression of principle or behavior of man or the rules that summarized by famous writers or philosophers.(Cordry 1997,26-28)

Thus maxim and saying are seldom heard or seen except reading in the books and hearing from author himself. As a number of them are in a serious or form expression, there they are not as popular as proverbs which are created from daily experience by common people. In regard to idiom, its meaning is not the meaning which each word put together, but by understanding it form local people who made them and made it spread in his surrounding places. Idioms sometimes are not complete sentences but simple phrases. While, proverbs enjoy great popularity and are universally spread because of their concrete, succinct and vivid description.(Fergusson 1983,28-31)

In conclusion, proverbs are prevalent in the world enjoying widespread social value and abundant sentence structures, but for sayings and maxims they are carrying the color of literature. Idioms have local color that is only understood within the same or similar speech community. With such understanding, it lays the foundation for researcher to better study and distinguish the distinctions form others.

2. Chapter 2 Relation Between Culture and Proverbs Translation

2.1 Definition of Culture

As many scholars have been studied the definition culture, there have been existed sorts of definitions, in which they do not have big difference in one way or another. Culture is a general word that could take language, customs, religion, and others into account. One of the oldest and most quoted definitions of culture, which is frequently mentioned regardless of so many entries of definitions, was formulated by the 19th-century English anthropologist Edward Burnett Tylor in the first paragraph of his Primitive Culture (1871) as “Culture… is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, morals, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society. …” .

While Nida, a famous linguistic and translation theorist, gave his definition of culture as “the totality of beliefs and practices of a society” in the book Language and Culture (2001:139) and as “the way of life and its manifestations that are peculiar to a community that uses a particular language as its means of expression” by New mark given in his book of A Textbook of Translation (2001:94).From the mentioned above, culture includes every aspect of human life such as housing, transporting, communicating with people, recording of history and so on. Therefore, it is no exaggeration to say that proverb, or even language is a part of culture. Some scholar even put that language is the medium of culture, without language there may be no existence of culture. So the importance of culture cannot be ignored in order to better understand the deep meaning when studying proverb, a culture-loaded word, and more attention should be given to perspective of culture.(Katan 2004,16)

2.2 Language and Proverb

It is no exaggeration to say that language is the product of culture since culture is culturally transmitted from the view of linguistics. Therefore, proverbs are composed of a set of words, which are selected from a particular language community. Taking English and Chinese for example, they both represent their special culture and unique characteristics respectively. More importantly, proverbs are the crystal of language, which can be used as a convenient tool to understand different cultures for language is the bridge leading to culture.

2.3 Value and proverbs

Value is associated with sorts of people’s lives and is defined by these people living in a specific area. Value of appreciation on people is an obvious example that eastern and western countries have extreme angles on how to appraise a person. Tanned skin and jeans clothes are symbols as to select people whom they like more, but for eastern, white skin and Qipao maybe are thresholds for people to judge a person whether he or she is more stylish. Value of eating is still a big mark to differentiate race or natality. Cooked meal in china and salad in the west make the difference that eating habit is so little sameness on each other. There are still more, living environment and national policy if is related to country. All of them shape all kinds of values which are on behave of its countries or people. Like east or west, home is the best means “金窝，银窝，不如自己的狗窝.” Proverbs are not just created form nowhere but they are existed for ages and still available only if they are still reflecting meaningful viewpoints.(Chen Jinshi 2006,72-77)

Language is a part of culture and also at the same time a reflection of culture. Taking Chinese and English for example, they belong to different language families, therefore there exist some distinctions between them. Chinese people usually don’t say daring or family name directly, which is so different from western people who call their parents’ name and say sweet words without any concerning of awkwardness or shyness. It works to proverbs, and that is the social custom defining a society what is their core valve. As far as we know, social value between western country and eastern country are of great differences. In western country, self-awareness and individuality are mostly emphasized, but for eastern, more attention is given to collective wisdom and working in groups. Like Chinese proverbs “ 三个臭皮匠，顶个诸葛亮。”and in English proverbs such as “ God helps those who help themselves.” From above being said that it has a lot benefits to study proverbs to better understand culture and language.(Chen Jinshi 2006,72-77)

2.4 Cultural Similarity on Chinese and English Proverbs

Without any effort it can tell that Chinese and English are defined by different language families. Even so, Chinese and English proverbs share some similarities in various ways, which are performed in different form and speech of proverbs. Because there exist universal truths and life styles, they are more or less understood by people from society to society. Like the truth of the universe in the definition of right and wrong and subjects including philosophy, math, chemistry, they are all developed separately in different areas but shared and summarized by all members form all the world. In this point, proverbs play the role in spreading some common knowledge and experience to the outside world, though forms are created by different society, they are carrying the same meaning or implying one way or another. Examples like “a snow year, a rich year(瑞雪兆丰年), strike while the iron is hot, and a neighbor is better than a distant cousin.” All of them are proved to share universal life experience and truth in the everyday life. Because people live under the same sky, sun, star, they go on making their living by hard working.(Han Jiaoyang 2009,111-117)

It is no exaggeration to say that cultural exchanges are rapidly happening all over the world, and foreign culture may be assimilated by domestic culture or rejected by its opposite expression of culture. In this sense, we have same expressions in different ways of forms, like “情人眼里出西施” (Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder). They are describing the same thing but with different cultural background, therefore they sometimes have similarities in one way or another.(Han Jiaoyang 2009,111-117)

They describe the same thing but with different cultural background, therefore they sometimes have similarities in one way or another.(Han Jiaoyang 2009,111-117)

2.5 Cultural Differences in Chinese and English Proverbs

Without a doubt that cultural similarities surely make translation easier in understanding foreign proverbs, but they are not silver bullets to taking all the proverbs into consideration. When it comes to separate boundaries which cut the Earth into several parts, under this context, local culture will be formed and promoted in its own birth place. One of the most common features of culture is religion in western and eastern country, because western people have belief in God, Chinese people believe in Buddhism, which are of two great differences. That is the reason why in the process of translation, factor of culture has to be reckoned, especially in the new eras. As Nord have ever put forward in Translating as a Purposeful Activity that ―A culture-specific phenomenon is one that is found to exist in a particular form or function in only one of the two cultures being compared‘‘ (Nord,2001:34), therefore culture will be compared at a time when people have different perceptions on things, in which language would be the first. The grammatically sentence structure and the pronunciation for example, have little in common regarding they belong to different language family.(Fu Yanli 2016,91-92)

Living environment is an element on deciding the formation of proverbs. Traditional Chinese people were busy doing farming, agriculture, so there are proverbs associated with them. Like “ 瓜熟蒂落” means things will be done when they are mature, and “人靠血样，苗考水活”means blood is a necessity for existence of human being as well as water to seedlings.” Moreover, a fruitful harvest is dependent on the weather, producing proverbs such as “三月三，著蓑衣，三月十五冷凄凄”, which means lunar early month has heavy and the middle is heavily cold. But for English proverbs, which are to a large extent related to fishery or marine affairs such as “to sink or swim”, “to keep one’s feet above water” and so many. Therefore both of the proverbs are created under the influence surrounding environment. Except for living environment, living customs are also reflected on formation of proverbs.

In different communities, people have different perception of things like animals. In Chinese proverbs, “杀鸡取卵” which equals to “kill the goose that lays golden eggs”, in which different animals are choose represent local customs. English proverbs would say that “look for a needle in a haystack”, which has a Chinese counterpart as “大海捞针”. It means that doing something is as difficult as finding out a small piece in an immerse container. Dog is also a featured sign that stand for different views in Chinese and English proverbs. In China, although dog is loyal to his master, it always leaves unrespectable impression on people, on the contrary, English love dogs and cherishes them so much sometimes even more than their family.(Fu Yanli 2016,91-92)

Different cultural heritages and religious beliefs also play a key role in the formation of proverbs. It is not hard to refer that understanding proverbs on the bases of translation is convenient for study foreign culture. With all the differences and sameness, the range of translation, culture is a must during translation.

3. Chapter 3 Translation Strategies for English Proverbs

Translation strategies have long been studied for a long time, during that time, domestication and foreignization have been considered as dominating strategies that were applied by a lot of scholars. Cross-culture exchange has gained great trend, especially in those years global communication between countries develops rapidly. It is true that here exists another method like “functional equivalent” created by famous scholar Eugene Nida who claims that in the process of translation source text and target text are both considered as author and reader are separated by the language or culture.

The best function of translation is aiming to make source text as readable as reader-oriented text, which is popular in centuries ago in the era of underdeveloped cultural exchanges. In Chinese culture, the history of translation can also be traced to hundreds of years ago, some brilliant point of view like “信，达，雅”by Yan Fu, then it was changed into “信，达，切”by Liu Chongde. It means that translated text in which the flavor of text should be close to its original color of its culture. Taking what translation strategies into consideration should comply with the trend of culture exchange and its development.(Chen Daoen 2015,257-258)

3.1 Domestication and Foreignization

Domestication is a target language oriented translation device, which is to change the flavor into reader’s interest. It is compatible with the taste of people who think their country is strong enough to set international standard and in which all other countries will prepare for the transmission of culture. It is the assimilation that causes translator to change resource text into native flavor. But for this phenomenon, the reason is that people’s recognition is limited and their hold self-importance to the most, therefore, everything from outside will be transmitted into domestic flavor.

As communication of culture and technology grows rapidly and each country would like to strengthen its comprehensive power by take into foreign culture. As for translation strategies, which are still be reckoned which one should be adapted. Foreignization is a source language oriented translation device, which is to change the flavor into author’s meet. The roots of the terms “domestication” and “foreignization” can be traced back to the German philosopher Schleiermacher‘s argument in 1813 in a lecture on the different methods of translation, he found only two methods of affecting the domestic reader‘s understanding of the foreign author, “Either the translator leaves the author in peace, as much as possible, and moves the reader towards him; or he leaves the reader in peace, as much as possible, and moves the author towards him.” (Venuti 2004,19-20).

In China, some scholars also have put forward their own opinions about the definitions of domestication and foreign. Among them, Lu Xun's opinion is famous. He claimed that domestication was as “rewriting, changing the foreign story into Chinese story and changing the foreigners into Chinese” , while foreign was “translation is like going abroad for traveling, it must reflect the scene and flavor of the foreign country concerned.”(ibid 1984,301) Expect the definition of domestication and foreignization, when doing the work of translation, translator should consider the perspective of culture and the intention of the writer as well as readers whether they want to the culture of source text to be originally intact or changed into readers’ culture.(罗新璋 1984,301)

3.2 Foreignization over Domestication for Translation

As far as social development is concerned, cultural exchange is more frequent than now or ever. In previous centuries, domestication is always been advocated by Chinese and western translators. as the exchange of economy and culture, it is not as common as today. Countries blindly think themselves as the leading one, so naturally take translated text as a respect from other countries. In translated works, any trace of alien culture is eliminated, in favor of own country’s culture to be admired and promoted. The awareness of culture is not developed because people only unconsciously find that in their mind anything enters into their country is no foreign at all, because every product from aboard will be transferred into familiarly native fruit with sense of closeness.

As far as social development is concerned, cultural exchange is more frequent than ever before

In another way, people at that time are barely having the chance to access to education, in particular for poor family that most of them are illiterate.It is without saying that no room is left for people in their countries to study culture abroad while native culture still did not gain completely popularity. From the above being mentioned, at an early age, domestication has upper hand indeed.So in choosing translation strategies, it is no doubt that it should be domestication centered.(Ding Min 2014,72-76)

For another thing, as technology and economy develop from nowhere, cultural exchange between countries has witnessed great changes in the past decades. In highly developed areas, people in their countries universally receive full education in which their counties’ historical culture has been deeply absorbed. So, in the process of translation, foreign culture as novel things fulling with exotic flavor has attracted people a lot to see the differences and experience a foreign journey. The untouchable place of domestication did not enjoy its popularity an anymore for its limitation of spreading of foreign culture.

Therefore, foreignization became more and more important as translation tool in the view of people’s eye. It not only translated the original foreign text into native character, but also carried the foreign special into domestic text. Take china for example, although as a developing country in the Asian, china has so much say in the stage of the world in the aspect of culture and world peace. Language as the bridge of communication, have to be understood by others in the way of translation. In one way or another, domestication and foreignization can both play the role in the translation, but from the perspective of culture, foreignization seems to weigh more in nowadays choosing translation strategies.(Ding Min 2014,72-76)  

4. Conclusion

Proverbs are culture-loaded words that have been transmitted and renewed from generation to generation as well as the changes of different eras. As a part of language and the product of culture, it is no exception that proverbs can be a medium, which offers the opportunity to learn language and culture. With the advent of new technology and wide economic communication, translation is playing an indispensable role in this process.

Proper translation strategies are essential that whether foreign culture should be taken into consideration since it stands as the soft strength of a country. By considering this, foreignization has more superiority when compared with domestication. Foreignization as a trend translation, has been keeping the original culture intact to target readers, meanwhile can enrich a native country’s culture and expand vocabulary. There is no doubt that domestication is not totally worthless, regarding proverbs has multiple varieties, which cannot be translated simply by foreignization, therefore domestication is worked as supplementary tool to assist foreignization in translation.

Foreignization leaves the culture of source text untouched, wishing to give target reader exotic environment where readers experience different aspects of culture, like religion, belief, custom and others.

In the end, as cultural development and social progress is moving forward, foreignization has more advantages than domestication.--Han Haiyang (talk) 15:45, 20 December 2020 (UTC)

5. References

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• Guo Min,郭敏(2008). 英汉谚语中的文化差异及其翻译[Cultural differences in English and Chinese proverbs and their translation]. 重庆:西南大学[Chongqing: Southwest University].
• Han Jiaoyang,韩娇阳(2009). 从谚语英汉互译中看文化缺省及其补偿策略[Cultural default and its compensation strategy in English-Chinese translation of proverbs]. 长春:吉林大学[Changchun: Jilin University],.
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• Liu Weiping,刘卫平(2008). 文化视角下的美国谚语翻译[Translation of American Proverbs in Cultural Perspective]. 桂林:广西师范大学[Guilin: Guangxi Normal University].
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Translation of Chinese Neologisms from the Perspective of Cross-cultural Translation Theory-解帆 Xie Fan 202070080637 英语口译

解帆 Xie Fan 202070080637 英语口译

Abstract

With the continuous enhancement of China's overall national strength and international influence, Chinese is playing an increasingly important role in communications and exchanges among countries all over the world. An increasing number of Chinese neologisms are used to express and describe the status quo. These neologisms invigorate Chinese culture, however, meanwhile, they make it harder for the world to understand Chinese.

On the one hand, each language has its own uniqueness in terms of word construction and expression. In reality, there are no two completely equivalent sign systems. On the other hand, different ethnic groups have different historical traditions, religious beliefs and way of thinking, which increases the difficulty of understanding. Therefore, cross-cultural translation becomes indispensable in popularizing Chinese culture. Through reviewing relevant paper, it’s easy to find that the late start of English translation of Chinese neologisms results in the immature translation of Chinese neologisms both at home and abroad, with some problems existing in the process of the translation of Chinese neologisms. Previous articles have pointed out these problems, but how to improve the quality of translation by avoiding them hasn’t been mentioned. This paper introduces the classifications and characteristics of Chinese neologisms, explains the significance of cross-translation theory to Chinese neologisms translation, and discusses ways of translating Chinese neologisms based on the previous viewpoints combining with examples.

Key Words

Chinese neologisms; cross-cultural theory; English translation; strategies

题目

跨文化翻译理论指导下汉语新词英译的研究

摘要

随着我国综合国力和国际影响力不断增强，汉语在世界各国沟通与交流中起到越来越重要的作用，用来表达和描述社会状态的汉语新词也日益增多。这些新词给中国文化带来生命力的同时，也给世界人民理解汉语带来了困难。

一方面，语言本身存在着不可译性，每种语言在其组词造句、表达方式上都具有其独特性，现实中并不存在两种完全对等的符号系统。另一方面，不同的民族有着不同的历史传统、宗教信仰、思维方式，这尤其增加了语言理解的难度。因此，跨文化翻译成为中华文化传播过程中的重要一环。通过翻阅相关资料，不难发现由于汉语新词的英译起步较晚，国内外相关翻译研究尚未成熟，因此在英译汉语新词的过程中出现了一些问题。前人已有相关文章指出过这些问题，但没有提出如何才能避免这种问题、提高译文质量。基于前人的相关理论和观点，并结合实例，本文将首先介绍汉语新词分类及其特点，然后说明跨文化翻译理论对于英译汉语新词的意义，最后介绍在跨文化翻译理论下英译汉语新词时的几种方法，希望为后续规范汉语新词英译行为提供必要参考。

关键词

汉语新词；跨文化翻译；英译；策略

Introduction

With the growing power of China and the further improvement of the globalization, China's contact with other countries in the world has become closer. And how to maintain Chinese culture’s uniqueness when it is introduced to the world has been the top priority for translators. The development of China has given birth to a large number of Chinese neologisms with its uniqueness. The society changes with each passing day, covering from international affairs to domestic matters. Against this background, neologisms are likely to be derived. These words attract widespread attention and gradually enter people's daily life. Since the implementation of the reform and opening up to the outside world, a great number of Chinese neologisms have appeared.

Not only do these neologisms with Chinese characteristics vividly show Chinese people’s understanding of their unique phenomena, but also they largely enrich the expression of Chinese. However, at the same time, these words pose serious problems for translators as well. On the one hand, the differences between Chinese culture and western countries’ culture are numerous, which makes it hard to find equivalent of Chinese neologisms in English. On the other hand, with the times going forward, the number of Chinese neologisms is steadily increasing, which results in difficulties in translating Chinese neologisms into English. Therefore, Cross-cultural translation of Chinese neologisms into English becomes prevailing. Cross-cultural translation theory was proposed by Mary Snell Hornby in her well-known representative book Translation Studies: an Integrated Approach. She believes that translation is not a process of decoding or the transformation of language symbols, but also the transformation of cultural patterns. Due to the rapid development of Chinese society in the past decade, more and more translators have turned to Chinese neologisms, making the study of English translation of Chinese neologisms a new focus. Chinese Translators Journal, Lexicographical Studies and other authoritative academic journals have set up columns for translation of Chinese neologism. There are also vocabulary books compiled according to the specific types of Chinese neologisms, such as Chinese-English Expressions of Current Events by Yang Quanhong and English Translation of Buzzwords and Sayings by Chen Dezhang. In addition, the most representative ones include Yang Quanhong's Approaches to Translation of Chinese Words and Expressions into English and Zhang Jian's On Translation of Chinese Press Neologisms into English. In the age of information, it is not hard to find English translation of Chinese neologisms on English learning websites such as https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/, https://www.en84.com/ and so on. These websites have launched platforms for English translation of Chinese neologisms and updated them timely. So far, scholars have studied Chinese neologism from different perspectives. This paper is based on 138 related articles including these key words such as “cross-cultural theory” “Chinese neologisms” and “English translation” on http://kns.cnki.net. Fu Rong narrated the difficulties and methods in The English Translation of Chinese Neologism from a Cross-cultural Perspective. Zhou Hongjie elaborated on the basic principles, methods and key points in The English Translation of Chinese neologisms from a Cross-cultural Perspective. In addition, a majority of articles analyzed the status quo in the English translation of Chinese neologisms from the perspective of cross-cultural translation theory, but few dwell on strategies of solving the problems during the course of translation. This paper introduces Chinese neologisms and its classifications and characteristic in the second section, the significance of cross-translation to Chinese neologisms in the third section and ways of translating in the fourth section. It is based on the previous viewpoints and puts forward practical strategies to be followed in the translation of Chinese neologisms from the perspective of cross-translation theory combining with examples.

