A menu in several languages: how to welcome tourists
A guest who can’t read the menu orders the safest thing on it, or leaves. A menu in their own language lets them choose what they really want. Here is how to do it well.
Which languages to add
Look at who comes in: the languages you hear at your tables and read in your reviews. Most restaurants need their main language and two or three more. In Armenia, for example, many restaurants use Armenian, Russian and English.
Translate dish names the right way
Keep the dish’s own name and explain it. “Khorovats: grilled meat skewers” tells a visitor much more than a word-for-word translation. Do the same for local ingredients.
Machine translation is a good first draft. Ask a native speaker to read it once: small mistakes in food names can be funny or confusing.
Allergens must be exact
Allergens are about safety, so they should never depend on a translation. Choose them from a fixed list, such as gluten, milk and nuts, and the menu shows them correctly in every language.
How guests choose their language
Guests pick their language on the menu, and their choice is remembered for that menu. You decide which language guests see first, and you can share a link that opens the menu directly in one language. Menus in Arabic, Persian and Hebrew read from right to left.
Ordering without a shared language
When a guest has chosen their dishes, “Show to the waiter” shows the order in the restaurant’s own language, in large text, so staff understand it at a glance. Orders sent from the table arrive in your language too.
Keep every language up to date
When you add a dish or change a description, add the other languages before you publish. A menu that is only half translated looks unfinished.
- Prices, photos and allergens are shared by every language: only the texts need translating
- Check new dishes in each language before publishing
- Ask regular foreign guests if anything is unclear