Evaluating English Translations of Chinese Cuisine Names: A Case Study of Bilingual Menus of Hotels in Chengdu City
Abstract
In the post-pandemic era, China is further opening and fully prepared for resuming international communication. One effective measure is hosting various international sports events, which attract a large number of foreign visitors to China. However, foreigners often encounter challenges when ordering Chinese cuisine in restaurants due to language barriers. The current English translations of Chinese cuisine names are not always accurate or effective, leading to misunderstandings. While extant research on the English translations of Chinese cuisine names has focused on texts from websites, books, documentaries, and novels, a notable lacuna remains on bilingual menus of hotels or restaurants in China. Therefore, this study aims to address this gap by comprehensively evaluating the English translations in these bilingual menus. This study adopts a qualitative analysis using textual analysis approach under the guidance of ISO 17100:2015 standards. The corpus for this study comprises 297 English translations of Sichuan cuisine names extracted from the bilingual menus of 9 reception hotels for the Chengdu 2021 FISU World University Games (Postponed to 2023). This study identifies 7 major violations of the ISO 17100:2015 standards in the English translations of Chinese cuisine names in these bilingual menus and concludes that the quality of these English translations has substantial room for improvement. Further research is recommended to improve the quality of the English translations in bilingual menus so that stakeholders in the Chinese catering industry can more successfully attract international customers and foster business opportunities.
References
Akhtar, N., Siddiqi, U. I., Ahmad, W., Usman, M., Chen, X., & Islam, T. (2020). Effects of service encounter barriers on situational abnormality and consumers' behavioural intentions at food and beverage restaurants. Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics, 33(7). https://doi.org/10.1108/apjml-03-2020-0192
Alharahsheh, A. M. A., Moindjie, M. A., & Lin, D. T. A. (2023). Cultural References Translation Norms in The Queue from Arabic to English. e-BANGI-Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities, 20(3), 151-165. https://doi.org/10.17576/ebangi.2023.2003.13
Amenador, K., Wang, Z. (2022). The Translation of Culture-specific Items (CSIs) In Chinese-English Food Menu Corpus: a Study Of Strategies And Factors. SAGE Open, 2(12). https://doi.org/10.1177/21582440221096649
Bania, A., Nuraini, N., Nursamsu, N., Yakob, M. (2021). The Quality Of Taxonomy Translation In English Indonesian Latin By Biological Education Students. JPSI, 4(9), 694-710. https://doi.org/10.24815/jpsi.v9i4.21562
Barros, M. (2017). ISO standards and working processes at the United Nations language services a comparison. United Nations Sabbatical Leave Programme.
Caulfield, J. (2022). Textual analysis: Guide, 3 approaches & examples. Scribbr. https://www.scribbr.com/methodology/textual-analysis/
Chapple-Sokol, S. (2013). Culinary diplomacy: breaking bread to win hearts and minds. The Hague Journal of Diplomacy, 8(2), 161-183. https://doi.org/10.1163/1871191x-12341244
Che Y. (2019). A Case Study of Chinese Menu Translation from the Perspective of Intercultural Communication. Master's thesis, Beijing Foreign Studies University. https://kns.cnki.net/KCMS/detail/detail.aspx?dbname=CMFD201902&filename=1019135578.nh
Chen J. (1993). An Initial Exploration of Translation Methods for English Translation of Chinese Cuisine names. Chinese Translators Journal, (01), 34-36.
Chen L. H., Liu D. F. (2019). International Sports Events Hosting and the Internationalization of Chinese Cities: Course, Experience and Prospect. The Sports Science, (11), 15-25. https://doi:10.16469/j.css.201911002
Chesterman, A. (2005). Consilience in translation studies. Revista Canaria de Estudios Inglese, 51, 19-32.
