To help overseas students better enjoy their dishes in ECNU, 5 postgraduates from Department of Chinese as a Foreign Language have translated the menus of 962 Chinese dishes in 2 canteens of Zhongbei campus within 55 days, and the English menus with blue-and-white porcelain patterns will be used in these canteens.
In recent years, more and more overseas students have come to ECNU for learning Chinese language and culture. Although the canteens of ECNU have won much popularity among students in and out of the University, most overseas students of ECNU seem not so fond of the food in the University mainly because of their incapability of understanding the menus.
Gu Yuwei, a postgraduate from Department of Chinese as a Foreign Language, worked as a part-time teacher in the Teaching Center of Chinese Culture and made friends with a lot of overseas students. She found most of the overseas students often ate fixed dishes because they didn’t know the meaning of most dishes on the menus.
According to a survey, there are many canteens on Zhongbei campus, including mana Korean Restaurant and Hua Jing Garden, which are most visited by overseas students because of their English menus, as well as He Xi Canteen and Li Wa Canteen , in which there are more food with Chinese characteristics. However, the questionnaire shows that only 30% of overseas students choose to have dinner at the latter two canteens and the reason for their preference for mana and Hua Jing Garden is that “ I can understand the menu”. To help overseas students have more choices in ECNU canteens, Gu Yuwei and 4 other postgraduates translated the menus of He Xi Canteen and Li Wa Canteen into English in last winter vacation.
During the translation, the five girls not only paid close attention to the accuracy of words and grammar but also the spreading of Chinese culture. For example, they translated the dishes with Chinese characteristics like Dong Po Pork into English by means of Pinyin, which not only preserves the original taste but also attracts overseas students to know more about Chinese culture and stories behind the dishes.
With the effort of all the members, the translation transcript finally comes into being with more than 30 pages of 962 English names of dishes and 58 annotations. As the menu is made for overseas students, they adopted the blue-and-white porcelain porcelain as the background to show the traditional Chinese features.
It is said that the menu will be examined and revised by professional teachers and be used in the canteens. In addition, the menu, after improvement, can be uploaded onto mobile phones to better meet the needs of overseas students.
Written by: Yao Run
Edited by: Liu Jinyu