Chapter 1 Overview of Chinese Neologisms

Neologisms are words new in connotation or form. In other words, they can either be new words created to express new concepts and phenomena in line with times or existing words given new meanings. These words help the further development of language, embody Chinese people's latest understanding of the world with the times going forward, and enrich the expression and promote the transmission of Chinese language. (Fu Rong, 2015,79)

To better translate Chinese neologisms into English, we need to have a deeper understanding of Chinese neologisms, including its classifications and characteristics. Generally speaking, Chinese neologisms can be classified into four categories, namely, old words endowed with new meanings, Chinese abbreviations, newly generated words and loan words. (Fu Rong, 2015,80)

1.1 Classifications of Chinese Neologisms

Old words endowed with new meanings, as the name suggests, are existent words that have been endowed with new meanings for reuse even though have been forgotten for a long time. Take “备胎(spare tire)”as an example, which refers to an extra tire carried in a motor vehicle for emergencies. It now refers to a back-up, second line, just-in-case, or a B-plan or contingency, in other words, someone who is benched now. Besides, “粉(powder)”originally refers to fine powder used for makeup or paint, while it means having a crush on or adoring a famous celebrity now. (Li Chunjiang, 2015,59)

With the changing society of China, the essential characteristics of the things or phenomena referred to by the old words have changed as well. Because of the uniqueness pf Chinese words, it may be defective to use substitute words and fail to reflect the pun. Not only does endowing the existing words with new meanings produce connection between old words and new meanings, but also reduces the trouble of creating new words. (Li Chunjiang, 2015,62)

Chinese abbreviations are the result of refining existing words. The process of extracting mainly depends on the importance of each part of the words. Those significant parts are selected to replace the lengthy words. The most common Chinese abbreviations can be divided into three forms. (Liao Yingying 2008,66)

First, extracted initials. Such as “哥哥(brother)--GG”, “笑死我了(It’s so funny that I have a shortness of breathe)” and “漂亮小姐姐(good-looking sister)--PLXJJ”. Second, syllable imitation. Such as “呜呜呜 (onomatopoetic words of cry)--555”, “我爱你一生一世(I love you forever)--5201314” and “不要这样子(don’t do like this)--表酱紫”. Third: reduced words. Such as “很累，感觉不会再爱了(feel so tired that will not fall in love again)--累感不爱” and “躺着也中枪(a lying person can be shot as well)--躺枪”. (Liao Yingying 2008,67)

Nowadays, people are always pursing a simple and peaceful life, which gives rise to the frequent use of abbreviations. Nevertheless, the abbreviations of words should neither be arbitrarily imitated, nor be simply carried out by way of analogy. Instead, the abbreviations with the widest social acceptance should be selected through investigation and evidence collection from multiple aspects. (Liao Yingying 2008,68)

Newly generated words can be roughly divided into two types. The first is generated through metaphors, similes and metonymy. For instance, “虎妈(tiger mom) is defined as strict disciplinarian mothers who demand high achievement from their children and maintain control of their activities”, and“猫爸(cat dad)”refers to fathers who take a more softly approach to parenting, preferring to be emotionally sensitive, gentle and relaxed about rules and discipline, and they are in the belief that this kind of parenting will make their offspring self-sufficient and independent. (Ou Yangyin 2000,23)

With new things springing up, people need words to describe them but there are no ready expressions at hand. The metaphorical use of some expressions will do the job as it will reflect the same essence of the objects through metaphor. The second type is created with the arrival of new phenomenon. For instance, “APEC蓝” is employed to describe the quality air and the exceptionally blue sky in Beijing during the APEC meeting in 2014. And “蒜你狠”is used to illustrate the price of garlic which soared more than 100 times in 2010, even outstripping meat and eggs. (Ou Yangyin 2000,24)

A great number of new phenomena and new concepts spring up, however, it’s hard to describe them with the existing words. Under this circumstance, the vocabulary system needs to produce more new words to meet the requirements of social communication.(Liu Miqing 2005,45)

The advancement of globalization, communication and cooperation in some fields among countries are deepening day by day, which inevitably bring changes in language, and that is so-called “Chinese localization”. Loan words are “transformed” into Chinese words in accordance with the rules of pronunciation, semantics, structure and grammatical system of Chinese. (Li Chunjiang, 2015,63)

In the mid-1970s, Taiwanese used “show--秀” as morphemes to match with "做" and "作". To the surprise of the editor, these newly created words were so well-received in the entertainment industry that a large number of words such as “歌舞秀、双人秀、真人秀、脱口秀”were produced. Nowadays, the neologism “秀儿” referring to those who like to show off their resources is widely accepted. Similarly, “博客、思客、播客、朋客、创客”appeared one by one. “客” was derived from “黑客(hacker)”, in other words, the word group of “X客” were generated. (Li Chunjiang, 2015,63)

1.2 Characteristics of Chinese Neologisms

In order to have better quality of translation of Chinese neologisms, translators need to have a deep insight into its characteristics. Chinese neologisms are characterized by cultural uniqueness, simplicity, vividness and uncertainty. (Kang Shiyong 2003,152)

Chinese neologisms come from a wide range of sources, but they all have roots in China. Some are based on Chinese culture. For instance, “山寨(mountain fastness)”originated from Water Margin, which used to refer to the place where the poor live. But when used online, the original meaning is transformed to plagiarism, imitation, parody and other popular cultural phenomena. Others are on the basis of customs. Take “红色炸弹(red bomb)” as an example. Since Chinese traditional wedding ornament is red, the word "红色炸弹(red bomb)" is used to describe the overwhelming wedding invitations. (Wang Weidong 2011,347)

We are living in a fast-paced era. The speed of generation and transmission of information are accelerating. Under this situation, we crave for cost-effective communication. This status quo requires concise language. Chinese abbreviations exactly exemplify the simplicity. Abbreviations are condensed with rich information content, and effectively reinforce the expressiveness of Chinese vocabulary. Therefore, the number of abbreviations in vocabulary increases rapidly.(Wang Weidong 2011,349)

The appearance of Chinese neologisms meets people's needs to describe an object or a phenomenon more vividly. Such as “人艰不拆” means that since life has been so hard, some things should not be exposed. And “酸菜鱼”is used for persons who are jealous, ugly, and redundant to make fun of themselves. “剁手党”refers to the addicted shopping crowd. They buy countless things, but often regret after calming down, even vow to chop off their hands if they don't act rationally next time. The vividness of Chinese neologisms adds humorous effects to the expression.(Wang Weidong 2011,350)

With the crazy tempo of life, Chinese neologisms emerge in an endless stream. For one thing, with the increasing influence of network to people's life, online language is a shock to traditional language since many words are not compatible with Chinese language system. For another, neologisms fade away with the end of an event and are quickly replaced by neologisms with the times.(Wang Weidong 2011,351)

Chapter 2 Cross-cultural Translation Theory and Its Significance

As Chinese neologisms are rooted in Chinese culture, translators are supposed to turn to cross-cultural translation theory when translating Chinese neologisms into English. Hence, having a deep insight into it and its significance helps improve the quality of translation.(Fu Rong 2015,80）

2.1 Hornby’s Cross-cultural Translation Theory

Cross-cultural translation theory refers to translation across cultural divide and be less influenced by factors such as politics, religions, regions and ideologies. Cross-cultural translation theory was put forward by German translation theorist Mary Snell-Hornby. From her perspective, translation is a kind of cross-cultural communication. In this way, translators should not only have a bilingual ability, but also the cultural backgrounds of the source language and the target language. (Snell Hornby 1995,21)

In reality, there are no two completely equivalent language systems. Each language has its own uniqueness in terms of word formation, sentence construction and expression, which is even more distinctive in translating into the target language with totally different economic, political, social and cultural backgrounds. Therefore, cross-cultural translation becomes a rigid demand. In the process of cross-cultural translation, translators are supposed to strike a balance between Chinese style and maximize the recipients’ understanding and acceptances’ of Chinese culture. (Snell Hornby 1995,24)

Mary Snell-Hornby proposed that translators should skillfully switch the two languages in the process of translation as well as deeply dig into the culture backgrounds behind the two languages. In other words, translation is more bicultural transformation than bilingual transformation. (Snell Hornby 1995,30)

In the process of translation, the cultural deposits have a direct bearing on the expression of words, its connotations and emotions. Hence, translators must take these factors into consideration in translation. Cross-cultural translation theory has the following requirements for translation, which can be divided into three aspects: first, to express the meaning of the source language. Second, to dig out the cultural connotation of the source language. Third, to convey the emotion of the source language. Only when translator meets the three requirements above can the quality of the translation be guaranteed.(Jing Huang 2019,433)

2.2 Significance of Cross-cultural Translation Theory

The significance of Cross-cultural Theory to English Translation of Chinese Neologisms can be divided into the following three aspects. The British historian Dr. Toynbee once said, it is not surprising to say that the 21st century belongs to East Asia led by China for China’s control over East Asia is not merely political, but also cultural. Though East Asian countries such as Korea and Japan maintain their political independence, they are strongly influenced by Chinese culture.” Therefore, promoting English translation of Chinese neologisms is very important for enriching the world language system, improving China’s soft power and introducing Chinese culture into the world.(Snell Hornby 1995,47)

2.2.1 Learning the Chinese Idiomatic Expression

Translators can learn the rules of Chinese word-formation and characteristics of Chinese expression in the process of translating from the perspective of cross-cultural translation theory. There are great differences between Chinese and English word-formations. Take the three main forms of Chinese neologisms as example. Subject-predicate forms, such as “私聊” and“群聊”; Verb-object forms, such as: “煞风景”“抬杠”; Complementary forms, such as: “吓尿”and so on. (Kang Shiyong 2003,178)

In English vocabulary system, most compound words are in the form of nouns, while Chinese has a variety of parts, such as verbs, nouns and adjectives. Translators can grasp the characteristics of Chinese word-formation through the translation and readers can understand the Chinese idiomatic expression. (Kang Shiyong 2003,179)

2.2.2 Spreading Chinese Culture Contained in Chinese Neologisms

Chinese neologisms are produced in China’s distinctive environment, containing culture with Chinese characteristics. They are epitomes of China's development in a certain period, carrying much social information. The world can learn about the development of China through Chinese neologisms. (Kang Shiyong 2003,181)

It is an effective way to spread Chinese culture contained in Chinese neologisms through cross-cultural translation. For example, “打虎” and “拍蝇” have become buzzwords in China these years. In fact, both above two neologisms are political terms. The “tigers” refer to corrupt officials at higher level and “flies” at grassroots level. Accordingly, determination of Chinese government to take out “tigers” and swat “flies” can be seen through these coinage of new terms such as “打虎” and “拍蝇”. Therefore, cross-cultural translation helps spread Chinese culture contained in Chinese neologisms. (Kang Shiyong 2003,182)

2.2.3 Conveying Emotion Expressed by Chinese Neologisms

Emotional expressions are essential to translation of Chinese neologisms. Translation of Chinese neologisms from the perspective of cross-cultural translation theory helps to convey emotion expressed. (Kang Shiyong 2003,183)

For example, it is not proper to translate“和事佬”into“peacemaker”. In Chinese, “和事佬”refers to persons who are unprincipled and blindly promote reconciliations, with derogatory meaning. While in English, “peacemaker” refers to those who create and safeguard peace, with commendatory emotions. Therefore, if the cross-cultural principles are violated in translation, there will be differences in the expression of emotions, which will hinder the expression of real emotions and lead to misunderstanding. (Kang Shiyong 2003,183)

Chapter 3 Methods of Chinese Neologisms Translation

To improve the quality of Chinese neologisms translation, translators need to have a full knowledge of problems existing in the process of the translation of Chinese neologisms, and then avoid them by choosing appropriate ways of translating and following principles of cross-cultural translation theory. The late start of English translation of Chinese neologisms results in the immature translation of Chinese neologisms both at home and abroad, with some problems existing in the process of the translation of Chinese neologisms. (Liu Miqing 2005,77)

Nowadays, it is common to see rigid translation, which leads to failure to convey its true meaning. For example, if “我好方”is translated into “I’m so square”, it will confuse readers. In fact, this neologism refers to people in panic. As its word “方”pronounces similarly to the word “慌”，it is employed to make fun of those who can't distinguish between “f”sound and “h” sound. Similarly, “蓝瘦，香菇” can’t be translated into “blue monsters and shiitake mushrooms” for it refers to “I’m so sad that I’m going to cry”. Hence, rigid translation will result in misunderstanding. Not only should we make translations interesting, but also we need to ensure they are correct.(Li Chunjiang 2015,63)

Many Chinese neologisms, after being translated into English, can express their meanings accurately, though fairly lengthy. For instance, if“无语”is translated into “have nothing to say”, it seems a little bit lengthy. We can translate it into“speechless”, instead. When translating Chinese neologisms, translators are supposed to use as few words as possible to accurately convey as much information as possible, making readers spend as little time as possible to understand them.(Li Chunjiang 2015,63)

Till now, many neologisms lack Chinese uniqueness after being translated into English. For example, “杠精”will lose the uniqueness the word“精”carries if it is translated into“argumentative person”. In China, “精”commonly describe demons and ghosts, with derogatory meaning, such as those used in“白骨精”“蜘蛛精”and“蜈蚣精”. In this case, it is not proper to translate“精”into “person”. Therefore, we need to ensure Chinese culture be spread in the process of translation.(Li Chunjiang 2015,64)

3.1 Transliteration

Transliteration is the translation of Chinese neologisms into English which sounds similarly to Chinese. Transliteration of Chinese neologisms into English can fully retain the pronunciation of Chinese and traditional Chinese culture. What’s more, it is more efficient. Zeng Lisa once proposed that translators should accurately convey more information with as few words as possible, so that the audience can obtain the clearest and smoothest information with as little time as possible. Transliteration gives priority to efficiency and can meet the requirements of the fast pace of modern society, improve the communicative efficiency of readers, and save space for readers' cognitive ability to play. (Fu Rong 2015,81)

For example, "大妈" is transliterated into "dama" and entered the Oxford dictionary. In addition to this, there are a sea of transliterations of Chinese neologisms in modern English vocabulary, for example: "风水" (fengshui), "八卦" (bagua), "太极" (taichi), "气功" (qigong), and "武术 "(wushu), "功夫" (kungfu), "胡同" (hutong), "麻将" (mahjong), "叩头" (while), and so on. Transliteration makes Chinese neologisms widely spread and its culture behind. However, if translators stick to the literal interpretation or explanatory translation of some words, it may lead to cumbersome words and poor quality. (Fu Rong 2015,82)

3.2 Literal Translation

Literal translation is one of the efficient way of translation. Literal translation enables us to directly find equivalent expressions in English in terms of form, style and connotation, which is the perfect embodiment of "commonness" between English and Chinese. Above all, literal translation helps promote Chinese culture. Language carries and transmits culture, as it is the heart of the cultural system. Culture influences and even shapes language, which is the foundation of language and the source of innovation. In the current context of cross-cultural communication, translation is not only a process of language conversion, but also a process of cultural transplantation. (Fu Rong 2015,82)

The transmission between eastern and western cultures is practical in theology, but it is limited in reality. Chinese neologisms are the most active part of Chinese vocabulary, which reflect way of thinking, values, customs and lifestyles formed by the Chinese people in the new natural and social environment. Therefore, literal translation works for spreading Chinese culture. (Fu Rong 2015,83)

In modern English, examples of literal translation of Chinese neologisms can be found everywhere, such as “一国两制--one country, two systems”, “二孩政策--two-child policy”, “希望工程--Hope Project” and “好久不见long time no see” and so on. Literal translation is straightforward, concise and efficient. Not only can it effectively reduce the boredom caused by the transformation from Chinese to English, enrich the expressiveness of English, but also maximize the retention of Chinese cultural. Therefore, it is necessary to interpret or add annotations in the context, otherwise it is difficult to convey its Chinese characteristics and cultural connotation. (Fu Rong 2015,83)

3.3 Free Translation

Free translation is another way of translating, which emphasizes the relative independence of both Chinese and English. On the one hand, differences exist in different language systems including grammatical constructions and expressions. On the other hand, there are quite a few distinctions between different cultures including historical traditions, religious beliefs and even ways of thinking, ways of thinking. Therefore, sometimes free translation is required to avoid misunderstanding and disputes. Free translation refers to reproduce the matter without the manner, or, the content without form. Put another way, it explains the general idea of Chinese neologisms. (Fu Rong 2015,84)

For example, “豆腐渣工程” refers to the construction project that collapsed or did not comply with relevant regulations due to cutting corners in the construction process. It is translated into English as “jerry-built project”. “白色污染”, the pollution of the environment by plastic waste that is difficult to degrade, is translated as “plastic pollution”. In a word, although the paraphrased neologisms need not strictly stick to Chinese, it can better reflect the meaning of Chinese. (Fu Rong 2015,84)

Conclusion

The emergence of Chinese neologisms demonstrates a new face of China. Neologisms are new in content, form, and content, which are produced to express new concepts and phenomena. However, due to the obvious cultural differences between China and western countries, there are many obstacles in the course of translating Chinese neologisms into English. Neologisms are perhaps the number one problem for non-literary translators and professional translators. Under this circumstance, cross-cultural translation of Chinese neologisms becomes a prevailing trend. Cross-cultural translation refers to translating crossing cultural divide and being less influenced by factors such as politics, religions, regions and ideologies. (Ou Yangyin 2008,88)

In a way, translating Chinese neologisms into English from the perspective of cross-cultural translation theory can help to promote understanding of Chinese. In another, it can effectively convey the emotions expressed by neologisms. Moreover, it can help to promote the spread of Chinese culture. (Ou Yangyin 2008,91)

In spite of the continuous standardization and improvement of translation, there are still some problems in the process of translating Chinese neologisms into English, such as rigid translation, wordy translation and translation with cultural loss. English translation of Chinese neologisms may be a daunting problem, so we need translators with joint efforts, both stick to effective translation methods, flexible and innovative, and latest changes, in order to improve the overall quality of translation of Chinese neologisms, thus speak up aloud in the international community. In this paper, three main strategies are suggested, and they are transliteration, literal translation, and free translation. (Ou Yangyin 2008,143)

To better translate Chinese neologisms from the perspective of cross-cultural translation theory, translators need to adopt compatible ways of translating with different types of Chinese neologisms and target readers. On the one hand, it is necessary to fully grasp Chinese neologisms, which requires translators to have more knowledge of Chinese cultural background and Chinese idiomatic expression. On the other hand, we should find the way of translating which is most accepted by readers. (Ou Yangyin 2008,155)

Moreover, Chinese neologisms are constantly updated with the development of the society. If we do not keep pace with the times and know the latest meaning of Chinese neologisms, it may lead to misunderstanding. Therefore, translators should constantly supplement, update or revise the English translation of those Chinese neologisms without definite translation, which is an important guarantee to keep the English translation of Chinese neologisms accurate. Advancing with the times often requires translators to pay close attention to the post-translation effect. (Liu Miqing 2005,387)

Plus, translators should also constantly draw on new English words. Chinese neologisms have strong timeliness, especially with the increase of Internet users, hence, at any one time emerge Chinese neologisms which are closely associated with the society. In short, in the process of translation, translators must pay attention to riding on the trend of the times so as to update the expression of the target language and readily accepted by readers. Update expressions means keeping up with the development of the times and use idiomatic English to illustrate new things, new words and new expressions. (Liu Miqing 2005,389)

In other words, on the basis of grasping the exact meaning of Chinese neologisms, we should make it understood in English. Translators should not only improve their ability to understand Chinese, enhance their ability to translate Chinese into English, but also be keeping with the times so as to introduce more Chinese neologisms into English and continuously inject more Chinese elements into English. In this way, Chinese culture can be spread and the expression of English can be innovated.(Liu Miqing 2005,391)

References

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• Pym. Translation and text transfer. An essay on the principles of intercultural communication [A].Frankfurt: Peter Lang, 1992.

• Snell Hornby, Mary. Translation studies: An Integrated Approach. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 1995.

• Fu Rong付蓉.(2015).从跨文化的角度探讨汉语新词新语的英译[A Study of English Translation of Chinese Neologisms from a Cross-cultural Perspective].语文建设Language Planning

• Kang Shiyong亢世勇.(2003).《新词语大辞典》的编撰[The Compiling of Dictionary of Chinese Neologisms].辞书研究Lexicographical Studies

• Li Chunjiang李春江.(2015).汉语网络新词的英译探究[A Study of Chinese Online Neologisms].宁波工程学院学报Journal of Ningbo University of Technology

• Liao Yingying廖颖颖．(2008).论中国主流英语新闻报刊对中国特色词语的英译策略[Strategies of English Translation of Words with Chinese Characteristics Used by Chinese Mainstream English Newspapers].湖南师范大学学报Journal of Hunan Normal University

• Liu Miqing刘宓庆.(2005).新编当代翻译理论[A New Edition of Contemporary Translation Theory].北京：中国对外翻译出版公司 Beijing:National Translation and Publishing Company of China

• Ou Yangyin欧阳因.(2000).朗文中国流行新词语[Langwen Chinese Neologisms].北京：北京大学出版社 Beijing:Peking University Press

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• Zhang Jian & Tang Jianduan张健,唐见端.(1996).略谈汉语新词新义的英译[A brief Discussion on the English Translation of Chinese Neologisms].北京:中国翻译'Chinese Translators Journal

--XieFan (talk) 15:53, 20 December 2020 (UTC)

Translation of Dish Names

On the C-E Translation of Chinese Dish Names: From a Functional Equivalence Perspective——刘洋诺Liu Yangnuo

刘洋诺Liu Yangnuo, 202020080621.

