Your menu speaks the language of the phone that opens it
The tourist who can’t understand your menu orders the usual — or leaves. The etlas menu shows itself in each phone’s language, and you write it just once.
The sum hardly anyone does
Take your menu and count. A typical restaurant has around 60 dishes. Each one has a name and a description: 120 texts. Add the categories and it’s 130.
Now multiply. That menu in English, French and German is 390 texts that someone writes, checks and —here’s the problem— has to touch again every time you change a dish. Put up the price of the paella and there are four places to change it.
That’s why almost every translated menu you see is a three-year-old PDF with prices that no longer exist. The translation isn’t what fails: the upkeep is.
How it works in etlas
The etlas menu doesn’t store one text per dish: it stores one text per dish and per language. When someone scans the QR code, three things happen, in this order:
- The phone says which language it’s set to. The menu looks for it among the ones you’ve published and, if you have it, shows itself in that language. The guest doesn’t choose anything.
- If that language isn’t on your list, your main language is shown.
- If they’d still rather have another, the codes for the published languages are at the top, next to the categories. Tap one and the menu stays that way for the rest of the visit.
There are nine languages available: Spanish, English, Portuguese, French, German, Italian, Dutch, Estonian and Korean.
You only write the dishes. The rest of the screen already comes translated into all nine: buttons, the allergen notice and the fourteen allergens on the EU list. A Korean guest reads “gluten” in Korean without you writing a single word of Korean.
You write in one language, the rest fill themselves in
In the menu settings you choose the main language and tick the ones you want to publish. And you choose how you write: by hand in each language, or only in the main one, with the rest filled in by assisted translation —each time you save a dish, the empty languages complete themselves—.
Two details: it only fills gaps (whatever you correct by hand is never overwritten) and, if a translation is missing, the dish doesn’t show up blank — the main language is shown instead.
- Go to Menu → Menus and open your menu.
- Settings tab. Under Main language, pick the one you’ll be writing in.
- Under Available languages, tick the ones you publish. The main one is always included.
- Under How do you write the content? choose between writing them by hand or assisted translation (if you have it switched on).
- With assisted translation on, save and press Translate what is missing: it completes the whole menu in one go, categories included.
- Check it: when you edit a dish, the Other languages drop-down gives you the
Name (auto)andDescription (auto)fields.
How many languages to offer, depending on your business
Publishing all nine just because they’re there is costly: each language is one more version to check every time you touch the menu. Offer the ones people ask for.
And don’t guess. In Menu → Overview you have Most used language, the language your menu has actually been shown in, and Languages they ask for and you don’t have, the visits whose phone was set to a language you haven’t published. For today, 7 days or 30, and by branch: the beachfront branch may be asking for French while the one on the industrial estate isn’t.
| Your business | What to start with |
|---|---|
| Neighbourhood bar, regular crowd | Yours. One. That’s it. |
| Café in an office area | Yours + English |
| Restaurant in the old town | Yours + English; after 30 days, take a look |
| On the coast or near a hotel | Yours + English + whatever shows up in “ask for and you don’t have” |
| Two branches with different crowds | Each menu has its own languages: check the breakdown |
The usual mistakes
- Publishing nine languages on day one. You commit yourself to checking nine versions of every new dish. Start with two and add more when the Overview tells you to.
- Letting it translate the house names. With “Cheesecake” it always gets it right. With the dish named after your grandmother, it doesn’t: that’s a brand. Open Other languages on those dishes and leave the name the same in all of them.
- Never checking. The translation does the bulk of the work, not all of it. Read the menu in English before you publish it.
Frequently asked questions
How does the menu know which language to show?
From the language of the phone that opens it. It looks for that language among the ones you’ve published and uses it; if you don’t have it, it shows your main language. Guests can switch by hand using the language codes at the top.
Do I have to translate the menu myself?
With assisted translation switched on, no: you write in your main language and the others fill themselves in each time you save a dish, and the “Translate what is missing” button completes the whole menu. You can correct any language by hand, and what you correct is never overwritten. Without it, you write each language yourself from the dish’s “Other languages” drop-down.
How many languages can it show?
Nine: Spanish, English, Portuguese, French, German, Italian, Dutch, Estonian and Korean. The buttons and the fourteen allergens come already translated; you only write your dishes.
How do I know which languages I need?
In Menu → Overview. “Most used language” tells you which language your menu is being shown in, and “Languages they ask for and you don’t have” counts the visits whose phone was set to a language you haven’t published. You can also see it by branch.