Worked menu translation examples

Consider a section headed PARA COMPARTIR with three lines: Pan con tomate 6,50; Gambas al ajillo 14; and Pulpo a la gallega 18. The heading means dishes intended for sharing, not a dish with its own price. Each number belongs to the dish on the same line, and the comma in 6,50 is a decimal separator.

A useful English result keeps the section as To Share and renders the dishes as Tomato Bread, Garlic Shrimp, and Galician-style Octopus while preserving 6.50, 14, and 18 beside the correct items. The original Spanish names should remain visible because they are the clearest way to point out the order to staff.

Now consider a heading 面食 followed by 红烧牛肉面 ¥38, 番茄鸡蛋面 ¥30, and 加面 +¥6. The heading identifies a noodle section. The first two lines are complete dishes, while 加面 is an add-on for an extra portion of noodles and should not be presented as a standalone main dish.

An English translation can organize the entries as Braised Beef Noodles at ¥38 and Tomato and Egg Noodles at ¥30, with Extra Noodles +¥6 clearly marked as an add-on. The plus sign is essential context: dropping it changes the meaning of the price.

Menus use compact price notation to save space. The same digits can represent a price, a choice of sizes, a supplement, a quantity, or part of a set-menu rule. Layout and nearby labels must be considered together before assigning a number to a dish.

Start by checking completeness rather than wording. Compare the number of categories and dishes, then inspect price placement and only then refine translations. A fluent dish name is not useful if it belongs to the wrong section or carries another item's price.

Finally, verify ingredient and dietary claims against the original description. A menu may list only notable ingredients, and neither OCR nor translation can reveal substitutions, shared equipment, or cross-contact that the restaurant did not publish.