A Study on Translation of Chinese Diet Culture From Perspective of Cultural Self-Awareness

South China Business College,Guangdong University of Foreign Studies,Guangzhou,China Email:xizhiz@hotmail.com

[Abstract]Translating information regarding the diet culture of China is important as it helps to highlight and showcase Chinese culture.Following the principles of Fei Xiaotong’s cultural self-awareness theory and Schleiermacher’s two kinds of translation strategies,this paper analyses different translation examples and suggests two patterns of translation:‘Adapting the way of expression in the source text’and‘Copying the way of expression in the source text’.Both patterns must be based on the translator’s thorough understanding of the Chinese diet culture and comprehensive knowledge of the English readers’thinking habits and cognitive patterns.On the basis of the analyses of the typical examples,this paper explores issues relevant to the training of aspiring translators,pointing out the importance of enhancing cultural selfawareness and thus improving the quality of foreign-oriented translation regarding diet culture.

[Keywords]diet culture;foreign-oriented translation;Fei Xiaotong;cultural self-awareness

Introduction

Chinese diet culture has long been the emblem of the Chinese culture.With the tide of globalization,there is a greater need to publicise the Chinese diet culture.There is no doubt that translation plays a specific role in promoting the exchange and interaction between Chinese culture and other cultures.

The concept of cultural self-awareness was put forward by Fei Xiaotong.This concept can be briefly explained as a state of mind that individuals living in a certain culture are aware of this culture(Fei,2016).At present,with professionals who are involved in cultural enterprises devoting themselves to the cause of introducing Chinese culture abroad to let foreign people gain more clarified Chinese information,cultural awareness is indeed the premise of publicising the Chinese diet culture.

On www.cnki.net,a lot of information shows that the existent relevant studies are mainly about the principles and criteria of translation on diet culture,merely referring to superficial cultural meaning.Here are some examples.Tan Hua(2018)emphasises goals in translating Chinese food names,saying that the translator should serve the translating goal and observe communicative criterion and cultural criterion.Miao Siyu and Gong Shumei(2018)have made a study of the translation of the gourmet food of Central China under the guidance of Skopos theory.Besides,some scholars who will be mentioned below have made studies on famous translation works and have interpreted the translation strategies on diet culture expressions in these works.Based on their study of the English translation of Chinese herbal cuisine in two complete translation versions ofHong Lou Meng,commonly known asA Dream of the Red Man-sions,Geng Liangfeng and Wang Shaoxiang(2019)suggest that the translator should be conscious of culture.Marabibe Yakup and Ma Huijuan(2017)have made a comparative study on the expression of Chinese dish‘茄鲞’(qiexiang)in three translation versions ofHong Lou Meng,and reached a conclusion that domestication strategy was adopted in all the three versions.In short,all the previous studies are limited to summerising specific translation strategies on limited contents,insufficiently referring to macro research and seldom exploring cultural self-awareness training for translators.

With the view of Fei’s cultural self-awareness,the author makes a study of the foreign-oriented translation of the texts of Chinese diet culture.In addition,the author attempts to surpass the habitual Chinese-English transferring pattern and establish the cultural dissemination pattern in order to train translators with strong cultural awareness and promote the trans-lingual exchange of diet culture,offering inspiration for the ideal of Chinese culture going abroad.

The Concept of Cultural Awareness and Translation

Connotation of Cultural Awareness

Cultural self-awareness put forward by Fei Xiaotong is indeed the premise of publicising Chinese culture.Fei explains that a person with cultural self-awareness must be aware of this culture,knowing its origin and its formation,its features and its developing tendency(Fei,2016).As world integration is advancing today,Chinese people have more chance to come in contact with foreign people and foreign cultures.As to how to protect Chinese culture and carry it forward in the cultural exchanges,especially when facing the strong Western cultures,Fei points out whilst keeping contacts and exchanges with Western countries,we must clarify the essence of our culture and make it belong to the world(ibid).To summarise the basic meaning of the concept of cultural self-awareness,Fei adds that each party perfects its merits;each party accepts others’merits;all merits integrate to make a harmonious world(ibid).

Translation From the Perspective of Cultural Awareness Concept

Referring to translation studies,the culture study school has made a lot of expositions.In analysing the translation heterogeneity theory,Berman(1985/2000)suggests the idea of negative analytic which is attached to the system of deformation.The Post-colonialist School,represented by Spivak(2000),focuses on the research of the factors of ideology,power and so forth.Based on the study of the differences between strong and weak cultures,Venuti(1995)puts forward the translation strategies of domestication and foreignisation.The concept of cultural self-awareness is closely related to cultural studies mentioned above.Translation is a kind of practice which is driven by some purposes against different cultural backgrounds.The existence of purpose means the embodiment of self-awareness,that is to say that translation is a kind of cultural practice with self-awareness(Xu & Ge,2003).The emphasis on cultural awareness in translating,especially foreign-oriented translating,is so that on the one hand the translator,as a member of the culture the source text(ST)belongs to,ought to be a good reader of his/her own culture’s classics,ancient and modern and have a thorough understanding of them so as to highlight the essence of the source culture in his/her translation,and on the other hand,the translator ought to be acquainted with the other culture whose members are assumed to be his/her target readers,and thus be able to tackle any cultural collision.To be specific,s/he must be familiar with the development sequence of the related foreign culture;on this basis s/he can get a deeper understanding of his/her own culture by means of the contrast of both cultures.So to say,recognising a square by seeing a circle;feeling cold by getting warmth.Therefore,the translator’s accomplishment of cultural self-awareness must be twofold.Not only is s/he a learned literate of his/her own culture,but an erudite on the related foreign culture as well.S/he has reflective and comparative understanding of both cultures.In his/her translation action,s/he treats the source and target languages equally and adopts some modes understandable and acceptable for the target language(TL)to deliver the foreignness of the Chinese culture.

Strategies for Diet Culture Translation

Schleiermacher states,‘Either the translator leaves the writer alone as much as possible and moves the reader toward the writer,or he leaves the reader alone as much as possible and moves the writer toward the reader’(Schleiermacher,1992,pp.41-42).From the view of the cultural self-awareness concept,it is difficult to create a good translation,especially in terms of expressing characteristics of Chinese culture by using only one of the two strategies-i.e.either foreignisation or domestication.From the perspective of the cultural awareness concept,this paper suggests applying these two strategies flexibly and puts forward two modes,namely in some instances adapting the way of expression in the ST and in other instances copying it,in order to express the ideas of the Chinese culture more clearly in the TL.

Adapting the Way of Expression in the ST

The following lines show the research on the tra nslation of the documentary filmA Bit of China.Cuisine culture is one of the key contents of diet culture.Cuisine culture,rich in the general culture connotation,usually goes beyond the target readers’psychological willingness of acceptance.In the translation of films,the translator usually avoids long explanations of unimportant cultural messages though they contain rich connotations in order not to cause the audience’s interest to wane.In this case,the translator must arrange the translating from the consciousness of the culture the source language(SL)represents,whilst also taking care not to include unnecessary phrases which would seem alien to the target readers and rethinking the expressions before translating.An example is as follows:

ST:從原料、湯料的采用到烹調(diào)技法的配合，麻辣火鍋使葷與素、生與熟、麻辣與鮮甜、清香與醇厚恰如其分地結(jié)合在一起。這也正是中國人對五味調(diào)和的理解(http://www.kekenet.com/Article/201609/465564.shtml).

Target Text(TT):The selection of spices,the preparation of soup base,the culinary techniques and the thoughtful combination of ingredients of different tastes and textures.It is these attributes that make hot pot a perfect embodiment of the Chinese cooking philosophy of equilibrium(ibid).

The ST explains the relationship between Sichuan hot pot cuisine,its flavour and traditional Chinese philosophy.An important part of this philosophy is the concept of Chinese tonic diet,namely‘five tastes reconciled together’,which emerged very early,about 3000 years ago at latest.In the so-called‘five tastes reconciled with each other’,the‘five tastes’are sweetness,sourness,bitterness,pungency and saltiness.In the Chapter Offices of the Heaven of The Rites of Zhou it says that in terms of reconciliation sour should be used more in spring; bitterness in summer;pungency in autumn and saltiness in winter.Exquisite sweet ingredients must be added in all the four seasons.Besides,in the Chapter Filial Conduct of The Spring and Autumn of Lv Buwei,it says that in terms of reconciliation sweetness,sour,bitter,pungency and saltiness are indispensable(Zhang,2019).In this documentary film,due to the pace of the documentary,the subtitles cannot keep pace with the content if all the words of the original text are included.The translator omits The‘five tastes’in the original‘five tastes reconciled with each other’,only retaining the core meaning of reconciliation to denote mutual supplement and balance and pointing out that it reflects‘a(chǎn) perfect embodiment of the Chinese cooking philosophy of equilibrium’.

