Evaluating English translations of Chinese cuisine names: a case study of bilingual menus of hotels in Chengdu City

In the post-pandemic era, China is further opening and fully prepared for resuming international communication. One effective measure is hosting various international sports events, which attract a large number of foreign visitors to China. However, foreigners often encounter challenges when orderin...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Zuo, Liang, Intan Safinaz Zainudin
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 2025
Online Access:http://journalarticle.ukm.my/25328/
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/25328/1/86_98%20Evaluating%20English%20Translations%20of%20Chinese%20Cuisine.pdf
_version_ 1848816327929626624
author Zuo, Liang
Intan Safinaz Zainudin,
author_facet Zuo, Liang
Intan Safinaz Zainudin,
author_sort Zuo, Liang
building UKM Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description In the post-pandemic era, China is further opening and fully prepared for resuming international communication. One effective measure is hosting various international sports events, which attract a large number of foreign visitors to China. However, foreigners often encounter challenges when ordering Chinese cuisine in restaurants due to language barriers. The current English translations of Chinese cuisine names are not always accurate or effective, leading to misunderstandings. While extant research on the English translations of Chinese cuisine names has focused on texts from websites, books, documentaries, and novels, a notable lacuna remains on bilingual menus of hotels or restaurants in China. Therefore, this study aims to address this gap by comprehensively evaluating the English translations in these bilingual menus. This study adopts a qualitative analysis using textual analysis approach under the guidance of ISO 17100:2015 standards. The corpus for this study comprises 297 English translations of Sichuan cuisine names extracted from the bilingual menus of 9 reception hotels for the Chengdu 2021 FISU World University Games (Postponed to 2023). This study identifies 7 major violations of the ISO 17100:2015 standards in the English translations of Chinese cuisine names in these bilingual menus and concludes that the quality of these English translations has substantial room for improvement. Further research is recommended to improve the quality of the English translations in bilingual menus so that stakeholders in the Chinese catering industry can more successfully attract international customers and foster business opportunities.
first_indexed 2025-11-15T01:04:07Z
format Article
id oai:generic.eprints.org:25328
institution Universiti Kebangasaan Malaysia
institution_category Local University
language English
last_indexed 2025-11-15T01:04:07Z
publishDate 2025
publisher Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
recordtype eprints
repository_type Digital Repository
spelling oai:generic.eprints.org:253282025-06-13T06:43:52Z http://journalarticle.ukm.my/25328/ Evaluating English translations of Chinese cuisine names: a case study of bilingual menus of hotels in Chengdu City Zuo, Liang Intan Safinaz Zainudin, In the post-pandemic era, China is further opening and fully prepared for resuming international communication. One effective measure is hosting various international sports events, which attract a large number of foreign visitors to China. However, foreigners often encounter challenges when ordering Chinese cuisine in restaurants due to language barriers. The current English translations of Chinese cuisine names are not always accurate or effective, leading to misunderstandings. While extant research on the English translations of Chinese cuisine names has focused on texts from websites, books, documentaries, and novels, a notable lacuna remains on bilingual menus of hotels or restaurants in China. Therefore, this study aims to address this gap by comprehensively evaluating the English translations in these bilingual menus. This study adopts a qualitative analysis using textual analysis approach under the guidance of ISO 17100:2015 standards. The corpus for this study comprises 297 English translations of Sichuan cuisine names extracted from the bilingual menus of 9 reception hotels for the Chengdu 2021 FISU World University Games (Postponed to 2023). This study identifies 7 major violations of the ISO 17100:2015 standards in the English translations of Chinese cuisine names in these bilingual menus and concludes that the quality of these English translations has substantial room for improvement. Further research is recommended to improve the quality of the English translations in bilingual menus so that stakeholders in the Chinese catering industry can more successfully attract international customers and foster business opportunities. Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 2025-01 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://journalarticle.ukm.my/25328/1/86_98%20Evaluating%20English%20Translations%20of%20Chinese%20Cuisine.pdf Zuo, Liang and Intan Safinaz Zainudin, (2025) Evaluating English translations of Chinese cuisine names: a case study of bilingual menus of hotels in Chengdu City. e-Bangi Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities, 22 (1). pp. 86-98. ISSN 1823-884x http://ejournal.ukm.my/ebangi/index
spellingShingle Zuo, Liang
Intan Safinaz Zainudin,
Evaluating English translations of Chinese cuisine names: a case study of bilingual menus of hotels in Chengdu City
title Evaluating English translations of Chinese cuisine names: a case study of bilingual menus of hotels in Chengdu City
title_full Evaluating English translations of Chinese cuisine names: a case study of bilingual menus of hotels in Chengdu City
title_fullStr Evaluating English translations of Chinese cuisine names: a case study of bilingual menus of hotels in Chengdu City
title_full_unstemmed Evaluating English translations of Chinese cuisine names: a case study of bilingual menus of hotels in Chengdu City
title_short Evaluating English translations of Chinese cuisine names: a case study of bilingual menus of hotels in Chengdu City
title_sort evaluating english translations of chinese cuisine names: a case study of bilingual menus of hotels in chengdu city
url http://journalarticle.ukm.my/25328/
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/25328/
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/25328/1/86_98%20Evaluating%20English%20Translations%20of%20Chinese%20Cuisine.pdf