Abstract and Key Words

Abstract: The Chinese culinary culture enjoys a long history in its course, and abounds in the names of dishes. Accurate translation can not only stimulate others’ appetites, but also serve as the window through which the foreigners can better understand Chinese culinary culture. This paper mainly studies the translation of Chinese dishes. Starting from the brief introduction of the composition of Chinese dishes, several principles of dishes translation are generally introduced. Then five kinds of translation methods are summed up through actual examples, namely, literal translation, free translation, transliteration, literal plus free translation, brief translation with annotations. The research results show that the dishes translation method can not be applied mechanically. It should be chosen according to the concrete characteristics of dishes, so that both national and foreign friends can understand and accept the name of the dishes, thus promoting communication of the culinary culture between the western and eastern countries.

Key words: name-building; principle; English-Chinese translation methods; culinary culture

摘要：中国的饮食文化源远流长，菜名更是五花八门。准确的菜名翻译可以引起他人的食欲，同时也是外宾了解中国饮食文化的窗口。本文主要研究中餐菜名的英译，作者以中餐菜名的构成方式入手，较为全面地介绍了菜名英译的几条原则，并结合具体的实例，归纳出了五种英译方法，包括直译法，意译法，音译法，直译意译结合法，简译加注释法。研究结果表明，在中餐菜名英译中，不能生搬硬套某一种翻译方法。根据菜名的具体特征采取相应的翻译方法，这样才能翻译出本国人和外国友人都能够理解和接受的从而更好地促进中西方饮食文化的交流。

关键词：菜名构成； 原则； 英译方法； 饮食文化

1. Introduction
China's 5000-year history has given birth to the unique artistry of cuisine. As one of the best cuisines in the world, Chinese food is famous for its "color, aroma, taste and shape" . Chinese culinary culture is rich in content, diverse in classification. Unlike European and American dishes, the various kinds of Chinese dishes are often named by the form of allusions, metaphor, exaggeration, symbolism etc., which brings great difficulty to translation . During the translation, if we can't grasp the essence of the dishes names appropriately or apply and copy mechanically, the "international joke "will appear, and foreign customers are usually confused by the dish name translated incorrectly .
With the deepening of reform and opening up, China's exchanges with foreign countries, whether economic, social or cultural, are getting increasingly closer. There will be more and more foreigners coming to China to invest or travel. After their work and sightseeing, enjoying the Chinese food is essential. Therefore, the issue of dishes translation is placed before us. This paper mainly studies the English translation of Chinese dishes, including the analysis of the composition of dishes, English translation principles and methods. So the foreigners can not only learn clearly the various components of Chinese food, but also understand and accept Chinese culinary culture.