Dedeoğlu, S. S., Aydın, Ş., Onat, G. (2019). A General Overview On the Far East Cuisine: Cuisines Of Thailand, Korea And China. Journal of Multidisciplinary Academic Tourism, 2(4), 109-121. https://doi.org/10.31822/jomat.642619
Du W., Hu. Z. (2021). Translation Skills of Sichuan Cuisine in the Context Of Globe Business. https://doi.org/10.2991/assehr.k.210519.014
Fakih, A., Ghassemiazghandi, M., Fakih, A. H., & Singh, M. K. M. (2024). Evaluation of Instagram’s Neural Machine Translation for Literary Texts: An MQM-Based Analysis. GEMA Online Journal of Language Studies, 24(1), 213–233. https://doi.org/10.17576/gema-2024-2401-13
Fang Y., Luo J., Jia H. (2013). A study on the current situation of menu translation in Shanghai restaurants. Journal of Hubei Correspondence University, (05), 136-137.
Feng P. (2023). A Study on English Interpreting Strategies of Sichuan Cuisine Culture from the Perspective of Multimodal Discourse Analysis -- A Case Study of Interpreting Practice in Cuisine Academy. Master's thesis, Southwestern University of Finance and Economics.
Gałuskina, K., & Sycz-Opoń, J. (2024). Professional realism in practice: A collaborative project in a translation classroom based on ISO 17100: 2015 and ISO/TS 11669: 2012. Babel. https://doi.org/10.1075/babel.00403.gal
Gao Q. (2019). A Study on the Translation Strategies of Chinese Dish Names—Taking the Second Season of A Bite of China Episode III as an Example. Education Teaching Forum, (49), 48-49.
Guo Z. (2021). A Report on the Translation of Travel Notes-based Cookbook, the Food of Sichuan (excerpts). Master's thesis, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies.
Harmoush, D. H., Moindjie, M. A., & Kasuma, S. A. A. (2023). Translation of Cultural Aspects from English into Arabic: A Case Study of A Dance of The Forests. e-BANGI-Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities, 20(4). https://doi.org/10.17576/ebangi.2023.2004.12
He H.Y., Tian J.G. (2023). Study On Translation Of Steamed Dish Based On Nord’s Documentary and Instrumental Translation Theory. IJSSER, 02(08), 339-347. https://doi.org/10.46609/ijsser.2023.v08i02.012
Hou W. (2019). A study on the English translation of Chinese dish names from the perspective of cultural translation -- A case study of A Bite of China. Literati and Artist of China, (01), 132-133.
Huo, Q. (2014). Current situation and translation methods of Chinese menu. The Fifth Translation Theory and Practice Seminar of Hainan Province, Haikou, 1 November.
Karabıyık, S. (2019). Applicability of the ISO 17100:2015 Quality Standard in Designing a Training Program for Future Medical Translators: The Case of Turkey. TransLogos Translation Studies Journal, 2/1(2/1), 1–18. https://doi.org/10.29228/translogos.2/1.1
Kruger, H., Kruger, J.-L. (2017). Cognition and Reception. The Handbook of Translation and Cognition, 71-89. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119241485.ch4
Kuang J. (2023). Current situation of English translation of Sichuan cuisine names in network language and its implications for translation and communication. Overseas English. 2023(4).
Li H. (2021). Let Sichuan cuisine to go abroad from the twin cities economic zone. Contemporary County Economy, (12), 12-19. https://doi:10.16625/j.cnki.51-1752/f.2021.12.005
Li J. (2011). Study on the translation of some Chinese Local Dish Names. Journal of Hebei Polytechnic University (Social Science Edition), 11(03), 173-175.
Li, S. (2019). A Corpus-based Multimodal Approach to the Translation of Restaurant Menus. Perspectives, 1(27), 1-19. https://doi.org/10.1080/0907676x.2018.1483408
Lin, Y. (2022, July 6). “Going Global” of Chinese Local Dietary Culture: A Case Study of Traditional Special Snacks Translation. Journal of Education, Humanities and Social Sciences, 1, 353–359. https://doi.org/10.54097/ehss.v1i.683
Liu Y. (2024). A study on the English translation of Chinese Cuisine from the perspective of Cultural translation -- A Case study of A Bite of China. China Food Semimonthly Magazine (10), 115-117.