Abstract

With increasing global influence, the task of cultural communication is a formidable project. Translation as a medium plays an important role in cultural communication. A Bite of China, a TV program to introduce Chinese dishes, has gained popularity at home and abroad, thus broadcasting Chinese dishes. But difficulties in translating Chinese dishes are evitable considering abundant culture-loaded expressions and complex cooking skills. The chapter discusses the theoretical and practical significance of researching Chinese dish names. We summarize some points of view from other scholars. Also, we analyze the difficulties in translating Chinese cuisines from a functional equivalence perspective. We will discuss three strategies for translating Chinese dish names combined with translation examples.(Zhangtingli 2015,1-2)

Keywords

Chinese-English Translation; Chinese Dish Names; Functional Equivalence

题目

从功能对等理论浅析中式菜名的英译

摘要

中国国际影响力不断提高，文化交流的使命更加艰巨。翻译作为文化交流媒介，其重要性也不容忽视。中国饮食文化节目《舌尖上的中国》在海内外热播也进一步推动了中国特色饮食文化的传播，但是其丰富的文化内涵和多样的烹饪技巧也给译者带来不少困难。本文探讨研究中国菜名翻译的理论和实践意义，总结中国菜名翻译目前的研究成果。从功能对等理论出发，分析中国菜名翻译的困难，同时也结合翻译实例，提出三个中国菜名翻译的策略。

关键词

中译英；中国菜名；功能对等

Introduction

As the old Chinese saying goes, food is the God of the people. In other words, we regard food as the primary need. Chinese cuisine has a firm connection between our daily life and Chinese culture. But when it comes to Chinese cuisine, there are many aspects left for us to consider, such as the etiquette of a dining table, dietary structure or habits, the art of dietary decorations, and cultural connotation. In the chapter, we will mainly focus on Chinese dish names. From a semantic linguistic point of view, there are two structures in a language. The surface structure is Chinese dish names themselves, but the deep structure is the meaning behind these dish names. (Chu Yiyi 2017, 3-7)

It’s not surprising that we will discuss the relationship between some Chinese dish names and their cultural connotation in the latter part of this chapter. Chinese dish names are endowed with Chinese culture through culture-loaded expressions or idioms. When we dive into our research, it’s easy to find out that behind some dish names from historical stories and anecdotes are layer upon layer of meanings. Although the majority of us understand the importance of translating Chinese dish names, good translations remain in the dark. The reasons abound, ranging from a great variety of Chinese dishes and difficulty in fully understanding of cultural connotation behind Chinese dishes. (Chu Yiyi 2017, 3-7)

The chapter takes functional equivalence coined by Eugene Nida as a theoretical basis. In the first part, we look back on previous studies on the C-E translation of Chinese dish names. In the second part, we try to discuss difficulties in translating Chinese dish names in terms of basic information and cultural backgrounds. In the third part, we review the functional equivalence theory. In the last part, we turn to discuss the possibility of applying the theory into translation practice on Chinese dish names to improve C-E translation of Chinese cuisine. We consolidate commonly used strategies into three combined with translation examples in reality. (Chu Yiyi 2017, 6)

And then we summarize what we have discussed before and point out the limitations of this chapter. The purpose of our research is to have a better understanding of our own culture and transmitting Chinese culture to foreigners. Apart from the cultural aspect, cultural communication interconnects with economic and political aspects, which is one of the reasons why China attaching much importance to cross-cultural communication and transmission. (Chu Yiyi 2017, 6)

Previous Studies on the C-E Translation of Chinese Dish Names

Some scholars have paved the way for further researches. Among these researches, almost all scholars share the same Chinese cultural background. Some of them describe strategies for C-E translation of Chinese dish names based on several translation theories. Others analyze the C-E translation of Chinese dish names at restaurants abroad. Zhang Tingli (Zhang Tingli 2015, 1-2) summarized six characteristics of Chinese dish names based on A Bite of China, a popular TV program in China. Below are six characteristics: place names plus ingredients, personal names plus ingredients, main ingredients plus supplementary ingredients, cooking procedures, various flavors, and cultural elements.(Zhang Tingli 2015, 1-2)

Li Weiwei (Li Weiwei 2017, 1-2) wrote a report on Chinese-English cuisine interpretation under the guidance of Skopos Theory, including the Skopos rule, the coherence rule, the fidelity rule, and the loyalty rule. Che Yimo (Che Yimo 2019, 1-2) summarizes three principles to analyze the menu translation quality of a Chinese restaurant based on cross-cultural communication theories. The three principles include semantic proximity, cultural communication, and aesthetics. Xue Jingnan (Xue Jingnan 2015, 1-2) involves an analysis of the translation of Chineseness by Chinese-Canadians in food discourse from a cultural perspective, which provides a glimpse into Chinese culinary identity. (Che Yimo 2019, 1-2)

Similarly, Lee Yi Yan (Lee Yi Yan 2016, 1-2) mainly focus on cultural and sociological phenomenon behind Chinese food. His research is based on two types of popular Chinese food narratives: Ang Lee's Eat Drink Man Woman was published in 1994 with a televisual documentary series A Bite of China released in 2012. As the chapter published in International Communication of Chinese Culture (Kai-Chee Lam, Man-Ling Ng, Lay-Hoon Ang & Radina Mohamad Deli 2018,1-2), four scholars collected from Malaysian Chinese weddings and the lunar new year celebration to investigate the concrete and abstract naming of Chinese dishes and to discuss the common cultural considerations underlying them. (Lee Yi Yan 2016, 1-2)

They found that concrete naming deals with the tangible aspects of a dish by incorporating the method of preparation, taste/aroma, the appearance of the dish, as well as container used. Under the guidance of their chapters, we can explore more in this infinite sphere. We pay tribute to the great efforts they have paid. While researches on the C-E translation of Chinese dish names have spread into most sectors, researches from a functional equivalence theory are few because previous scholars mainly apply Skopos theory and cross-cultural theory into their researches. In the chapter, we will discuss the C-E translation of Chinese dish names coupled with functional equivalence theory. In the next part, we will turn to existing problems in the C-E translation of Chinese dish names. (Zhang Tingli 2015, 1-2)

Existing Difficulties on the C-E Translation of Chinese Dish Names

(1) Difficulty in Transmitting Basic Information of Chinese Dish Names

Different translation versions of a Chinese dish always make foreigners confused. For example, there are at least three versions of 炮弹鱼, including Shell fish, bullet mackerel and trigger fish. We often blur the lines between scientific name and general name in our translation. Also, sometimes we seem to ignore distinct difference between two things by using the same name to define them. For example, some translators use bamboo fungus and edible tree fungus to stand for竹笋 and 木耳 respectively, but in reality 竹笋is completely different from 木耳. There are some subtle differences among Chinese dishes. (Mo Chuanxia & Yue Lin 2020,5)

As Mo Chuanxia and Yue Lin (Mo Chuanxia & Yue Lin 2020,5) mentioned in their chapter, 水米籺is cooked rice pounded into a paste with stuffing inside for worship or diet. 籺is a defining food for South China, especially in Guangdong provinces. It is different from cake or pastry in Western culture. The best way to translate it is to use explanatory words. Below are some C-E translations related to Chinese dishes: 黄馍馍(yellow steamed bun), 肉夹馍(the marinated meat in a baked bun), 榴莲酥(crispy durian cake) and蒿子粑粑(crown daisy rice cake). Everyone who has ever eaten these four kinds of food will have an inkling of knowledge about the different flavor and shape between 黄馍馍and肉夹馍. (Mo Chuanxia & Yue Lin 2020,5)

Likewise, the word “sausage” is insufficient to translate 血肠, 腊肠, and 香肠. For some well-known Chinese food such as tofu, it’s unnecessary to translate it into bean curd as in 油豆腐(fried bean curd puff). It seems to be a nonessential part of translating Chinese dish names because we often are encouraged to create our translation. But for long-term effects, chaos will lead to a negative impact on the economic benefits of those Chinese dishes and cross-cultural communication. (Mo Chuanxia & Yue Lin 2020,5)

Judging from a great variety of cooking techniques in many Chinese dish names, they bring a lot difficulties in the rendering of Chinese cuisine. In Chinese, there are a lot of verbs to describe how to cook. I list some common verbs below: 炒, 煮, 炖, 炸, 煎, 煲, 蒸, 烧, 焖 and 拌. But when it comes to C-E translation, we translators seem to ignore these verbs and use the same "with" structure to translate all of them as in 莴笋炒火腿(Stir-fried ham with asparagus lettuce), 莲藕炖排骨(Stewed ribs with lotus root) and 虾子焖茭白(Shrimp roe stewed with cane shoots). On top of these commonly used verbs, some verbs are really difficult to understand for native speakers who are unfamiliar with cooking, let alone for foreigners.(Chu Yiyi 2017,13)

The four words list below is a case in point: 煸, 焙, 焗, and 烩. The reason behind this phenomenon lies in lacking language about cooking techniques. The word list in this paragraph is more about the duration and degree of heating while cooking Chinese cuisine. As a translator, we should not only know general translation skills that can be applied to a large number of texts but also should have the inkling of other fields. Without background knowledge on cooking procedures, they will be stumbling blocks for translators striving for concise and accurate renderings. (Chu Yiyi 2017,13)

After discussing cooking techniques in Chinese dish names, we will turn to the different flavors of Chinese cuisine. When burying myself into oceans of Chinese dishes, I divide all sorts of flavors into two categories. In the first category, the word list includes 酸辣, 三鲜, 川味, 麻辣, 卤味, 家常, 酱香, 五香, 香辣, and 酥. In the second category, 孜然, 铁板, 鼓汁, 姜汁, 泡椒, 糖醋 and 蒜泥 will put in a group because these nouns mainly derived from ingredients and cooking utensils rather than the flavor itself. The main function of these words is not referential but beautifying. The flavor of delicious Chinese cuisine was represented by these beautifying words, thus triggering a mouth-watering effect. (Che Yimo 2019, 6)

But it's hard for the target reader to get the same effect as the source reader through translation due to lacking equivalent words and expressions. Likewise, some Chinese words that refer to all sorts of food don't have equivalent ones in English such as 什锦, 八宝, and 拼盘. If we translate them into "all sorts of food", the aesthetic effect weaken. Whereas translation loss and gain are inevitable, the underlying aesthetic effect plays an important role in the translation process. On top of this, cuisines with Chinese characteristics lead to translation problems. Below are some Chinese dish names: 红豆沙, 撞奶, 龟苓膏, 木瓜雪耳羹, and 蛋白果糖水. Lexical vacancy leads to losing the adding touch that brings a work of art to life. (Che Yimo 2019, 6)

Many translators tend to use word-for-word rendering to translate these Chinese dish names such as 红豆沙(orange-flavored red bean paste). Since Chinese dish names not only contains basic information of main ingredients and cooking skills but also mirrors culinary identity and wisdom, translators are supposed to pay considerable attention to convey layers of meaning in Chinese dish names. (Che Yimo 2019，6）

(2) Difficulty in Considering Different Cultural Backgrounds

The difference between Western culture and Chinese culture leads to problems in culture-loaded Chinese dish names. Chinese dish names are endowed with good omen. 鸳鸯锅(double-flavor hot pot) is a case in point. In Chinese culture, 鸳鸯 is a symbol of beautiful love and perfect marriage. But the beautiful underlying meaning is lost in Western culture. Appropriate ways to deal with culture-loaded words or expressions become an issue in the C-E translation of Chinese dish names. Though double-flavor hot pot conveys the basic information of this dish, the signified meaning remains in the darkness. (Mo Chuanxia & Yuelin 2020, 7)

Likewise, attention-grabbing Chinese dish names combined with Chinese culture background lead to translation problems such as 刀板香(sliced salted pork) and 片儿川(noodles with preserved vegetable). 刀板香 is a traditional pickled food in Anhui province. Through its dish names, it's difficult to know the main ingredients of this dish. A story lies behind the dish: When a person called Hu Zongxian came by one of his teachers, the wife of his teacher treated him to a delicious dish made of pork slices. Hu Zongxian felt satisfied with the dish and named it "刀板香". (Mo Chuanxia & Yuelin 2020, 7)

片儿川 is the most well-known dish in 奎元馆(a famous restaurant in Hangzhou). In the Qing Dynasty, many examinees were rushing to join an ancient test for selecting officials in Hangzhou, Zhejiang. Examinees from all over the country gathered in Hangzhou. To attract them, the shopkeeper supplied noodles made of pour-sweet vegetables, bamboo shoots, and pork slices. Three eggs were added to breakfast noodles, which contained a good omen for examinees. Therefore, a large number of examinees often came to eat noodles because Kuiyuan’s noodles were so cheap. Later, one of the examinees was got number one in a round of tests. When he went to the store to thank the owner, he found that the restaurant didn't have a name. So he named it "Kuiyuan Hall". Since then, 片儿川 in Kuiyuan Hall has become famous and tables in Kuiyuan Hall are in full bloom. All those who come to Hangzhou to take the exam will come here to eat noodles for good luck. (Mo Chuanxia & Yuelin 2020, 7)

片儿川 has special meaning for the person who is going to test. Similarly, foreign foods invade our daily life with increasing cultural communication. The origin of 罗宋汤(Borscht) is in Ukraine. 罗宋 is the transliteration of Russian and is originated from the early Shanghai Pidgin English. Russian Borscht (Borshch) is another commonly used name. During the October Revolution, a large number of Russians moved to Shanghai. They brought vodka and Russian-style western cuisine. The first western-style cuisine restaurant in Shanghai was opened by the Russians. (Mo Chuanxia & Yuelin 2020, 7)

This soup evolved from the Russian-style red cabbage soup. The Russian-style red cabbage soup is spicy and sour but Shanghai people are not used to it. Later, influenced by local taste, it gradually formed unique Shanghai-style borscht. In Shanghai-style borscht, we take beets as the main ingredient with supplements such as potatoes and carrots, spinach and beef, cubes, and butter. From what we discussed before, we can conclude that Chinese dish names often pay considerable attention to good connotations. Abstract meaning is mainly derived from legends, idioms, historical events, and auspicious words. When we start to translate Chinese cuisine, cultural considerations are an indispensable part to consider. It should be noted that translators take the responsibility to fill the gap between Chinese culture and Western culture. (Mo Chuanxia & Yuelin 2020, 7)

Except for source cultural background, target cultural background is also of great importance. When it comes to cultural taboos, 龙(dragon) is the first symbol coming to our minds. Whereas 龙 are often embedded with good connotations in Chinese cultures such as good fortune and bright future, 龙 often stands for brutal animal or person as in the well-known epic Beowulf. Below are some Chinese dish names with 龙: 龙抄手 (Easter Bunny Wonton), 龙须面(fine noodles), and 乌龙吐珠 (Sea Cucumber with Quail Eggs). Some translators replace dragon with bunny due to different preferences between Chinese culture and Western culture. Others omit word-for-word translation, rather emphasizing the main ingredients of the dish.(Wu Tingting 2017, 4)

Also, some Chinese dish names with internal organs such as intestines or blood may keep target readers at bay. For example, in 肠粉(Steamed vermicelli roll) and 脑花(brain or brain flower), the former highlights main ingredients rather than being confined to word-for-word translation, but the latter fails to arouse the target reader's appetite. Further explanation and translation skills are involved in these dish names. Other examples include 夫妻肺片(Sliced Beef and Ox Tongue in Chili Sauce) and 撒尿牛丸(juicy beef ball). Word-for-word translation can be confusing or even disgusting for people who are unfamiliar with Chinese dishes. (Wu Tingting 2017, 4)

夫妻肺片 is a well-known dish mainly made of ox tongue, tripe, and beef. Guo Chaohua (husband) and Zhang Tianzheng (wife) created the dish. Nowadays, it becomes part of Chuan cuisine. Contrary to the dish name, the lungs of different animals are not the main component of the dish because 肺片 is originated from 废片. 废片 is a humorous name for all sorts of sliced internal organs. Likewise, though juicy beef ball conveys the basic information of the dish, it loses its attraction and refreshing impression. Therefore, target readers will have a totally different feeling from source readers. The equivalence between SL and TL can be broken. In the next part, we will have a brief review of functional equivalence theory to discuss the application of the theory into the C-E translation of Chinese dish names. (Wu Tingting 2017, 4)

Functional Equivalence Theory

Functional Equivalence put forward by Eugene. A. Nida, a renowned American linguist, and translation theorist. Functional equivalence theory focuses on the verbal comparison between the SL and TL. Nida attempts to offer a new way to produce an equivalent, taking the relationship of the receptor to the text into account. Functional equivalence theory developed from dynamic equivalence. He defined dynamic equivalence as "the quality of a translation in which the message of the original text has been so transported into the receptor language that the response of the receptor is essentially like that of the original receptors.(Nida 1993, 127)

Translating consists in reproducing in the receptor language the closest natural equivalent of the source language message, first in terms of meaning and secondly in terms of style” (Nida 1969, 200). In the later works, he thought that the adequacy of a translation depended on “the reliability of the text itself, the discourse type, the intended audience, how the translated text is to be used, and the purpose for which the translation has been made” (Nida 1993, 127). Under the influence of Eugene. A. Nida, other subsequent scholars also put forward their understanding of functional equivalence.(Nida 1993, 127)

The translator recreates the text in the target language by keeping some source-text information or linguistic elements invariant and adapting the rest to the receivers’ background knowledge, expectations, and communicative needs or such factors as medium-restrictions and deixis requirements(Yue Siwei 2013, 61-68). The term the closest natural equivalent implies that the rendering must be readable (related to the language form) and understandable (related to the content) to the target receptors, since different languages have different features of grammar and lexicon.(Nida 1993, 127)

Functional-equivalence requires the highest degree of proximity (Zhang Qing & Wang Jiaqi 2010, 880-888). The translation is a reproduction process of the source text in the target language, observing the target culture. The target language features in terms of contents, sentence structure, and lexis should be considered as criteria to adapt the source text before translating. The source text elements that do not fit in target culture should be revised or even neglected in translating to transfer the flavor of the source text while not violating target culture. (Nida 1993, 127)

In Nida's view, the success of the translation depends above all on achieving an equivalent response. It is one of the four basic requirements of a translation, which are 1. making sense; 2. conveying the spirit and manner of the original; 3. having a natural and easy form of expression; 4. producing a similar response. He pays great attention to equivalence and the reader's response. Nida's functional equivalence theory has gone through three stages of development ranging from formal equivalence and dynamic equivalence to functional equivalence. The core of Nida's theoretical framework is mainly functional equivalence.(Jeremy Munday 2016, 126）

Functional equivalence is mainly to enable the translation and original text to be equivalent in language function, rather than language form correspondence. The reader of the target language should fully understand the customs, social consciousness, and habitual expression mentioned in the original context. This receptor-oriented approach considers adaptations of grammar, lexicon, and cultural references to be essential to achieve naturalness. The target language should not show interference from the source language and the foreignness of the source text setting is minimized.(Jeremy Munday 2016, 126)

Except for equivalence, the reader's response plays an important role in functional equivalence theory. In contrast with traditional translation views towards the source text and the target text, functional equivalence translation pays considerable attention to the receptor‟s response and the naturalness of the target language rather than language forms as formal equivalence. Though later translation theorists criticize Nida's functional equivalence given the impossibility of achieving functional equivalence in the translation process, his functional equivalence has still paved the road away from traditional translation views by instilling fresh views into translation studies.(Jeremy Munday 2016, 126)

Functional equivalence theory provides a glimpse into dealing with the relationship between target text and related cultural expectations. For real and practical translation, functional equivalence sets the standard for what good translation is. So in the next part, we will discuss the application of this theory in the C-E translation of Chinese dish names. (Jeremy Munday 2016, 126)

Application of Functional Equivalence Theory in the C-E translation of Chinese Cuisine

4.1Princples of C-E translation of Chinese Cuisine

Principles on C-E translation abound given different original texts. When it comes to the C-E translation of Chinese Cuisine, two principles should be mentioned. What comes first is faithfulness. The translator is supposed to translate the basic information of Chinese cuisine. Sometimes, ingredients and cooking procedures should be included in the translation process. The main purpose of our translation is to inform target readers, especially foreigners who know nothing about Chinese. In Chinese, we often use the number three to represent three kinds of ingredients. (Qing Zhang & Jiaqi Wang 2010, 880)

Therefore, we translators should list three ingredients clearly in the translation process. For example, in 扣三丝, some translators render it into Chicken, mushroom, ham threads in consommé. Though this rendering is in great detail, target readers can catch the point quickly. But for other larger numbers such as five and eight, listing all ingredients will lead to clumsiness. 八宝菠菜(Spinach with Eight Delicacies) is a case in point. This is the living proof for precise and clear translation. Faithfulness is not equal to a word-for-word translation. Various translation skills should be involved in the translation process to arrive at the principle of faithfulness. But the principle of faithfulness is not enough for a good translation. (Qing Zhang & Jiaqi Wang 2010, 880)

