中英饮食文化不同对菜名翻译的影响

On how the Chinese and western catering cultural differences influence the translation of Chinese cuisine 中英饮食文化不同对菜名翻译的影响

论文摘要

本文简要阐述了中西饮食文化差异对中国菜名英译的影响.文中笔者通过分析中西方国家饮食文化差异,试图发掘目前中国菜名英译存在的问题,并结合实例归纳总结中式菜肴名称的翻译原则,方法和技巧.论文以饮食文化差异为切入点,分析探讨饮食文化差异和菜名翻译有机结合的问题,认为在现代化的中国,翻译者应该借鉴饮食文化差异促进提高菜名英译的质量.笔者认为菜名英译是饮食文化差异的体现.菜名的翻译质量直接影响到进入全球市场的中国饮食工业.正确的翻译可以缩小跨文化交际中的障碍.

关键词:饮食文化差异;跨文化交际;中式菜肴;翻译原则;影响;

Abstract

This article briefly presents how the Chinese and western catering cultural differences influence the translation of Chinese cuisine. Through an analysis of food cultural differences between Chinese and western countries, the author tries to find the existing problems in English translation of Chinese cuisine, and sets examples to summarize the principles, methods and skills in translating Chinese dishes. The paper also elaborates it on the basis of diet cultural difference; analyzing and discussing the close link between culinary cultural difference and dish translation. In the modernized China, translators should improve the quality of Chinese dish translation based on food cultural difference. Translation of Chinese cuisine embodies the diet cultural difference. The quality of English translation of Chinese dish has some direct influence on the entry of Chinese food industry into the global market. Correct translation of Chinese cuisine can narrow the gap in intercultural communication. Key words: food cultural differences; intercultural communication; Chinese cuisine; translation principle; influence;

1 Introduction

1.1 Put forward question

Mao Zedong once said that "Hong Lou Meng", together with Chinese food, is one of China's greatest contributions to humanity. Food is a central part of the Chinese culture. Considering the misunderstanding coming along with the cultural differences, the study of translation should take the consideration of culture. Diet is of paramount importance to people from all over the world.

Owing to the different cultural traditions, the need of partaking food is different for people coming from different countries. China is a country with a splendid catering culture with a very long history. Chinese dishes are famous around the world. After the entry into the WTO, we should work more on introducing the Chinese dishes and Chinese food culture to expand international cultural exchange. This article attempts to look at the issues of culinary cultural differences and Chinese dish translations; in other words, how to handle the cultural context in translation The different culinary traditions make up an important part of culture system. Correct translations of Chinese cuisine make intercultural communicators communicate easier. In this paper, what the author does more is the discussion on English translation of Chinese dishes.

1.2 The necessity to study this topic

The Chinese always believe that "food is the first necessity of the people". Naturally we have special fondness for food culture. As the culinary culture draws close to our life, understanding the connotation of the food cultural difference is imperative to understanding the life. Translation of Chinese cuisine becomes more essential as the cultural exchanges between foreign countries are daily on the increase. Most importantly with the internationalization in the development of Chinese economy and with the approach of the 29th Olympic games' arrival, many restaurants' menus show both Chinese and English names for the dishes. Thereby, the translations of Chinese cuisines recorded in books were born. Facing eight famous Chinese cuisines, some translators are giving full play to their abilities. Each translator shows his talent in these translations. There is no lack of excellent work among them. A well-translated name will make the Chinese dish look better. Yet a bad translated name denigrates the dish. The proper translation of the name can welcome the foreign visitor to a dish while a mistranslated name actually discourages a person to try it. It

can cause misunderstanding to foreigners of different cultural background, thus fails to surmount the cultural difference and inhibits understanding different culture connotation.

For now, the main existing problems are as follows: there is more than one translation for individual Chinese dishes, word-for-word translations that are confusing; there is an ambiguity in terminology and so on. At the moment, there are no books on Chinese dishes' translation used for reference. It is necessary to bring together experts and scholars in order to provide a standard of translation. The paper sets examples to summarize the principles and skills in translating Chinese cuisine from three aspects: avoiding virtual; to be brief instead of over-elaborate; avoiding the cultural conflict. Methods of translating Chinese dishes such as literal translation, free translation and transliteration are covered in this paper.

1.3The argument frame of this paper

The Sino-UK cultural differences bring up the culinary cultural differences between them, which comes from the different ways of thinking and philosophy. The Chinese emphasize the importance of "the unity of universe and human" while westerns lay stress on "man-oriented". The first chapter of this article will find the cultural differences in culinary concept, table manners, and culinary object. The specific expressions may be found in taste and nutrition, standard and random, and individualism and collectivism.

