| Pages in topic: < [1 2 3 4 5 6] > | Off topic: Restaurant menu translation problems! Thread poster: Catharine Cellier-Smart
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| Restaurant blunders in Israel | Sep 3, 2012 |
We find this in a lot of Israeli menus too! Some restaurant owners are happy to have me translate the menu, for free, but others really don't care. Only once have I been asked to professionally translate a menu, and that was by a restaurant's PR firm.
This does give us, the English speakers, a great topic of conversation. Usually you'll find spelling mistakes on the menu, but sometimes the translation is really funny. Anyone for some cold 'hotel' (ie. melon - obviously translated by g... See more We find this in a lot of Israeli menus too! Some restaurant owners are happy to have me translate the menu, for free, but others really don't care. Only once have I been asked to professionally translate a menu, and that was by a restaurant's PR firm.
This does give us, the English speakers, a great topic of conversation. Usually you'll find spelling mistakes on the menu, but sometimes the translation is really funny. Anyone for some cold 'hotel' (ie. melon - obviously translated by google). Another funny one was chicken liver - which is 'kaved' in Hebrew, similar to the word 'kavod' which means respect. The dish on the menu was: "respect the chicken" ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Net of wolf anyone? | Sep 3, 2012 |
My favourite translation for "filet de loup" in southern France!
| | | | catpfam 
Australia
Local time: 23:34
French to English
| Along the lines of the dung example... | Sep 3, 2012 |
Seen on a dessert menu in Nepal:
Apple craps
I believe crepes was the word they were aiming at, but have always half-wondered what animal produces such excretions !?!
| | | | | Other pearls found in a Turin cafe | Sep 3, 2012 |
Hi everybody,
I could not stop laughing while having a delicious Italian ice cream, the phrases translated from Italian to English were really funny.
Here are some examples (in brackets the usual term and explanation for those who don't know Italian):
caffè espresso > EXPRESS COFFEE (should be > espresso, espresso coffee)
cappuccino deK-orzo > CAPPUCCINO DEK-BARLEY (> decaffeinated coffee or barley coffee, perhaps, never seen decaffeinated barl... See more Hi everybody,
I could not stop laughing while having a delicious Italian ice cream, the phrases translated from Italian to English were really funny.
Here are some examples (in brackets the usual term and explanation for those who don't know Italian):
caffè espresso > EXPRESS COFFEE (should be > espresso, espresso coffee)
cappuccino deK-orzo > CAPPUCCINO DEK-BARLEY (> decaffeinated coffee or barley coffee, perhaps, never seen decaffeinated barley, simply doesn't exist, so I really have no idea what they meant even in Italian!)
caffè corretto > CORRECT COFFE (sic!) (> coffee laced with liquor)
caffè shakerato > COFFE (sic!) SHOOK (> coffee mixed in a shaker; perhaps I'm wrong but even the translation: "shakered coffee", and sometimes found on the Internet, is an Italian invention and is not used in English)
manzo affumicato > MANZO FILLED WITH SMOKE (> smoked beef)
The list was longer unfortunately but these are the only ones I managed to copy before the waiter took the menu away.
I think it's a mix of machine translation and a very imaginative (or rather careless and with very poor English!) typist who created the menu and printed it!
Have fun!
P.S.:
And here is what happened with an Italian client who asked me to translate some words of the menu for his well-know restaurant, one of the best in the area; and he was a very haughty and conceited person himself, disgusting in his manners to say the least.
The menu contained the phrase:
INSALATA DI GIRASOLI (which I should have translated SUNFLOWER SALAD, but hopefully the dish does not exist, at least in the Italian cuisine!)
The proud restaurant manager had simply NOT realized that the Italian word "girasole", is only used for "sunflower" and not for "chicory", which is what he meant to use for his salad!
In the Piedmontese dialect "cicoria" (i.e. chicory) is often wrongly called "girasole" because a type of chicory has yellow flowers that look more or less like sunflowers, although much smaller and without the round central disk and the crown of petals the sunflower has.
I told the conceited client that I refused to translate what he had written and suggested changing the Italian text as well, to prevent his Italian customers from laughing as much as I had done when I first had seen the text.
