Abstract
Dieting in China is an important matter for foreign friends. However, different dieting habits, culinary arts and the unique Chinese catering culture often lead foreigners into awkwardness and misconception. Therefore, good and appropriate translation of Chinese dishes plays a prominent role on menus and on occasions concerning dining. This paper proposes that the translation of Chinese dishes should be able to arouse the same feeling in foreigners’ mind as that in Chinese so as to achieve the purpose of cultural communication and avoid misunderstanding as well. The theory of “Equivalent Effect” is chosen to be the theoretical framework of this paper. This paper attempts to achieve the following goals: firstly, to improve and perfect the translation of Chinese cuisine; secondly, to provide reference to restaurants and hotels; thirdly, to promote foreigners’ understanding of Chinese dieting culture and other cultures and its long history, and lastly, to introduce Chinese food and its culture essence to the world.
Keywords   Chinese dish names   culture   translation   “Equivalent Effect”

 对于生活在中国的外国朋友来说，饮食是个非常重要的环节。不同的饮食习惯、烹饪艺术，加上中国独特的饮食文化常常让外国友人陷入尴尬和误解。因此，对于餐馆来讲，合适的好的菜单翻译显得尤为重要。本文认为，中国菜肴的翻译应该能够激起外国友人与中国人同样的心理感受，这样既能达到文化交流的目的，又能避免误解。本文利用尤金﹒奈达的等效理论研究中国菜肴翻译，以期达到以下目标：第一，改进和完善中国菜肴翻译；第二，给餐厅和宾馆提供菜肴英译的参考；第三，提高外国友人对中国菜肴文化、其他文化以及她悠久历史的了解；最后，让中国的美食以及菜肴文化精髓名扬世界。
关键词  中国菜肴名称   文化   翻译   等效理论

Due to the process of globalization, people from different countries communicate with each other more and more frequently than ever before. A great many English-speaking foreigners visit or live in China. As an old Chinese saying goes, food is the first necessity of people. Catering is an important and indispensible part of people’s life. Going out for dinner is a common thing, too. Because of the cultural and dieting differences, puzzlement and difficulties emerge during ordering for foreigners. People often come into confusion while they read dishes on menus which seem queer and unnormative. Here are two examples, one is “Dragons Struggle with Tigers”, and the other is “Fierce Dragon Crossing the River”.