GOVERNMENT LAUNCHES FOREIGN-LANGUAGE MENU WEBSITE

A website that provides foreign language translations of local menus was launched Wednesday. According to the state-run(국영의) Korea Tourism Organization(한국관광공사), Food Trip in Korea (foodtrip.or.kr) was launched Wednesday afternoon with translations of 8,500 Korean dishes in English, Japanese and Chinese as its main feature. The service had been previously(사전에) provided via the agency’s Visit Korea (visitkorea.or.kr) site.

The tourism organization plans to add a mobile page of the website, various menu designs and information on local eateries(음식점) and popular Korean delicacies(섬세한) for foreign

visitors. Commemorating(기념하다) the website’s launch, the agency will hold an event from Dec.12-21, with the first 300 applicants winning a physical copy of their new foreign language menu. Inaccurate translations on

menus had long been a subject of criticism(비판), even ridicule(조롱), among foreign visitors, with small restaurant owners often resorting to((다른 대안이없어서)기대다) free translation services.

Among common mistakes making news were “gomtang” translated as “bear soup,” a confusion that derives from the word “gom” meaning both bear and boiling soup. Other common mistakes include “dynamic stew” (dongtae jjigae) and “six times,” (yukhoe) which the National Institute(기관) of Korean Language recommended translating to “pollack(대구류) stew” and “beef tartare” in an official guide distributed(분포된, 광범위한) in 2014.