Transmutation, Motivations, and Normative Construction of Transliteration Strategies for Chinese Food Specialties from the Perspective of Cultural Confidence

Abstract

The English translation of names for Chinese food specialties serves as a critical interface for cross-cultural communication and the development of national soft power. Using “cultural confidence” as a theoretical lens and employing a combined diachronic and synchronic research methodology, this paper systematically examines the phased transmutation of transliteration strategies for Chinese food specialties—moving from “domestication-led” to “hybrid exploration” and finally to the “rise of transliteration.” The study finds that this evolution is not an isolated linguistic phenomenon but a result of the combined forces of national strategic guidance, shifts in social psychology, the revolution in communication media, and the internal laws of linguistics. It marks a shift in China’s external cultural discourse practice from “self-adjustment” to “subjective construction.” The popularization of transliteration strategies is essentially a discourse power practice that anchors Chinese phonetic symbols and their underlying cultural systems directly into the global cognitive landscape. Addressing current issues such as inconsistent standards, over-transliteration, and a lack of interior interpretation, this paper innovatively constructs a “pyramid-style three-level normative model” based on cognitive load and stages of cultural dissemination. Furthermore, it proposes specific implementation plans, such as establishing a dynamic translation database and advocating for multi-modal presentation, aiming to provide theoretical support and practical paths for building an external translation system for Chinese food culture that balances cultural fidelity with communicative effectiveness.