Compared with the long history and crucial status of dietary culture, the research of English translation in China remains an emerging discipline in the academic fields, but the scholars’ awareness in cultural learning has been improving.

With the global economy becoming an inevitable tendency, international communication and cultural integration become increasingly frequent. As a basic communicative activity to convey information, translation is a bridge for culture communication. Good translation of Chinese culture will improve the spread of China’s traditional culture, enhance the protection of Chinese culture and maintain the international balance of culture.

This thesis tries to contribute minute efforts to provide constructive advice to the translation of dish names. At the same time, this thesis attempts to strengthen people’s cultural awareness and promote the spread of Chinese dietary culture.

1.3 Methodology of the Research

In order to make an all-round and detailed analysis, the author of this thesis adopts the following methods: literature summary corpus comparison and comparative analysis approach.

The author attempts to study the translation of Chinese cuisine names in the English version of A Dream of Red Mansions from the perspective of dietary culture, and the completed English versions (the Yang’s and the Hawke’s) are the objectives of this research.

Guided by the cultural translation theory, the author makes a comparative study about the choices of translation strategies in these two completed versions with synthesis methods. Firstly, the author makes a background survey of factors restricting the translator’s selection of translation strategy. Secondly, the author selects the dish names (including three categories: dishes, dim sums and drinks) from the source text, and makes a detailed study of Chinese traditional dietary culture reflected in these cuisine names. Thirdly, the author compares the two translators’ translation of the same cuisine names and analyzes the cultural translation strategies the two translators adopted. Lastly, the author makes scant efforts to conclude the proper methods of English translation of cuisine name in classical literature works.