An Untranslatable Snack
There are so many words in Chinesewhich are not easy to translate exactly in a short and proper way. For example, the way people call their relatives according to their relationship in the family;many Chinesefour-character idioms,each of which hasa deeper implied meaning behind its literal meaning;and the names of some Chinese food. Actually, a famous snack in north china which is originated from my hometown is included.
It is called “LvDaGun”in Chinese. In fact, it is a glutinous rice roll.Originally, it is made ofmillet flour, soybean flour, red bean paste, sugar, sesame oil and so on. It is steamed and rolled and cut into small pieces to eat. It looks colorful with yellow on the surface, white, red inside the roll and tastes not only sweet but also a little salty, which makes it not easy for people to be bored with.What makes it most attractive and entertaining is that in order to make it a better experience in chewing it, cooks often beat the dough with wooden hammer in a special wooden container for a while before it is served.This interesting procedure is often showed outdoors to attract buyers.
Actually it is named from its metaphorical meaning for its appearance.Among the complex procedures to make this snack, the last step is to sprinkle some soybean powder on it, and it is the yellow powder that makes the name giver think of the dust in the air raised by donkeys when they are rolling and playing on the ground in the suburbs.After that people prefer calling this special rice roll “LvDaGun”, because it is this interesting name that makes the snack famous.And this is the origin of its name.
However, foreigners may wonder how the name giver could associate a delicious snack with such an animal. This confusion is reasonable. Indeed, the name reflects its local culture in north China especially in Beijing many years agoto certain degree with humorous feeling in it. Even it may not be recognized or understood by people from south China, let alone foreigners from totally different cultures.So the culture difference make its name cannot be translated, and just could be explained.
Therefore, to translate it as “Rolling Donkeys” in Englishin some restaurants is not proper or
wise. This literal translation makes the delicious traditional Chinese cake totally not attractive to foreigners who have never heard and tasted it before. The name may confuse foreigners and make them think the snack is made of donkey meat. Moreover, the donkey is suffering when it is killed, which has a merciless feeling in it. Therefore, if it is translated literally, itis not good for the spread of Chinese food.
Today, “LvDaGun” has become one of the most famous Beijing snacks in the market.In order to make it and other Chinese food international, we had better consider it seriously when they are sold to the world.
本文档为【不能翻译的中国美食英文作文--驴打滚】，请使用软件OFFICE或WPS软件打开。作品中的文字与图均可以修改和编辑，
图片更改请在作品中右键图片并更换，文字修改请直接点击文字进行修改，也可以新增和删除文档中的内容。
该文档来自用户分享，如有侵权行为请发邮件ishare@vip.sina.com联系网站客服，我们会及时删除。
[版权声明] 本站所有资料为用户分享产生，若发现您的权利被侵害，请联系客服邮件isharekefu@iask.cn，我们尽快处理。
本作品所展示的图片、画像、字体、音乐的版权可能需版权方额外授权，请谨慎使用。
网站提供的党政主题相关内容(国旗、国徽、党徽..)目的在于配合国家政策宣传，仅限个人学习分享使用，禁止用于任何广告和商用目的。
浙公网安备 33021202002483