Eating out is one of the most favorite past times of all tourists, especially when you’re travelling abroad to countries that have drastically different cuisines than you’re used to. The trouble is translating the menu so you can order what you actually want.
Le Menu Dit is the solution to your translation needs. Equipped with Le Menu Dit, your iPhone becomes a translation companion that can help translate menus at restaurants from English to French. The concept is rather simple, all that is required is to point the phone’s camera at the menu, line up the text and take a photo. After the processing has finished, you’ll get a translation along with some snippets of text and image to show you exactly what the app was doing in the background. The app comes with several test cases to show you how it works, a brief trial that you can use for one week and a small fee, and a complete version for a full price.
Realistically, I don’t see the value with this particular application. There are many visual tools available from Google, arguably the largest translation powerhouse in the world, that will translate text in augmented reality in many different languages. From personal testing, as well, Le Menu Dit seems to struggle with any text that isn’t black on white. From experience, most restaurants these days rarely have a delicately written menu on white paper so I don’t see Le Menu Dit working out well in those circumstances. The big benefits of this app is that it does work offline, without an internet connection, and for that reason alone it may be a worthwhile investment. If you’re looking for a translator, check it out.
Check out Le Menu Dit for iOS on the App Store!