It’s noted that a distinct cultural difference plays an important role in cultural communication. If a translator fails to deliver cultural connotation in Chinese cuisine, these cultural-loaded dish names lost their attraction towards foreigners. Even though native speakers can understand what Chinese cuisine refers to, the functional equivalence is out of balance. The purpose of our study is not only to provide a glimpse into informing foreigners when they barge into a Chinese restaurant but also to spread Chinese culture behind Chinese cuisine. For example, in 烩南北(Stewed Mushrooms with Winter Bamboo Shoots), target readers fail to get the meaning from original words.(Qing Zhang & Jiaqi Wang 2010, 885-888)

Literal translation doesn’t fit in this Chinese cuisine because ingredients and cooking procedures are difficult to understand unless we dig more information on the Internet. The origin of the dish name lies in two different ingredients. Bamboo shoots are most in the south of China and mushrooms are most in the north of China. The combination of bamboo and mushroom represents the combination of culture in two parts of China. The precious value of Stewed mushrooms with winter bamboo shoots also lies in the combination of two precious ingredients.(Qing Zhang & Jiaqi Wang 2010, 885-888)

The same goes for榆钱饭(Elm Seeds Meal). 榆钱 is originally an ingredient in Shangxi province. But the dish name also bodes well for a well-off or prosperous future. Chinese people attribute their wish of getting more money to the word 钱(money). It sounds vulgar but the true wish is to live a better life. When translating Chinese cuisine, translators should consider the different cultural backgrounds to spare no efforts to broadcast Chinese culture. On top of this, some dish names are complicated to render them. For example, 龙, an image with red and gold color, refers to good wishes for a prosperous future in China but it’s disgusting in Western culture. (Qing Zhang & Jiaqi Wang 2010, 885-888)

Therefore, when we translate龙抄手, the word 龙 should be replaced by other words. Some translators try to translate it into Easter Bunny Wonton. Also, the same goes for words referring to an internal organ. 肠粉is a case in point. A dish name with intestines will lead to vomiting before eating. What’s more, the main ingredient in肠粉has nothing about intestines. Steamed vermicelli roll is a better translation version. The scariest and well-known Chinese dish name I have heard is 夫妻肺片. But the power of ingenious translation can help foreigners understand this dish and avoid awkwardness ahead of them. While broadcasting Chinese culture, cultural taboos in the culture of target readers also need to be taken into our consideration. After we have put forward two principles for C-E translation of Chinese cuisine, the next part will discuss some strategies available for translators in the translation process. (Qing Zhang & Jiaqi Wang 2010, 885-888)

4.2Strategies for C-E translation of Chinese Cuisine

First and foremost, a large number of Chinese cuisines can apply literal translation in some way. The main cooking procedures, ingredients, and skills should be very clear in dish names. Lexical equivalence is the main purpose of a literal translation. Also, we can divide the application of literal translation into four parts. The first part is the combination of the main ingredient and other supplementary ingredients. For example, in 羊肚包肉, roasted mutton wrapped in lamb tripe can avoid ambiguity. The most special ingredient in the dish is roasted mutton, which delivers some flavors to target readers. We can also render “番茄牛腩” into tomato and beef brisket.(Chu Yiyi 2017, 9)

The spicy beef briskets and sour tomatoes arouse different feelings in the heart of target readers. Sometimes, the flavor of a dish makes itself clear in the name of a dish. When we use the literal translation, the flavor of a dish such as剁椒 and 家常 cannot be ignored. For example, in剁椒鸭肠(Duck Intestines with Chili) and家常烧蹄筋(Home-Style Braised Beef Tendon), Chili and home-style not only inform foreigners of basic information of this dish but also arouse a sense of taste in their mouths. The third part of the application of literal translation is the combination of utensils and ingredients such as 砂锅面(Casserole Noodles). In Chinese, 砂锅 is a utensil for cooking. (Chu Yiyi 2017, 9)

But with the increasing popularity of noodles cooking by casseroles, casserole noodles have become a Chinese dish. The last part of the application of literal translation lies in the combination of cooking methods, eating methods, and ingredients. 手抓饼(Shredded Cake) is a case in point. As opposed to forks in Western culture, the Chinese tend to use chopsticks. Therefore, Shredded Cake is a dish without using chopsticks or any other dinner sets. But the literal translation is not a silver bullet for all C-E translation of Chinese cuisine. Sometimes, a dish includes too many ingredients or cooking procedures. If we apply to literal translation in this case, we will sacrifice simplicity to maintain faithfulness.(Chu Yiyi 2017, 9)

Also, some translators applied literal translation with annotation to render dish names. For instance, let’s take “长寿面”, a cuisine name from A Bite of China as an example. The translation provided in “longevity noodles”, followed by the annotation “the noodles are long and slim, and long is homophonic to ‘chang’ and slim to ‘shou’, ‘changshou’ means longevity”. In this case, not only can the foreigners know the basic meaning of the dish, but they can also understand its cultural meanings (Chu Yiyi 2017, 9). Another example is螺蛳粉. Some translate it into Snail Rice-flour Noodles, a local snack in Liuzhou. Snail Rice-flour Noodles is very faithful to the Chinese dish name. But the translator added some explanations to emphasize local characteristics. The origin of Snail Rice-flour Noodles is in Liuzhou, Yunnan province. In this case, the translator tried to spread local culture in a dish name. (Chu Yiyi 2017, 9)

Secondly, dishes with local names can apply to transliteration such as兰州拉面 Lanzhou Beef Noodles), 金华火腿(Jinhua Ham) and重庆小面(Chongqing Small Noodles). Some local names have become a brand for selling. They emphasize the authentic flavor of these dishes to attract people from other places or countries. As for some culture-loaded dish names, we fail to find the equivalent words in English. That’s the reason why we resort to transliteration. It’s a translation method mainly dependent on Chinese pinyin such as Lanzhou, Jinhua, and Chongqing as we mentioned above.(Chu Yiyi 2017, 12)

One of the perks of transliteration is to emphasize local characteristics and spread local cultures. But transliteration is not confined to this area. Some translators combine transliteration into literal translation. For instance, if we simply translate “东坡肉” literally into“Dongpo’s Pork” without any further explanations, the target readers will get confused if they first see the translation. Thus, the explanation “Dongpo, a famous poet in the Song Dynasty” needs to be added (Chu Yiyi, 2017). Some dish names are from foreign countries such as 生鱼片(Sashimi). Sashimi is the Japanese way of speaking. Transliteration with sounds of foreign languages can apply to these Chinese dish names. Some translators also translate腌制泡菜 into kimchi rather than pickles cabbages, thus emphasizing Korean flavor rather than Chinese flavor. But few dish names originated from foreign languages. (Chu Yiyi 2017, 12)

Lastly, some Chinese cultural-loaded dish names fail to fit the framework of literal translation and transliteration. Translators should apply free translation into their translation process. There are four categories of free translation applied to C-E translation of Chinese cuisines: named according to the characteristics of ingredients metaphorically, named after historical allusions, named according to the production process metaphor, and named after the meaning of good. As for the first category, 蚂蚁上树is a good example. The word-for-word translation of蚂蚁上树 is ants on a tree but it does not deliver the essence of the dish.(Siwei Yue 2013, 65-68)

The main ingredients of the dish are minced pork and fine vermicelli. The final dish is similar to ants on the tree, so the Chinese give it a metaphorical dish name. Sauteed Vermicelli with Minced Pork is a better version than the original translation. Some dish names are full of historical allusions such as霸王别姬. The deep-level meaning of the expression霸王别姬 is to reveal the tragic ending of a hero in history. But there is a coincidence for the combination of turtle and chicken in the dish 霸王别姬. Different from mandarin, Chinese people give the nickname “王八” for the turtle. 姬in 霸王别姬 sounds are similar to 鸡(chicken).(Siwei Yue 2013, 65-68)

The word-for-word translation of 霸王别姬 is farewell my Concubine, but turtle stewed chicken is easier to understand for target readers. As for the third category——named according to the production process metaphor, 驴打滚 is a case in point. 驴打滚 is one of the traditional snacks in northeast China, especially in Beijing and Tianjin. It is a three-color snack with yellow, white, and red. The final process of making is to sprinkle on the soybean noodles, which look like wild donkeys rolling up of the loess in suburb, so we named it 驴打滚(Donkey Roll). But compared to the donkey doll, fried chop rice cake shows the main ingredients of the dish, thus lowering the hurdles for understanding.(Siwei Yue 2013, 65-68)

As for the last category, 佛跳墙 is a case in point. The literal meaning of 佛跳墙 is that a Buddha jumps over the wall. But actually, 佛跳墙 is a dish cooking all things in one pot. It comes from a story: when we open the jar, the smell of a dish becomes popular in other places as well. That attracts many Buddhas who jump over the wall to have a see. Also, the dish bodes well for longevity and reunion. That’s why we also call it 福寿全, a word full of good omens. From the strategies discussed above, we can find that there is no fixed pattern for C-E translation of Chinese cuisines. We, translators, should bear these principles and strategies in mind and put them into practice in our translation process. The ultimate goal for our translation is to produce a simple but accurate translation to inform target readers, especially foreigners. (Siwei Yue 2013, 65-68)

Conclusion

With the popularity of Chinese culture, there has been a resurgence of interest in C-E translation of Chinese cuisine. In this chapter, I discussed the previous studies on this topic with functional equivalence theory to emphasize the importance of our research and try to find a research gap among these chapters. After discussing the existing problems on C-E translation of Chinese cuisine, I summarized some principles and strategies that can apply to C- E translation of Chinese cuisine. But what I discussed in the chapter is only a panoramic view of Chinese dish names.(Yi-Yan Lee, 2016, 10)

There are eight classifications of Chinese famous cuisines ranging from Lu Cuisine and Chuan Cuisine, Yue Cuisine and Min Cuisine, Su Cuisine and Zhe Cuisine, Xiang Cuisine and Hui Cuisine. Under these eight Chinese cuisines, there are distinct differences in dish names considering the region and ethnic group. As we know, one size can’t fit all. Aside from researches on Chinese dish names, the cultural elements behind idioms related to Chinese dishes deserve more attention. (Yi-Yan Lee, 2016, 10)

References

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• 车宜默[Che Yimer].(2019). 跨文化交际视角下的中餐菜单英译案例研究[A case study of English translation of Chinese menus from a cross-cultural communication perspective].北京：北京外国语大学[Beijing: Beijing Foreign Studies University].

• 李玮玮[Li Weiwei]. (2017). 目的论视角下的中国菜名汉英口译实践报告[A practical report on Chinese-English interpretation of Chinese cuisine names from the perspective of purpose theory].山东：山东大学[Shangdong: Shandong University].

• 莫传霞,岳玲[Mo Chuanxia, Yue Ling].(2020).“再创作”翻译思想下的北海民俗饮食文化英译[The English translation of Beihai folk food culture under the idea of "re-creation" translation]. 广西教育学院学报[Journal of Guangxi Education College] (05) 78-81.

• 屠易义[Tu Yiyi].(2017). 从文化角度谈中式菜名的英译方法[The English Translation of Chinese Cuisine Names from a Cultural Perspective].上海：上海外国语大学[Shanghai:Shanghai International Studies University].

• 邬婷婷[Wu Tingting].(2017). 目的论视角下中式菜肴简介英译的翻译报告[A Translation Report on the English Translation of Chinese Cuisine Introduction from the Perspective of Purpose Theory].宁波：宁波大学[Ningbo: Ningbo University].

• 吴慧琦[Wu Huiqi]. (2020). 中西方饮食文化差异与菜名翻译——评《中西方饮食文化差异及翻译研究》[Chinese and Western food culture differences and the translation of dish names--Review of "Chinese and Western food culture differences and translation research"]. 食品工业[Food Industry] (09) 364-365.

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--Liu Yangnuo (talk) 13:40, 20 December 2020 (UTC)

The Untranslatability and Loss of Meaning in Chinese Dish Names Translation--Taking Hunan cuisine names an Example - 袁雨晨 Yuan Yuchen

袁雨晨 Yuan Yuchen 202020080665 法语语言文学

Abstract

Chinese food culture has attracted much attention both at home and abroad, and chinese cuisine is gradually going to global markets. Cultural differences make the translation of chinese dish names a challenge for translators. Taking Hunan cuisine an example, we try to explore the translation methods of chinese dish names from the untranslatability theory of Catford and loss of meaning theory of Newmark, so as to avoid the problems in the translation process and achieve the relative translatability of the dish names.

Chinese food culture has attracted much attention both at home and abroad, and Chinese cuisine is gradually going to global markets. Cultural differences make the translation of Chinese dish names a challenge for translators. Taking Hunan cuisine an example, we try to explore the translation methods of Chinese dish names from the untranslatability theory of Cat ford and loss of meaning theory of Newmark, so as to avoid the problems in the translation process and achieve the relative translatability of the dish names. --Zheng Huajun (talk) 01:11, 19 December 2020 (UTC)

Key words

Untranslatability，loss of meaning，Hunan cuisine names

题目

中国菜名的不可译性和意义的缺失——以湘菜菜名为例

摘要

中国的饮食文化在国内外备受关注，中国菜也逐渐走向世界，文化差异使得中国菜名的译法给译者带来了挑战。试以湘菜为例，从卡特福德的不可译理论和纽马克的意义缺失理论来探究湘菜菜名的翻译方法，从而在翻译过程中规避问题，达成中国菜名的相对可译性。

关键词

不可译性；意义缺失；湘菜菜名

Introduction

Translation, as an indispensable means of the communication among different cultures, contributes a lot to the development of human civilization. But to translate the source language into target language accurately and perfectly is hardly impossible for every translator. Debates about untranslatability are one of the most heated issues about translation. On the one hand, we should insist that translation is possible due to the similarity of human experience, linguistic and cultural universality; on the other hand, we have to admit the fact that there are some insurmountable obstacles and difficulties in translation practices owing to linguistic and cultural disparities.Among cultural differences, the cuisine culture plays a very important role.(Wang Lijun 2008, 10)

Translation, as an indispensable means of the communication among different cultures, contributes a lot to the development of human civilization. But to translate the source language into target language accurately and perfectly is hardly impossible for every translator. Debates about untranslatability are one of the most heated issues about translation. On the one hand, we should insist that translation is possible due to the similarity of human experience, linguistic and cultural universality; on the other hand, we have to admit the fact that there are some insurmountable obstacles and difficulties in translation practices owing to linguistic and cultural disparities. Among cultural differences, the cuisine culture plays a very important role.--Zheng Huajun (talk) 01:24, 19 December 2020 (UTC)

The most outstanding example is Chinese cuisine culture which is different from most western countries. It is not only famous for daintiness but also the attractive dish names.The major concern of this paper is "The Untranslatability and Loss of Meaning in Chinese Dish Names". Chinese cuisine is regarded as a great wonder of collection of cooking skills in foreign people's eyes. Westerners are often attracted to the looks of Chinese dishes besides their delicious flavor and taste. While the sight of Chinese dishes brings pleasure, the names of dishes also catch much attention of westerners. (Wang Lijun 2008, 10)

The most outstanding example is Chinese cuisine culture which is different from most western countries. It is not only famous for daintiness but also the attractive dish names. The major concern of this paper is "The Untranslatability and Loss of Meaning in Chinese Dish Names". Chinese cuisine is regarded as a great wonder of collection of cooking skills in foreign people's eyes. Westerners are often attracted to the looks of Chinese dishes besides their delicious flavor and taste. While the sight of Chinese dishes brings pleasure, the names of dishes also catch much attention of westerners.(Wang Lijun 2008, 10)--Zheng Huajun (talk) 01:57, 19 December 2020 (UTC)

When people from different countries enjoy Chinese dishes, they are often curious and eager to know the exact meaning of the dish name and its origin. Since the dish name is the first impression given to a diner when he or she decides to order a dish. So it is important to convey accurate information to the patron. Since Chinese cuisine culture has continued to be exported overseas, translation of dish names plays an important role and is faced with a high demand determined by the complex nature of Chinese cuisine culture.(Wang Lijun 2008, 10)

Based on the Catford's theory of untranslatability and Newmark's theory of loss of meaning, taking Hunan cuisine an example, this paper explore the translation methods of chinese dish names, so as to avoid the problems in the translation process and achieve the relative translatability of the dish names.At first it illustrates the linguistic and cultural untranslatability. And it then emphasizes particularly on constitutions and fonctions of Hunan cuisine names. Finally, according to the classification of dish names, translation techniques are suggested and some of them are just the compensative measures to those untranslatable dish names. (Wang Lijun 2008, 10)

Based on the Catford's theory of untranslatability and Newmark's theory of loss of meaning, taking Hunan cuisine an example, this paper explore the translation methods of Chinese dish names, so as to avoid the problems in the translation process and achieve the relative translatability of the dish names. At first it illustrates the linguistic and cultural untranslatability. And it then emphasizes particularly on constitutions and functions of Hunan cuisine names. Finally, according to the classification of dish names, translation techniques are suggested and some of them are just the compensatory measures to those untranslatable dish names. (Wang Lijun 2008, 10)--Zheng Huajun (talk) 01:57, 19 December 2020 (UTC)

Chapter 1 An Overview of Untranslatability, Loss of Meaning and Hunan Cuisine Names

1.1 Linguistic Untranslatability and Cultural Untranslatability Put Forward by J. C. Catford

Catford was the first translation theoretician who explored equivalence at different levels of language. He distinguished two kinds of untranslatability in A Linguistic Theory of Translation, that is, linguistic untranslatability and cultural untranslatability.(Catford 1965, 93)

Catford thought that linguistic untranslatability is caused by the target language’s lack of lexical or syntactical substitute. Different languages differ from each other in the phonetic, grammatical, semantic, pragmatic aspect etc. (Catford 1965, 93)

Catford thought the cultural untranslatability was caused by the lack of the target target culture’s relevant situational features to the source language’s culture. Cultural untranslatability comes from cultural differences, for instance, the names of some institutions, clothes, foods and dishes, abstract concepts, and the like.(Catford 1965, 93)

According to Catford's view of untranslatability, the dichotomy mentioned above would not exist if it could be demonstrated that all instances of cultural untranslatability respond to "the impossibility of finding an equivalent collocation in the target language". This impossibility is, in his opinion, a case of linguistic untranslatability.(Catford 1965, 93)

According to Catford, "Translation fails---or untranslatability occurs---when it is impossible to build functionally features of the situation into the contextual meaning of the TL text." (Catford 1965, 93)

1.2 Loss of Meaning Put Forward by Peter Newmark

Peter Newmark analyzed the loss of meaning as follows:

First, if the text describes a situation which has elements peculiar to the environment, institutions and culture of its language area, there is an inevitable loss of meaning, since the translator's language can only be approximate to the source language. Unless there is already a recognized translation equivalent, the translator has to choose from transcribing the foreign word, translating it, substituting a similar word in his own culture, naturalizing the word with a loan translation, sometimes adding or substituting a suffix from his own language, defining it or paraphrasing, which is sometimes added in parenthesis or as a footnote to a transliteration. (Tan Zaixi 2004, 215)

Second, an inevitable source of loss is the fact that the two languages, both in their basic character and their social varieties, have many different lexical, grammatical and sound systems, and segment many physical objects and all intellectual concepts differently. (Tan Zaixi 2004, 215)

Third, the individual uses of language of the writer and the translator do not coincide. Everybody has lexical if not grammatical idiosyncrasies, and attaches "private" meanings to a few words. The translator normally writes in a style that comes naturally to him, desirably with a certain elegance and sensitivity unless the text precludes it. Moreover, a good writer's use of language is often remote from some of the conventional canons of good writing, and it is the writer not the canons that the translator must respect. (Tan Zaixi 2004, 215)

Last, the translator and the text-writer have different theories of meaning and different values. The translator's theory colors his interpretation of the text. He may get greater value than the text-writer on connotation and correspondingly less on denotation. He may look for symbolism where realism was intended; for several meanings where only one was intended; for different emphasis, based on his own philosophy or even his reading of the syntax. The resulting loss of meaning is inevitable and is unrelated to the obscurity or the deficiencies of the text and the incompetence of the translator, which are additional possible sources of this loss of meaning. Therefore, absolute equivalence can never be reached. A translator can't convey all the meanings of the original in his translation.(Tan Zaixi 2004, 215)

1.3 Constitution and Functions of Hunan Cuisine Names

Hunan cuisine consists of local cuisines of Xiangjiang Region, Dongting Lake and Xiangxi areas. It is characterized by thick and pungent flavors. As a mirror of Chinese cuisine culture, dish names play an important role in transmitting Chinese cuisine culture to the whole world. Today, there are countless and various Chinese dish names, so it's so hard to translate them without a clear analysis of their constitutions and functions.

