Abstract

As globalization accelerates, economic and political communication increase, so does culture exchange. And as an indispensable part of the extensive and profound Chinese culture, Chinese cuisine holds a highly important position in cultural exchange and enjoys a renowned reputation overseas. Chinese dish names not only reflect the variety of ingredients, cooking methods, color and taste of dishes, but also convey the cultural information such as imaginative shapes and auspicious meanings. Therefore, accurate and faithful translation of Chinese menu is a demanding task.

In the academic field, there are many researches on Chinese menu translation from the perspective of cross-culture exchange, figure of speeches and translatability. But this thesis starts from another viewpoint which is not frequently written about.

Based on Nord’s “function plus loyalty” theory, this thesis aims to undertake a systematic exploration of zero translation in Chinese dish name translation. Taking zero translation as the starting point, this thesis firstly introduces the development of the conception and then finds out examples of zero translation in Chinese dish name translation. Finally, the thesis classifies these examples according to the previous interpretation of zero translation and analyzes the feasibility of zero translation in Chinese dish names.

In the belief that Nord’s functionalist approach will shed some light on the necessity of zero translation in Chinese menu translation, this thesis attempts to draw more attention of translators to the practicality and feasibility of zero translation.

Key words: Chinese dish names, zero translation, Nord’s “function plus loyalty” theory