How to Translate an In-flight Menu
The challenge for the translator of in-flight menus is to understand the target audience. This is an area where most translators fail. They fail to understand the target audience for the menu. In-flight menus are served in all classes, including economy but translated versions of in-flight menus are only given in business class.
I'll look at examples from India. I have translated menus for many years. When you look at the menu and find a food item like cheese with its nice description of semi-hard cheddar and nutty taste, the first thought that strikes you in India is that India does not produce 300 kinds of chesses that France does. I'm sure there are many countries where 300 kinds of cheeses are not made. So, what next?
At first thought, the idea of a nutty flavor in cheese sounds foreign to you and you balk at the concept and you wonder if your audience will understand it. Then you translate it. Sometimes you get beverage items like wine, which poses problems too because with conservative societies like India, where foreign liquor is rarely imported and strictly controlled, most people wouldn't have known about these wines if they weren't served in the flight!
Few times, I have had dishes with beef as an ingredient. It was a German dish and I didn't know what it meant. I found out and then told the person who asked me to translate that it would pose a serious problem to the airline company if it were sent to India. The dish in question would have been translated as 'cow meat' etc. Then the next day, I got an email from the person who asked to translate that the airline company had changed it.
I hope you enjoyed reading this nugget on translating in-flight menus.
Published by Roomy Naqvy
Professor of English, translator, localization professional, editor, investor, blogger from India. Very versatile, multifaceted. View profile
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- Translating in-flight menus is real fun. They can be tough.