Can you imagine a salad made with a sunflower?
Giuseppe
[Modificato alle 2012-09-03 07:42 GMT]
[Modificato alle 2012-09-03 08:01 GMT]
[Modificato alle 2012-09-03 08:28 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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Terence Oliver (X)
German to English
| Restaurant menu translation problems | Sep 3, 2012 |
Many years ago in Hamburg, there was a Greek restaurant which offered English translations of its German menu. You could split your sides at most of the items, but two gems I remember were the attractive dish "bowels in spit" and a "blicket of ice clibes" (I assume the copy for this was written in upper case and the "U" somehow got split up into L and I).
| | | | Ian Graham
Belgium
Local time: 17:34
Danish to English
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| Chocolate fly and other delights | Sep 3, 2012 |
A Greek restaurant in Brussels used to offer "mouche au chocolat". And a Yugoslav hotel where I stayed in the days when there was a Yugoslavia had the same dessert on the menu every day: "compost". Then there was the Belgian supermarket that used to sell a "meagre white cheese" that "keeps still in the refrigerator three days after opening". And some dishes aren't mistranslations at all, just very odd. To Belgian gourmets who turn up their noses at Britain's "toad in the hole", I point out that ... See more A Greek restaurant in Brussels used to offer "mouche au chocolat". And a Yugoslav hotel where I stayed in the days when there was a Yugoslavia had the same dessert on the menu every day: "compost". Then there was the Belgian supermarket that used to sell a "meagre white cheese" that "keeps still in the refrigerator three days after opening". And some dishes aren't mistranslations at all, just very odd. To Belgian gourmets who turn up their noses at Britain's "toad in the hole", I point out that Belgium's own delicious cuisine includes "birds without heads" if you're French-speaking or "blind finches" if you're Flemish (both made of beef), "calf's head in tortoise" and "pressed head" (originally a corruption of the Flemish for "burst head"). There's also translation above and beyond the call of duty. I once saw "croque monsieur" and "croque madame" carefully rendered into English as "man crunch" and "lady crunch". Something for all tastes. ▲ Collapse
| | | | VdeMoor (X)
Local time: 17:34
French to Dutch
+ ...
| greeting of the soup in Belgium and the Netherlands | Sep 3, 2012 |
It appears that in Belgium and the Netherlands people to tend to greet the soup. A simple walk through cities proves this rather strange habit.
Just by watching the signs at restaurants you will notice several signs with:
"dag soep" in two words. This simple space makes it a strange habit. Dagsoup (in one word, would be soup of the day".
Another embarrassing thing...Just look up what a "Morgenlatte hier zu bekommen" (a caffe latte in the morning here available) also mean... See more It appears that in Belgium and the Netherlands people to tend to greet the soup. A simple walk through cities proves this rather strange habit.
Just by watching the signs at restaurants you will notice several signs with:
"dag soep" in two words. This simple space makes it a strange habit. Dagsoup (in one word, would be soup of the day".
Another embarrassing thing...Just look up what a "Morgenlatte hier zu bekommen" (a caffe latte in the morning here available) also means in German...
keep on spotting these marvels...
Frédéric ▲ Collapse
| | | | Alianora
Local time: 17:34
English to Croatian
+ ...
| menu mistranslation | Sep 3, 2012 |
Restaurant menu mistranslations are my favorite pastime too! This one has been a very popular joke among Croatian language professionals of all kinds:
The main point is that in Croatian word "prilozi" can mean, depending obviously on the context, either side dishes or adverbs. So the restaurant in question went with Google Translate and decided for the adverbs. Ha... See more Restaurant menu mistranslations are my favorite pastime too! This one has been a very popular joke among Croatian language professionals of all kinds:
The main point is that in Croatian word "prilozi" can mean, depending obviously on the context, either side dishes or adverbs. So the restaurant in question went with Google Translate and decided for the adverbs. Happy days! ▲ Collapse
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Edson Lopes
Local time: 12:34
English to Portuguese
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| At a self-service restaurant in São Paulo, Brazil | Sep 3, 2012 |
The dishes were carefully labeled, only in Portuguese, but barbecue sauce is sometimes named in English. But the name tag said "Barbie kill".
| | | | Isamar
Local time: 17:34
Spanish to English
| Not interested... | Sep 3, 2012 |
I also offered to translate the menu at a roadside restaurant in Spain (heading south) some years ago. The item on the menu that prompted my offer was 'Brocheta especial', translated as 'Special paintbrush'!!!
| | | | Eulaliana
United States
Local time: 11:34
Bulgarian to English
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The word "cru" in French can mean various things: raw, vintage (for wine) and, among other meanings, believed, as the past participle of the verb "croire".
