Abstract: The paper intends to explore the translation strategies of Chinese dishes. It first analyses the linguistic, semantic and rhetoric features of Chinese dishes, and then introduces the cultural equivalence principle and Chinese culture-oriented principle in the translation of Chinese dishes. Finally, some translation strategies, such as literal translation, free translation and transliteration, are proposed for improvement of Chinese dish translation with the aim to make some contributions to the spread of the Chinese food culture.

Key words: Intercultural Communication; Menu Translations; Cultural Equivalence Principle; Chinese Culture

CONTENTS

Abstract

摘要

1. Introduction1

2. Characteristics of Chinese Dish Names.2

  2.1 Linguistic Feature

  2.1.1 Four-character preference

  2.1.2 Fact-telling style

  2.2 Semantic Feature

2.3 Rhetoric Feature

3. Principles for English Translation of Chinese Dish Names.5

3.1 Cultural Equivalence Principle 

3.2 Chinese Culture-oriented Principle

4. Suggested Translation Methods6

4.1 Literal Translation

4.2 Literal Translation plus Explanation

4.3 Free Translation

4.4 Transliteration

5. Conclusion9

Bibliography.10

Acknowledgements11