New iPhone App to Translate Italian Food & Menus to English to be Launched.

CHATSWOOD, Australia - Aug. 23, 2013 - PRLog -- A new iPhone app to help travellers and food lovers translate Italian food and restaurant menus into English is being targeted at over 6 million tourists who visit Italy each year.  The app will be available in September 2013. 

“Italian Food Translator” lists over 5000 Italian foods and dishes with a brief description and pronunciation. A “reverse search” to translate an English food into Italian is also featured.

“Unlike other language translation apps or phrasebooks, this app is specifically designed to help English speakers choose a dish from an Italian menu and pronounce these foods,” said Menu Translate’s marketing manager, Elise Taylor. 

“Travellers can now venture beyond tourist restaurants and feel more confident about ordering at local Italian eateries,” she said, adding that even uncommon Italian ingredients and regional names for dishes are listed.  The app could even prove useful at Italian restaurants in your home city where English descriptions are brief or non-existent.

With the overseas traveller in mind, the app does not require any internet connection or account set up.

A unique feature of the app is its “notepad” that allows a list of foods to be created during searches.  Noting that people often read a menu at least several times before ordering, she said:

“To help you remember the names of dishes you want while you are reading the restaurant menu, you can shortlist a dish and its pronunciation on the app notepad.  When the waiter arrives you have a list of dishes to order.”  

A photo and map location can be added to the notepad to create a food diary of the restaurant or food shopping experience. The notes can then be shared on social media or emailed.  A comprehensive phrase list to cover all dining and shopping situations is also available.

Compiling the list of Italian dishes and food terms took almost two years by a team of Italian writers. The unique content and terms have not been published elsewhere.

The app is currently for iPhone and will be available for iPad and other platforms in future.  Food translation apps are also now being developed for Spanish and French.

The app is free to download and includes 15 free searches.  In-App Purchase provides an additional 15 searches for USD$0.99c / GBP 0.69 or unlimited search for USD$8.99/ GBP 5.99.

For more information:       See www.menutranslate.com