Standardizing a menu translation is not an easy task, especially if the translation involves Chinese to English. With the Beijing Olympics just around the corner, on Tuesday, the Beijing government's foreign affairs office and the Beijing tourism bureau joined forces to distribute the Chinese Menu in English Version, a publication for tourists.

Prior to the release of this pamphlet, Chinese restaurants had to use translation software for the English names of their complicated dishes. This resulted in translations that gave certain entrees names like "Government Abused Chicken," which should have actually read "Kung Pao Chicken."

To accomplish this task, twenty-four translators studied Chinese restaurants in English-speaking countries to determine the universally accepted names of dishes. Brand names of certain items, such as beer and Cantonese dialects, have been preserved.

This effort will turn menus in Beijing Chinese restaurants into understandable script for the English speaker; however, some may miss the interesting dishes that resulted from the prior translation mishaps, such as "Chicken without a Sexual Life," which should actually be the dish "Tong Zi Ji."

18 June 2008