Almost every restaurant in a tourist city has an English menu. Almost nobody has the next language. And in many venues the largest group of international guests does not speak English at all.
The reason is not editorial but financial: with manual translation, every additional language is another invoice and another document to maintain. So restaurants do English and stop there, even when one guest in three speaks something else.
This piece is about working out which languages you actually need, and what the arithmetic looks like once the cost barrier disappears.
Step 1: count who actually comes in
Do not start from national tourism statistics. Traffic in your venue can look nothing like the city average — it depends on whether you sit on a tourist route, next to a hotel, or in a residential district.
Method 1: two weeks of tally marks at the till
The simplest and most reliable. For two weeks the team marks which language a guest asked for the menu in, or spoke in. Four or five columns is enough: local, English, and the two or three you suspect.
Servers know this better than any report; nobody has asked them.
Method 2: Google Business Profile statistics
The profile panel shows which queries bring people to your listing. Queries in other languages — "restaurant near Sagrada Familia", "restaurante en Malasaña", "Restaurant Berlin Mitte" — show who is looking for you before they arrive.
Method 3: who is next door
If there is a hotel, hostel, station or tourist attraction within 300 metres, check where their guests come from. The reception desk next door will tell you in one conversation.
Step 2: match it to the location
Results usually fall into 6 repeatable patterns:
| Location | Languages that usually come out |
|---|---|
| Historic centres: Barcelona, Prague, Lisbon | English, French, German, Italian |
| Ski resorts: Tyrol, Savoie, the Dolomites | German, Dutch, English, French |
| Coastal resorts: Costa del Sol, Algarve, the Canaries | English, German, Dutch, Swedish |
| Border towns: Aachen, Strasbourg, Maastricht | the neighbour's language before English |
| Regional cities off the route: Leipzig, Valladolid | English plus the largest local migrant community's language |
| Venues near logistics hubs and large farms | the workforce's languages, often before English |
Two observations from practice:
- Migrant-community languages are underestimated. In many venues that is the second-largest group after the local one — Romanian in Italy, Turkish in Germany, Ukrainian across Central Europe — and simultaneously the language no menu is available in.
- German beats English on borders and coasts. In Maastricht and on the Costa del Sol, older German guests often do not speak English at all.
Step 3: do the arithmetic
This is where you see why the decision about the number of languages is almost never an editorial one.
Manual translation
| Item | Cost |
|---|---|
| Translating the menu (one language) | €70–280 |
| Layout and printing a separate version | €70–190 |
| Every price change | another commission |
| Second language | ×2 everything above |
| Third language | ×3 |
At three languages and two menu changes a year, that is well over a thousand euros and six documents to keep in step. Which is why almost nobody does it.
A digital menu
| Item | Cost |
|---|---|
| First language | in the subscription |
| Each additional one | €0 |
| Price change across all versions | €0, one edit |
| New dish across all versions | €0, one edit |
When the cost of another language drops to zero, the logic of the decision changes. You stop asking "is a Spanish menu worth it" and start asking "would it hurt". One Spanish guest a week also leaves a bill.
What it actually gets you
There are no hard numbers for an individual venue, but the mechanism is predictable and repeats in every tourist restaurant. It has 4 steps:
- A guest who does not understand the menu orders safely. They take what they recognise — usually the cheapest, most obvious dish on the page.
- They skip the starter and the dessert.
- They do not ask for recommendations, because the conversation is awkward for both sides.
- They stay for less time. A second glass would mean another conversation.
A menu in the guest's language works on all four at once. It costs nothing extra to serve.
There is also a side effect nobody thinks about: staff stop translating the menu out loud. At the height of the season that is real minutes at every table.
What to keep in mind with a multilingual menu
- Local dish names stay in the original. The guest should order "pierogi", not "dumplings". The description underneath goes in their language.
- Allergens have to be in the same language as the menu. Information given only in the local language does not do its job for a guest who does not read it. Details: allergens on the menu.
- Prices and currency unchanged. Do not convert to another currency "for convenience" — the rate moves and it ends in an argument over the bill.
- One menu, not several documents. Separate files per language guarantee divergence within months.
- The language switch has to be visible. The guest should find it in two seconds, without hunting.
How it works in WMenu
You maintain the menu in your own language. The system serves it in over 80 languages — the guest picks theirs on opening or switches with one tap. A price change, a new dish or switching an item off happens once and applies to every version.
Where the automatic version is not enough — regional names, signature dishes — you override the translation with your own text and it stays.
More on the multilingual menu page, and how it looks in real venues in QR menu examples.
Frequently asked questions
How many languages should a menu in a tourist restaurant have?
With manual translation, realistically one or two, because each costs separately. With a digital menu there is no reason to stop below a dozen — the cost of another language is zero.
How do I find out which languages my guests need?
The simplest way: for two weeks note at the till which language guests ask for the menu in. Add the query statistics from your Google Business Profile.
Should I translate local dish names?
No. The name stays in the original with one sentence of description underneath in the guest's language. That way the guest knows what they are ordering and can say it to the server.
Should I convert prices to another currency?
No. The rate moves, and a converted price on the menu leads to a dispute over the bill. The price stays in the local currency.