Cultural differences can lead to communication difficulties for people of different cultural backgrounds. Food cultural differences are no exception and it is a way of building bridges between nations. Translating dishes' name is vital in cultural exchange. A fully qualified interpreter can help bring about a meeting of minds like milk mingling with water. It also makes cross-cultural communicators communicate easier. The second chapter of this article will state the methods of translating Chinese cuisines in cross-cultural communication.

The modern translation should be the practice of analyzing and comparing Chinese and western culture. From the perspective of organically integrating of cultural balance and translation, the third chapter of this paper will give a demonstration of reflection and application in English translation of Chinese dish name.

But at the same time the author also knows clearly that this is not an easy task. As to matters of culinary culture and dishes names' translations, it is an important task that is related to the fields of nutrition, tourism, catering, food science, and medicine. There will be areas that are

not covered in this paper. In a certain way, raising questions are more important than settling it. In this paper, what I do more is raising questions; these problems will excite great interest among scholars, which is just what I am looking for.

2 Revelation of chinese and western culinary cultural differences

2.1 Contrast of culinary cultural difference between Chinese and western

The question has often been asked as to what we eat. The answer is that we eat all the edible things on this earth. It is useless to logical reasoning in the matter of our food, which is determined by prejudices and history.

In fact, the importance of food in understanding human culture lies precisely in its infinite variability -variability that is not essential for species survival. For survival needs, all men everywhere could eat the same food, to be measured only in calories, fats, carbohydrates, proteins, and vitamins. However, people of different backgrounds eat differently. The basic stuffs from which food is prepared; the ways in which it is preserved, cut up, cooked; the amount and variety at each meal; the tastes that are liked and disliked; the customs of serving food; the utensils; the beliefs about the food's properties -these all vary. The number of such "food variables" is great.

2.1.1 Culinary cultural characteristics of China

The seriousness with which we regard eating can be shown in many ways. Anyone who opens the pages of the Red Chamber Dream or any Chinese novel will be struck by the detailed and constant descriptions of the entire menu of what Daiyu had for breakfast or what Baoyu had at midnight. Zheng Banqiao apotheosized rice congee in his letter to his brother:

On cold days, when poor relatives or friends arrive, first hand them a bowl of fried rice in boiling water, with a small dish of ginger or pickles. It is the most effective means of warming up old people and the poor. In your days of leisure, swallow cakes made of broken rice, or cook "slipslop congee", and hold the bowl between your two hands and eat it with shrugged shoulders. On a cold frosty morning, this will make your whole body warm. Alas! Alas! I think I'll become a farmer for the remainder of my days! (Zheng cited by Zhang,2004:197)

The Chinese accept food as they accept life in general. No great English poet or writer would condescend to write a Cook Book, which they regard as belonging outside the realms of literature and worthy of the efforts of Aunt Susan only.

There is a belief in a balance that governs all of life and nature-the yin and yang. Originally, yang meant the sunny side of a hill and yin the shady side. Yang is the bright, dry, warm aspect of the cosmos. Males have more yang quality. Yin is the dark, moist, cool aspect. Female have more yin quality.

The Chinese case is distinctive for its underlying principles. The bodily functions, in the Chinese view, follow the basic yin-yang principles. Many foods are also classifiable into those that possess the yin quality and those of the yang quality. Oily and fried foods, pepper-hot flavoring, fatty meat, and oil-rich plant food like peanuts are yang foods. Most water plants, crustaceans, and certain beans are cooling yin foods. When yin and yang forces in the body are not balanced, problems result. Proper amounts of food of one kind or the other may then be administered to counterbalance the yin and yang disequilibrium. If the body was normal, overeating of one kind of food would result in an excess of that force in the body, causing diseases.

Chinese people emphasize the aesthetic aspect of cooking and eating. They think that a proper dish should appeal to the eye as well as to the palate. For example, intricately carved vegetables are a common decoration.

Mixing of flavors is another principle of Chinese food culture. We eat food for its texture, the elastic or crisp effect it has on our teeth, as well as for fragrance, flavor and color. The matching of nutrition does not exist in the traditional view of Chinese culinary culture; only keep in good health exquisitely. It is just the yin-yang principle. Chinese regard diet as a kind of art, enjoying them with the romantic spirit.

2.1.2 Culinary cultural characteristics of western countries

The danger of not taking food seriously and allowing it to degenerate into a slipshod business may be studied in the English national life. If they had known any taste for food their language would reveal it. "The English language does not provide a word for cuisine: they call it just "cooking". They have no proper word for chef: they just call him a cook. They do not speak about their menu, but know only what are called "dishes". And they have no word

for gourmet: they just call him "Greedy Gut" in their nursery rhymes."(Wang,2001:18) The truth is,the English do not admit that they have a stomach. No stomach is fit for conversation unless it happens to be "sick" or "aching". The result is that while the Frenchman will talk about the "food" of his "cook" without impairing the beauty of his language. When hard pressed by his French host he might be willing to mutter between his teeth "that pudding is awfully good" and there let the matter rest. All the English are interested in is how to strengthen themselves against influenza, as with Bovril, and save the doctor's bills.

