lost in translation

Posted on August 2, 2006 Updated on May 23, 2013

Its funny when you travel and you read an English translation of something that simply does not make sense. And then it becomes adventurous when you are at a restaurant trying to decipher what is on the menu. That is the fun part of travelling and what makes travelling so special and memorable.

We had a craving for Chinese food. Yes, we know its Prague but what were our chances?! Surprisingly, we found a Chinese restaurant and started salivating at the thought of ordering sweet and sour pork or a stir-fry of some sort. As we scanned the menu though, the English translation weren’t helping us know what to expect.

Hmmm… we have never heard of “fish-smelled pork” or “strange-tasting duck” before and couldn’t quite picture what those dishes would taste like, so we opted to graciously leave the restaurant.

Onto another Chinese restaurant in the Jewish quarter where we enjoyed quite a banquet there. Upon payment of the bill, we were expecting change so we patiently waited and waited and waited but the wait staff chose to ignore us. We then approached the counter and asked for our change to which they thought we meant “money exchange” and tried to send us down the road!

The beauty of travelling – there is always an element of lost in translation when everyone is not speaking the same language but that’s what makes the experience so fun 🙂

View more photos of our trips at Photo Gallery.