Food Translation Garden —— English Translation of Chinese Menu

According to reports, due to the different names of Chinese dishes, the translation methods are also very different. Chen Lin said that when translating Chinese food into English, the team of experts basically followed the seven translation rules of free translation, trying to make foreign guests who don't understand China culture understand it at a glance.

Chinese food mostly follows the translation principle that the main ingredients are the main ingredients, supplemented by ingredients. For example, Pleurotus eryngii, translated as duck web mushroom.

Translation methods based on cooking methods and supplemented by raw materials are also common, such as translating hot kidney flowers into stir-fried pork kidneys. There are also some dish names that follow the translation principle of giving priority to shape and taste, supplemented by raw materials. The standard English name of home-cooked crispy chicken is crispy chicken.

In Chinese food, many dishes are mainly named after people and places, and this feature has also been preserved. For example, Mapo Tofu is translated into Mapo Tofu, and old Beijing Zhajiang Noodles is translated into Beijing Zhajiang Noodles.

It is reported that the unique food that embodies China's food culture is named or transliterated in Chinese Pinyin, and jiaozi has changed from jiaozi to jiaozi. Similarly, there are steamed stuffed buns, tofu tofu, chop suey and so on. Those who can't be translated literally or can't reflect the practice and raw materials all use Chinese Pinyin. Buddha jumps over the wall, a famous Fujian dish, transliterated as Buddha jumps over the wall, while snowball is Lǘdagunr and bean juice is bean juice. These dishes will be followed by the names of the main ingredients. In addition, it also stipulates the principle of using countable nouns in singular and plural.

In order to distinguish the practices, experts also carefully studied the usage of English prepositions in and with in soup and ingredients. When the main ingredient is soaked in soup or ingredients, it is connected by in. For example, beef bones in soy sauce are translated into steamed beef ribs with black bean sauce, while soup or dip is separated from the main ingredient or connected by with with.