Multilingual Foodscape in Honolulu Chinatown: Bilingual Menu and English Explanation of Ethnic Cuisine

Foodscape is a microcosm of language and culture within society.

I am working on my research project on the food, language and culture. During my fieldwork in Honolulu's Chinatown, I found that the foodscape there reflects the rich multilingualism and multiculturalism of Hawaii.

Some ethnic restaurants provide bilingual menus and specifically include English explanations for their ethnic cuisines. For example, the shop sign of this restaurant displays both a romanized name and Chinese characters. The Chinese name is 黔香阁 (Qiánxiānggé), where 黔 (Qián) refers to Guizhou (贵州, Guìzhōu), a province in China; 香 (Xiāng) means "fragrance" or "pleasant food aroma," and 阁 (Gé) means "a place." The romanized name, "DAJI," does not directly correspond to the Chinese pronunciation (Figure 1). 

On the windows of their shopfront, they display an English-Chinese menu (Figure 2 and Figure 3). Interestingly, they specifically provide an English explanation for one type of ethnic cuisine they offer, called 脆哨 (Cuìshào), while retaining its Mandarin pronunciation in the explanation (Figure 4).























Figure 1. Shopfront of the restaurant 黔香阁 (qian2xiang1ge2)


Figure 2. Menu (part 1) put on the shopfront window 

Figure 3. Menu (part 2) put on the shopfront window 


Figure 4. English explanation of 脆哨（cui4shao4)





Comments

  1. Crookes blogApril 13, 2025 at 3:48 PM

    Great! (Why do you think the restaurant is called Daji (if it is not the same as the Chinese). Sure, the Chinese may be too difficult for non-Chinese patrons. Any idea why Daji?

    ReplyDelete

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