我要吃瓜

Citation

Li S & Hope W (2022) How Jane Austen’s early Chinese translators were stumped by the oddities of 19th-century British cuisine. How Jane Austen’s early Chinese translators were stumped by the oddities of 19th-century British cuisine. 15.09.2022. https://theconversation.com/how-jane-austens-early-chinese-translators-were-stumped-by-the-oddities-of-19th-century-british-cuisine-190200

Abstract
Jane Austen’s works are globally renowned, but they were unknown in China until 1935 when two different translations of Pride and Prejudice were published. Today, her novels are increasingly popular and have been translated into Chinese many times – notably there have been 60 different retranslations of Pride and Prejudice. Translators face the creative balancing act of remaining faithful to the source text while also ensuring that the translation is a smooth, informative read. One intriguing task for translators of Austen has been how to describe the 19th-century British food featured in the many convivial sequences that shed light on characters through their social interaction. How do you get an early Chinese reader of Austen’s work in the 1930s to understand what rout-cakes are and why Mrs Elton in Austen’s Emma considers poor versions of these a sign of a bad host? The world was not as globalised as it is now and information not so accessible. We found this fascinating and so analysed a body of Chinese translations of Austen’s work from 1935 onwards to assess the effectiveness of the translations of food culture during Austen’s era. The results were decidedly mixed.

Keywords
food, translation, Jane Austen, Chinese culture, translator