文化專有菜單項目之翻譯：從「最佳關聯」至「後設表述」

Translations of Culture-specific Menu Entries: From “Optimal Relevance” to “Meta-Representation”

本文旨在調查三種文化專有菜單項目（culture－specific menuentries）之中英翻譯策略，並從關聯理論（relevance theory）之觀點探討調查結果之現象與意涵。此外，為彌補歸化或異化策略造成翻譯不完整之缺點，本文建議增加後設表述（meta－representation），以補充說明。此三種文化專有菜單項目分別從中國大陸及臺灣兩地取得，包括人╱地名稱（proper nouns）、象徵╱隱喻（symbol/metaphor）及社會╱歷史典故（socio－historical allusions）。結果發現：無論在中國大陸或臺灣，所有的中英翻譯使用歸化策略（domesticating strategy）遠超過異化策略（foreignizing strategy）。推測其原因乃係譯者根據東、西方餐飲文化中之相似背景，以歸化策略去改編原文中之文化要素，使其意義較易為西方讀者接受及瞭解。偏用歸化策略之翻譯現象，乃係希望文化專有菜單項目之中英翻譯，可達到關聯理論中的最佳關聯（optimal relevance）及製造背景知識效果（contextual effect）。此外，針對各種項目之分析結果發現：人╱地名稱之菜單翻譯偏好異化策略，但象徵╱隱喻及社會╱歷史典故之菜單翻譯偏好歸化策略。無論使用歸化或異化策略均有其缺點；因為使用異化策略易造成原文所含蘊之文化要素流失，而使用歸化策略易造成內容訊息不足（informational inadequacy）。為彌補此缺點，本文建議在主要訊息翻譯之後，加上後設表述之說明，不但可幫助西方讀者易瞭解翻譯內容，也可增進其對於中國大陸及臺灣兩地之餐飲文化訊息，以擴充其背景知識。

This study investigates the dominant strategies of translating three types ofculture-specific menu entries, which are featured as proper nouns, metaphoricalexpressions and socio-historical allusions, from Chinese into English in bothChina and Taiwan. It also discusses the implications of these findings from arelevance theoretic perspective. Finally, this study recommends the additionof meta-representations to supplement the incomplete translations due to theuse of domesticating or foreignizing strategies. The finding reveals that domesticatingstrategy (69.2%) outweighs the foreignizing (30.8%) in the overalltranslations of the three types of culture-specific menu entries in both Chinaand Taiwan. My inference is that the translator renders culture-specific menuentries using a domesticating strategy through the adaptation of some culturalelements, so that the translation is contextually relevant to the Western audienceon the basis of shared dining assumptions between West and East, so that themeaning and the message of the translation is easily grasped by the Western audience.The dominant use of domesticating strategy, explored from a relevancetheoretic perspective, is geared to the achievement of optimal relevance andcontextual effect.In contrast, the translations of proper noun entries use foreignizing strategymore frequently than symbol/metaphor and socio-historical allusion entriesdo. Both foreignizing and domesticating strategy result in some defects, such asthe loss of Chinese cultural elements resulting from the use of domesticatingstrategy, and informational inadequacy resulting from the use of foreignizingstrategy. To compensate for this deficiency, it is suggested that meta-representationalexplanations be added to the translation of the main message, so that theWestern audience may acquire additional Chinese culture dining information,and then understand better the translation through the expanded cognitive context.