Many of the Hunan cuisine are named after the ingredients, seasonings, cooking methods, flavour or colour, shape. Hunan cuisine can be cooked in a variety of ways,which can be divided into cooking methods for hot dishes,such as stir-fried, fried, roasted, grilled, boiled, stewed, steamed and son on; and cooking methods for cold dished, such as frozed, mixed, marinated, smoked and so on. The flavour is the sensation caused by a substance that stimulate the taste buds, flavour can be divided into two categories: one is the natural single flavour, also called the basic flavour; another is the compound flavour made of two or more single flavour.(Zhang Qiang 2017, 19)

Many of the Hunan cuisine are named after the ingredients, seasonings, cooking methods, flavour or colour, shape and so on. Hunan cuisine can be cooked in a variety of ways， which can be divided into cooking methods for hot dishes,such as stir-fried, fried, roasted, grilled, boiled, stewed, steamed and so on; and cooking methods for cold dishes, such as frozed, mixed, marinated, smoked and so on. The flavour is the sensation caused by a substance that stimulate the taste buds, flavour can be divided into two categories: one is the natural single flavour, also called the basic flavour; another is the compound flavour made of two or more single flavour.(Zhang Qiang 2017, 19) --Zheng Huajun (talk) 02:21, 19 December 2020 (UTC)

The single flavour of Hunan cuisine is mainly salty, sweet, sour, spicy, bitter, fresh and so on; the compound flavour is mainly hot and sour, sweet and sour, salty and spicy, spicy and hot and so on.Most dish names are made of a combination of flavours and the name of the main ingredient, such as “酸辣鸡杂”、 “麻辣肚丝”. Spicy is a highly used word in Hunan cuisine names.Not many dishes are named directly with words that indicate colour (red, yellow, white, green, etc.) and shape (round, flat, pointed, square, etc.),but more often the colour and shape express the substance.For example, “金钱蛋”is named after a substance that has a colour and shape. “金钱” is borrowed from the coins in Chinese history which are round, square-hole. “菊花鱿鱼”“菊花” isn’t real chrysanthemum, but the shape of the finished dishes.(Zhang Qiang 2017, 19)

The single flavour of Hunan cuisine is mainly salty, sweet, sour, spicy, bitter, fresh and so on; the compound flavour is mainly hot and sour, sweet and sour, salty and spicy, spicy and hot and so on. Most dish names are made of a combination of flavour and the name of the main ingredient, such as “酸辣鸡杂”、 “麻辣肚丝”. Spicy is a highly used word in Hunan cuisine names. Not many dishes are named directly with words that indicate colour (red, yellow, white, green, etc.) and shape (round, flat, pointed, square, etc.), but more often the colour and shape express the substance. For example, “金钱蛋”is named after a substance that has a colour and shape. “金钱” is borrowed from the coins in Chinese history which are round, square-hole. “菊花鱿鱼”“菊花” isn’t real chrysanthemum, but the shape of the finished dishes.(Zhang Qiang 2017, 19)--Zheng Huajun (talk) 02:21, 19 December 2020 (UTC)

The utensils such as casseroles, stones pots, hanging pots, dry pots, flat pots, iron pots are used to serve the Hunan cuisine. So the names of kitchen utensils sometimes appear in Hunan cuisine names, the names of untensils and the main ingredients are combined to form the name of a dish, in order to show the characteristics of the dishes, such as “石锅玉兔”，“干锅鸡”，“砂锅熊掌”.(Zhang Qiang 2017, 19)

And there are many dishes which are named by means of metaphor are connected with allusion，a person's name or a place name. The names of dishes containing the name "组庵" and the name of the main ingredient in dishes are related to Tan Yanyan. Tan Yanyan (1880-1930), a native of Chaling in Hunan, was the governor of Hunan province after the Revolution of 1911. Tan Yanyan was a famous gourmet and played a major role in the innovation and development of Hunan cuisine at the time. (Zhang Qiang 2017, 19)

And there are many dishes which are named by means of metaphor are connected with allusion, a person's name or a place name. The names of dishes containing the name "组庵" and the name of the main ingredient in dishes are related to Tan Yanyan. Tan Yanyan (1880-1930), a native of Chaling in Hunan, was the governor of Hunan province after the Revolution of 1911. Tan Yanyan was a famous gourmet and played a major role in the innovation and development of Hunan cuisine at that time. (Zhang Qiang 2017, 19)--Zheng Huajun (talk) 02:21, 19 December 2020 (UTC)

Above all, the constitution of Hunan cuisine names are various and mainly have the above mentioned features. Almost all Hunan cuisine names are characterized by elegance and try to convey a kind of aesthetic sense to diners.

A dish name usually keeps people informed of the main ingredients of the dish, and sometimes uses beautiful words to add aesthetic value and finally it will stimulate the diners' appetite. Particularly, Chinese dish names have a special function that is cultural function owing to transmitting cultures.

Informative Function

The informative function means that the communicative aim of language is to provide people with information. As the fundamental function of Chinese dish names, it supplies the basic information of a dish, such as the ingredients, seasonings, cooking methods and so on. Chinese cooking methods are famous for its variety and the ingredients. People can get these information through most of Chinese dish names. So when Chinese dish names are translated into English, this function should be kept completely. (Wang Lixia 2017, 19)

Aesthetic Function

If a dish were a work of art, the dish name would be a part of the art.Besides the informative function, there is an aesthetic value. Although not all Chinese dish names possess the aesthetic value, such as those self-descriptive ones, a lot of names formed by metaphors or other special means to bring the sense of beauty and satisfy the aesthetic need of people. The beautiful names such as“碧绿双脆”， “金银烩双丸”， “天麻炖双飞”， “蝴蝶飘海”, it’s difficult to identify the original ingredient, and the basic information of the dishes are deduce by metaphor,but which attract the diners to image, to get an enjoyment. The subtle integration of aesthetics and culinary science greatly enhance the aesthetic function of these dish names.(熊力游 2004, 84)

If a dish were a work of art, the dish name would be a part of the art. Besides the informative function, there is an aesthetic value. Although not all Chinese dish names possess the aesthetic value, such as those self-descriptive ones, a lot of names formed by metaphors or other special means to bring the sense of beauty and satisfy the aesthetic need of people. The beautiful names such as“碧绿双脆”， “金银烩双丸”， “天麻炖双飞”， “蝴蝶飘海”, it’s difficult to identify the original ingredient, and the basic information of the dishes are deduce by metaphor, but which attract the diners to image, to get an enjoyment. The subtle integration of aesthetics and culinary science greatly enhance the aesthetic function of these dish names.(熊力游 2004, 84)--Zheng Huajun (talk) 02:21, 19 December 2020 (UTC)

Cultural Function

Chinese dish names also function as a culture carrier. Numerous cultural words play a significant role to demonstrate the national specialties.“百鸟朝凤”, “全家福”, “龙女触珠” “桃园三结义”and many other culturally loaded terms are frequently used in dish names, which are unique to the Chinese culture. This is a best way to arouse foreigners' interests on Chinese culture.(熊力游 2004, 84)

Chapter 2 Reasons for the Untranslatability and Loss of Meaning in Chinese Dish Names

2.1 Differences of Thinking

There is a fundamental difference between the traditional Chinese concept of "unity of human and nature" and the traditional Western concept of "humanism", and the way of thinking and philosophies of each nationality differ. The food cultures of China and the West are therefore influenced by the obvious differences between them, and the same food cultures influence the naming of dishes in a certain way. Traditional Chinese philosophical thinking places emphasis on Qi and existence and non-existence, and in terms of cultural spirit and mode of thinking, this has led to the formation of a unity between human and nature, an emphasis on integral functions and a focus on ambiguity, which has led to the development of unique concepts in the science of food, namely the ecological concept of the correspondence between human and nature, the nutritional concept of food treatment and nourishment, and the concept of the harmonisation of the five tastes. (Cao Binbin 2016, 23)

There is a fundamental difference between the traditional Chinese concept of "unity of human and nature" and the traditional Western concept of "humanism", and the way of thinking and philosophies of each nationality differ. The food cultures of China and the West are therefore influenced by the obvious differences between them, and the same food cultures influence the naming of dishes in a certain way. Traditional Chinese philosophical thinking places emphasis on “Qi” and existence and non-existence, and in terms of cultural spirit and mode of thinking, this has led to the formation of a unity between human and nature, an emphasis on integral functions and a focus on ambiguity, which has led to the development of unique concepts in the science of food, namely the ecological concept of the correspondence between human and nature, the nutritional concept of food treatment and nourishment, and the concept of the harmonization of the five tastes. (Cao Binbin 2016, 23)--Zheng Huajun (talk) 02:33, 19 December 2020 (UTC)

Westerners hold a rational and scientific concept of diet. They emphasise the nutritional value of the diet, the amount of protein, fat, calories and vitamins contained in the food, and pay particular attention to whether the nutrient content of the food is well matched, whether the calorie supply is optimal, and whether these nutrients can be fully absorbed by the eater. For example, Westerners generally do not eat animal offal or anything that they consider to be of no nutritional value, such as liver, chicken feet, duck heads, dog meat, etc., which are absolutely delicious in China and which Westerners may never have eaten in their lives. Some of the ingredients used in Chinese dishes are not offensive to diners in China, for example animals such as snakes and frogs. For good luck, Chinese names are often borrowed from inedible objects or animals that are taboo for Westerners, such as “红烧狮子头”. Such dishes are unacceptable to Westerners and can sometimes be offensive to them. (Cao Binbin 2016, 24)

Westerners hold a rational and scientific concept of diet. They emphasize the nutritional value of the diet, the amount of protein, fat, calories and vitamins contained in the food, and pay particular attention to whether the nutrient content of the food is well matched, whether the calorie supply is optimal, and whether these nutrients can be fully absorbed by the eater. For example, Westerners generally do not eat animal offal or anything that they consider to be of no nutritional value, such as liver, chicken feet, duck heads, dog meat, etc., which are absolutely delicious in China and which Westerners may never have eaten in their lives. Some of the ingredients used in Chinese dishes are not offensive to diners in China, for example animals such as snakes and frogs. For good luck, Chinese names are often borrowed from inedible objects or animals that are taboo for Westerners, such as “红烧狮子头”. Such dishes are unacceptable to Westerners and can sometimes be offensive to them. (Cao Binbin 2016, 24)--Zheng Huajun (talk) 02:33, 19 December 2020 (UTC)

2.2 Different Beliefs and Values

Belief and value constitute an important part in culture. Chinese and westerners are living in different social background, having their own history and religion. So, disparity in value and belief is inevitable, such as Buddhism in China. It has history of thousands years. Some vocabularies in Chinese are related with Buddhism, such as “立地成佛”，“谋事在人，成事在天”.These expressions all reflect the great influence of Buddhism on language. In western countries, people have been more influenced by Christianity. Phrases like "man proposes God disposes"; "God help those who help themselves" are typical examples. But if“谋事在人，成事在天”is translated to "man proposes, God disposes", it disobeys Chinese belief which is the Buddhism rather than the Christianity.(Liu Chuang 2012, 120)

Belief and value constitute an important part in culture. Chinese and westerners are living in different social background, having their own history and religion. So, disparity in value and belief is inevitable, such as Buddhism in China. It has history of thousands years. Some vocabularies in Chinese are related with Buddhism, such as “立地成佛”， “谋事在人，成事在天”. These expressions all reflect the great influence of Buddhism on language. In western countries, people have been more influenced by Christianity. Phrases like "man proposes God disposes"; "God help those who help themselves" are typical examples. But if“谋事在人，成事在天” is translated to "man proposes, God disposes", it disobeys Chinese belief which is the Buddhism rather than the Christianity.(Liu Chuang 2012, 120) --Zheng Huajun (talk) 03:16, 19 December 2020 (UTC)

The value of a certain culture is a set of behavioral standards for people to make choices and solve conflicts and it is usually displayed in people's philosophic and moral concept. The concept that is thought highly by one nation may be neglected by another nation. And this phenomenon becomes a great obstacle in the cross-cultural communication and translation.

As far as animal vocabularies are concerned, the value of Chinese and westerners are quite different. Take "dog" for example, Chinese often use them to guard door. In their concepts, dogs have nothing to praise. So vocabularies with dogs often have derogatory connotations, such as“狗腿子”，“狐朋狗友”，“狼心狗肺”，“狗眼看人低”，“狗改不了吃屎”.Whereas, in western countries, owing to dogs' loyalty, courage and intelligence, people regard dogs as their favorite and loyal friends and give great honor to them, such as "love me, love my dog", "lucky dog" and "every dog has his day". So long as westerners know that dog meat is cooked into dishes in China, they will feel shocked and horrible. Hence although the dish name“狗肉汤”is translatable, we had better avoid translating it or we should not treat westerners to eat dog meat. If it is unavoidable, we should explain those dogs are raised for dinners.(Liu Chuang 2012, 120)

As far as animal vocabularies are concerned, the value of Chinese and westerners are quite different. Take "dog" for example, Chinese often use them to guard door. In their conceptions, dogs have nothing to praise. So vocabularies with dogs often have derogatory connotations, such as“狗腿子”，“狐朋狗友”，“狼心狗肺”，“狗眼看人低”，“狗改不了吃屎”. Whereas, in western countries, owing to dogs' loyalty, courage and intelligence, people regard dogs as their favorite and loyal friends and give great honor to them, such as "love me, love my dog", "lucky dog" and "every dog has his day". So long as westerners know that dog meat is cooked into dishes in China, they will feel shocked and horrible. Hence although the dish name“狗肉汤”is translatable, we had better avoid translating it or we should not treat westerners to eat dog meat. If it is unavoidable, we should explain those dogs are raised for dinners.(Liu Chuang 2012, 120)--Zheng Huajun (talk) 03:16, 19 December 2020 (UTC)

When translating, it is important to take into account the cultural differences, accepting psychology and eating habits of foreigners, otherwise it will be difficult to achieve the intended function and purpose of the translation. After all, although the translator "deals with individual words, he is dealing with two major cultures".(Liu Chuang 2012, 120)

2.3 Different Customs and Living Environment

Custom refers to the way of living formed in the long-term development of human's history. It is embodied in various aspects of people's daily lives such as garment, etiquette, marriage, funeral, traditional dishes and so on, due to the different living habits and the customs of different people, which constitute a great obstacle in the cross-cultural communication and translation.(Wang Lijun 2017, 23)

2.4 Lexical Non-equivalence Concerned with Cultural Difference

The lexical non-equivalence generally refers to the non-equivalence of lexical meanings. As we all know, the meaning of a word, which is involved in many aspects, such as the denotative meaning, the associative meaning and so on, is not a simple concept. Therefore, there are several kinds of untranslatable phenomena concerned with the lexical non-equivalence.(Wang Lijun 2017, 24)

2.5 Absence of Terms

Absence of terms is a frequent phenomenon leading to untranslatability. It refers to the case that in translation we fail to find counterpart in target language. In Chinese, there are many terms as “风水”, “阴阳”, “属相”and so on. These words are derived from unique Chinese culture, which are almost impossible to translate to English, since there are no such things in western countries.(Wang Lijun 2017, 24)

2.6 Discrepancy of Semantic Association

Terms and expressions, as embodiment of culture, have rich meanings and profound connotations. Therefore discrepancies of terms lead to translation barriers inevitably. For example, dragon in English and “龙“ in Chinese represents different connotation though it is the same imaginary image. Owing to this difference, terms concerning dragon in these two languages differ greatly. To Chinese, “龙“ is something sacred and has been referred to as the ancestor of the Chinese nation-that's why Chinese people call themselves“龙的传人 (descendants of the dragon)“. “龙” is used frequently in Chinese daily life in order to convey a propitious meaning, such as in dish names“龙凤呈祥”，“二龙戏珠”and “青龙过海”.To westerners, however, the dragon is a symbol of evil. Many heroes in stories struggled against dragons which were slain in most cases.(Wang Lijun 2017, 25)

Terms and expressions, as embodiment of culture, have a wide variety of meanings and profound connotations. Therefore discrepancies of terms lead to translation barriers inevitably. For example, dragon in English and “龙” in Chinese represents different connotation though it is the same imaginary image. Owing to this difference, terms concerning dragon in these two languages differ greatly. To Chinese, “龙” is something sacred and has been referred to as the ancestor of the Chinese nation—that's why Chinese people call themselves “龙的传人 (descendants of the dragon)”. “龙” is used frequently in Chinese daily life in order to convey a propitious meaning, such as in dish names“龙凤呈祥”， “二龙戏珠”and “青龙过海”. To westerners, however, the dragon is a symbol of evil. Many heroes in stories struggled against dragons which were slain in most cases.(Wang Lijun 2017, 25)--Zheng Huajun (talk) 03:16, 19 December 2020 (UTC)

Take “喜鹊(pied magpie)” for another instance. In Chinese culture, this bird is always regarded as a messenger of good news, for the first character of its Chinese name(喜)means "happiness". So the chattering of a pied magpie had the connotative meaning of "good news is coming". But in English culture, people pay more attention to the appearance of this black-and-white bird and the noises it makes. Then the connotative meaning of it in English is "a chatterbox". (Wang Lijun 2017, 28)

Take “喜鹊 (pied magpie)” for another instance. In Chinese culture, this bird is always regarded as a messenger of good news, for the first character of its Chinese name “喜” means "happiness". So the chattering of a pied magpie had the connotative meaning of "good news is coming". But in English culture, people pay more attention to the appearance of this black-and-white bird and the noises it makes. Then the connotative meaning of it in English is "a chatterbox".(Wang Lijun 2017, 28)--Zheng Huajun (talk) 03:16, 19 December 2020 (UTC)

Chapter 3 Strategies of Untranslatability and Loss of Meaning of Hunan Cuisine Names

The purpose of translation is to communicate, therefore transfering the information is very important in translation. Regardless of the method of translation, it is important to convey as much information as possible about the main ingredients, cooking methods, etc., so that foreigners can understand them and communicate with each other. Clearly conveying information about the dishes means that the English translation of Hunan cuisine names can help people from other countries understand the basic information about the dishes, the unique cooking techniques and regional characteristics of Hunan cuisine, and appreciate the colourful culinary culture of Hunan. (Wang Caiying 2009, 108)

The purpose of translation is to communicate, therefore transferring the information is very important in translation. Regardless of the method of translation, it is important to convey as much information as possible about the main ingredients, cooking methods, etc. So that foreigners can understand them and communicate with each other. Clearly conveying information about the dishes means that the English translation of Hunan cuisine names can help people from other countries understand the basic information about the dishes, the unique cooking techniques and regional characteristics of Hunan cuisine, and appreciate the colourful culinary culture of Hunan.(Wang Caiying 2009, 108)--Zheng Huajun (talk) 03:16, 19 December 2020 (UTC)

Some contain profound historical allusions or folk legends, while others have changed their names based on raw materials, shapes and cooking methods. This makes English translation difficult and makes it difficult to fully reflect the linguistic and cultural features of the Chinese language. In this case, the English translation of Hunan cuisine names should be purpose-oriented, so that foreign friends can understand as much as possible about the basic information of Hunan cuisine. The name of the dish should first of all ensure that the customer knows the ingredients，the supplementary ingredients, the cooking method and the flavour of the dish, so the most important thing when translating the name of a dish, whether it is realistic or associative, is that it should firstly convey its denotative meaning. (Wang Caiying 2009, 108)

In some cases, it is also possible to make major changes to the presentation of the translation, avoiding or diluting words in the dish that have strong symbolic meaning but are incompatible with Western culture, and keeping the basic content of the dish as far as possible in order to achieve the basic purpose and function of conveying the message of the dish.The names of some dishes are quoted from poems and idioms, and the English translation method of "literal+interpretative translation" can be used to express the specific meaning of the ingredients while retaining their distinctive national characteristics. Some of the common cooking methods used in Hunan cuisine, such as "stir-frying, roasting, boiling, stewing, deep-frying, steaming", etc., make the translation more effective.(Wang Caiying 2009, 108)

In some cases, it is also possible to make major changes to the presentation of the translation, avoiding or diluting words in the dish that have strong symbolic meaning but are incompatible with Western culture, and keeping the basic content of the dish as far as possible in order to achieve the basic purpose and function of conveying the message of the dish. The names of some dishes are quoted from poems and idioms, and the English translation method of "literal+interpretative translation" can be used to express the specific meaning of the ingredients while retaining their distinctive national characteristics. Some of the common cooking methods used in Hunan cuisine, such as "stir-frying, roasting, boiling, stewing, deep-frying, steaming", make the translation more effective.(Wang Caiying 2009, 108)--Zheng Huajun (talk) 03:16, 19 December 2020 (UTC)

