On Translation of Chinese Cuisine Name from the Perspective of Gestalt Theory Abstract With the rapid development of Chinese economy, a growing number of visitors have come to China. As a result, traditional Chinese cuisine becomes more and more popular and plays a vital role in culture communication. With such strong culture flavors as well as historic connotations, cuisine name translation has aroused extensive attention at the beginning of this century. 46712 

However, up to now, there are still plenty of problems in Chinese cuisine name translation. Although the papers came out now and then in the academic circle about the comparative study of cuisine cultures and the research on Chinese cuisine name translation, they lack systematic analysis based on theories, and the research horizons also need broadening. Therefore, to promote the previous views, this paper discusses the existing problems in Chinese cuisine name translation, translational aims and manipulative principles are also discussed. It explains what should be considered in Chinese cuisine name translation under the perspective of Gestalt theory. Based on the analysis of translation of typical Chinese cuisine names, a theory-based translating strategy will be provided.

Gestalt theory is a perceptional and organizational theory. Basically speaking, translation is the switching of two language codes and the movements of psychology between source text and target reader. The gestalt-based cuisine name translation requires that translator should put the psychology of target reader at the first place, taking reader’s Gestalt psychology into full consideration and adopting appropriate translation strategies in order to realize its function. 

The thesis is a new try to combine gestalt theory with cuisine name translation. This thesis will pay attention to the relationship of “Translator-Target Text (gestalt text)-Target Reader (gestalt reader)”. On the basis of the principles of Gestalt theory, the data are analyzed with the help of the model. Examples are given and analyzed and the specific principles, strategies and methods of solving the problem in detail are presented. The core part of the whole paper lies in the analysis of different cuisine name translation. And with those examples, a gestalt-based version of cuisine name translation will be given in order to offer a systematic approach to cuisine name translation.

Key Words: Gestalt theory; Translation strategies; Cuisine name translation 

格式塔理论视角下的中文菜名翻译

摘  要

随着中国经济的快速发展，来华游客的数量也日益增加。因此，中文菜名翻译在文化交流中发挥了越来越重要的作用。由于其独特的文化韵以及历史涵义，中文菜名翻译于本世纪初就引起了极大的关注。

然而至今为止，中文菜名翻译仍旧存在许多问题。尽管在学术领域中已经有不少关于饮食文化和菜名翻译研究的论文，但大多缺少系统理论的分析支持，研究视野也需要进一步扩大。因此，打破先前研究的传统观点，本文从中文菜名翻译中存在的问题、翻译目标以及翻译原则进行讨论，同时也讨论了在格式塔理论视角下中文菜名翻译需要考虑的因素。基于对传统中文菜名翻译的分析，本文将提出理论指导下的翻译策略。 

格式塔理论是一种感知和组织心理理论。翻译行为从本质上来说是两种语言代码的转换，同时也是原文和读者之间的心理活动转换。格式塔理论指导下的菜名翻译要求译者将目标读者心理放在重要位置，充分考虑读者的格式塔心理，并采用合适的翻译策略以实现其功能。

本文是格式塔理论和中文菜名翻译相结合的全新尝试，试图从目标读者的格式塔心理角度来进行中文菜单翻译。根据格式塔理论原则，本文将分析研究典型菜名翻译范例，并提出具体原则、翻译策略以及翻译方法以解决当今菜单翻译中存在的问题，并提出基于格式塔理论的菜名翻译，从而给予读者美的享受。