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A Report on the Translation of China’s Food: A History of Grain

Author(s)

Guizhi Zhang*, Fei Liu

Affiliation(s)

School of Foreign Languages, Henan University of Technology, Zhengzhou, Henan, China *Corresponding Author

Abstract

The translation practice report, based on excerpts from Shi Jun’s popular science book China’s Food: A History of Grain, aims to facilitate a profound global understanding of Chinese civilization. It investigates translation strategies for addressing challenges across three dimensions: vocabulary, syntax, and discourse. At the lexical level, the explanatory translation method is employed to tackle the absence of established equivalents for many specialized terms and the difficulty of accurately transmitting their profound cultural and historical connotations. At the syntactic level, a combined strategy of explanatory translation and adaptive translation is proposed to address the challenges posed by classical Chinese expressions and colloquialisms. At the discourse level, an explicit cohesion strategy—characterized by the appropriate addition of connectors or explanatory clauses—is adopted to enhance logical coherence; additionally, a flexible style adaptation approach is applied to balance the text’s academic rigor with its accessibility as a popular science work. Overall, the translation of food-related Chinese popular science texts is of great practical significance for the dissemination of Chinese culture.

Keywords

Grain History; Explanatory Translation Method; Adaptive Translation Method; Explicit Cohesion Strategy; Flexible Style Adaptation Approach

References

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