3.1 English Translations of Hunan Cuisine Names Based on Cooking Methods and Main Ingredient

The name of such a dish includes both the cooking method and the main ingredient, with the cooking method preceding and the main ingredient following. The English translation uses “cooking method (past participle of the verb)+main ingredient”, such as“炒生菜", where "炒" is the practice. "生菜" is the main ingredient, which translates as Sauteed Lettuce " and “花生炖猪蹄"，where“炖" is the cooking method, peanuts and pig's feet are the main ingredients, the name of the dish can be translated as“cooking method+main ingredient+and+main ingredient”,that‘s “Stewed Pig's Trotters and Peanuts".(Zhang Qiang 2017, 23)

The name of such a dish includes both the cooking method and the main ingredient, with the cooking method preceding and the main ingredient following. The English translation uses “cooking method (past participle of the verb)+main ingredient”, such as“炒生菜", where "炒" is the practice. "生菜" is the main ingredient, which translates as Sauteed Lettuce " and “花生炖猪蹄"，where“炖" is the cooking method, peanuts and pig's feet are the main ingredients, the name of the dish can be translated as “cooking method+main ingredient+and+main ingredient”, which calls “ Stewed Pig's Trotters and Peanuts".(Zhang Qiang 2017, 23)--Zheng Huajun (talk) 03:16, 19 December 2020 (UTC)

3.2 English Translation of Hunan Cuisine Names Based on "Ingredient and Main Ingredient" or "Main ingredient and Soup"

The names of such Hunan dishes mainly consist of main ingredients and ingredients, which form Hunan cuisine names as "ingredient+main ingredient", which can be translated in English as "main ingredient+with/in+ingredients". Connected by with or in. e.g."冬笋腊肉" and "蟹黄海参" can be translated respectively as “Preserved Pork (Smoked Pork) with Winter Bamhoo Shoot” and “Sea Cucumber with Crab Roe”. If the ingredient is soup, use the expression "soup+main ingredient", which is translated as "main ingredient+in/with+ Soup/Sauce". Yhe choice of in or with is determined by the actual "sauce". Use "in" if the main ingredient is immersed in the sauce, and if the sauce is separate from the main ingredient, or if it is poured over the main dish, we should use “with” e.g. "蜜汁白莲" is translated as "Lotus-seed in Honey Sauce"and "茄汁鱼片" is translated as "Sliced Fish with Tomato Sauce ".(Zhang Qiang 2017, 24)

The names of such Hunan dishes mainly consist of main ingredients and ingredients, which form Hunan cuisine names as "ingredient+main ingredient", which can be translated in English as "main ingredient+with/in+ingredients". Connected by “with or in”, for example, "冬笋腊肉" and "蟹黄海参" can be translated respectively as “Preserved Pork (Smoked Pork) with Winter Bamhoo Shoot” and “Sea Cucumber with Crab Roe”. If the ingredient is soup, use the expression "soup+main ingredient", which is translated as "main ingredient+in/with+ Soup/Sauce". The choice of in or with is determined by the actual "sauce". Use "in" if the main ingredient is immersed in the sauce, and if the sauce is separate from the main ingredient, or if it is poured over the main dish, we should use “with”, for example, "蜜汁白莲" is translated as "Lotus-seed in Honey Sauce"and "茄汁鱼片" is translated as "Sliced Fish with Tomato Sauce ".(Zhang Qiang 2017, 24)--Zheng Huajun (talk) 03:16, 19 December 2020 (UTC)

3.3 English Translation of Hunan Cuisine Names According to the Flavour and the Main Ingredients

When the name of a dish is "flavour+main ingredient", the English translation puts the flavour in the front and the main ingredient at the back, highlighting the taste of the dish, e.g. in "麻辣牛肉", "麻辣" is the taste. "牛肉" is the main ingredient, which translates as "Spicy and Hot Beef"and "酸辣" in "酸辣鸡杂" is the flavour, "鸡杂" is the main ingredient and it can be translated as "Hot and Sour Chicken Giblets".(Zhang Qiang 2017, 26)

When the name of a dish is "flavour+main ingredient", the English translation puts the flavour in the front and the main ingredient at the back, highlighting the taste of the dish, for example, in "麻辣牛肉", "麻辣" is the taste. "牛肉" is the main ingredient, which translates as "Spicy and Hot Beef"and "酸辣" in "酸辣鸡杂" is the flavour, "鸡杂" is the main ingredient and it can be translated as "Hot and Sour Chicken Giblets".(Zhang Qiang 2017, 26)--Zheng Huajun (talk) 03:16, 19 December 2020 (UTC)

3.4 English Translation of Hunan Cuisine Names Based on Seasonings and Main Ingredients

The English translation of Hunan cuisine name in the form of "seasoning+main ingredient" can use the structure of "main ingredient+with+seasoning", such as "芥末鸡条" can be translated as “Chicken Strips with Mustard”, a literal translation can also be used in the original structure, such as “孜然牛肉” can be translated as "Cumin Beef".(Wang Lijun 2017, 23)

3.5 English Translation of Hunan Cuisine Names Based on Seasonings, Cooking Methods and Main Ingredients

Chinese Hunan cuisine names has the structure of "seasoning+cooking method+main ingredient", which can be translated in English as "cooking method (past participle of the verb)+main ingredient+ with+seasoning", e.g. "豆瓣酱烧肥鱼" can be translated as "Braised Fish with Thick Broad-bean Sauce" and "豆豉蒸排骨" as "Steamed Pork Chops with Lobster Sauce".(Zhang Qiang 2017, 26)

Chinese Hunan cuisine names has the structure of "seasoning+cooking method+main ingredient", which can be translated in English as "cooking method (past participle of the verb)+main ingredient+ with+seasoning", for example, "豆瓣酱烧肥鱼" can be translated as "Braised Fish with Thick Broad-bean Sauce" and "豆豉蒸排骨" as "Steamed Pork Chops with Lobster Sauce".(Zhang Qiang 2017, 26)--Zheng Huajun (talk) 03:16, 19 December 2020 (UTC)

3.6 English Translation of Hunan Cuisine Names According to the Colour and Shape of the Finished Dish

The names of such dishes are generally translated using the literal and free translation method. For example, "芙蓉鸡片" can be translated as "Fried Sliced Chicken with Egg White" and "菊花鱿鱼"as "Fried Chrysanthemum-shaped Squid".(Wang Lijun 2017, 23)

3.7 English Translation of Hunan Cuisine Names According to the Flavour and the Shape of the Raw Material after it has been cut

The English translation of Hunan cuisine names can be in the form of "flavour+shape+main ingredient", e.g. "麻辣" in "麻辣羊肚丝" denotes the flavour. "羊肚" is the main ingredient, and the goat tripe is shredded, which can be translated as "Spicy and Hot shredded Goat Tripe". (Zhang Qiang 2017, 29)

The English translation of Hunan cuisine names can be in the form of "flavour+shape+main ingredient", for example, "麻辣" in "麻辣羊肚丝" denotes the flavour. "羊肚" is the main ingredient, and the goat tripe is shredded, which can be translated as "Spicy and Hot shredded Goat Tripe". (Zhang Qiang 2017, 29)--Zheng Huajun (talk) 03:16, 19 December 2020 (UTC)

3.8 English Translation of Hunan Cuisine Name According to the Cooking Method and the Main Ingredient and its modified Shape

Chinese Hunan cuisine names "--Zheng Huajun (talk) 03:16, 19 December 2020 (UTC)cooking method+main ingredient+shape" can be translated as "cooking method (past participle of the verb)+shape+main ingredient", such as "干煸牛肉丝". "干煸" is the cooking method, "牛肉" is the main ingredient and "丝" is the shape of the modified ingredient, it can be translated as "Dry-fried Shredded Beef".(Zhang Qiang 2017, 29)

3.9 English Translations of Hunan Cuisine Names from "Name of Person or Place + Main Ingredient" to "Name of Person or Place+Cooking Method + Main Ingredient"

In addition to the above principles, the names of such dishes should also be transliterated from the names of people and places, which is good for promoting the Chinese language and culture. The translation of Hunan cuisine names as "person's name+main ingredient" can be made directly. For example, in "组庵豆腐", "组庵" is the name of a person and "豆腐" is the main ingredient, which is transliterated as "Zu'an Tofuo".(Zhang Qiang 2017, 26)

The name of the dish "place name+main ingredient" can be translated as "main ingredient+，+place name+Style" with the main ingredient separated from the place name by a comma. For example, "湖南" in "湖南腊肉" is the name of the place, and "腊肉" is the main ingredient, which is translated as " Preserved Pork (Smoked Pork), Hunan Style", the name of a Hunan dish in the form of "place name+main ingredient" can also be translated into the form of "place name+main ingredient", e.g. "东安鸡" can be translated as "Dong' an Chicken".(Zhang Qiang 2017, 26)

The name of the dish "place name+main ingredient" can be translated as "main ingredient+place name+Style" with the main ingredient separated from the place name by a comma. For example, "湖南" in "湖南腊肉" is the name of the place, and "腊肉" is the main ingredient, which is translated as " Preserved Pork (Smoked Pork), Hunan Style", the name of a Hunan dish in the form of "place name+main ingredient" can also be translated into the form of "place name+main ingredient", for example, "东安鸡" can be translated as "Dong' an Chicken".(Zhang Qiang 2017, 26)--Zheng Huajun (talk) 03:16, 19 December 2020 (UTC)

The name of a dish can be translated in the form of "cooking method+main ingredient+，+person (place name)+style", e.g. "毛氏红烧肉", which can be translated as "Braised Pork, Mao's Family Style. "(Zhang Qiang 2017, 30)

3.10 An English Translation of Hunan Cuisine Names as "Utensil + Main Ingredient"

Containers such as iron plates, dry pans, casseroles, etc. are also used in combination with the main ingredient to name the chinese Hunan cuisine names, which can be translated as “utensils+main ingredient”，e.g. “干锅茶树菇” is translated as Dry Pot (Griddle Cooked) Tea Tree Mushrooms, it can also be translated as“main ingredient+in/on+main ingredient”, e.g. “铁板牛肉”can be translated as Beef Steak Served on Sizzling Iron Plate.(Zhang Qiang 2017, 30)

Containers such as iron plates, dry pans, casseroles, etc. are also used in combination with the main ingredient to name the Chinese Hunan cuisine names, which can be translated as “utensils+main ingredient”，e.g. “干锅茶树菇” is translated as Dry Pot (Griddle Cooked) Tea Tree Mushrooms, it can also be translated as“main ingredient+in/on+main ingredient”, for example, “铁板牛肉”can be translated as “Beef Steak Served on Sizzling Iron Plate”.(Zhang Qiang 2017, 30)--Zheng Huajun (talk) 03:16, 19 December 2020 (UTC)

3.11 The English Translation of Hunan Cuisine Names that Do Not Reflect Information on Cooking Methods, Main Ingredients, Tastes, etc.

Some Hunan cuisine names do not reflect basic information such as cooking method, main ingredients, taste, etc. These names usually combine the colour, aroma, cooking method and stylistic features of the dish to give it a pleasant name. For example, “全家福” could be translated as Quan Jia Fu (A tonic recipe of chicken breast fried with sea cucumber peeled shrimp and squid, carrying the implied meaning of a happy family reunion) (Zhang Qiang 2017, 31)

Some Hunan cuisine names do not reflect basic information such as cooking method, main ingredients, taste, etc. These names usually combine the colour, aroma, cooking method and stylistic features of the dish to give it a pleasant name. For example, “全家福” could be translated as “Quan Jia Fu” (A tonic recipe of chicken breast fried with sea cucumber peeled shrimp and squid, carrying the implied meaning of a happy family reunion.)(Zhang Qiang 2017, 31)--Zheng Huajun (talk) 03:16, 19 December 2020 (UTC)

Conclusion

Chinese dish names are rich in connotation, vividly reflecting China's cuisine culture. Their English translations are an effective means to inform foreigners of Chinese culture. Therefore, it is of great importance to make a study on translations of these dish names. The current studies in this field have given an analysis to Chinese dish names' features, functions as well as the principles for their translation. (Wang Lijun 2017, 23)

This paper has made a tentative study of Chinese dish names from the angle of untranslatability and loss of meaning. The study covers the analysis of the untranslatability and loss of meaning caused by the differences between Chinese and English, from linguistic and cultural perspectives, taking Hunan cuisine names an example, the introduction of the constitution and function of dish names. Then since Chinese dish names play an important role in Chinese culture, according to untranslatabiltiy caused by culture differences between Chinese and English, the paper analyzes the untranslatable phenomena existing in the English translation of Chinese dish names from the aspects of thinking, beliefs and values, customs, and lexical non-equivalence.(Zhang Qiang 2017, 26)

Although there are many translated versions of various Chinese dishes nowadays, and some of them have been accepted by the public, it is undeniable that there are cultural obstacles which cannot be translated. If translators don't know untranslatabiltiy of dish names, they cannot translate them properly, since they couldn't avoid the obstacles and adopt some compensatory measures. strangeness in front of cultural differences.

A translation should on the one hand keep as much as possible the original flavor and on the other hand try to make it accessible to the target language readers.

References

[1]Cao Binbin. 曹彬彬.(2016). 从翻译的不可译性看中式菜名英. [English Translation of Chinese Cuisine Names from the Perspective of Translation Untranslatability]. 英语广场. [English Square].24-25.

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[3]Liu Chuang. 刘闯.(2012). 浅析中餐菜名英译的不可译性及解决. [An analysis of the untranslatability of the English translation of Chinese cuisine names and its solution]. 校园英语. [Campus English]120-121.--Zheng Huajun (talk) 03:16, 19 December 2020 (UTC)

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[4]Tan Zaixi. 谭载喜. (2004). 西方翻译简史(增订版). [ A Brief History of Western Translation (Updated Edition)]. 商务印书馆. [The Commercial Press]200-220.--Zheng Huajun (talk) 03:16, 19 December 2020 (UTC)

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[5]Wang Caiying.王才英.(2009). 试论中国菜名的相对不可译及对策. [Experimental discussion on the relative untranslatability of Chinese dish names and Strategies].长沙大学学报. [Journal of Changsha University]108-109.--Zheng Huajun (talk) 03:16, 19 December 2020 (UTC)

[6]Wang Lijun. 王丽君.(2008). 中文菜名的不可译性研究. [On Untranslatability of Chinese Dish Names]. 吉林大学学报. [Journal of Jilin University]. 10-13

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[8]Xiong Liyou. 熊力游. (2004). 中华菜名功能与翻译处理. [Functions and Translation processing of Chinese Cuisine names]. 长沙大学学报. [Journal of Changsha University]84-86.--Zheng Huajun (talk) 03:16, 19 December 2020 (UTC)

[9]Zhang Qiang. 张强. (2017). 湘菜菜名词语与对外汉语教学.[Name of Hunan Cuisine in Teaching Chinese as a Second Language].湖南师范大学.[Hunan Normal University]. 18-33

[9]Zhang Qiang. 张强. (2017). 湘菜菜名词语与对外汉语教学.[Name of Hunan Cuisine in Teaching Chinese as a Second Language].湖南师范大学.[Hunan Normal University]18-33.--Zheng Huajun (talk) 03:16, 19 December 2020 (UTC)

A Study of English Translation of Chinese Dish Names from the Perspective of Domestication and Foreignization -- Taking Hunan Cuisine an Example - 邬香 Wu Xiang

邬香 Wu Xiang 202020080651.

Abstract

As a bright pearl in the storehouse of traditional Chinese culture, catering culture plays a more and more important role in the increasingly frequent cross-cultural communication. However, there are many problems in English translation of Chinese dish names, such as the use of direct and rigid expressions, the neglect of cultural connotations of dishes and the lack of unified translation standards. Foreignization and domestication can effectively solve the above problems. From the perspective of foreignization and domestication, this chapter takes the English translation of Hunan cuisine as an example and uses different translation strategies for realistic and freehand dishes from the linguistic and cultural levels. Although domestication and foreignization can not remove all the obstacles in English translation of Chinese dish names, they can help to accurately express the meanings of dish names, reflect their cultural connotations and promote cultural exchange and dissemination.

Key words

Chinese dish names; English translation; domestication and foreignization; cross-cultural communication

题目

异化和归化视角下中国菜名英译研究——以湘菜为例

摘要

饮食文化作为中国传统文化宝库中一颗璀璨的明珠，在如今日益频繁的跨文化交流中的作用愈发重要。但是目前中国菜名英译出现不少问题，主要包括使用直接生硬的表达方式、忽略菜肴文化内涵、缺乏统一的翻译标准。运用异化和归化翻译策略能有效解决上述问题。本章拟从异化和归化的视角出发，以湘菜英译为例，针对写实型和写意型菜肴从语言和文化层面使用上述不同的翻译策略。尽管归化和异化不能扫除菜名英译中所有的障碍，但其有助于准确表达菜名含义，体现其蕴藏的文化内涵，促进文化交流与传播。

关键词

中国菜名；英译；归化和异化；跨文化交流

Introduction

After thousands of years of precipitation and inheritance Chinese food culture has emerged on the international stage and gradually gained the favor and recognition of foreigners. In modern society cultural exchanges between countries and nations are increasingly frequent. As a cross-cultural communication activity, translation refers not only to the process of language conversion, but also to the process of cultural transformation and dissemination. Because Chinese food contains a large number of cultural and artistic features, which reflect the Chinese cultural landscape. However, at present we have different translation versions in the process of translating Chinese dishes. This is not conducive to cross-cultural communication.(Xiong Bing 2014,84)

中国饮食文化历经数千年的沉淀和传承后，在国际舞台上崭露头角，逐渐得到外国人的青睐和认可。当今社会世界各国、各民族文化交流日益频繁，翻译作为一种跨文化交际活动，不仅指语言转换的过程，而且是文化转换和传播的过程。中国菜名含有丰富的文化与艺术特征，其体现了中国文化图景。然而，目前中国菜名译本众多，这不利于跨文化交流。

It’s known that translation strategies of domestication and foreignization can retain the cultural elements in the original text to the greatest extent. As one of the eight major cuisines in China, Hunan cuisine has its unique characteristics and rich cultural heritage, so it is suitable to adopt domestication and foreignization in English translation. Many Chinese scholars focus on specific translation methods and skills in the research on translation of Chinese dish names.They rarely consider the translation strategies of foreignization and domestication.(Xiong Bing 2014,84)

归化和异化策略能最大程度保留原文中的文化元素，解决目前中国菜名翻译过程中存在的一些问题。湘菜作为中国八大菜系之一，具有独特的特点和丰富的文化底蕴，适合采用归化和异化英译。中国许多学者对中国菜名翻译的研究多着眼于具体的翻译方法和技巧，很少从异化和归化的翻译策略高度来考虑。

However, it is necessary to clarify what kind of translation strategy to adopt before choosing appropriate translation methods and skills, because the implementation of the former is reflected in the application of specific translation skills, while the application of the latter requires certain translation strategies. Therefore, in this chapter I will discuss the application of translation strategies of domestication and foreignization in the English translation of traditional Chinese dish names based on the corpus of Hunan dishes. (Xiong Bing 2014,84)

然而，首先明确采用怎样的翻译策略，继而才能选用合适的翻译方法和技巧，因为前者的实施体现在特定翻译技巧的运用，同时后者的运用需依据一定的翻译策略。因此，本文将以湘菜菜品名为语料，探讨翻译策略在传统中国菜名英译中的运用。(熊兵，2014,84）

1. Exiting Problems in English Translation of Chinese Dish Names

Chinese food culture is extensive and profound with a long history. The importance of English translation of Chinese dish names in cross-cultural communications between China and foreign countries is self-evident. However, there are many problems in English translation of Chinese dish names, such as the use of direct and rigid expressions, the lack of unified translation standards and the ignorance of the cultural connotation of dishes. These problems make foreigners and some Chinese English learners confused. Next I will analyze them in detail with examples.(Xia Ying 2016, 259)

中国饮食文化博大精深，源远流长。中餐翻译在中外文化交流中的重要性不言而喻。然而，目前中国菜名英译存在不少问题，诸如使用直接生硬表达法、缺乏统一翻译标准、忽视菜肴文化内涵等。这些问题不仅引起外国人的困惑，中国英语学习者亦云里雾里。下面我将结合实例具体分析。(夏瑛 2016, 259)

1.1 The Use of Direct and Rigid Expressions

China has a vast territory and abundant resources. The eating habits and cooking methods in different regions of the country are different. Some dishes are named after myths, legends and allusions, while others are complex in cooking methods and various in ingredients. Direct and stiff expressions can't express the rich connotations of these dishes and even make people funny.(Zhang Yang 2016, 48)

中国地大物博，全国各地区的饮食习惯与烹饪方法各不相同，其中一些菜肴以神话、传说及典故命名，还有一些佳肴烹饪方法复杂，食材多种多样。直接生硬的表达法不能很好表达这些菜肴的丰富内涵，甚至会让人啼笑皆非。

