| Pages in topic: < [1 2 3 4 5 6] > | Off topic: Restaurant menu translation problems! Thread poster: Catharine Cellier-Smart
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Rolf Kern 
Switzerland
Local time: 08:07
English to German
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In memoriam | Other examples, this time in German | Sep 2, 2012 |
Many years ago (I will never foget it), in France, in Avignon, in the restaurant of a motel of a famous motel chain, the German part of the menu card was full of wrong translations staight out of the dictionary. I remember:
- Le filet de boeuf rôti -> Das Netz des gebratenen Rindes
- L'express -> Der D-Zug
- (something) dans son coulis -> XY in seiner Ausfugmasse
And in Hannover, Germany, a restaurant offered "pommes de frites" instead of "pommes frites" for frie... See more Many years ago (I will never foget it), in France, in Avignon, in the restaurant of a motel of a famous motel chain, the German part of the menu card was full of wrong translations staight out of the dictionary. I remember:
- Le filet de boeuf rôti -> Das Netz des gebratenen Rindes
- L'express -> Der D-Zug
- (something) dans son coulis -> XY in seiner Ausfugmasse
And in Hannover, Germany, a restaurant offered "pommes de frites" instead of "pommes frites" for fried potatoes. ▲ Collapse
| | | | John Burridge
United States
Local time: 02:07
Member (2009)
German to English
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| Getting billed in Portuguese | Sep 2, 2012 |
Ornithology is one of my specialites, but Portuguese is not my best language.
For a project I needed to translate "red-billed tropic bird" and found "red-invoiced hot-weather bird."
My Portuguese girlfriend smiled and said, "Somebody doing stupid things with a Portuguese dictionary again."
That was akin to the time that someone was confused by the apparent similarities between Spanish and Portuguese and misused the Spanish "polvo" in the phrase "the air was... See more Ornithology is one of my specialites, but Portuguese is not my best language.
For a project I needed to translate "red-billed tropic bird" and found "red-invoiced hot-weather bird."
My Portuguese girlfriend smiled and said, "Somebody doing stupid things with a Portuguese dictionary again."
That was akin to the time that someone was confused by the apparent similarities between Spanish and Portuguese and misused the Spanish "polvo" in the phrase "the air was full of dust", which comes out in Portuguese to be "the air was full of octopus'.
[Edited at 2012-09-02 12:34 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | John Burridge
United States
Local time: 02:07
Member (2009)
German to English
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| New York French | Sep 2, 2012 |
[quote]Catherine V. Howard wrote:
I saw quite a few amusing translations [sic] on menus in Brazil (does anyone remember the reassuring sign in a restaurant window at Largo Carioca, "Speak English We"?).
There was a joke along this line when a shop in New York displayed the sign, "On parle français ici."
A customer entered the shop and asked,
"Qui parle français?:"
And from behind the desk came the reply,
"Je."
| | | | Karen Vincent-Jones (X)
United Kingdom
Local time: 07:07
French to English
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| Spanish cakes | Sep 2, 2012 |
A few years ago I saw this on a Spanish restaurant menu supposedly translated into English:
"pastrycook's shop with scum".
This was a somewhat free translation of 'pasteleria con nata', as 'pasteleria' can refer both to pastries and the shop where they are sold, and cream = scum - well, I suppose they both rise to the top!.
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eski
Mexico
Local time: 00:07
Member
Spanish to English
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MODERATOR | Machitos vs Criadillas : Guts vs balls on Mexican taco Menus | Sep 2, 2012 |
Mexican food is my all-time favorie gastronomoc adventure: at saundry times I've had taco-torta-burrito stands (Guadalajara), taco food truck (in Acapulco), and take -out Mexican Food (Acapulco Yacht Club)in addition to other my other professional acttivities. (My family owned restaurants in NYC and Miami when I was growing up, and I learned the ropes - everything from sweeping and mopping floors. waiting on tables & working behind a deli counter, to to carving a Christmas turkey).
... See more Mexican food is my all-time favorie gastronomoc adventure: at saundry times I've had taco-torta-burrito stands (Guadalajara), taco food truck (in Acapulco), and take -out Mexican Food (Acapulco Yacht Club)in addition to other my other professional acttivities. (My family owned restaurants in NYC and Miami when I was growing up, and I learned the ropes - everything from sweeping and mopping floors. waiting on tables & working behind a deli counter, to to carving a Christmas turkey).
Those of you have have visited the northern part of this wondrous & amazing country: Monterrey, Saltillo, etc., may be familiar with the following Mexican "Bullfighter's classics":
Los machitos son un tipo de comida que se sirve en México, especialmente en Monterrey. Se realiza con las vísceras e intestinos del cabrito, que debe ser de 28 días de vida para que tenga el verdadero sabor del platillo, típico del estado de Nuevo Leon, ubicado en el noreste del territorio mexicano. Se asa al carbón y se sirve acompañado de lechuga, tomate y cebolla en rodajas, tortillas y salsa "molcajeteada". Historiadores consideran que el platillo es de origen zefardita.
