摘要

中华美食文化博大精深，源远流长，饮食文化是中华传统文化的重要组成部分。随着中国与国际交流的不断增多，国外的游客友人越来越对中华的饮食产生了浓厚的兴趣，中文菜名是一个让外界了解中华饮食文化的窗口，所以菜名的翻译日益显示出其必要性和重要性。
 本文通过对现有中菜英译的对比分析及其历时研究，指出了以往菜名英译中存在的问题，将问题总结归类，并探讨造成这些问题的原因，分析出了菜名英译的特点及其可译性。并在此基础上提出了几种切实可行的翻译方法，为未来的研究提供了一些建议。

关键词：可译性 直译 意译 零翻译

Abstract

Thesis statement：Diet culture is an important part of traditional Chinese culture, As one of the windows of reform and opening up as well as an important national investment component, the service industry, which is closely related to China's international image, should take the lead in advancement. Correspondingly, menu translation, an important part of service industry, should have more attention paid to it. It is absolutely necessary to unify the standards of the translation of Chinese dish.
This thesis seeks to point out the problems in the existing English translation by comparing the different translations of Chinese dishes and analyzing them and summarizing the causes of them. Apart from these, this thesis also summarizes the characteristics of menu translation and translatability of the Chinese dishes. Finally I conclude some rational methods for the menu translation and give some suggestions for the further research.

Key words: Translatability； Literal Translation； Free Translation;  Zero Translation

1. Introduction and the necessity of menu translation
1.1 Introduction
China is a time-honored country with a long history as well as a brilliant civilization. As a part of the Chinese civilization, Chinese food also has a long history. The preparation and appreciation of food has been highly developed in China. Our Chinese people are all particular about the skill of cooking. As a result, the art of Chinese cooking has been developed and refined over many centuries. However, cooking could not be considered an art until the Zhou Dynasty (1122一249B.C.). Even Confucius, who is the most influential thinker and a great educator in Chinese history, loved and respected the art of cooking. He established culinary standards and proper table etiquette. Most of these are still referred to be the standards that we still value today.