Translating Recipes

Many language learners and food lovers have toyed with the idea of translating recipes as a way to hone their translations skills and/or as a means of obtaining “authentic” recipes. These days you can use Google to search for Italian recipes in Italian, Japanese bento box ideas in Japanese and find recipes for authentic Sichuan dishes written by Chinese bloggers in Chongqing. Food lovers don’t have to rely on cookbooks written in their own language any longer and don’t have to be content with  “localized” recipes which have been adapted to suit local tastes and ingredients.

Translating recipes can be a fun way to learn new vocabulary and develop translation skills. Some professional translators translate recipes and cookbooks for a living and we shouldn’t underestimate the difficulty of translating a cookbook for a foreign readership. While a hobbyist can settle for a less-than-perfect translation of a recipe he or she found on a blog or forum, the translator must pay special attention to register (who is the book being written for?) and be familiar with local measurements and ingredients. Penny Marinou, a translator based in Athens, Greece, discusses the various pitfalls of translating recipes in her article Translating for Recipe Books and Menus.

Another short but insightful article about recipe translation and “localization” can be found here. In it, the author briefly mentions the difference between “translation” and “localization”, the former being the conversion of a recipe from one language to another and the latter involving the translation and adaptation of a recipe to suit the measurements, ingredients and tastes of the target audience. Localization often occurs when some of the ingredients in the original recipe are not readily available and are substituted for other, easily obtainable, ingredients. The author argues that a heavily modified recipe is not a localized recipe but an entirely new creation and cites “chicken tikka masala” as an example. Chicken tikka masala is not an Indian dish which has been adapted to suit British tastes but a dish created by Indian immigrants with local ingredients in mind.

Last but not least, I thought I’d share a link to an article written by Peter Hertzmann, a gourmand with a passion for French cuisine and cookery. The article, Recettes en Français, is a very informative piece about his experiences with translating French recipes into English and lists a few useful resources for other enthusiasts and aspiring translators. He also shares links to recipe databases and explains a lot of the key terms and vocabulary you’re likely to encounter if you try to translate a French-language recipe for yourself.

I’ve toyed with the idea of translating recipes to share with my readers as it would be a great way for me to combine my language skills with my love for foreign cuisines. I’m not sure whether I should post recipes on this blog or whether it would be better to set up a separate blog for recipes and other food-related tidbits so that the focus of this blog doesn’t stray too far from languages and language learning…

Have any of you ever tried to translate a recipe into your native language (or any other language)? If so, what challenges did you face and what resources did you use?