Liu Z. (1990). The Urgent Need to Review the English Translation of Chinese Cuisine Names. Chinese Translators Journal (05), 11-13.
Luša, Đ. and Jakešević, R. (2017). The role of food in diplomacy: communicating and“winning hearts and minds” through food. Medijske Studije, 8(16), 99-119. https://doi.org/10.20901/ms.8.16.7
Ma X. (2009). A Study On the Criteria and Methods of the English Translation of Chinese Dishes. Journal of Shaoyang University (Social Science Edition), (03), 96-98.
Nistor, E., Dezsi, Ș. (2022). An Insight Into Gastronomic Tourism Through the Literature Published Between 2012 And 2022. Sustainability, 24(14), 16954. https://doi.org/10.3390/su142416954
Peng, A. (2015). Translating Dish Names: Food Cultural Representation in Hong Lou Meng. OALib, 02(02), 1–11. https://doi.org/10.4236/oalib.1101316
Peng T. & Yu G. (2020). Comparative study on the translation of Chinese cuisine names in Yang and Huo versions of A Dream of Red Mansions. Home Drama (12), 208-210.
Saldanha, G. & O’ Brian, S. (2013). Research methodology in translation studies. St. Jerome Publishing.
Schnierer, M. (2020). Revision and quality standards: Do translation service providers follow recommendations in practice? In Translation Revision and Post-Editing (pp. 109-130). Routledge.
Song Y., Pu Y. (2022). A study on the English translation of Chinese food culture-loaded words under the theory of reception aesthetics. Sinogram Culture, (06), 140-142. https://doi.org/10.14014/j.cnki.cn11-2597/g2.2022.06.025
Sun, X. Q., & Sun, J. L. (2017). A Study of Chinese-English Menu Translation in Light of Skopos Theory. Proceedings of the 3rd Annual International Conference on Social Science and Contemporary Humanity Development. https://doi.org/10.2991/sschd-17.2017.19
Tan H. (2018). Comparison of Chinese and Western Food Cultures and Translation Criteria of Chinese Dish Name Translation. Journal of Heilongjiang College of Education, 37(2), 120-123.
Wang H. (2015). On current situation of English translation of Chinese dish names and its translation countermeasures. Art Science and Technology, (08), 291-292.
Wang X., Muhammad, A. N., Ayyub, S. (2018). Determinants Of Consumption Intention of Chinese Cuisines For Foreigners: The Mediating Role Of Variety Seeking Behavior. International Journal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research, 2(12), 213-222. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijcthr-05-2017-0061
Yan Y. & Liu L. (2024). Strategies for translating Chinese dish names into English from the perspective of Skopos theory. English Square, 2024(5) 15-18. https://doi.org/10.16723/j.cnki.yygc.2024.14.018
Zhang L. (2019). Promotion of International Communication Function of Beijing by Sports Events in the Perspective of Public Diplomacy. Journal of Shenyang Sport University, (03), 77-82.
Zhang, Q., Ang, L., Yasin, M. (2022). The Interplay Between Foreignization Of Dish Name and Interactive Meaning Of Visual Image In Food Documentary. IJARBSS, 7(12). https://doi.org/10.6007/ijarbss/v12-i7/14265
Zhu J., Li Y., Xie C., Zhu X. (2019). Study on the Current Situation and Improvement Strategies of the English Translation of Chinese Dish Names. The Science Education Article Collects, (01), 183-184. https://doi.org/10.16871/j.cnki.kjwha.2019.01.075
Zhu, H., Ang, L., Rashid, S., Mansor, N. (2021). Representing Chinese Malaysians Culture In the Street Food Through The Chinese-english Translation Techniques. IJARBSS, 4(11). https://doi.org/10.6007/ijarbss/v11-i4/9838
Keywords
Full Text:
PDFDOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17576/ebangi.2025.2201.07
Refbacks
- There are currently no refbacks.
-
_________________________________________________
eISSN 1823-884x
Faculty of Social Sciences & Humanities
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
43600 UKM Bangi, Selangor Darul Ehsan
MALAYSIA
© Copyright UKM Press, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia