\t“Four Glad Meat Balls,” “Pork Flower,” “Red Burned Lion Head” and “Chicken without Sex” – these are just some of the funky names of Chinese dishes you may have stumbled across when consulting an English menu. Some will prove entirely incomprehensible while others will simply put you off your food, but whatever the result, poor translations are the cause.<\/p>\n
\tRecently, the Beijing Foreign Affairs Office published a book with the awesomely catch title “Enjoy Culinary Delights: A Chinese Menu in English” (\u300a\u7f8e\u98df\u8bd1\u82d1——\u4e2d\u6587\u83dc\u5355\u82f1\u6587\u8bd1\u6cd5\u300b), which offers an official translation of the names of 2,158 Chinese dishes.<\/p>\n
\tThis official version cuts through the obfuscation to reveal exactly what the above four dishes are: “Braised Pork Balls in Gravy” (\u56db\u559c\u4e38\u5b50), “Sautéed Pig Kidney” (\u706b\u7206\u8170\u82b1), “Braised Pork Ball in Brown Sauce” (\u7ea2\u70e7\u72ee\u5b50\u5934) and “Spring Chicken”(\u7ae5\u5b50\u9e21).<\/p>\n
\tBut where’s the romance in that? Many experienced translators agree that the two biggest challenges in Chinese-to-English translation are ancient Chinese poems and the names of Chinese dishes. It’s almost impossible to convey in English the rich aesthetic images and historical allusions contained within the names of Chinese dishes, and straight translations are the poorer for eliding these cultural references.<\/p>\n
\tBelow are a few translation principles the experts from the foreign affairs office adhere to when translating Chinese dishes:<\/p>\n
\tPrinciple 1: Base the wording on the ingredients involved. For example, Chinese Mushrooms with Pine Nuts (\u677e\u4ec1\u9999\u83c7) or Bitter Melon in Plum Sauce (\u51b0\u6885\u51c9\u74dc)<\/p>\n
\tPrinciple 2: Reference the cooking method: Tossed Black and White Fungus (\u62cc\u53cc\u8033), Sautéed Spicy Beef and Green Peas (\u8c4c\u8c46\u8fa3\u725b\u8089) or Tossed Clear Noodles with Chili Sauce (\u5ddd\u5317\u51c9\u7c89)<\/p>\n
\tPrinciple 3: Give a feel for how the dish looks or tastes: Rabbit-Shaped Mantou (\u7389\u5154\u9992\u5934) or Crispy Chicken (\u8106\u76ae\u9e21)<\/p>\n
\tPrinciple 4: Reference the person who invented the dish or where it originated: Mapo Tofu (\u9ebb\u5a46\u8c46\u8150), Cantonese Dim Sum (\u5e7f\u4e1c\u70b9\u5fc3), Spicy Chicken, Sichuan Style (\u56db\u5ddd\u8fa3\u5b50\u9e21), or Noodles with Soy Bean Paste, Beijing Style (\u5317\u4eac\u70b8\u9171\u9762)<\/p>\n
\tEven with these guidelines things can still go awry. Mapo Tofu (sautéed tofu in hot and spicy sauce, a popular Chinese dish from Sichuan Province) was originally translated as “tofu made by a woman with freckles.” Though the translation sounds a little off, it does indeed reference the origin of the dish. Back in the Qing Dynasty (1616-1911), the female cook at a Chengdu eatery made such special tofu it made her and her store famous. Since she had freckles on her face (or was a mapo, which means a woman with freckles), the tofu dish took its name from her.<\/p>\n
\tPrinciple 5: retain the pinyin name for Chinese specialties: instead of translating jiaozi generally as dumplings, the pinyin is used. Other examples are baozi (steamed buns with stuffing) and mantou (steamed buns without stuffing).<\/p>\n
\tDishes that defy reference by any of the above principles should also be named in pinyin, and embellished with a brief explanation in English. One of them is fotiaoqiang (\u4f5b\u8df3\u5899, literally, the Buddha jumps over the wall, a famous Fujian Province dish of steamed abalone with shark’s fin and fish maw in broth). The dish is acclaimed for its delicious aroma which, as a line from a famous poem recounts, would make even Buddha jump over the wall to grab a taste if he smelled it. Another example is l\u01d8dagunr (\u9a74\u6253\u6eda\u513f, the donkey rolls about in the mud), a traditional Beijing snack made of steamed glutinous millet flour stuffed with red bean paste. The pastry is rolled in the soybean powder before it is ready to serve, just like a donkey might roll about on the floor to scratch his back.<\/p>\n
\tTo view a full version of the complete Chinese menu in English, click here.<\/p>\n
\tWhile you’re at it, why not tell or show us the most hilarious translation of a Chinese dish you’ve ever seen? Or even the name of a dish you just can’t figure out the meaning of? Below, our webmaster Keoni Everington get’s things started with a few snaps of some Chinglish classics…<\/p>\n