Modern science civilization in western countries has made a great influence on the forming of western culinary custom. Due to the developed science in the West, analyzing the composition content of the food, grasping concrete requirement to nutrition, it is just a piece of cake. Westerners pay attention to what nutrition does it have, what energy can be produced at first, taste and flavor is less important. If heating and cooking will cause nutrition losses, then even half cooking and eat simply. Westerners regard diet as a kind of science, paying attention to the culinary function with the realistic attitude.

2.1.3 Two distinct culinary concept and attitude

Because of the influence of the factors such as regional characteristics, climate environments and customs, the products of food will, to some degree, appear different in raw materials, taste, cooking method. Just because of these differences, the products of food have strong regional characteristics.

Compare with the Chinese cuisine that pays attention to "flavor", the western cuisine is a kind of rational conception. No matter how the color, smell, taste and shape of the food are, the nutrition must be paramount. Even if the taste is dull and uninviting, they must eat it if it is nutritious. This conception suits with the western philosophy. Metaphysics is the main characteristic of western philosophy. This philosophy brings the life to western culture and makes great development on natural science, on psychology and on methodology. But in the other hand, this kind of philosophy has played a hindering role greatly, such as the food culture.

Chinese pay attention to eating very much. The Chinese greeting "chi fan le ma " means literally "Have you eaten " and suggests that the collective Chinese memory still recalls hungry times. Famine and hardship played a large role in the development of the cuisine.

China has been an agricultural civilization for thousands of years and has suffered from poor harvests. (Xiong, 1992:03) That's why people value eating more than everything else. During lean years, people would explore everything eatable to stay alive. Many strange and incredible ingredients such as edible tree fungus were discovered and added to Chinese recipes. The scarcity of food also taught people how to avoid waste.

If a kind of culture regards eating as primary matter, it will present two kinds of phenomena: On one hand it will bring this kind of eaten function into full play, not merely survive, but also utilizing it to maintain the health too; On the other hand, it will make people praise highly to excessive attention of food to the pursue of delicacy.

In Chinese cuisine, it nearly reaches ultimate attainment to the flavor pursuit. Chinese take opening restaurants abroad as a profession and to make a living. Unfortunately, when we regard the flavor of food as the first requirement, we neglect the most basic nourishment value of food. Much nutrient component of our traditional food has been destroyed due to the cook method; therefore we can say that the nutrition problem is the greatest weakness of Chinese cooking culture. There is a proverb that says: "Food is the masses' heaven and the food takes flavor as a priority". It is such a flavor pursuit that makes us neglect the real meaning to have a meal.

While tasting dishes, Chinese people often say one dish "delicious" and the other "non- delicious". I'm afraid, however; it is not easy to say clearly what is "delicious" or why it is "delicious". It means that Chinese's pursuit to the culinary is a kind of "artistic" conception that is difficult to explain in words.

The unique glamour of the Chinese dish lies in its flavor. And flavor lies in mixing of flavors that enable this smell of the food, the well done flavor after heating and flavor of condiments merge together, making it complement each other. From this principle of mixture, any number of fine and delicate combinations can be developed. Shape and color of the Chinese dish are external things, but flavor is an inherent thing. This kind of culinary view is the traditional philosophy thought of China. The eastern philosophy which is represented by the Chinese philosophy is featured by microscopes, directness and subtleness.

2.1.4 Different dish style and table manners

Food is a basic biological need, a fundamental ingredient for the survival of a group. The environment often determines what sorts of foods are available and also influences which foods are culturally preferred and which are prohibited. (Kristina Sivelle, 2005:105)

In a more abstract sense, food can say a lot about your culture.Different cultures eat completely different foods in completely different ways.You can see this difference between American culture with the emphasis on the potato and the cow, versus Oriental culture that focuses on pork, chicken, and rice. The real reason behind this cultural difference was simply that rice grew better in Asia while potatoes grew better on American and European soil. I believe that the food style gives American people much more energy than Chinese have. They are much stronger than us. That is the fact!

No society views every thing in its environment that is edible and might provide nourishment as food. Americans eat oysters but not snail. The French eat snails but not locusts. The Zulus eat locusts but not fish. The Jews eat fish but not pork. The Hindus eat pork but not beef. The Russian eat beef but not snakes. The Chinese eat snakes… (Xu,2004:43)

The food style of a culture is certainly first of all determined by the natural resources that are available for its use. It is thus not surprising that Chinese food is above all characterized by an assemblage of plants and animals that grew prosperously in the Chinese land for a long time. Chinese cooking is, in this sense, the manipulation of these foodstuffs as basic ingredients. Since ingredients are not the same everywhere, Chinese food begins to assume a local character simply by virtue of the ingredients it uses. Obviously ingredients are not sufficient for characterization, but they are a good beginning.