Por su nombre, mucha gente los confunde con las criadillas, que son los testículos de la res o del cordero asados al carbón. Sin embargo, los machitos son en realidad los intestinos de los mismos animales, muy parecidos a lo que en Argentina llaman chinchulinesy en Uruguay, chotos.
http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machito_(comida)
eski ▲ Collapse
| | | | Helen Johnston
Spain
Local time: 08:07
Member (2007)
Catalan to English
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Saw this years ago in a bar in Galicia: I'm afraid I still snigger when I see pincho moruno on a menu.
| | | | Harryl3
United States
Local time: 02:07
Member (2008)
Russian to English
| Menu Translations | Sep 2, 2012 |
"Utmost of chicken with smashed pot" was a popular favorite at the International Restaurant in Athens in the early 1960's
| | | | Colin Morley (X)
France
Local time: 08:07
French to English
| Seafood Themes | Sep 2, 2012 |
Some years ago I saw "assiette de crevettes roses" translated into English as "Plate of shrimps Roz"
Last year at a café in Bulgaria I enjoyed some "moules marinières" as well as a belly laugh. They were shown on the menu in English as "sailor's muscles"!
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Gaby Kamprad
Germany
Local time: 08:07
English to German
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| Have more fun! | Sep 2, 2012 |
All of you who would like to have a little distraction in their everyday translation routine should enter "disgusting 6-gear menu" in Google (in German: 6-Gänge-Degustationsmenü). But beware - it's addictive!
| | | | Andrew Weston
New Zealand
Local time: 18:07
Japanese to English
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| Grabs in Curry | Sep 2, 2012 |
A restaurant in Macau was offering 'Grabs in Curry' - sounded saucy to me! (should have been 'crabs', methinks)
This restaurant sign in Xian, China was very reassuring:
(Yep, the Chinese text reads left to right. The hsilgnE ... not so much.)
| | | | Artem Velichko
Ukraine
Local time: 09:07
Member (2009)
English to Russian
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I live in Khrakiv, a largely Russian-speaking city in the east of Ukraine. I like eating at a nearby Italian restaurant which serves very decent pizzas. They have a proper fire oven and normally get the food quite right. But their menu has never ceased to be a good laugh. The "foreign version" is a mixture of bad English and horrible Italian. It is a single "foreign version" with words from both poor languages widely mixed together within single dish names or descriptions (no joke!). Which tells... See more I live in Khrakiv, a largely Russian-speaking city in the east of Ukraine. I like eating at a nearby Italian restaurant which serves very decent pizzas. They have a proper fire oven and normally get the food quite right. But their menu has never ceased to be a good laugh. The "foreign version" is a mixture of bad English and horrible Italian. It is a single "foreign version" with words from both poor languages widely mixed together within single dish names or descriptions (no joke!). Which tells me that the "foreign text" was not a product of MT, but rather a fruit of somebody's copious linguistic labour.
One of the nicest hits on this menu is "bow soup". In Russian the word "лук" means both a bow and ... onions!
P.S. It reminded me of a Russian folk tale of an ingenious soldier who cooked "axe gruel". ▲ Collapse
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Here in Chile one of the most typical and popular foods is seafood and among them there is a mussel called as "choro zapato" (the mussel has many names according the country; in Chile is "choro", in Spain "mejillón").
Well, I remember have reading a menu from some local restaurant of my city (Santiago) and they translated everything literally, including the above mussel and it was translated as...choro shoe! I don´t know exactly the reason of its name but from what I heard it´s due its... See more Here in Chile one of the most typical and popular foods is seafood and among them there is a mussel called as "choro zapato" (the mussel has many names according the country; in Chile is "choro", in Spain "mejillón").
Well, I remember have reading a menu from some local restaurant of my city (Santiago) and they translated everything literally, including the above mussel and it was translated as...choro shoe! I don´t know exactly the reason of its name but from what I heard it´s due its size.
But it doesn´t over here, there´s another popular seafood called "loco", similar to the abalone, and in the menu it was also translated in the same way ("loco" means "crazy")!
I can´t imagine the facial expression of the foreign customers who read the menu and realize that some of the local dishes include as ingredients shoes and crazy mussels. ▲ Collapse
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Marjory Hord
Mexico
Local time: 00:07
English to Spanish
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| Muffled pigs' hands | Sep 3, 2012 |
I saw this in Mexico for manitas de puerco rebozadas (I think); I gather the rebozadas means they have a sort of egg batter that they are fried in; a "rebozo" is also a shawl in Mexico, so perhaps that is why the pig feet were "muffled".
| | | | Joel Schaefer
United States
Local time: 23:07
Member (2010)
German to English
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| Calzone in Venice | Sep 3, 2012 |
The menu had every dish named in German and English following the Italian. My favorite: calzone / Gefuellte Hosen / pants full up.
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Not exactly a translation error, but here in Colombia I have often seen "Cordon bleu" written as "Gordon Blue", they don't seem to realise it's French, just think it's badly pronounced English!
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