English Language Menus for Thai Food.

[Sirius1935]

A friend who owns an hotel in Mae Chan (Chiang Rai) has a really good riverside restaurant, Recently he asked me to check the English Language version of the menu which I did, assisted by a Thai friend who is a great cook. Out of, I would say more than eighty dishes, only one was translated into English correctly. Even the name of his restaurant was wrong! I asked him where he got the duff information from but he didn't know. However most of the errors were common to many other restaurants in Thailand.

I struck me that they must all get their bad translation from a common source, probably a Thai web site that anyone can use to translate their menus into English.

Does anyone have any idea what this web site might be? I can't find it and I can read Thai. I would like to put them straight on their spelling and on the English names or descriptions of Thai dishes, to the benefit of those who can't read Thai.

[pinkpanther99]

French fried is always my favourite.

You're quite right though, you often see some quite bizarre translations of things in menus.

I think they maybe just use Google translate and just copy and paste whatever it comes back with

Someone must have some pics of this kind of thing - Tinglish at its finest!

[Suradit69]

You could always try Google for sources:

There are hundreds listed here

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Thai_dishes

For example (click to enlarge):

Edited December 19, 2013 by Suradit69

[recycler]

Some may come from these translation CD's that they use here.

- Mix A Whole Porker - Yam Moo Yang

- Forces Fish - Pla Plala

- Shrimp Cooks Whore Dust - Tam Yam Kung

- Meat Roasts a Waterfall - Nua Yang Nam Tok

- Oval Sunlight Fish is One - Sundried fish

- Penetrate Pickling Shellfish - Somtam Hoi Dong

- Penetrate the Cucumber - Somtam Pu Tam

etc.

This and many more can be eaten at Pala Beach in Ban Chang, if you can stop laughing.....

[Sirius1935]

55 Great! I have Googled but not found what I am after. Let me re-phrase the question:

The restaurant menu didn't have only mistakes in the translation but in some cases had completely the wrong dish name in English. The mistakes, according to my Thai cookery expert are identical mistakes in other restaurants as far apart as Chiang Rai and Phuket.

So, there has to be a common source of the incorrect English translation on a Thai web site. Then, when a Thai person wants to find the English name for a dish, to put on their new menu, they will go to this web site and just copy the English name. All but one of over eighty dishes was wrongly named in English. If I could only find this erroneous translation service, I could advise them of the correct name in English.

Thanks.

[Bpuumike]

French fried is always my favourite.

You're quite right though, you often see some quite bizarre translations of things in menus.

I think they maybe just use Google translate and just copy and paste whatever it comes back with

Someone must have some pics of this kind of thing - Tinglish at its finest!

I think you got it right. Don't want to mention the site, which is hopeless, in case of defamation.

[tingtongteesood]

Don't put them right, it's one of the good things about being here laughing at the funny mistakes. The best is when instead of 'cordon bleu' it says 'Gordon Blue' I guess it's the cooks name ?

[dzodun]

There is probably good money to be made translating Thai menus to English. I know of one American who

is doing it. Sadly so far I do not know the Thai dishes well enough to describe them in English. Maybe later.

[MrBrad]

Even if you found what you believe is a deviant website, and you were able to contact the webmasters there, chances are that your attempts to correct them would fall on deaf ears. Thai, for the most part, never will accept correction or criticism. Never. In this case you could hand them any number of reference books or genuine menus from better restaurants, and they'd deny that what they were looking at was correct or proper English.

The best you can do, maybe, is to try to get the management at whatever restaurant you happen to be eating at to accept your corrections the next time he or she has menus printed. However, that, right there, could be part of the problem as well. Paying to have new menus printed.

[Sirius1935]

Yes, I believe you are right. My friend did accept all my alterations, even the name of his restaurant on the cover of the menu.

One example was a dish called "Pak Boi Sien"... "Nine Birds in the Sky with an egg" which I changed to "Glass noodles with liver". Just so that an English speaking person might avoid that dish if they didn't like liver.

There must be many more amusing howlers?

[remobb]

It's obvious, haven't you heard? It's down to bad teachers according to the education department (not)

[Ulic]

My first guess would be Google translate, but maybe there is a more popular search engine here

that may give a translation service.

[socksy01]

Our feet (fish) is aroy!

[mumjokmok]

I think where this collective error thing appears it may come down to something along the lines of pictures of school students wearing paper 'blinders' during an exam, maybe there exists just a tendency to copy your friends menu. I know this is exists in Phuket, particularly in the "oh look it's just slipped out of our fingers" days of beachfronts being crowded with small Thai-run businesses. Not only was the poor spelling nearly the same on every menu but just about everyone's food was identical too. I'm not sure if you can still get a barcardi and cock on Surin beach.

It could be that or it could be someone got embarrassed when you noticed all the mistakes and then politely 'no one' did it.

[Bpuumike]

I would proof read them for free at my local hang outs. Maybe it's too much loss of face to ask.

[IMA_FARANG]

Yes, I believe you are right. My friend did accept all my alterations, even the name of his restaurant on the cover of the menu.

One example was a dish called "Pak Boi Sien"... "Nine Birds in the Sky with an egg" which I changed to "Glass noodles with liver". Just so that an English speaking person might avoid that dish if they didn't like liver.

There must be many more amusing howlers?

----------------------

In a Korean restaurant in what was then called Saigon, Vietnam I once had,:

Roasted Pigs Intestines with Rice in Hearts Blood Soup.

Actually it was Barbecued Pork Livers, Heart, and Pork Tripe in a soup made with Pig's blood as one ingredient in the soup served over a bed of Rice.

Actually it was quite good too.

They barbecued the meat in front of me at the table.

Barbecued Pig's Liver and Heart is delicious meat.

[MarcelV]

On 12/20/2013 at 9:50 AM, recycler said:

Some may come from these translation CD's that they use here.

- Mix A Whole Porker - Yam Moo Yang

- Forces Fish - Pla Plala

- Shrimp Cooks Whore Dust - Tam Yam Kung

- Meat Roasts a Waterfall - Nua Yang Nam Tok

- Oval Sunlight Fish is One - Sundried fish

- Penetrate Pickling Shellfish - Somtam Hoi Dong

- Penetrate the Cucumber - Somtam Pu Tam

etc.

This and many more can be eaten at Pala Beach in Ban Chang, if you can stop laughing.....

Does such a menu really exist?