Improved English Menus
News July 8th, 2008
Looks like these might be going out of style!
It’s sort of a point of pride for me to order from the Chinese menu… partly because I’m still impressed with myself that I can read it, and partly because many restaurants have one Chinese menu, and one English, picture menu with an extra zero on the end of the prices.
This month, the Chinese government has officially released its very long list of suggested translations for Chinese dishes in preparation for a tourist-friendly Olympics.
While a lot of media attention has focused on the dishes with names that are odd in translation (鈥滳hicken Without Sexual Life鈥� and 鈥淗usband and Wife Lung Slice鈥�), in reality those are but a handful of the hundreds of dishes on the list, and those English translations are awkwardly chosen.
Pumping Chinese dishes through a computer translator can create some strange results, but translation has always been more an art than a science. Of course, machine translation + human error can create even more bizarre results. (Can you order Wikipedia with garlic sauce?)
The master list is incredibly helpful because, as it was built through consensus over many drafts, it conveys the optimal translations to bridge the gap between American and Chinese culinary sensibilities. This list will be useful not just in China, but for Chinese restaurants here in America for years to come.
The list is revealing in what it says about what Americans get (or don鈥檛 get) about Chinese food. Reading the list, it鈥檚 clear that Americans get sweet and sour and spicy. Both are used as catch-alls for more complex descriptors of Chinese flavors.
It is also telling which Chinese dishes have jumped the transliteration gap (鈥漦ung pao chicken鈥� and 鈥渕apo tofu鈥�) and which ones haven鈥檛.
I’m also a little bummed that this new list will cut down on my hilarious Chinglish photos. But it really will be quite helpful for visitors!
Via NYT Olympics Blog, photo from Zeekster
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