清华食堂菜单像论文？网友：差点把价格看成影响因子……
双语君 世纪君约 5 分钟A canteen menu at Tsinghua University has sparked online discussions for its uncanny resemblance to an academic paper. Netizens joked about mistaking the price column for "impact factors", with some suggesting the menu should be reformatted as "Table 1.1: Qingfenyuanlunch price list" to complete the scholarly aesthetic.
Beyond listing dish names and prices, the menu provides detailed ingredient breakdowns, allergen information, and English translations, revealing some delightfully literal interpretations.
The discussion revived memories of other infamous "creative translations", such as "Chongqing is full of blood" for mao xue wang,a spicy blood stew,or the motivational "Come on, Mai Cai" for stir-fried greens.
In a CNN article exploring Chinese culinary translations, Fuchsia Dunlop, a British food writer specialized in Chinese cuisine, noted that despite advances in translation technology, she still encounters unintentionally humorous menu mistranslations during her travels in China.
Dunlop says much of the problem with translating the names of these foods stems from the fact that certain words don't even exist in English.
For example, in English, the word "dumpling" is a catchall phrase, referring to everything from jiaozi and wonton to xiaolongbao.
邓洛普建议，英文翻译可以直接借用中文原本的说法，就像是英文中沿用了法语词汇“chef”（厨师）和“omelet”（煎蛋卷）那样。
Dunlop suggests borrowing terms in Chinese, similar to how they use French words like "chef" and "omelet".
▌夫妻肺片（Husband-and-wife lung slices）
图源：视觉中国
在这道名为“夫妻肺片”的四川名菜中，既没有夫妻，也没有肺片。它实际上是一道辣味切片牛杂，因一对经常走街串巷叫卖凉拌小菜的夫妻而得名。
邓洛普认为如果将其译为“Sliced beef offal in a spicy sauce”（辣味牛杂切片）会缺乏特色，也削弱了用餐体验，不如把“夫妻肺片”直译成英文“husband-and-wife lung slices”，再单独解释这道菜的成分。
鱼香茄子也是相似的情况，很多时候这道菜里并没有鱼，而是因为使用了以鱼为原料的菜肴中常使用的调料而得名。
邓洛普说，有时人们会将其直译为“spicy Sichuan eggplant”（川味麻辣茄子），但这样会失去当地的文化特色。她总是将其翻译为“fish-fragrant eggplant”（鱼香茄子），既好听，还能让人们去了解名字背后的故事。
"Sometimes people just translate it as 'spicy Sichuan eggplant', which is helpful, but loses the local cultural flavor. I always translate it as 'fish-fragrant eggplant' anyway because it sounds lovely, and I hope English speakers will get to know this dish," says Dunlop.
对于这道因形状酷似狮子头而得名、实际是猪肉做成的大肉丸的菜肴，邓洛普建议在保留“lion's head”的表述的基础上，注明其烹饪方法，翻译为“红烧狮子头”（braised lion's head）。
美国有线电视新闻网这篇文章中，另一位来自香港大学翻译学专业的副教授则认为：“无论是译作‘中式肉丸’（Chinese meatball），还是直译成‘红烧狮子头’（braised lion's head），都无法完全体现这道菜的精髓和文化背景。”
"You can translate shizitoufiguratively as 'Chinese meatball' or literally as 'braised lion's head' but neither fully captures the dish's essence or cultural context," said an associate professor of translation at the University of Hong Kong and a scholar of Chinese gastronomy literature.
编辑：李金昳
实习生：韩沐辰
来源：21世纪英文报
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