In Cannes (Luxe Café, rue d'Antibes ) back in 2007, we were amused to find this:
![]() https://twitter.com/MagRahn/status/242664343186051073/photo/1
[Edited at 2012-09-03 16:46 GMT]
| | | | | Hot goat on the farmer's wife | Sep 3, 2012 |
I wonder what they were thinking of...
Anyway, a mistranslation of "chèvre chaud à la paysanne" which became "Ziege heiß an der Bäuerin" in German. Very nice indeed!
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Clumpco
Local time: 17:34
French to English
| The original and the best | Sep 3, 2012 |
I invite you to use the wayback machine and discover the magic of the menus of Flavio's restaurant in Le Touquet.
Flavios on Wayback
Click on the British Flag, choose 'The card' or 'menus' and enjoy such delicacies as:
* Tepid cress of the Muzzles been useful
* The lamb of our area spotted
... See more I invite you to use the wayback machine and discover the magic of the menus of Flavio's restaurant in Le Touquet.
Flavios on Wayback
Click on the British Flag, choose 'The card' or 'menus' and enjoy such delicacies as:
* Tepid cress of the Muzzles been useful
* The lamb of our area spotted of sage, garlic smoked out of shirt
* Crunching spinaches
* Laminated Rhubarb
* Blown frozen with the cutters
* Cheeses from here and besides
The restaurant certainly lives up to its description, it is indeed an "engagement of the flesh and of the wine are perfect and that the festival of the taste is imposing. Confidence that exists! Among the pleasures of its art, some raised wonders Ci and there"
[Edited at 2012-09-03 20:06 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Plates to the Letter (Platos a la Carta) | Sep 3, 2012 |
Yes, I've seen them.
In Ollantaytambo, Perú, the last train stop before Macchu Pichu.
The menu read:
Cafe - Bar - Restaurant
"El Bosque"
Av. Ferrocarril s/n, Ollantaytambo
We offer:
- Breakfast
- Lunch
- Diner
- Plates to the letter
Our Speciality: Traditional food
All kind of hot and cold drinks
BTW, the place also acts as a small hostel, should you be interested in taking the train from there in... See more Yes, I've seen them.
In Ollantaytambo, Perú, the last train stop before Macchu Pichu.
The menu read:
Cafe - Bar - Restaurant
"El Bosque"
Av. Ferrocarril s/n, Ollantaytambo
We offer:
- Breakfast
- Lunch
- Diner
- Plates to the letter
Our Speciality: Traditional food
All kind of hot and cold drinks
BTW, the place also acts as a small hostel, should you be interested in taking the train from there instead of taking it in Cusco. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Rape revisited | Sep 4, 2012 |
Further to Jennifer Gray's Rape-Sailor-Style - - -
The fish known as Monkfish in English, or Lotte in French, is called Rape in Spanish (pronounced RAH-Pay). The original French recipe was Lotte a l'Armoricaine, but when it reached northern Spain it had been transliterated to "a la Americana". Thereby resulting in a delicious dish called Rape a la Americana.
When I first came to Spain 50-odd years ago, I was tickled pink to see this item on many different restaurant men... See more Further to Jennifer Gray's Rape-Sailor-Style - - -
The fish known as Monkfish in English, or Lotte in French, is called Rape in Spanish (pronounced RAH-Pay). The original French recipe was Lotte a l'Armoricaine, but when it reached northern Spain it had been transliterated to "a la Americana". Thereby resulting in a delicious dish called Rape a la Americana.
When I first came to Spain 50-odd years ago, I was tickled pink to see this item on many different restaurant menus: Rape American Style. ▲ Collapse
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