[Ren]

Why translate your menu?

为什么要翻译您的菜单？

无论是快餐厅还是高档餐厅，一张高品质的菜单都是任何成功饭店不可或缺的部分。高品质的菜单应该是清晰，准确且有吸引力。所有的人都喜欢美食，不论是中国人还是外国人。随着全球化程度越来越高，多语言菜单越来越重要，在一些大城市您的菜单是否有其他语言版本可能会影响饭店的业绩。很多饭店已经意识到多语言版本菜单的必要性而且已经开始把他们的菜单翻译成其他语言。但一般来说，这些菜单都有不少的错误或不地道的翻译。有时候这样的菜单翻译让客人误解、糊涂，甚至完全看不懂，这影响到饭店的业绩和品牌。

From fast food outlets to high quality gourmet eateries, a good menu is an essential ingredient in any restaurants success. A high quality menu should  be clear, precise and inviting. All people love to eat. As the world’s corners becomes more and more accessible to people of every nation, the need for menus in other languages also becomes increasingly important. In some very cosmopolitan cities whether or not your menu is written in more than one language may very well be the key to the survival of your business. Since many people speak English as a second language, it is most likely one of those languages will be English. Many restaurants have recognised this need and have begun to translate their menus into other languages. However, more often than not, the menu is littered with spelling mistakes and inaccurate translations. Sometimes the translation misleads the patron, sometimes it confuses, and sometimes it is not understandable.

[Ren]

Free coffee? No free coffee.

Free coffee? Not at all. No free coffee. No free lunch.

Read about this story:

A man saw a sign like this:

好利来现烤面包 COME FOR THE FREE COFFEE Stay for holiland

Then he wrote that I noticed this sign outside a newly opened coffee shop and went in to inquire about the advertised promotion. The waitress seemed quite bemused as I asked for my free coffee. I tried to explain that the English part of the sign outside said I should come in for free coffee. She really didn’t see the funny side. If the English was accurately translated from the Chinese above it, it might read: Holiland’s fresh toast. No wonder the waitress was confused.