Why translating Chinese food names into English is 'an impossible task'

Comments (1)

schrectacular · 2d ago

Wanton is not "yun tun" in Mandarin, it's "hun tun" (馄饨) but it does have a lot of local variance; most people I know in the north tend to say "dun" but the two sounds are pretty similar if said fast. Neat article though and I agree that food terms are impossible to translate, especially as single terms. They need context.

Slightly surprised they didn't mention "spit/saliva/drool chicken" (口水鸡) but I guess there is only so much room and way to many examples!

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Why translating Chinese food names into English is 'an impossible task'

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