外語菜單 Bilingual Menus for Beijing

在大陸的一些餐館甚至高級酒店裡，常可看見各種讓人摸不著頭緒的英文菜單，眼見2008年北京奧運在即，北京市政府決定對全市餐飲菜單訂定統一規範，也就是說，將統一規範中國菜的英文名稱。

A frequent sight in restaurants and even high-class establishments in China is English menus that leave readers thoroughly confused. Now, with the Olympic Games scheduled for Beijing in 2008 fast approaching, the Beijing City Government has set out to standardize the English terms used in restaurants throughout the city, which amounts to agreeing on standard English names for Chinese dishes.

近幾年，北京市多數酒店都推出了外語菜單，但因地域及飲食文化的差別，不僅缺乏統一規範，且語法差錯，讓人看得一頭霧水。例如「Government abuse chicken」，指的是「宮保雞」，如照其英文字譯就成了「政府虐待雞」；又如「Chop the strange fish」 (砍那陌生的魚)，指的竟是大家常吃的生魚片。不要說是不懂中國文化的老外了，即使是同文同種的台灣同胞，看了這樣的英文菜單，保證也是有如丈二金剛摸不著頭緒，根本不知如何點菜。

Many Beijing restaurants have introduced foreign-language menus in recent years, but regional and culinary differences have resulted not only in a lack of uniformity but errors of syntax as well that can be bewildering to say the least. “Gongbao Chicken” for example, is rendered as “Government abuse chicken”, which would seem to indicate some sort of official sadism, while sashimi - in Chinese, raw fish slices - is offered as “Chop the strange fish”, presumably because the Chinese for raw can also mean ‘strange’, as in ‘stranger’, and the distinction has not been drawn between the noun ‘slice’ and the verb ‘chop’. Not only are foreigners with no knowledge of Chinese culture left shaking their heads at this, as might be understandable, but even Taiwanese compatriots of the same ethnicity and mother tongue find themselves at a loss when it comes to ordering from menus like these.

新華社日前報導，北京市首次針對餐飲菜單規範英文譯法的工作大致已經完成，包括數千種菜品、酒水的英文翻譯，將逐步對外公布，同時邀請市民提供補充建議。報導指出，初步完成的官方版的北京市飲菜單英文譯法，計畫在1月底推出，屆時北京市旅遊局將向全市星級酒店餐廳推廣，還將提供給計畫推出雙語菜單的餐飲業者參考。

A report from the Xinhua news agency indicates that this first project of the Beijing City Government to standardize the English used on menus is for the most part complete. The list, which includes the names of thousands of dishes and drinks, is to be introduced gradually, while further suggestions are welcomed. The first official version of the translated items is scheduled for release at the end of January, at which time the city’s tourism office will distribute it to restaurants in all star-rated hotels in the municipal area, and indeed make it available to all establishments planning to use bilingual menus. 

in the run-up to the election, candidates …

with the 2008 Olympics at hand, the city government …

with the 2008 Olympics just around the corner, the city government

a vineyard 酒莊

standard invoice 統一發票(目前用unified invoice實不恰當,建議改正)

a frequent sight even in high-quality restaurants is …

a frequent sight in restaurants even of high-quality is …

to be left shaking your head = have no idea

I am at a loss to understand why they’ve done this.

               to explain how this happened.

               to figure out what he means.