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2.2 Studies on the Translation of Chinese Dishes
Chinese culinary culture is extensive and profound and Chinese food is famous for its nutrition, delicacy and attracting appearance. As a country of vast territory and large population, its industrial people have created eight great traditions of Chinese cuisine, which are Shandong cuisine, Sichuan cuisine, Guangdong cuisine, Fujian cuisine, Jiangsu cuisine, Zhejiang cuisine, Hunan cuisine and Anhui cuisine.
On contrast with the limited cooking methods of western food, Chinese culinary art is of great wonder. It boasts of numerous cooking methods and different cutting forms. However, translation of Chinese cuisine is no easy thing as it concentrates on elegance, connotation and association. Scholars such as Qian Xiaohong (2009:139-141), Ren Jingsheng (2001:56-58) and some others have already done researches on translation of Chinese cuisine. Several researches have been performed by adopting theories like “Functional Aesthetics”, “Semiotics” and “Communicative Translation’’. No one has applied the theory of “Equivalent Effect” into this field. This paper attempts to use equivalent effect as the guideline and theoretical principle in Chinese cuisine translating.
3 The Theory of Equivalent Effect
3.1 Definition of Equivalent Effect
In Toward A Science of Translating (1964), Eugene A. Nida puts forward that since there are no such things as identical equivalents, one must in translating seek to find the closest possible equivalent. However, there are fundamentally two different types of equivalence: one which may be called formal and another, which is primarily dynamic (Nida, 1964:159).
3.2 Significance of the Theory
Translation is a highly difficult job because of many factors, such as cultural differences, religious beliefs, political influence, etc. Among all the complications of translation is the essential fact that languages differ from each other radically. In effect, so different are languages that some hold that one cannot communicate adequately in one language what has been said originally in another. On the other hand, scholars and translators are under constant pressure from conflict between form and meaning. If they try to approximate the stylistics of the original, they are likely to sacrifice much of meaning; at the same time, if adhering to the literal content, they usually sacrifice some stylistic flavor. So the translators often rush into the dilemma of “the letters vs. the spirit”. To be faithful to the things discussed, they may spoil the spirit that pervades an original communication. While if they focus much attention on attempting to duplicate the original “feeling” and “tone” of the message, they may be condemned that they ignore the content of the documents. What’s more, translating does involve some rather severe restrictions imposed by the cultural contexts and linguistic literary styles. Cultural restrictions are particularly significant element in the process of translation.