Chinese food has some basic difference from the Western food: Several dishes in a meal; Diversify and sophisticated.

For convenience, we may use culture as a divider in relating food variables. I am using the word culture here in a classificatory sense implying the pattern or style of behavior of a group of people who share it. Food habits may be used as an important, or even determining, criterion in this connection. People who have the same culture share the same food habits, that is, they share the same assemblage of food variables. Peoples of different cultures share different assemblages of food variables. We might say that different cultures have different

food choices. Why these choices What determines them These are among the first questions in any study of food habits.

Individualism and collectivism permeate every aspect of Eastern and Western cultures, influencing their communication patterns. For many trainers in cross-cultural and intercultural communication, individualism-collectivism is the most important value dimension on which cultures can be compared. (Quoted in Xu, 2004:109)

The main differences between Chinese and western eating habits are that unlike the West, where everyone has their own plate of food, in China the dishes are placed on the table and everybody shares. If a Chinese host is treating you, be prepared for a ton of food. Chinese are very proud of their culture of cuisine and will do their best to show their hospitality. "Chinese style" dinner means that all dishes are for everyone to try, which is why it is traditional to eat at a round table with a rotating center that gives easy access to any dish. It all reflects that Chinese culture emphasizes collectivism while Western cultureairs individualism.

Don't stick your chopsticks upright in the rice bowl. Instead, lay them on your dish. The reason for this is that when somebody dies, the shrine to them contains a bowl of sand or rice with two sticks of incense stuck upright in it. So if you stick your chopsticks in the rice bowl, it looks like this shrine and is equivalent to wishing death upon a person at the table! Don't tap on your bowl with your chopsticks. Beggars tap on their bowls, so this is not polite. Also, when the food is coming too slow in a restaurant, people will tap their bowls. If you are in someone's home, it is like insulting the cook. Make sure the spout of the teapot is not facing anyone. It is impolite to set the teapot down where the spout is facing towards somebody. The spout should always be directed to where nobody is sitting, usually just outward from the table.

2.2 Aspects of difference

Chinese use chopsticks. The thin and long chopsticks cannot be used to cut food, so we usually use our teeth to act as knives. We hold our food, meat or vegetable, with the chopsticks, send them to the mouths, bite off a part of it and remain the other part on the chopsticks. That's the usual way we eat. We are also used to hold up our bowls when having rice or soup. But all these habits are considered rude in the Western countries.

The etiquette in the West requests that when eating, bowls and plates cannot leave the tables. Knives to fit into the mouths should cut food. Of course your mouth cannot touch the plates or bowls. So the regular process is like this. You cut your steak on the plate with fork and knife, send the meat cube into the mouth with fork and nothing will be returned back but the fork alone. (Zhao, 2006:316)

Two principles distinguish Chinese cooking from western cooking. One is that we eat food for its texture, the elastic or crisp effect it has on our teeth, as well as for fragrance, flavor and color. The second principle is that of mixing of flavors. The whole culinary art of China depends on the art of mixture. While the Chinese recognize that many things, like fresh fish, must be cooked in their own juice, in general they mix flavors a great deal more than Western cooks do. From this principle of mixture, any number of fine and delicate combinations can be developed.

2.3 Summing-Up

Cultural can be understood as a particular way to satisfy our human needs. Every cultural has its own way of doing things in daily life, such as ways of eating, drinking. Cultural differences can be reflected and understood in details of lifestyle, which I think is a better way to peer into the complicated topic than read books. You have instances where two people living in cities 50 km apart speak different languages and eat different food. Chinese Culture emphasizes Collectivism while Western Cultureairs Individualism. It's hard to express the difference exactly in language but I believe that's part of the truth. From small things, really we can find a lot of differences. Chopsticks and forks and knives are such a good example. 3. Discussions about translation in cross-cultural communication

According to Christiane Nord(1997:221), the Skopos of any context is the primary factor to be considered. Generally speaking, there exists two probable Skopos in the process of translation. One is the general purpose which is to make a live. The other is the communicative purpose which is to communicate across cultures. The translator should adopt literal translation or free translation according to different translating purpose.

As a complete and unattached context, in terms of context type, Chinese menu is recognized as "non-literature context", though some Chinese dish names are of much literary. For example"八彩迎嘉宾"(Ba Cai Ying Jia Bin)(Assorted Cold Appetizers). Exactly speaking, it