The Korea Tourism Organization has published a guideline on English menus for Korean food and basic conversations for servers who receive foreign guests. The booklet offers names of about 4,300 Korean, Chinese and Japanese dishes frequently found in Korea, in the English, Japanese and Chinese languages.
“We standardized the Korean names of more than 4,000 dishes in foreign languages. And I hope it solves the problems we’ve had with poor translation of food menus in small and mid-size restaurants,” said Jeong Yong-moon, director of translation service division of the state tourism agency.
The cover of the new booklet on foreign language translation of Korean food, published by the Korea Tourism Organization (KTO)
Poor translations of menus at Korean restaurants have often confused tourists with little or no knowledge of Korean food. Many are written as English Romanization for Korean words, without explanation of the dishes, while mistranslations abound.
The new guideline features names of a total of 4,350 dishes ― 2,048 Korean, 220 Chinese and 176 Japanese dishes ― all edited by foreign language scholars and tourism experts. Korean menus are categorized into 18 parts based on recipes and names.
For instance, a variety of Korean bulgogi menus are featured, from grilled bulgogi to stir-fried and those served in a hot pot. The popular Korean food doenjang jjigae is translated as soybean paste stew.
The KTO set out a broad guideline on foreign language translation of food menus and signs and names of tourist attractions for provincial governments and the tourism industry in March last year. It also offers free tourism material translation and editing services for travel agencies, public organizations and provincial governments.
The KTO plans to distribute the guidebook to restaurants nationwide through the Korea Food Service Industry Association. The names of the dishes can also be searched at www.visitkorea.or.kr.
By Lee Woo-young (
wylee@heraldcorp.com)
