Of Menus and Second Languages

With the pitiable standard of French that I use in my attempts to communicate with our friends over the channel, I'm not really in a position to poke fun at odd translations into English. Or, indeed, those who rely a bit too heavily on BabelFish or Googletranslate.


But........oh yes, there's a "but"......I'm going to anyway because it made us smile at the time and still does. I should also point out that the restaurant in question was truly excellent - a blow-out meal of the highest quality.


These three items on the menu, though,might be a bit daunting for complete non-French speakers who rely on the translation. Apologies for slight fuzziness of photos, it wasn't very brightly lit and I really didn't want to use the flash.


First up - this is just confusing, take a look at the second item "Tatin de Printemps":

And secondly - I hope the ancestor in question was willing and able to provide the ingredient.

Lastly, your average non-Francophone might be in for a shock if they were hoping for some delicious seafood as a starter. Where I come from escargots were known as Mendip Wall Fish.