列为看官：

    中国菜名最能体现中国饮食文化之精髓与菁华，也最富含文化色彩与风韵，特色鲜明，对中国菜名的翻译，决不能简单地直译之或意译之，而要“煎、炸、煸、炒、蒸、煮、炖、煨、烧、烤、焖”综合翻译，既要译出菜名，又要译出文化意蕴和风韵，要译出色、香、味。

    “吃在中国”这句话说明，中国菜很著名。中国菜的菜名很有讲究，而且富有中国文化风韵和特色。那么，对五花八门的菜名和主食，具体英译时应该如何下手呢？可归纳为以下六种英译“公式”。

    1/ 直译法：烹调法 + 原料

    烹调法是指中国菜的做法，即煎、炸、煸、炒、蒸、煮、炖、煨、烧、烤、焖等等。英译时把对应的制作方法译出来，再以该菜的主要原料为中心词就可以了。  

    例如：

    炒肉丝     Sauteed (Stir-fried) Pork Slices

    炖牛肉     Stewed Beef

    清蒸桂鱼   Steamed Mandarin Fish

    煎鸡蛋     Fried Eggs

    红烧鱼     Braised Fish with Brown Sauce

    白灼海螺片 Scalded Sliced Conch

    回锅肉     Twice-cooked Pork / Double Cooked Pork

    2/ 直译 + 释意法

    顾名思义，英译时直接按中文菜名译出其意，然后再补充说明其内在含义。示例如下：

    狮子头     Lion’ Head -- Pork Meat Balls   

    全家福     Happy Family -- A combination of shrimps, pork, beef, chicken, lobster and mixed vegetables with brown sauce

    龙凤配     Dragon & phoenix -- Two separate dishes characterize this distinctive plate. On one side, lobster meat in Sichuan chili sauce, which is inviting. On the other is house special chicken, which never fails in delighting.

    左宗鸡     General Tso’s Chicken -- A mouth watering dish made with large chunks of marinated chicken, sauteed with scorched red chili peppers in special, tangy sauce.

    叫花鸡     Beggar’s Chicken -- There’s a legendary story connected to it. Long long ago there was a beggar. One day he stole a chicken and was pursued by the owner. He was almost caught when he suddenly hit upon a good idea. He smeared the chicken all over with clay, which he found nearby and threw it into the fire he had built to cook it. After a long while the beggar removed the mud-coated from the fire. When he cracked open the clay he found, to his astonishment, that the clay together with the feather had formed a hard shell in which the chicken had been baked into a delicious dish with wonderful flavour. That night he had a very enjoyable meal. Hence the name of the dish.

    3/ 意译法

    a) 原料 + with + 作料

    用原料为中心词，有时捎带把烹调法译出，再加上用介词with或in与作料构成的短语即可。示例如下：

    鱼香肉丝   Shredded Pork with Garlic Sauce

    豆豉桂鱼   Mandarin Fish in black Bean Sauce

    黄焖大虾   Braised Prawns In Rice Wine

    海米白菜   Chinese Cabbage with Dried Shrimps

    椒盐排骨   Spare Ribs with Pepper and Salt

    b) 作料 + 原料

    此法是把作料用作修饰语，放在中心词原料的前面，用英文译出。示例如下：

    咖喱鸡    Curry Chicken

    咖喱牛肉  Curry beef

    麻辣豆腐  Spicy Bean Curd

    怪味鸡    Multi-flavored Chicken

    古老肉    Sweet & Sour Pork

    c） 以“实”对“虚”法

    从严格的意义上说，该法也是意译法的一种。其方法是舍去中菜名里的喻义、夸张等说法而用平直、明白的英语译出。示例如下：

    白玉虾球      Crystal White Shrimp Balls

    红烧狮子头    Braised Meat Balls with Brawn Sauce

    发财好市      Black Moss Cooked with Oysters

    龙虎凤大烩    Thick Soup of Snake, Cat and Chicken

    4/ 移花接木法

    用西方人熟悉并了解的欧洲菜名或主食名来译部分中菜名与少数主食，国因为它们之间有许多相似处，故借彼之法为我所用。译文地道、通俗易懂，能收到事半功倍的效果。示例如下：

    烤排骨        Barbecued Spare Ribs

    鸡肉串        Teriyaki Chicken Stick

    盖浇面        Chinese-style Spaghetti

    饺子          Chinese-style Ravioli

    锅贴          Pot Stickers

    这里的teriyaki 一词是从日语来的借用词，即“烤”的意思，该字用于此类英译，在美国的中餐里十分流行。另外，spaghetti和ravioli两字均源自意大利语，其含义与吃法恰巧分别与我们“盖浇面”和“饺子”非常相似，外国人都异常熟悉。Pot Stickers 乃是一种通俗、诙谐的译法，较之呆板的译文 pan-fried dumplings更显出其幽默而传神。另外，dumpling 一词似有滥用之嫌，例如：在译“烧卖”、“馄饨”、“元宵”、“锅贴”、甚至“粽子”时，都用该词，往往容易引起误解。

    5/ 音译 + 释义法

    先按中文用拼音译出，然后再加以解释性的英译，使英译文保留点“中国味儿”。示例如下：

    包子   Baozi     Stuffed Bun

    饺子   Jiaozi     Chinese-style Ravioli

    馒头   Mantou    Steamed Bread

    锅贴   Guotie     Pot Stickers

    木须肉  Moo Xu Pork Stir-fried shredded pork with assorted vegetables as fillings

   6/ 随机应变法：原料 + 地名 + style

    应用此方法可以灵活地处理一些难以对付的地方风味。英译出原料名后，再稍加“点拨”就可以大功告成。示例如下：

     湖南肉     Pork Hunan Style

    广东龙虾   Lobster Cantonese Style

    家常豆腐   Beancurd Home Style

    关于主食的一些英译法较之菜名来说就容易多了，这里就不赘述了，下面略举几个示例：

    炒饭      Fried Rice

    蛋炒饭    Egg Fried Rice

    叉烧炒饭  Roast Pork Rice

    汤面      Noodles in Soup

    炒面      Stir-fried Noodles