Spanish menu translation book
 

We'll be in Barcelona, Seville and Andalusia area next month. Is it advisable to take along a menu translation book or are most menus also in English? If we need a book, any recommendations for a small purse-size book? thanks.

Do not worry, more waitresses now a day know some English. Bacelona and Sevilla are always full of tourists, so you will be fine with only English.
Sevilla is part of Andalusia...meaning Andalusia is the whole southern region of Spain.
Ole.......

Most often mentioned is the Marling Menu Master. Available on Amazon (including a lot of used copies); its dimensions are 0.26 x 6.14 x 3.88 inches.

For free, and worth at least the paper and ink it takes to print it is http://www.acena.it/dizionario.html

It may look to you to be oriented to Italian foods, but there are English and Spanish translations - - and for many things you want to know, it's useful - - and obviously the price is right.

Best wishes,

Rex

I have a Marling Menu Master for French, but I'm not all that fond of it. So, when we visited Andalucia last year I looked for something different. I bought Open Road's "Eating & Drinking in Spain" and just loved it. I'll stick with this series from now on. It is a little bit bigger than the Marling, but worth the space. By the way, if you go anywhere off the beaten path and don't always eat in upscale places catering to tourists, you will need a menu translator.

If you need a menu translator or not depends on how adventurous an eater you are.

I generally memorize a few key things I know I'll be eating (chicken, beef, names of some fish and veggies) and a couple of things I know I don't want (bunnies, liver) and then just wing it. After all, half the fun of travel is discovering new things - and local specialties - even if they sound a little odd - are usually favorites for a reason!

Have never been served anything I really didn't want to eat - after the bunny fiasco on my first trip.

I hate to say it, but you want to might try learning a little of the language of the country you're traveling to. I find it inconceivable that people continue to travel and know nothing of the local language. Besides, using an English language menu is somewhat of a letdown. The food never sounds as interesting as it does in Spanish or French, even though it tastes as good.

That said, noting that most menus contain descriptions that are local or regional in nature, even if you have a decent command of the language, you often nee to ask your waiter what you're ordering.

I found a menu translator EXTERMELY helpful despite the fact that I can read Spanish pretty well (and speak it passably)

In most languages, not all food dish names reflect the ingredients--
would you try to guess what's in Puttanesca sauce, for example?? Or Buffalo wings, for that matter :)

I actually make my own and have for several trips to different countries. If you go into any web search engine and use the phrase "manu translator" you'll find many usable lists. I printed out a few different ones just because each has different items listed (and of course you'll want to look for ones that focus on the country and region you're visiting--South American Spanish lists will be much less useful.

As far as ready made books, I think I also took along a pocket size Berlitz Spanish book that had a menu section in the back

One big tip: The selections offered on English menus often only contain a portion of the full menu.

We used the Marling Menu Master while traveling in Spain and liked it very much. We had also read Lonely Planet's "World Food Spain" before our trip and found this information to be quite helpful to understand preparations and obtain some idea of Spanish specialties we'd like to try. I appreciate Julies recommendation for Open Road's "Eating and Drinking in Spain and will take a look at it.

- Sharon