Text from foreignlanguages80 - English
Languages and food
- Languages and food As a linguist and a translator, I think that the link between languages and food is very strict.
- I would even say that one of the reasons to study a new language could be to learn more about food.
- First of all, some dishes names are actually untranslatable, as they could be considered as “realia”.
- For this reason they are left untranslated or are translated with the closest dish possible, which is not usually a real equivalent, though.
- Secondly, each dish name could evoke different cultural associations.
- For example, “pasta” is a common dish both in Italy and in China, but it is prepared, cooked and garnished very differently.
- When thinking about “spaghetti”, an Italian could recall actor Alberto Sordi’s famous scene in a movie where he tries to eat so many at once.
- The Chinese equivalents, 面条 (miantiao), could be associated with 长寿面 (changshoumian), the traditional long and thin pasta served on birthday to wish the person a long life.
- The word “fromage” could make a French person think about specific and local traditions, while the word “cheese” could make an Englishman think about the word used when being photographed.
- Moreover, even units of measure can make things more specific.
- While I translated recipes, I had to convert units from the imperial to the metric system.
- As you may guess, measures are to be approximate and this is more difficult if the ingredient is available only in the imperial system.
- Last but not least, in American recipes you will often find measures in volume, and not in weight (eg.
- ¾ cup of beans) and this makes conversion even more difficult.
- What do you think ?
- foreignlanguages80October 2021Vote now!
PLEASE, HELP TO CORRECT EACH SENTENCE! - English