Other research concludes that the so-called‘five tastes reconciled with each other’means not only five seasonings mingled together but different ingredients matched together(ibid),so in the ST‘meat and vegetable ingredients,raw and cooked,spicy-hot and fresh-sweet,faint scent and strong fragrance’(http://www.kekenet.com/Article/201609/465564.shtml).In the ST the combination of‘spicy-hot and fresh-sweet’,the mixture of ingredients of different qualities,meat and vegetable,raw and cooked,are expressed.With the understanding of the cultural background of the ST,the translator adopts a compiling method omitting or combining the traditional Chinese medicinal terms.S/he shortens the complex expression to a line:‘combination of ingredients of different tastes and textures’,giving up the original way of listing phrases in parallel and ignoring the specific description of the tastes and the ingredients.By doing so the translator displays cultural self-awareness in the translation.With thorough consideration of the western readers’limitation in relevant background knowledge,the translator designs the way of expression carefully,adopting a national way of expression which is familiar to the audience and efficient in carrying the core meaning concisely.This practice is a success in helping the foreign audience perceive the essence of Chinese diet culture whilst watching the documentary film.

Otherwise the translator would fail in exciting the target audience’s curiosity on the gourmet food or even induce disgust if s/he were to simply apply the original literal form and ignore the differences between Chinese and Western cultures.Here is a translation of 臭豆腐(or literally‘stinky tofu’),a gourmet food of Hunan Province for example.

ST:臭豆腐在湖南、長江三角洲一帶（尤其是紹興）和臺灣最為流行，做法各地不同，但基本方法是先讓豆腐在特制的鹵水里發(fā)酵，再將其油炸。臭豆腐可以配著辣椒醬、醬油、芝麻油或者泡菜一起吃。雖然外表看著不太起眼，味道也很刺鼻，但臭豆腐外酥里嫩，口感很棒。

TT:Stinky tofu is most popular in Hunan,the Yangtze River Delta region(especially Shaoxing)and Taiwan.Recipes vary from region to region,but the basic method is to let bean curd ferment in a special brine then deep-fry it.It can be eaten with chili sauce,soy sauce,sesame oil or kimchi.Despite its underwhelming appearance and sharp smell,stinky tofu has a pleasant texture---crispy on the outside,tender inside(Yisheng Translation Company,2020).

Firstly,in this passage the derogatory expressions of‘stinky’,‘underwhelming’and‘sharp smell’could have a negative connotation for foreign readers and,as a result,make them away from this gourmet food.In addition,such geographical names as Hunan and Shaoxing are unknown to to foreign readers except for those who are knowledgeable about Chinese geography.Therefore in the translation,the names of administrative regions,i.e.‘province’or‘city’,must be added following these geographical names.

adaptive TT:Odd-smelling tofu is the most popular in Hunan Province,the Yangtze River Delta(especially Shaoxing City)and Taiwan.Recipes vary among different regions,but the basic method is the same:Ferment beancurd in a special brine and then deep fry it.It can be served with chili sauce,soy sauce,sesame oil and kimchi.Despitethe strange smell and appearance,it has a great taste thanks to its crisp skin and the tenderness of its interior.

Copying the Way of Expression in the ST

Zhu Zhenwu(2016)states that these years we have endeavoured to acknowledge the habits and mode of thinking of our target readers,and as a result have been less conscious of the wrong focus that has developed over time in our translating.To a large degree we have lost our ego,i.e.our cultural awareness.Provided that the food name in the ST is easy to understand without complicated cultural connotations and the literal translation can fully transmit the meaning,copying the original way of expression is,of course,the best.The application of copying the original way of expression is very common in food name translation.For example,北京烤鴨is translated as roast Beijing duck;餛飩面is translated as wonton&noodles;魚丸湯Fish ball soup.

If the literal meaning in the original name does not cover the rich cultural and historic connotations,it is essential for the translator to research the SL culture and base his/her translation properly on what might be perceived by the reader as strange in the ST for the purpose that the target readers can perceive the rich cultural connotations.In this sense the translator is not only a lingual switching operator but a guide leading the readers who are attached to the TL culture to the SL culture.The translator must realise the target readers may lack knowledge of the SL culture and their aesthetic habits may be different from those of the readers of the original text.Hence two methods are suggested as follows.

Transliteration plus notation

In Xiamen City,Fujian Province there is a well-known local snack named‘土筍凍’or‘tusundong’in pinyin.Instead of a plant,as the name‘土筍’suggests,it is a species of lugworm.A literal translation of Sipunculid worm jelly(‘凍’means jelly)can be seen on the Internet(http://fujian.chinadaily.com.cn/2018-07/18/c_365883.htm).The translator must be keenly aware that in the coastal areas of China,people have long been used to eating this type of seafood,whereas in English-speaking countries people never eat worms.In addition this literal translation sounds disgusting to the western ear.The concept of cultural awareness claims that each party accepts others’merits.And in international exchanges learning others’cultures and mastering the means of resolving all kinds of problems on cultural collisions are essential(Fei,2003).Therefore,all literal translation without respect for the target culture is never the embodiment of the complete cultural self-awareness concept.Source-oriented literal translation usually causes a psychological feeling of discomfort or even disgust in the target readers,which leads in a direction opposite to the translator’s initial purpose--publicising the gourmet food.In order to avoid such a bad outcome,the translator translates 土筍凍as‘Tu Sun,a jellied sea food’to express this snack’s feature as a kind of jelly and at the same time lead the target readers to learn a Chinese word by transliteration.This method of transliteration plus notation has two advantages:it avoids the target readers’psychological discomfort owing to the cultural differences; also,it expresses the exact meaning of the food and arouses the readers’feeling of freshness and,moreover,their cordial feeling for the Chinese diet culture.

Supplementing translation plus notation

Chinese food names are numerous and colourful ...Behind them there may be sad stories or moving legends(Wang,1995).The name 叫花雞(‘jiaohua ji’in pinyin)is a good example.According to legend,by luck a beggar(jiaohua)came to have a chicken(ji).Since he had no other ingredients,he baked it in a strange way:After removing the entrails,but leaving the feathers in place,he spread yellow mud all over the chicken.Then he baked the chicken over burning wood and grass.After the mud became dry enough,he peeled it and the powdered feathers off the meat and began to eat.It happened that the emperor was passing the place where the beggar was staying.The beggar shared the chicken with the emperor.The emperor highly praised the food after tasting just a bite.As foreign readers have no idea of this legend,a word-for-word translation‘beggar’s chicken’will lead only to confusion.As cultural awareness concept requires that an individual with a certain cultural background must be aware of this culture,knowing its origin and its formation(Fei,2016).Since this legend is well-known to any translator with cultural awareness,s/he can outline the legend within the permitted text length;if the length is not long enough s/he can only add the food material and the cuisine notes.In the case we have outlined,an appropriate translation would be‘baked mud-coated chicken(legendary beggar’s chicken)’.With this‘Supplementing translation plus notation’method the translation can succeed in letting foreign readers/consumers perceive rich connotations behind the Chinese gourmet food whilst they taste it.

a dish originating from Guangdong Province named‘佛手排骨’(‘Finger Citron Chop’literally)that takes its name from a fruit the English translation of which is‘finger citron’.The name of the dish is therefore the literal translation‘Finger Citron Chop’(http://www.foodmate.net/english/speciality/57419.html).Any westerner familiar with this fruit would assume that the dish contains this fruit.But in fact no finger citron is used in this dish and the name‘finger citron’comes from the artificial shape of the pork chop.Following the translation device of using the method of cooking in the description,this dish can be translated as‘Deep Fried chop(Finger-citron-shaped Chop)’to let foreign readers learn the cooking style as well as the quality of this traditional famous gourmet dish.

Inspiration of Translation Quality and the Training of Aspiring Translators

Yang Xianyi points out that translation is not a simple literal transmission from a language to another.More importantly,it carries culture,custom and thoughts behind the words(Zheng,2008).High cultural awareness is indispensable in the foreign-oriented translation of diet culture which contains rich cultural connotations.In fact cultural awareness should be reflected in the cultural subject’s actions.That is to say a person living in a certain cultural background intentionally attains clear conceptional knowledge of this culture and is able to command it profoundly(Li&Yang,2013).In translation action,the translator is an agent of cultural exchange.In the mission of introducing Chinese culture abroad s/he should give deep thought to both Chinese culture and that of the target readers.S/he must not only understand his/her own culture thoroughly but be knowledgeable about the target culture.Only by his/her awareness of the differences between the two cultures can s/he introduce Chinese culture properly.This goal requires many translators with high cultural awareness.In the opinion of the author,government guidance and educators’work can not be ignored in improving the quality of the foreign-oriented translation on diet culture.

Reinforcing Government Guidance

at present,in terms of the translation of diet culture,the quality of the translation of menus is dissatisfactory,showing negligence in this field in some measure in the society.The government should take some leading measures to change this situation.Before the Beijing Olympics 2008,the Chinese government revised the translation of 1300 dish names,resulting in good demonstrating effect for a time(Han,2016).Considering that the revised translation was published only on the official website of the Translators Association of China and few people know it except for some scholars,translation professionals and language workers,this revision should be set into the language database of governmental translation organisations.Enhancing the Chinese image is the common task of the nation and not the exclusive duty of translators and language professionals.If the proper translation of menus is published on governmental websites at different levels and non-governmental official accounts on Wechat,it will certainly help catering practitioners and tourist guides improve their expression to foreigners in their specific sectors.

Educational Circles Reinforcing Training of Aspiring Translators

From the perspective of educators’mission,in the process of training of aspiring translators,increasing cultural awareness should be highly emphasised.It must be realised that not every Chinese individual understands and grasps Chinese culture in which he/she lives even if he/she has more or less perceptual knowledge on it(Wang,2016).Under such condition,it is necessary to put more traditional Chinese cultural knowledge into the educational system.Increasing the traditional cultural quality is a systematic project throughout the whole process of overall national education from pre-school education,compulsory education,higher education through to continuous education.It is unimaginable that this task can be fulfilled only by adding one or two courses in higher education.

For the basic education,in 2019 Guangdong Province issued an innovative measure in‘Guidance Outline of Home Economics Education in Guangzhou Primary and Secondary Schools’demanding that junior secondary school students master basic cooking skills like steaming,boiling,stewing,and frying and learn to make some kinds of Cantonese dim sum(Guangzhou Educational Research Institute,2019).It is deemed helpful in encouraging students to learn the context of traditional local diet culture,and effective in enhancing their cultural awareness.

In addition,in higher education institutions where aspiring translators receive training,it is all the more nonnegligible to lead students to wide ranges of traditional Chinese culture.Huang Youyi(2007)points out that training aspiring translators for Chinese-Foreign translation is a long-term task.As we all know,it is very difficult to translate from Chinese to other languages.Of course,it is also very difficult to train aspiring translators for Chinese-Foreign translation.Thus,a rigorous mission has fallen on the shoulders of translation academies.In the author’s opinion,the difficulties exist not only in training students’language ability,but in enhancing students’cultural awareness.More foreign-oriented translation practice,in terms of class hours and contents,should be increased.Furthermore,supplementary culture programmes and extra-curricula practices should be arranged in line with the translation market’s demand.Some universities and colleges have carried out extra-curricula activities on diet culture and got a good effect.For example,at the College where the author works a gourmet show was held in a campus culture and art festival.On this occasion students acted as chefs to make gourmet food and introduced Chinese and foreign gourmet diet cultures to visitors from inside and outside China,through which the students can enhance their cultural awareness in some degree.

Conclusion

as Chinese diet culture is an attractive calling card of the whole Chinese culture,translation on Chinese diet culture is significant.Under the guidance of Fei Xiaotong’s cultural self-awareness theory combined with Schleiermacher’s two kinds of translation strategies,the author sums up two ways for the purpose of establishing close relationships between Chinese culture and foreign readers,that is,‘Adapting the way of expression in the ST’and‘Copying the way of expression in the ST’.The ultimate goal of cultural awareness is a realm in which each party perfects its merits;each party accepts others’merits;all merits integrate to make a harmonious world(Fei,2016).Realising such a vision needs a magnificent project in which governmental guidance and publicity as well as educational institutes’efforts in cultivating the overall cultural quality of students are crucial.Only by outstanding cultural awareness,thoroughly understanding his/her own language-culture and fully being acquainted with the relevant other culture,with which the translator is equipped can s/he find proper translation strategies and thus make proper translation meet the target readers’psychological expectation,and prove helpful for the cause of Chinese culture‘going out’with its bright uniqueness.

Acknowledgments

This paper results from the relevant research supported by‘Perspective of Cultural Consciousness:A Research on Enhancing Translation and Interpreting Students’Literacy in the Traditional Chinese Culture’,the teaching reform project of higher education,Guangdong Province,‘Perspective of Medio-translatology:Dissemination of Guangdong’s Red Tourism Culture under the Building of 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road’(2019WQNCX163),the project of innovative young professionals in higher education,Guangdong Province,Guangdong Key Characteristic Discipline(English Language and Culture)([2017]No.1)and‘Fostering Translation and Interpreting Students’Understanding of the Traditional Chinese Culture in Order to Tell Chinese Stories to the Outside World’(2019JG15),the Project of South China Business College,Guangdong University of Foreign Studies.