How to say “I need an English menu" in Mandarin and Cantonese

[xuanthien]

Hello,

I'd like to say I need a Englishe menu, how to say that in Mandarin and Cantonese.

Thanks

Edited March 6, 2009 at 04:47 AM by gougou

[peekay]

In Mandarin:

English language: 英文 (yīng wén)

Restaurant menu: 菜单 (cài dān)

If you just point to the menu and ask "yīng wén ma?" they'll likely understand.

You can be more fancy and say "nǐmen yǒu yīng wén cài dān ma?" meaning "do you have (an) English menu?"

Or alternatively "qǐng gěi wǒ kànkan yīng wén cài dān" meaning "please give me (an) English menu to see."

Many places wont have an "English" menu but will helpfully bring out a picture menu for foreigners.

[sebhk]

To phrase it as a question, I personally would use the following:

Mandarin:

有沒有英文菜單?

yŏu méi yŏu yīng wén cài dān?

Cantonese:

有冇英文餐牌?

yáuh móuh yīng màhn chāan páai? (yīng màhn can also be pronounced as yīng mán)

To phrase it as a request, you could use:

Mandarin:

請給我英文菜單 (看一下)

qĭng gĕi wŏ yīng wén cài dān (kàn yí xià)

Cantonese:

唔該, 俾份英文餐牌我

m` gōi, béi fahn yīng màhn chāan páai ngóh

As peekay said, many places in Mainland China don't have English menus. In Hong Kong on the other hand, many places have bilingual menus (Chinese/English). However, if you venture a bit off the beaten path in HK, the above question can be very useful, because some of the smaller canteens only display a Chinese menu, but often have an English translation somewhere.

Edited March 7, 2009 at 08:07 AM by sebhk