The Importance of Language When Serving Restaurant Patrons
The Importance of Language When Serving Restaurant Patrons
by Yi Sha
translated by Karl Zhang
The last time we went to a restaurant
We ordered tender stir-fried pork liver.
The waitress came to serve us and
Said: “Sir, here's your liver.”
Ouch!, I immediately covered
The place beneath which my liver lies.
More dishes kept coming to the table
And the last one
Was a bowl of soup made of ox penis
To complete the meal
The waitress, smiling most radiantly
Said: “Sir, here’s your penis”
Ouch!, Immediately I covered….
《上菜语言》
伊沙
上次我们去饭店吃饭
要了一盘爆炒肝尖
服务员小姐前来上菜
说：“您的肝”
噢！我一下
捂住了肝部
上菜 继续上菜
最后一道
清炖牛鞭
大功基本告成
小姐笑容灿烂
说：“您的牛鞭”
噢！我一下
Von der Wichtigkeit der Sprache beim Bedienen in einem Restaurant
von Yi Sha
übersetzt von Peter Beicken
Als wir das letzte Mal ein Restaurant besuchten,
bestellten wir zarte, pfannengerührte Schweinsleber.
Die Kellnerin kam, uns zu servieren und
sagte: “Mein Herr, hier ist Ihre Leber,”
Auweia! Sofort bedeckte ich
die Stelle, darunter meine Leber ist.
Mehr Speisen kamen auf unseren Tisch
und die letzte war eine Schüssel mit Ochsenpenissuppe
als Schlussgericht.
Mit einem strahlenden Lächeln sagte
die Kellnerin: “Mein Herr, hier ist Ihr Penis.”
Oh Schreck lass nach! Sofort bedeckte ich . . .
About the Poem: The Importance of Language When Serving Restaurant Patrons
The way food is talked about in advance can definitely influence our enjoyment of it when it appears. Nowhere is this more true than in a restaurant, and Chinese cuisine seems to offer an especially wide range of ways to describe—or mis-describe—a dish. The fun of this poem comes through despite translation. Karl Zhang, of George Mason University, noted that it still works even if the supposed speaker in the poem is female. The poet himself pointed out that the two dishes he describes (one quite common, the other extremely elegant) are not likely to both appear on the same menu in a real restaurant, even in China. All the same, the comic possibilities of presenting a dish in a manner more abrupt than a restaurant customer expects are almost endless.
About the Poet: Yi Sha
Yi Sha was born in 1966 in Chengdu in the People’s Republic of China. He has worked in television and on literary magazines and is now an assistant professor at the Xi’an International Studies University. He has published some ten volumes of prose and poetry, but has consistently been refused permission to give readings outside China. His first book of poems to appear in English translation is called Starve the Poets!, first written in 1994 and published in England by Bloodaxe Books in 2008.
by Yi Sha
translated by Karl Zhang
The last time we went to a restaurant
We ordered tender stir-fried pork liver.
The waitress came to serve us and
Said: “Sir, here's your liver.”
Ouch!, I immediately covered
The place beneath which my liver lies.
More dishes kept coming to the table
And the last one
Was a bowl of soup made of ox penis
To complete the meal
The waitress, smiling most radiantly
Said: “Sir, here’s your penis”
Ouch!, Immediately I covered….
《上菜语言》
伊沙
上次我们去饭店吃饭
要了一盘爆炒肝尖
服务员小姐前来上菜
说：“您的肝”
噢！我一下
捂住了肝部
上菜 继续上菜
最后一道
清炖牛鞭
大功基本告成
小姐笑容灿烂
说：“您的牛鞭”
噢！我一下
Von der Wichtigkeit der Sprache beim Bedienen in einem Restaurant
von Yi Sha
übersetzt von Peter Beicken
Als wir das letzte Mal ein Restaurant besuchten,
bestellten wir zarte, pfannengerührte Schweinsleber.
Die Kellnerin kam, uns zu servieren und
sagte: “Mein Herr, hier ist Ihre Leber,”
Auweia! Sofort bedeckte ich
die Stelle, darunter meine Leber ist.
Mehr Speisen kamen auf unseren Tisch
und die letzte war eine Schüssel mit Ochsenpenissuppe
als Schlussgericht.
Mit einem strahlenden Lächeln sagte
die Kellnerin: “Mein Herr, hier ist Ihr Penis.”
Oh Schreck lass nach! Sofort bedeckte ich . . .
About the Poem: The Importance of Language When Serving Restaurant Patrons
The way food is talked about in advance can definitely influence our enjoyment of it when it appears. Nowhere is this more true than in a restaurant, and Chinese cuisine seems to offer an especially wide range of ways to describe—or mis-describe—a dish. The fun of this poem comes through despite translation. Karl Zhang, of George Mason University, noted that it still works even if the supposed speaker in the poem is female. The poet himself pointed out that the two dishes he describes (one quite common, the other extremely elegant) are not likely to both appear on the same menu in a real restaurant, even in China. All the same, the comic possibilities of presenting a dish in a manner more abrupt than a restaurant customer expects are almost endless.
About the Poet: Yi Sha
Yi Sha was born in 1966 in Chengdu in the People’s Republic of China. He has worked in television and on literary magazines and is now an assistant professor at the Xi’an International Studies University. He has published some ten volumes of prose and poetry, but has consistently been refused permission to give readings outside China. His first book of poems to appear in English translation is called Starve the Poets!, first written in 1994 and published in England by Bloodaxe Books in 2008.