For example, if "Jiaohua chicken, a whole chicken roasted in caked mud"(叫花鸡) is translated into "beggar's chicken"(叫花子的鸡), it doesn't reflect the origin and the cooking method of this dish. It is said that in the late Ming Dynasty and early Qing Dynasty a beggar in Changshu（常熟，a city of Jiangsu province） got a chicken by chance. He had no cooking utensils and seasonings. So he had to put the chicken into the mud to simmer and roast it. When the chicken was cooked, he knocked off the mud shell. The aroma overflowed, and it became a delicious dish. (Zhang Yang 2016, 48)

比如，”叫花鸡”(Jiaohua Chicken，a whole chicken roasted in caked mud)若译成”Beggar’s Chicken”则完全没有体现这道菜的由来及做法。相传明末清初时，常熟一个乞丐偶然间得到一只鸡，苦于没有炊具和调料，只能将鸡处理后放入泥土中煨烤，鸡熟后敲掉泥壳，香气四溢，成为一道美味佳肴。

Another example is that "木须肉" is translated as "wood mustache meat"（木头胡子肉）. This translation is confusing and does not reflect the main ingredients of this dish. I think that it is appropriate and reasonable to translate it into "stir fried pork with eggs and black fungus". (Zhang Yang 2016, 48)

又如，“木须肉”被译为”Wood mustache meat”（木头胡子肉），这种译法让人不知所云，更没有体现这道菜的主要原料。笔者认为将其译为”Stir-fried pork with eggs and black fungus”比较恰当合理。(张扬 2016, 48)

1.2 The Lack of Unified Translation Standards

At present there is no uniform international standard for the translation of Chinese dish names, which leads to the emergence of multiple translation versions in the book market and restaurants. It brings inconvenience and trouble to foreigners and seriously affects the spread of Chinese catering culture. For example, there are several different translation versions of "麻婆豆腐" in China: bean curd with minced pork in hot sauce; Mapo Tofu; tofu made by woman with freckles. The last translation is not very appropriate and easy to cause disgust. Foreigners are familiar with the translation of "Mapo Tofu" and have already accepted it, so it is acceptable not to explain it. The first translation is more vivid and can make people salivate. It reflects the method and raw materials of this dish.(Lin Hong 1991, 41)

目前，国际上没有关于中国菜名翻译的统一的标准，这导致在图书市场和餐厅内出现多个翻译版本，给外国人就餐带来不便与麻烦，严重影响了中国饮食文化的传播。例如，国内“麻婆豆腐”有以下几种不同的翻译：Bean curd with minced pork in hot sauce; Mapo tofu; Tofu made by woman with freckles.笔者认为，最后一种译法不是很贴切，容易引起反感。外国人已熟知并接受”Mapo tofu”的译法，故不解释亦可。第一种译法较为形象，体现了菜肴的做法和原料，让人垂涎欲滴。

There are also many ways to translate "宫保鸡丁", including "Kung Pao chicken", "fried diced chicken in Sichuan style" or "sauteed chicken cubes with chili and peanuts". So many translation versions will not only make readers confused, but also fail to reflect the characteristics and cultural connotations of Chinese dish names. Therefore, the translation of the unified dish names is one of the problems to be solved in correctly understanding Chinese cooking culture. (Lin Hong 1991, 41)

“宫保鸡丁”五花八门的译法包括”Kung Pao Chicken”, “Fried diced chicken in Sichuan style” 或”Sautéed chicken cubes with chili and peanuts”. 如此多的译名不仅会引起读者思维上的混乱，而且没有很好地体现中国菜名的特点与文化内涵。由此可见，统一菜名的翻译是正确领略中国饮食文化亟待解决的问题之一。 (林红 1991, 41)

1.3 The Neglect of Cultural Connotations of Dishes

The differences between Chinese and Western cultures lead to the differences between Chinese and Western catering cultures, which stems from the different attitudes towards rationality and sensibility. Chinese people have strong perceptual thinking, so they pursue beauty and artistry. Chinese dishes are full of color, fragrance and other cultural connotations. Westerners pay more attention to rationality, truth and science. The names of Western dishes are easy to understand, and the raw materials and nutrients are relatively clear. (Wang Junjian 2017，107)

中西文化的差异导致中西饮食文化的不同，而这种差异归根结底源于双方对待理性和感性的不同态度。中国人感性思维较强，故而追求美和艺术性，中餐讲究色香味俱全，通常含有祝福、美好等文化内涵。西方人则更注重理性、真理和科学，西餐菜名通俗易懂，原料和营养成分较为清楚。

For example, "onion soup in French style"(法式洋葱汤) is used in Western food, while "stewed snake and chicken"(龙凤呈祥) in Chinese food is the soup stewed with snake and chicken. Snake is regarded as a small dragon (Jiao 蛟) in China, and there is a folk saying that pheasant flies on the branch and becomes a phoenix(野鸡飞上枝头变凤凰). Therefore, a snake is compared to a dragon, and a chicken to a phoenix, which is used to bless and praise things and others. (Wang Junjian 2017，107)

比如，西餐中的Onion soup in French style(法式洋葱汤),而中餐中的”龙凤呈祥”（Stewed snake and chicken）是用蛇和鸡炖的汤。蛇在中国视为小龙（蛟），且民间有“野鸡飞上枝头变凤凰”的俗语。故把蛇比作龙，鸡比作凤凰，用作对事物和他人的祝福和赞美。

The main ingredient of "more than every year"(年年有余) is fish. "Yu"(余) in Chinese refers to surplus, which is homophonic with "fish”(鱼), which expresses people's good wishes for a prosperous family and surplus every year. If foreigners don't understand the Chinese culture implied in these dishes, they will find this kind of translation very strange. Therefore, cultural factors must be taken into account in translating Chinese dishes to avoid misunderstanding. (Wang Junjian 2017，107)

“年年有余”（More than every year）的主要食材是鱼，“余”在汉语中指剩余，与“鱼”谐音，表达人们对家业发达、年年有余的美好愿望。如果外国人不了解这些菜隐含的中国文化，则会觉得这种翻译很奇怪。因此，在翻译中国菜名时必须考虑文化因素，避免造成误解。(王君健 2017,107)

To a large extent, the above problems are caused by the fact that people pay attention to the intuitive feelings in the process of translation, ignoring the cultural connotations of dish names and using inappropriate translation methods. In this chapter I will try to solve these problems by adopting translation strategies of domestication and foreignization from the linguistic and cultural levels, then introduce the above two translation strategies and analyzes how to use them to improve the quality of translation in the process of translating Hunan cuisine into English. (Xia Ying 2016, 259+273)

以上问题很大程度上是因为人们在翻译过程中注重直观的感受，忽略菜名蕴含的文化底蕴，使用不恰当的翻译方法造成的。笔者试图从语言和文化层面采用归化和异化翻译策略来解决这些问题。接下来将介绍着这两种翻译策略并分析在湘菜英译过程中如何运用它们来提高翻译质量。(夏瑛 2016, 259+273)

2. Translation Strategies of Domestication and Foreignization

2.1 Definitions of Domestication and Foreignization

Domestication and foreignization are two different translation strategies in the process of translation. These two terms were first put forward by Lawrence Venuti in his book "Translator's Invisibility" according to the theory of German philosopher Schleiermacher. (Wang Shaofei 2006,30)

“归化”和“异化”是翻译过程中两种不同的翻译策略。这两个术语最初是由劳伦斯韦努蒂( Lawrence Venuti) 根据德国哲学家施莱尔马赫( Schleiermarcher) 的理论在他的著作《译者的隐身》中提出的。(王少飞，2006, 30)

Domestication refers to a translation strategy that localizes the source language, takes the target language or target language readers as the destination and adopts the expressions that the readers are used to convey the content of the original text. It can help readers better understand the translation and enhance its readability and appreciation.（Su Songlonghua 2011）

归化指把源语本土化，以目标语或译文读者为归宿，采取目标语读者所习惯的表达方式来传达原文的内容的一种翻译策略。归化翻译要求译者向目的语的读者靠拢。归化翻译有助于读者更好地理解译文，增强译文的可读性和欣赏性。

Foreignization in the process of translation considers the linguistic characteristics of foreign cultures and absorbs foreign language expressions. It requires translators to approach the author and adopt the corresponding source language expressions to convey the content of the original text, which means that we should take the source culture as the destination. The purpose of using foreignization is to consider the differences of national cultures, to preserve and reflect characteristics of foreign cultures and their language styles, to retain the exotic sentiment for the target readers.（Su Songlonghua 2011）

异化在翻译上迁就外来文化的语言特点，吸纳外语表达方式，要求译者向作者靠拢，采取相应于作者所使用的源语表达方式，来传达原文的内容，即以源语文化为归宿。使用异化策略的目的在于考虑民族文化的差异性、保存和反映异域民族特征和语言风格特色，为译文读者保留异国情调。（百度百科,宿松龙华，2011）

2.2 Two Levels of Domestication and Foreignization

Foreignization and domestication should be investigated from the level of language form and cultural content. On the one hand, at the linguistic level adopting the translation strategy of foreignization is beneficial to enrich the expression of the target language, but only in a few cases the purpose of translation is to show the language form of the source language. Because of reader-oriented characteristics domestication can ensure that the translation is easy to understand, and it is favored by readers. Therefore, at the language level domestication is the mainstay and foreignization is the supplement.(Zhang Zhizhong 2005,46)

谈论异化和归化，应从语言形式和文化内容层面考察。（张智中，2005,46）一方面，在语言层面上，采取异化翻译策略有利于丰富目的语的表达方式，但是只有在少数情况下翻译的目的是展现源语的语言形式。而归化由于读者导向性的特点能保证译文通俗易懂，受到广大读者的青睐。故而在语言层面提倡主要采用归化策略，异化策略辅助的原则。

On the other hand, on the cultural level foreignization can retain the cultural elements and connotations contained in the source language as much as possible, which helps to spread foreign cultures, and its advantages are greater than domestication. However, it is impossible to completely adopt the foreignization, because there are too many cultural differences in cross-cultural communications, and it is necessary to use domestication to remove communication barriers.(Shen Sangshuang，Wang Shuqiong 2017, 87)

另一方面，在文化层面上，异化能尽可能保留源语中蕴藏的文化元素和内涵，有助于传播异国文化，其优势大于归化。但是，完全采用异化策略是不可能的，因为在跨文化交际中存在文化差异过大的情况，需要采用归化来扫除交流障碍。

Therefore, at the cultural level the principle of foreignization as the mainstay and domestication as the supplement is adopted. In addition, using domestication at the language level can clearly express the meaning of the original text, which helps to better reflect the cultural elements expressed by the use of foreignization at the cultural level. In short, when the source language has distinctive national characteristics, the use of a combination of translation strategies of domestication and foreignization can maximize strengths,avoid weaknesses and promote cultural transmission.(Shen Sangshuang，Wang Shuqiong 2017, 87)

因此，在文化层面上采用异化为主，归化为辅的原则。此外，在语言层面上采取归化策略能清楚的表达原文意思，有助于更好地体现在文化层面采用异化策略所表达的文化元素。总之，当源语具有鲜明的民族特色时，采用归化和异化结合的翻译策略能够扬长避短，促进文化传播。(沈桑爽，王淑琼，2017，87）

Theoretically speaking, foreignization and domestication are two opposite translation strategies. However, they are closely related and interact with each other in specific translation practices and applications. When domestication and foreignization are applied in the translation of Chinese dish names, the translator should deal with the relationship between the readers and the author. On the one hand, we should use habitual expressions of readers and consider their way of thinking and understanding ability to make sure they can understand the translation. On the other hand, we should pay attention to retaining the essence of Chinese traditional culture contained in Chinese dish names, so as not to blindly please readers without knowing to change. (Su Songlonghua 2011)

从理论上看异化和归化这两种翻译策略是对立的，然而在具体的翻译实践和应用中二者有紧密的联系，且相互作用。在中国菜名翻译中应用归化和异化翻译策略时，译者应处理好读者与作者之间的关系。一方面，应从读者的角度出发尽可能用其惯用的表达方式，考虑他们的思维方式和理解能力，以达到他们能明白翻译内容的目的。另一方面，应注意保留中国菜名中所蕴含的中国传统文化精髓，做到既不一味取悦读者，也不不知变通（一成不变）。( 百度百科 宿松龙华 2011)

3. Application of Domestication and Foreignization in English Translation of Hunan Cuisine

3.1 Composition and Nomenclature of Hunan Cuisine

As one of the eight major cuisines in China, Hunan cuisine has the unique characteristics of color, flavor and taste of Chinese dishes, and its naming also shows different styles. Hunan cuisine can be generally divided into realistic dishes and freehand dishes. The first type of dishes directly reflects the cooking elements. The second one usually uses rhetorical skills to endow dishes with certain cultural connotations according to their own composition. If foreigners don't understand Chinese culture,from literal translation they don't know the specific methods and raw materials of this kind of dishes, so it is difficult to understand their meanings. (Chen Wei 2007，108)

湘菜作为中国八大菜系之一，具有中国菜肴独有的色香味俱全的特点，其命名亦显示不同的风格。湘菜一般可分为写实型菜肴和写意型菜肴，写实型菜肴直接体现烹饪要素。写意型佳肴则通常使用修辞手法，根据其本身的组成赋予菜肴一定的文化内涵。如果外国人不了解中国的文化，单从字面翻译他们不知道这类菜肴具体做法和原料，难以理解其具体含义。(陈蔚 2007，108)

3.1.1 Realistic Dishes

Realistic dishes are often named according to the combination of cooking elements. The cooking elements of Hunan cuisine mainly include raw materials(原料), seasonings(调料), knife techniques(刀法), taste(口味) and cooking methods(烹饪方法). Common main ingredients embody fish, meat and chicken; seasonings involve star anise(八角), cinnamon(桂皮), green onion(葱), ginger(姜), garlic(蒜); knife techniques are various, such as slicing(切片), shredding(切丝), cutting into wicker shapes(切柳) ; the taste is famous for its sour and spicy(酸辣), fresh and tender(鲜嫩), crisp and fragrant(酥脆) taste; the cooking methods are mainly sauted(爆), simmered(煨), stewed(炖), fried(炒), braised(烩) and steamed(蒸).(Chen Wei 2007, 108)

写实型菜一般根据其菜肴烹饪要素的组合命名，湘菜的烹饪要素主要包括原料、调料、刀法、口味和烹饪方法。常见的主料包括鱼、肉、鸡等；调料有八角、桂皮、葱、姜、蒜；种类繁多的刀法如，切片、切丝、切柳等；口味以酸辣、鲜嫩、酥脆、香熏著称；烹饪方法以爆、煨、炖、炒、烩、蒸为主。

The common combination methods include following three types: cooking materials + methods + knife method, such as sauted shredded pork with green pepper(青椒炒肉丝); seasoning + raw materials, such as bullfrog with ginger sauce and pepper(姜辣牛蛙), hot and sour radish strips(酸辣萝卜条); taste + cooking method + raw materials, such as smoked fish in five flavors(五香熏鱼). (Chen Wei 2007, 108)

常见的组合方式包括以下三种：烹饪原料+方法+刀法，如青椒炒肉丝（Sauteed Shredded Pork with Green Pepper）；调料+原料，如姜辣牛蛙（Bullfrog with ginger sauce and pepper ）、酸辣萝卜条（Hot and sour radish strips）；口味+烹饪方法+原料，如五香熏鱼（Smoked fish in five flavors)。(陈蔚 2007，108)

3.1.2 Freehand Dishes

There are two types of freehand dishes. The first one is named according to the raw materials, colors, shapes or origin places of dishes. This type of dishes contains rich historical and cultural backgrounds and local flavors, expresses good wishes for auspiciousness and has Chinese characteristics. They are often named after allusions, legends or use metaphors, such as steamed glutinous rice ball (with meat / sugar in it)(姊妹团子), hotpot of snakeheaded fish slices as butterflies out of the soup(蝴蝶飘海). The second one refers to the names of people and place names related to dishes. They have distinctive local characteristics, such as Mao's braised pork(毛氏红烧肉), braised chestnut with green cabbage(板栗烧菜心), Changde rice noodles(常德米粉) and Lixian County stewed pork gut(澧县肠子). (Chen Wei 2007，108)

写意型菜包括两种类型。第一种根据菜肴的原料、色形或产地取名，使其不仅蕴含丰富的历史文化背景和地方风味，也表达了吉祥美好的祝愿，更具有中国特色。这些菜常以典故、传说命名或使用隐喻等修辞手法，如姊妹团子（Steamed Glutinous Rice Ball (with meat/sugar in it)）、蝴蝶飘海(Hotpot of snakeheaded fish slices as butterflies out of the soup)。第二种引用与菜肴相关的人名、地名命名，具有鲜明的地方特色，如毛氏红烧肉（Mao's braised pork）、板栗烧菜心（Braised chestnut with green cabbage）、常德米粉(Changde rice noodles)，澧县肠子(Lixian county stewed pork gut)。(陈蔚 2007，108)

According to the composition and nomenclature of Hunan cuisine, as well as the high acceptability and comprehensibility of domestication and foreignization, the use of domestication-based and foreignization-assisted translation strategies of realistic Chinese dish names reproduces the original style well. Translation strategies of adopting foreignization as the main and domestication as the supplement for English translation of freehand dish names can better convey the interesting characteristics of Chinese cuisine and the broad and profound cultural heritage. In the following I will use exemplification to analyze it from different perspectives. (Jiang Jun 2017, 203)

根据湘菜构成及命名方法和归化和异化的可接受度高和可理解性强的特点，翻译写实型中国菜名时采用归化为主、异化为辅的翻译策略很好地再现原作的风格，而针对写意型菜名英译采用异化为主、归化为辅的策略能较好地传达中餐妙趣横生的特征及博大精深的文化底蕴。下面我将从不同的角度使用例证法具体分析。 (姜君 2017, 203)

3.2 At the Language Level Domestication is the Mainstay and Domestication is the Supplement

Domestication at the language level means that the English translation of Hunan dishes should use common and appropriate expressions in English to convey the meaning of Chinese dish names at different levels of linguistics such as vocabulary, semantics, and grammar, so as to ensure the acceptability of English translation of Chinese dish names for foreigners. (Shen Sangshuang，Wang Shuqiong 2017, 88)

语言层面的归化指湘菜的英译要在词汇、语义、语法等语言学的不同层面上，使用英语中常见、贴切的表达方式传达中国菜名的含义，以确保英译菜名在外国人中的接受度。(沈桑爽，王淑琼 2017, 88)

3.2.1 Domestication at Lexical Level

“童子鸡”can be translated as "Tender chicken"(嫩滑的鸡肉), but it can't be translated as "chicken without sexual life"(没有性生活的鸡). According to this literal translation, “童子鸡” refers to chickens that have not mate. However, this dish originally emphasizes that the chicken is tender and tastes very good. Therefore, when translating “童子鸡”, the translation strategy of domestication is used at the lexical level. The word "Tender" is used to express the concept of “童子”, which means that the chicken is not mature enough. It expresses the essence of this dish vividly and avoids misunderstanding.(Lin Hong 1991, 41)

“童子鸡”可译为Tender chicken(嫩滑的鸡肉)，但不能译成“chicken without sexual life”。按照这种字面翻译，“童子鸡”指的是没有交配的小鸡。然而，这道菜原本强调的是鸡肉很嫩，口感十分好。因此翻译“童子鸡”时在词汇层面使用归化策略，用tender表示“童子”这个概念，指鸡尚未发育成熟，可传神地表达这道菜的本质，避免误解。(Lin Hong 1991, 41)

This method is also applicable to the English translation of “鱼香肉丝”. "Shredded pork with garlic sauce or fish-flavored shredded pork in hot sauce"(蒜蓉猪肉丝或鱼香肉丝) refers to shredded pork mixed with minced garlic. The "fish fragrance"(鱼香) of this dish doesn't refer to the fragrance of fish meat, but a complex flavor composed of various seasonings such as pickled peppers, sugar and vinegar. The above-mentioned translation not only retains the original meaning of Chinese, but also arouses foreigners' associations with the smell of fish. (Lin Hong 1991, 41)

这种方法同样适用于“鱼香肉丝”的英译。“鱼香肉丝”（Shredded pork with garlic sauce or Fish-flavored shredded pork in hot sauce）指混合着蒜末的肉丝。这道菜的“鱼香”并非指鱼肉的香味，而是一种用泡椒、糖、醋等多种调料组成的复合味道。上述译法即保留了中文的原意，又能引起外国人对鱼香味的联想。(林红 1991, 41)

In addition, pinyin (拼音) can be used in English translation of dishes with Chinese characteristics which have been included in major foreign English dictionaries, such as wonton(馄饨), tofu(豆腐), jiaozi(饺子) and shaomai(烧卖). These dishes are traditional Chinese food which has been widely accepted by foreigners. Moreover, the use of pinyin can promote Chinese and Chinese cooking culture. (Shen Sangshuang, Wang Shuqiong 2017, 88)

