everything needs a standard. One of the most important contributions of Qin Shihuang is that "the books are the same, and the cars are on the same track". Without these standards, it is hard to say whether China can last for more than 2,111 years. How important is the unification of languages? Europe is an example.

Food is the most important thing for people, so the status of tofu is at least as important as language. The invention of tofu in the Han Dynasty may be the most important milestone in the Chinese nation's diet history, so China people who are mainly engaged in farming rather than animal husbandry have a stable and cheap source of high-quality protein. So important, it is of course necessary to promulgate a national standard.

If it involves language and tofu, it is doubly important. Such an important matter is the translation of the name of tofu.

Walking in the street, many English translations of public signs are incomprehensible, which is incomprehensible to China people, and even more incomprehensible to foreigners. Not only did I not understand it, but I also made many jokes. In response to this phenomenon, several national ministries and commissions have recently jointly issued a series of national standards, namely, English Translation and Writing Standards for Public Services. In addition to the general guidelines, this set of standards also gives specific specifications in 13 fields such as transportation, tourism, catering and culture, and attaches more than 3,711 recommended translations.

The original intention of compiling this set of specifications is of course good, and most of the guidelines and recommended translations are also in line with English usage habits. However, some terms seem to swing between conforming to the translation norms and respecting the established usage habits, and "tofu" is one of them.

1. Recommended translation names of tofu

The translation names recommended by the national standard are Bean Curd or Doufu.

let's look at Bean Curd first. When I was a child, I studied English. There were some English translations of China food in books, and tofu was translated in this way. Later, after living in North America for many years, every time I tried to use this word, the other person fell into the clouds.

to be fair, this translation is not bad. Translation has never been just a language problem, and culture and living habits are bigger obstacles. If something doesn't exist in a culture at all, it is not easy to introduce it into this culture through the translation of a word and let people know what it is. In this case, it is common to resort to something similar that already exists in the target culture, such as translating jiaozi into Dumpling.

so what is this Curd in Bean Curd? Literally, this word describes the shape of small pieces. In terms of usage habits, it usually refers to fermented milk cubes. Curd is a kind of dairy product similar to yogurt but thicker and thicker than yogurt. This is common in India and Britain, but rarely seen in North America. Another thing is called cheese curd, which is a semi-finished product in the fermentation process of making cheese. It is a small piece with an inch square shape, which is very sticky and has good toughness. In terms of shape, it seems to make sense to translate tofu into bean curd. However, both curd and cheese curd are fermented. Tofu is produced without fermentation. Tofu is classified as non-fermented bean products in the national food safety standards formulated by China. So curd is not very accurate.

beans represent beans, which is no problem. However, in daily use habits, soy or soy bean refers to soybeans, while using beans alone usually refers to beans such as green beans. For example, soy sauce is generally translated as soy sauce, and there is no such usage as bean sauce.

so, the translation of bean curd is not very intuitive. It has been verified that this word has existed in the United States for more than 111 years, but it is not popular, and basically no one uses it like this. This also reflects from the side that this is not the optimal translation.

2. How about transliteration

In a sense, transliteration may be a better choice. This is why the national standard recommends the use of Chinese pinyin Doufu as the English translation of tofu.

this is also a common practice. For example, Tiramisu, a famous Italian dessert, was originally a trademark given to it by the restaurant that created it. Some people say that the chef named the dessert after himself, while others say it means "take me away". But when it became popular and there was no such thing in other cultures, it was transliterated directly. A more interesting example is latte, which is written in English as Latte and also transliterated from Italian. It sounds tall, but it is a very common word in Italian, which means milk. The Italian habit of drinking coffee, unless otherwise specified, is without milk, espresso, and latte with milk.

So there is no problem in translating tofu into Doufu.

3. Usage habits

If there is anything wrong with this translation, it is that it does not conform to the established usage habits. Tofu has been widely used in English to translate tofu. This word is transliterated from Japanese into English, just like Lamian Noodles translated into Ramen.

Yes, both tofu and Lamian Noodles spread from China to Japan, and then from Japan to Europe and America. However, once these transliteration words enter English, they have become a part of foreign words in English. I'm afraid it will take some trouble to get rid of them and change them.

For example, the trademark of Tsingtao Beer, according to the standard translation method, "Qingdao" should be spelled as Qingdao according to Chinese Pinyin, but many years before the introduction of the Chinese Pinyin scheme, Tsingtao Beer was sold all over the world under the trademark Tsingtao Beer. Today's Tsingtao beer still uses this trademark. Conversely, once foreign words enter Chinese, it is not so easy to change their usage habits. The famous Johnson & Johnson Company is called Johnson in English, which is the same name as NBA star Magic Johnson. However, both Johnson and Johnson are widely accepted English terms in Chinese. It is hard to accept whether Johnson Company is renamed Johnson Company or magician is renamed Johnson Company.

We must let other countries change the translated name according to their own habits. The most familiar example is that South Korea asked China to change the translated name of "Seoul" to "Seoul". Not to mention that this request has been ridiculed by netizens in China for a long time. As far as operability is concerned, this request is at least feasible, because the main body of the incident is the two governments in diplomatic activities. However, if the Korean government asks all restaurants selling Korean barbecues in the world to change their names from "Seoul Roast" and "Seoul Barbecue King" to "Seoul Roast" and "Seoul Barbecue King", it will not only be ridiculous, but also impossible-restaurant owners will not listen to him.

It is still unknown whether catering enterprises in China will call tofu doufu according to national standards or Tofu according to the language habits of customers who eat tofu. Overseas Chinese restaurants don't have to worry about the standards issued by the Ministry, and most of them will continue to use TOFU-on the one hand, it is the master who sets the standards, and on the other hand, it is the food and clothing parents. Who do you listen to?