Troy McClure must have been here.
Posted on 08/31/2007 7:25:29 PM PDT by traumer
China is taking action on the English translations of its restaurant menus in its campaign to brush up the country's image for next year's Olympics.
The Beijing Tourism Bureau has released a list of 2,753 dishes and drinks it thinks could do with a wording rethink.
Translations such as "virgin chicken" for a young chicken dish and "burnt lion's head" for pork meatballs are confusing for foreigners, it says.
China has launched a major drive to present a good image next year.
Spitting, littering and bad driving have all been targeted in a bid to stamp out bad habits in the Chinese capital ahead of the Olympic Games.
Cultural connotations
The aim of the latest campaign is to end the "confusing, even ridiculous translations" on menus, China's state news agency Xinhua quotes the bureau as saying.
The names of many Chinese dishes have historical, cultural, regional and political connotations that would not necessarily be understood by foreigners, Xinhua reports.
But the poor English translations "either scare or embarrass foreign customers and may cause misunderstanding of China's diet habits".
The tourism bureau is seeking opinions on the translations of 2,753 dishes and drinks.
The final, approved list of translated names will then be rolled out to restaurants across the country, Xinhua says.
We have a family member who goes to China alot on business. He said the food is so disgusting, that he always brings a box of energy bars and lives on those for the entire trip.
I can’t imagine where he’s eating. I found the food in Beijing to be fantastic. Of course, the Chinese (and especially the Taiwanese) are known to eat a lot of bizarre things. But “normal” Chinese food is excellent.
“Stinky tofu” comes to mind. But even that is delicious, if you learn to reverse your brains belief that putrid smells mean disgusting food.
How's that been working out so far?
That’s one food I’ve never been able to handle. But I do love shrimp heads!
Troy McClure must have been here.
Back in the 80s I worked in Venezuela for a while. Great food, but “Gordon Blubb” on the menu had me scratching my head. Turns out it was Cordon Bleu.
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