此外，具有中国特色且被国外主要英文字典收录的，使用汉语方言拼音或音译拼写的菜名，英译时可使用拼音，如“馄饨”（Wonton）、“豆腐”（Tofu）、“饺子”（Jiaozi）、“烧卖”(Shaomai)等。这些菜肴都是已被外国人普遍接受的中国传统食品，使用拼音能推广汉语和中国饮食文化。(沈桑爽，王淑琼 2017, 88)

3.2.2 Domestication at Semantic Level

Domestication at semantic level is conducive to convey the meanings of dish names simply and clearly. For example, “一卵孵双凤” can be translated as "two phoenix were hatched from an egg (two chickens, winter bamboo shoots and mushrooms steamed in watermelon)". From the above translation you can clearly understand the main ingredients and cooking methods of this dish, so as not to be confused by its name. (Zhang Yang 2016, 48)

语义上的归化有利于简单明了地传达菜名的含义。例如，“一卵孵双凤”可译为Two phoenix were hatched from an egg(two chickens, winter bamboo shoots and mushrooms steamed in watermelon).从上述翻译可以十分清楚地了解这道菜的主要食材和制作方法，从而不会再被菜名弄得一头雾水。 （张扬 2016，48）

In another example, “金鱼戏莲” is made with squid as the main ingredient. The squid rolls resemble goldfishes, playing among the lotus clusters composed of eggs, shrimps and green beans. The name of this dish comes from it. If this dish is directly translated as "goldfish plays with lotus" with the use of foreignization, it is difficult for people to figure out what it means. Therefore, "oil-fried squid files and steamed shrimp meat, albumen and lima bean to mean"(金鱼戏莲) vividly expresses the essence of this dish, and a vivid and interesting picture can be constructed in the reader's mind through the representation of the image of "floating lotus"(浮莲).(Zhang Yanping, Zhang Weiping 2016, 120)

又如，“金鱼戏莲”以鱿鱼为主料制作而成，鱿鱼卷似金鱼，嬉戏于由鸡蛋、虾仁和青豆组成的群莲中，菜名由此而来。如果采用异化策略直接译为Goldfish plays with lotus,外国人很难弄明白这指的是什么。故用Oil-fried squid files and steamed shrimp meat, albumen and lima bean表示“金鱼戏莲”,既十分形象地表达了这道菜的本质，又通过“浮莲”意象的再现，能在读者脑海里构建一幅生动有趣的画面。

Similar examples include "stewed assorted meats/hotchpotch" (全家福), "hotpot of snakeheaded fish slices as butterflies out of the soup" (蝴蝶飘海) and "steamed whole hen with litchi, longan, jujube, lotus and medlar"(五元神仙鸡). (Zhang Yanping, Zhang Weiping 2016, 120)

类似的例子还包括“全家福”（Stewed assorted meats/hotchpotch）、“五元神仙鸡”（Steamed whole hen with litchi, longan, jujube, lotus and medlar）、“蝴蝶飘海”（Hotpot of snakeheaded fish slices as butterflies out of the soup）。 (张艳萍, 张伟平 2016, 120)

3.2.3 Domestication at Grammatical Level

The domestication of Hunan cuisine at the grammatical level is mainly reflected in the use of prepositions and verb past participles in English translation of Chinese dish names. There are various cooking methods for Hunan cuisine, including simmer, stew, steam, fry, smoke, and the past participle is usually used in their English translations. Such as "Dongting spicy salted duck"(洞庭酱板鸭), "Dongting barbecued mandarin fish"(网油叉烧洞庭桂鱼), and "fried winter bamboo shoots"(油辣冬笋尖).(Shen Sangshuang, Wang Shuqiong 2017, 88)

湘菜在语法层面的归化主要体现在英译菜名时介词和动词过去分词的使用方面。湘菜多种多样的烹调方法，包括煨simmer、炖stew、蒸steam、炒fry、熏smoke，在译文中通常用过去分词。如“洞庭酱板鸭”（Dongting spicy salted duck ）、“网油叉烧洞庭桂鱼”（Dongting barbecued mandarin fish）、“油辣冬笋尖”（Fried winter bamboo shoots）。

Dishes with main ingredients and supplemented by ingredients, seasonings and soups are generally translated by prepositions, such as "preserved eggs with hot pepper"(尖椒皮蛋),"fragments of garlic bolt without using knife"(手撕蒜苗), "Yongzhou fried duck pieces together with its blood and balsam pear" (永州血鸭) and "braised pig knuckle in brown sauce" (走油猪腿). (Shen Sangshuang, Wang Shuqiong 2017, 88)

而以主料为主，配料、调料、汤汁为辅的菜肴一般会使用介词翻译，如“尖椒皮蛋”（Preserved Egg with Hot Pepper）、“手撕蒜苗”（Fragments of garlic bolt without using knife）、“永州血鸭”（Yongzhou fried duck pieces together with its blood and balsam pear）、“走油猪蹄”（Braised pig knuckle in brown sauce）。 (沈桑爽，王淑琼 2017, 88)

3.3 At the Cultural Level Foreignization is the Mainstay and Domestication is the Supplement

As we all know, the exchanges of food culture in cross-cultural communication are closely connected with daily life. Chinese dishes are both delicacies and arts. They have profound cultural heritages and aesthetic values. There are many dishes named after allusions, legends and dishes with names of people and places in Hunan cuisine. When people understand their cultural backgrounds, they can better understand the meanings of those dishes. At the cultural level the translation strategies of foreignization as the mainstay and domestication as the supplement help to inform customers of the taste, cooking methods and ingredients of the dishes to the greatest extent, and accurately convey the cultural elements of the dishes.(Zhou Yonghong 2008, 101)

众所周知，跨文化交际中饮食文化的交流与日常生活紧密相连。中国菜品既是佳肴又是艺术品，其具有深厚的文化底蕴和审美价值。湘菜中有许多以典故、传说命名的菜肴以及带人名和地名的菜肴，人们了解其文化背景后能更好地理解菜名的含义。文化层面采取异化为主，归化为辅的翻译策略有助于最大程度告知顾客菜肴的口味、烹饪法和食材，精准传递菜品的文化元素。

In my opinion, the use of foreignization to translate Chinese food should first understand the characteristics of the naming of Western food. According to the famous French chef Auguste Escoffier, western dishes are usually named after people, places, gods, historical events and main ingredients. Comparing the naming and composition characteristics of Hunan cuisine and western dishes, it can be seen that when translating freehand Chinese dish names, the taste, ingredients, cooking methods and necessary backgrounds of these dishes must be reflected. So understanding the characteristics of western dishes names is beneficial to the translation of Chinese freehand dish names. (Zhou Yonghong 2008, 101)

我认为，使用异化的翻译策略翻译中餐首先要了解西餐的命名的特点。法国名厨Auguste Escoffier 的认为，西餐菜肴通常用人名、地名、神灵、历史事件以及主要原料等命名。对比湘菜和西餐命名和构成特点，可知翻译写意型中餐菜名时需要体现菜名的口味、食材、烹饪方法以及必要的知识背景。由此可见，了解西餐菜名的特点有利于翻译中国写意型菜名的翻译。(周永红 2008, 101)

3.3.1 Dishes Named after Allusions and Legends

以典故、传说命名的菜肴 There are many dishes named after allusions and legends in Chinese and western dishes. These dishes have historical and cultural origins and are not suitable for literal translation. For example, the famous French dish Veronique（薇洛妮克）is named after the mythical goddess. The white juice symbolizes her beautiful appearance, and the white grapes next to it symbolize her tears.(operations12, 2008)

中餐和西餐中有不少以典故、传说命名的菜肴。这些菜有历史文化渊源，不适合采用直译的方法。例如，法国名菜Veronique（薇洛妮克）以神话女神命名，白汁与象征着她的美丽容貌，配在旁边的白色提子象征着她的眼泪。

“姊妹团子” is a local snack in Hunan Province. It is made by grinding the finest glutinous rice into a fine powder, and the inset is a meat filling made of raw materials such as fresh meat, mushrooms, monosodium glutamate and sesame oil. The shape is a long cone with a pointed top and a flat bottom. After being steamed, it looks like a small white pagoda. The origin of this dish is as follows: in the early 1920s the young and beautiful Jiang sisters set up a stall selling glutinous rice dumplings in the polder of the Fire Palace in Changsha. The dumplings they made were delicious and beautiful, and people were full of praise for it. The translation "Steamed glutinous rice ball (with meat/sugar in it)" points out that the main raw material of this dish is rice ball, the auxiliary materials are meat and sugar, and the cooking method is steam, which makes it clear at a glance.(operations12, 2008)

“姊妹团子”是湖南省地方特色小吃。其制作时用上等糯米磨成细粉，内陷是由鲜肉、香菇、味精、芝麻油等原料构成的肉馅。外形是尖顶平底长型锥体，蒸熟后像一座白色的小宝塔。这道菜肴的由来如下：本世纪20年代初在长沙火宫殿的圩场上年轻漂亮的姜氏姐妹摆了一个卖团子的摊子，她们制作的团子既好吃又好看，人们对此赞不绝口。译文“Steamed glutinous rice ball (with meat/sugar in it)”指出此菜主要原料是rice ball、辅料为meat和sugar,烹饪方法为steam,让人一目了然。(百度百科operations12, 2008)

“湘西土匪鸭”is a dish named after an allusion. It's said that a woman surnamed Zhang(张氏) opened a restaurant in Xiangxi (湘西，the west of Hunan province), but her business was not very good due to the large area and sparse population. To make matters worse, her ducks raised in the house are fierce and domineering, ruining the crops every day, not laying eggs properly and causing Zhang to hold the bamboo poles, rush and scold them every day: "You damn ducks, you are like bandits!" She was so angry with these ducks to kill all of them. Because these wild ducks are delicious and Zhang's cooking skills are good, the ducks she burns are soft and tender, and they are delicious, attracting people to smell the fragrance and attracting a large number of guests. Someone asked what this dish was called. Because of the ducks Zhang was extremely angry at that time, and she casually replied: "What kind of dish? Wild ducks!" Since then this dish has become famous. If we use the translation strategy of domestication to translate this dish as "Brigand in Xiangxi ducks", it is incredible. Translating “湘西土匪鸭” into "Xiangxi wild ducks" not only allows guests to understand the special ingredients of this dish, but it embodies the legendary story of Xiangxi. (Zhang Yanping, Zhang Weiping 2016, 121-122)

“湘西土匪鸭”是以典故命名的菜肴。传说湘西以前一个姓张的妇人开了一家餐馆，由于地广人稀，生意不太好。更糟糕的是，家中饲养的鸭子凶悍霸道，天天糟蹋庄稼，不好好下蛋，害得张氏天天拿着竹竿又赶又骂:“你们这些该死的鸭子，简直像土匪!。她一气之下把这些鸭子全杀了。由于这些爱撒野的鸭子肉质鲜美，且张氏厨艺很好，她烧的鸭子酥软嫩滑，鲜香绝伦，引得食客闻香而至,吸引大量的客人。有人问这叫什么菜，张氏气极，随口答：“什么菜/土匪鸭!”从此这道菜名声大震。(百度百科)若使用归化的翻译策略将这道菜译为“Brigand in Xiangxi ducks”让人匪夷所思。把“湘西土匪鸭”译成“Xiangxi wild duck”不仅能让客人了解菜的特殊食材，而且体现了湘西这个传奇的故事。 (张艳萍, 张伟平 2016, 121-122)

3.3.2 Dish Names with Place Names and People's Names

There are usually two translation methods for the dish names with a person's name and a place name in western dishes: dish name + place + style; place /person’s name + dish name. For example, Macedonia de fruta(马其顿水果) uses the second translation method, indicating the origin and ingredients of the dish name. This is a classic dessert in Spanish restaurants. All kinds of fruits are cut into small pieces and then mixed with sugar water or juice. The name of this dish is related to the Great Alexander of the Macedonian Empire in the fourth century BC. At the age of 30 Alexander established the largest empire in the history of the time and promoted the integration of races, cultures and languages throughout the empire. In the 18th century the French called things that combined various elements "Macedonia". Therefore, this candied fruit chowder is named "Fruit Macedonia".(zzpingic1130, 2010)

西式菜名中带人名和地名的菜名通常有两种翻译方法：菜名+地名+style ; 地名/人名+菜名。例如，Macedonia de fruta(马其顿水果)的译文使用了第二种翻译方法，指明菜名的产地和原料. 这是西班牙餐馆中一道经典的饭后甜点。各种水果切成小丁后，伴上糖水或果汁。这道菜名和公元前四世纪的马其顿帝国的亚历山大大帝有关。亚历山大大帝在30岁时就建立了当时史上最大的帝国，并促进帝国内各地的种族、文化、语言等的大融合。到了18世纪，法国人就把融合了各种各样元素的事物称之为“马其顿”。因此，这道糖渍水果大杂烩就取名为“水果马其顿”了。

“攸县香干”is a famous characteristic traditional soy product in Hunan Province, which originated in Youxian county, Hunan province(湖南省攸县). This dish tastes smooth and tender. Tofu is easy to taste and has an aftertaste after eating. It is a home-cooked dish which is suitable for all ages. The translation "dried tofu, Youxian style" uses the foreignization to point out from the cultural level that the raw material of this dish is dried tofu, and it reflects the local characteristics of Youxian county. (zzpingic1130, 2010)

“攸县香干”是湖南省著名的特色传统豆制品，起源于湖南省攸县境内。这道菜口感滑嫩、韧性足、口味纯、细而不腻，有点劲道。豆腐很容易入味，吃完后有回味，是一道老少适宜的家常菜。译文“Dried tofu ，Youxian style”采用异化的翻译策略从文化层面指出了菜的原料是烘干的豆腐，而且体现攸县的地方特色。 (百度百科 zzpingic1130, 2010)

“玉麟香腰”was created by the chef of Peng Yulin(彭玉麟), a famous official in Hengyang(衡阳,a city of Hunan province) in the Qing Dynasty, and the name of the dish came from this. The main ingredient is pork loin. The dishes are divided into seven layers, stacked one after another and shaped like a pagoda(宝塔). It's also known as "pagoda fragrant waist"(宝塔香腰). If this dish is translated as "sweet pig kidney", it is difficult to explain its cultural heritage, and it doesn't show the beauty of this dish visually "step by step"(步步高升) like a pagoda. “玉麟香腰”can be translated into English as "Yulin's best homely dish". According to the legend, when Peng Yulin returned home to banquet his fellow villagers, he used “玉麟香腰” as the first dish. "Peng Yulin's best family banquet dish"(彭玉麟最好的家宴菜) can ingeniously explain the origin of this dish and undoubtedly explain why this dish is also called "touwan"(头碗,the first dish). The English translation of this dish implies "top"(顶级，最好). It seems to mean "to reach the highest level"(登塔至级). Translation of "Yulin's best homely dish" not only conforms to the psychological world of diners, but also fully considers the audience’s cognitive needs and aesthetic expectations. （Zhang Yanping，Zhang Weiping，2016,121-122）

“玉麟香腰”是清代衡阳名官彭玉麟家厨创作而成，菜名由此而来。其主要食材是猪腰，菜分七层，层层堆砌，形状象宝塔，又名“宝塔香腰”。若将此菜译为“Sweet pig kidney”则很难解释它的文化底蕴，亦没有呈现这道菜视觉上“步步高升”如宝塔的美感。，“玉麟香腰”可以英译成 Yulin’s Best Homely Dish，因相传彭玉麟回乡宴请父老乡亲时，为表示丰盛，第一道菜就用的是“玉麟香腰”。“彭玉麟最好的家宴菜”能巧妙地解释了此菜的起源，无疑说明了此菜又称为“头碗”的缘由，且菜名英译中“最好”有蕴含“顶级”，似“登塔至级”之意：菜英译名 Yulin’s Best Homely Dish 不仅顺应了食客的心理世界，也充分考虑到受众的认知需要与审美期待。（张艳萍，张伟平，2016,121-122）

3.4 Limitations of Domestication and Foreignization in English Translation of Hunan Cuisine

Translation strategies that adopt the combination of domestication and foreignization can ensure the clarity of English translation of Hunan cuisine and retain their cultural connotations, but there are still shortcomings, which are mainly reflected in the following three aspects.(Fan Jiwen 2016, 13-14)

采用归化和异化结合的翻译策略能最大限度地保证湘菜译文清晰明了，保留其蕴含的文化内涵，但仍有不足，主要体现在以下三个方面。

Firstly, foreignization requires translators to move closer to readers and try their best to use their familiar and accustomed expressions, but sometimes it is difficult to find corresponding words in the target language, especially when we translate the culturally loaded words. For example, the dishes which represent happiness and lucky in Chinese include “四喜丸子”, “百鸟朝凤” and “全家福”. When we translate these dishes from Chinese into English, we don't know which words should be used to convey auspicious and beautiful meanings on the basis of accurately expressing the meanings of them.(Fan Jiwen 2016, 13-14)

第一，异化要求译者向读者靠拢，尽可能用他们熟悉和习惯的表达方式，但有时候很难在目的语中找到对应的词语，尤其是文化负载词的翻译。比如汉语中表示吉祥的菜包括“四喜丸子”、“百鸟朝凤”、“全家福”，翻译时在准确表达菜名含义的基础上不知道该用什么词来传达吉祥美好的意思。

Secondly, due to the limitation of menu capacity, the meaning of Chinese dishes named after allusions, legends, and myths can’t be fully expressed. If it is literally translated or transliterated, the guests may be very confused. The choice of transliteration and annotation is too much content, which violates the principle of concise menus. For example, if we translate“佛跳墙” into "Fotiaoqiang" or "Buddha jumping the wall", it doesn't reflect the essence of this dish. "Fotiaoqiang-steamed abalone with shark's fin and fish maw in broth" is more appropriate, but not concise enough.(Fan Jiwen 2016, 13-14)

第二，由于菜单容量的限制，以典故、传说、神话等命名的中国菜肴的含义不能完全表达。如果直译或者音译，客人可能会十分困惑。选择音译加注解的方式则内容太多，违背菜单简洁的原则。例如，“佛跳墙”如果译成“Fotiaoqiang”or “Buddha jumping the wall”未体现这道菜的本质。“Fotiaoqiang-steamed abalone with shark’s fin and fish maw in broth”比较贴切，但不够精简。

Thirdly, due to the variety of cooking methods and seasonings in China, when translating Hunan cuisine into English the use of domestication is beneficial to people who understand Chinese food culture, but for most foreigners who do not know or are not familiar with these cooking methods and seasonings this type of translation will increase the difficulty of understanding. For example,“干锅烧明虾” and “红烧肉” both have the word "burn"(烧), but the translations are completely different. They should be translated as follows: "fried prawns with pepper sauce" and "braised pork with brown sauce". The cooking method of the first dish is "fried"(煎), and the second dish - "stewed"（炖）.（Zhang Yang 2016,48）

第三，由于中国的烹饪方法和调料多种多样，英译时使用归化的翻译策略对于了解中国饮食文化的人来说是有利的，但是对于大部分不知道或者不熟悉这些烹饪方法和调料的外国人来说，这类的译文会增加他们的理解难度。(范继文 2016, 13-14) 比如， “干锅烧明虾”与“红烧肉”都有“烧”字，但是译法却是完全相同的，应该分别翻译如下：“Fried Prawns with Pepper Sauce”与“Braised Pork with Brown Sauce”。第一道菜的烹饪方法是“煎”，第二道菜则是“炖”。（张扬，2016,48）

Conclusion

Although foreignization and domestication are opposite in theory, they are complementary and indispensable in the process of English translation of Chinese dish names. Taking translation strategies of domestication and foreignization from the linguistic and cultural levels can not only be faithful to the original, but also embody the rich cultural connotations and Chinese elements contained in the dish names. Therefore, the English translation of Chinese dish names is an indispensable part of cross-cultural communication and an important link in spreading Chinese traditional culture. I hope this chapter can provide some valuable references for future researches on the English translation of Chinese dish names. (Wang Yingying, Zhang Yu 2009, 58)

尽管异化与归化在理论上是对立的，但在中国菜名英译过程中二者的作用是相辅相成，缺一不可的。针对写实型和写意型的菜肴从语言和文化层面采取异化和归化的翻译策略不仅能够尽可能地忠于原文，还可以体现菜名中蕴含的丰富文化内涵和中国元素。由此可见，中国菜名的英译是跨文化交际中不可或缺的一部分，是传播中国传统文化的重要环节。希望本文能为未来中国菜名英译研究提供一些有价值的参考。 (王瑛瑛， 张瑜 2009, 58)

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--Wu Xiang (talk) 09:09, 21 December 2020 (UTC)