毕业论文课题相关文献综述

Over the past years, many academic Chinese scholars have been increasingly aware of the importance of translating dish names. After the writers comprehensive analysis, it turned out that researches in this field mainly focused on four aspects as follows.

Wang Fengxing (2003) stated that the English translation of dish names should be given by main material, auxiliary material, slicing method, way of cooking etc. Two other scholars who held the same opinions with Professor Guo Jing and Wang Qian. Guo Jing argued that translation should be done from three aspects: main material, cooking method and food shape and taste. Wang Qian (2012) insisted that translations should depend on main material, slicing method, way of cooking and taste. These three scholars translated dish names in terms of food characteristics. The translation of 糖醋里脊 --- pork with sugar vinegar flavour is a typical example translated with that method.

Great translator Newmark writes that translation attempts to produce on its reader an effect as closely as possible to what the source language have on the readers of the original,which turned out to be the famous Newmark Translation Theory. The main idea of this theory is to divide translation into two types: Semantic Translation and Communicative Translation. Newmarks Translation Theory, especially his Communcaitive Translation Theory, had won many supporters. Zhang Yuan, in her paper, argued that communicative translation should be given priority because it directly tells reader what kind of food they would enjoy. Most dish names were born with informative functions, therefore the communicative theory can be applied in most situations. For instance, 番茄炒蛋can be translated into Stir-Fried Egg and Tomato ( Zhang Yuan, 2011). The readers of English translation of dish names are all kinds of guests instead of other specific groups, and the discourse, loaded with informative functions, should regard communication as their goals so as to be suitable to different people with simple and easy-understandable translations. Thus, the communicative translation plays a fundamental role in guiding the textual information ( Gong Yingfen, 2012). Besides targeting dish namestranslation under the guidance of Communicative Translation Theory, Yang Qunyan further segmented three dish-name functions: information conveying, culture conveying and aesthetic values.

Nidas Functional Equivelance Theory is another important one in translation field. Many scholars are influenced by this theory. On the perspective of readers, what they need is the specific object or its concepts, rather than those gaudy and modificatory names translated on purpose for embellishing (Zhang Meigang, 2002). British translator Susan Bassnett emphasizes repeatedly that translation in essence is to find the maximized meaning equivalence as much as possible between the target language and the original language, so the first important thing in translation is to achieve the meaningful equivalence, not only in achieving a literally accurate expression. In this sense, the English translation of dish names also involves cultural implications and historical conotations at the same time. Otherwise, the lack of meaningful equivalence will also jeopardize the abundant meanings of Chinese dishes as well as the cultural communication function of translation.

There are also many other views upon the translation of dish names. The Skopos Theory proposed by Hans Vermeer stated that the skopos---- which means goal in English, determines the whole process of translation (Guojing, Discussion on the Translation of Chiese Dish Names[A]. Language and Words 2009). That is--- skopos determines translation methods. Due to all the difference between the East and the West, as well as other factors like Chinese history and culture, the translation of Chinese dish names should be able to overcome a double obstacle which refers to the language obstacle and the cultural one. If we want foreigners to understand our translations, we should do it under the guidance of the Skopos Theory (Chen Shuang). However, domestic brilliant translator Lin Yutang , Yan Fu and Zhang Peiji (Wang Lihua, 2004) all insisted the prior status of be faithful to the original context, thus they created standards like Faithfulness, Coherence and Elegance, providing readers with aesthetic enjoyments as well as precise information. Another view is Domestication Principle and Dissimilation Principle. These two principles have duality, either of which can be applied in translation. When under a cross-culture background, Dissimilation Princple has more advantage in transmitting cultures. So the translation of Chinese dish names should apply more Dissimilation Princple and the Domestication Principle can only be used under circustances that the outcome would neither damage to original meaning nor cultural transmission ( Wang Yingying, Zhang yu, 2009).