Okay, so recently I decided to tackle a little project: creating a dim sum menu in English. It seemed simple enough, but boy, did I underestimate it.
First, I grabbed a bunch of dim sum menus from local restaurants. I figured, why reinvent the wheel, right? I started by just copying the English names they used. Things like “Siu Mai” and “Har Gow” were easy, everyone knows those. But then I ran into stuff like “鳳爪”.
That’s when things got tricky. I realized just directly translating from Chinese isn’t always the best. “Phoenix Claws” sounds kinda… gross, even though that’s literally what it means. I spent a good chunk of time online researching what other restaurants called it. I saw “Chicken Feet,” “Braised Chicken Feet,” and even “Chicken Feet in Black Bean Sauce.” I ended up going with “Braised Chicken Feet” because it sounded the most appetizing.
Next, I moved on to descriptions. Just listing the names wasn’t going to cut it. I wanted people to know what they were actually ordering. So, for each item, I tried to write a short, clear description. Like, for “Har Gow,” I wrote “Steamed shrimp dumplings with bamboo shoots.” Simple, right?
But then I hit another wall. Some dishes are just… complex. Like, how do you describe “鹹水角” without making it sound weird? I played around with a few options, eventually settling on “Deep-fried glutinous rice dumplings with savory pork filling.” It’s a mouthful, but at least it’s accurate.
Spent ages trying to figure out the best way to describe the textures and flavors. I wanted to use words that would make people hungry, not turn them off. I also had to be careful not to make it sound too fancy or pretentious.
Once I had all the names and descriptions down, I started thinking about the layout. I didn’t want just a boring list. I decided to group the dishes by type – steamed, fried, baked, etc. – to make it easier to browse. I also added a few pictures to make it look more appealing.
Then I asked a friend who’s a native English speaker to proofread everything. She caught a few typos and suggested some better wording. Turns out “pan-fried turnip cake” is much clearer than “fried radish cake”. Who knew?
Finally, after a couple of weeks of tinkering, I had a dim sum menu I was actually proud of. It’s not perfect, but it’s a whole lot better than just a bunch of Chinese characters with Google Translate vomit underneath. It was a pain but learned a lot.