Comments for BUDA BITES

Comment on Book Update (Part III) by JohnBatki

JohnBatki — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 02:56:27 +0000

Congratulations on your excellent book!
It will stay the best long after it is no longer the only one in its field…
Loved seeing all the Krudy quotes!
Best wishes, and keep up the great work!
John Batki

Comment on The Appetizer by a

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 15:48:56 +0000

Your choice of wine sources for the article is quite OK. My top pic however is now a bookstore in Budapest (no mistake), in Alexandra you can find only a few dozen different wines but they’re from a very good selection of well-known and emerging, very promising wineries. Maligán and 75cl stores also have some unique offering. Although I don’t think this matters for Canadians living in Canada :)

Comment on Balaton’s Best by master14

master14 — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 16:49:47 +0000

I want to recommend you one of great Lake in the world. It call Lake Toba and place in North Sumatera, Indonesia.
If you want to know it more I will put the picture on my blog

Comment on On Menus, Spelling, and Translation by cbanfalvi

cbanfalvi — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 14:42:43 +0000

Vándorló:
“But all that aside the thing I *really* hate on Hungarian menus is the translation of regional dishes or styles. So ‘Egri módra’ gets translated as ‘Eger style’. What? What on earth is Eger style? Of course now I’m use to this nonsense, but even Hungarians are clueless on this linguistic game, in their own language, too.”

Yes! Why not just add a description about what these styles are? Some places do that already, but usually the waiters have to run back and ask the chef what the dishes are, because they don’t even know them all themselves. Also, adding a few words of description would be much more appealing that just saying “Eger Style.”

Comment on On Menus, Spelling, and Translation by cbanfalvi

cbanfalvi — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 14:38:36 +0000

Glad you liked my book. I totally agree with you about all of those mistakes that you mentioned (and I am the first to admit that my Hungarian spelling is terrible). Regarding the spelling of my husband’s name, that copyright page was written by someone else (and it obviously stuck out like a sore thumb as soon as I saw it AFTER the book was already printed). The typeface is a long story, but to make it short the designer did not have one that could handle those difficult accents, so the publisher decided to make do with that one….which bothered me as well, especially since all of those long o’s and u’s got converted into funny characters that had to be corrected on the proofs. I’m sorry that there were other odd spelling mistakes (if you feel like it you could let me know by email what they were), which obviously really grate on my eyes when I see them on the pages of my own book! Have you been to the Bajor lately? I like that little place also, but the last time I went it was not quite as good as it usually is.

Comment on On Menus, Spelling, and Translation by Varangy

Varangy — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 14:24:11 +0000

Carolyn,

While I enjoyed your book — I find your complaint about misspellings a bit ironic.

1) You spelled Krúdy Gyula multiple ways, sometimes even on the same page.

2) Your husband’s(?) name Bánfalvi Gábor was spelled with the first ‘á’ intact, but the second missing.

3) There were other odd misspellings as well.

4) Lastly, why did you choose a typeface that could not render all of the Hungarian letters? That made absolutely no sense to me.

However, I do commend you on your recommendation of one of my favorite haunts, the little known Bajor söröző és kolbászda. Good food and good prices.

Comment on On Menus, Spelling, and Translation by Vándorló

Vándorló — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 17:59:53 +0000

For your informations (sic), includes plenty of examples from menus:
http://fuckedtranslation.blogspot.com/

Comment on On Menus, Spelling, and Translation by Vándorló

Vándorló — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 10:01:20 +0000

There may be a an excuse for mistranslating ponty as ‘crap’ rather than ‘carp’ as this is how their neighbours the Romanian spell it (http://www.crap.ro/). Ok, so that’s a feeble excuse, just trying to be generous for once.

I’ve translated a few menus and it can be tricky in parts. For example, for an Italian restaurant, you have to decide whether to use English, French or Italian (should it be called starters, hors d’oeuvre or antipasto?). It may just depend on how posh you think the overall menu is and where the restaurant is (play to the lowest common denominator)

When the Hungarian menu says ‘nyers sonka’ do they mean specifically ‘prosciutto’ (quite likely) or just ‘dry cured ham’ (general, but hardly inviting).

Even worse take the ubiquitous drink ‘frappé’, Hungarians don’t mean frappé in the Greek sense (a wonderful coffee invention), not the french, nor the New England (milk shake), no the Hungarians use the word in the same way as Serbians do as a kind of ice-cream (fruit) milkshake.

But all that aside the thing I *really* hate on Hungarian menus is the translation of regional dishes or styles. So ‘Egri módra’ gets translated as ‘Eger style’. What? What on earth is Eger style? Of course now I’m use to this nonsense, but even Hungarians are clueless on this linguistic game, in their own language, too.

Please excuse any spelling mistakes in my comment.

Comment on Sunflower by Krudy’s Bujdos and Budapest. « The Hieroglyphic Streets

Krudy’s Bujdos and Budapest. « The Hieroglyphic Streets — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 02:54:52 +0000

[...] in Hungarian Literature Online. Here is much more from vackor, Thomas McGonigle, Ray Keenoy, and Carolyn Bánfalvi. And Mark Sarvas interviews Arthur Phillips about Krudy and Sandor [...]

Comment on Mangalica Madness by Hungria:uma paixão pela gastronomia « Dinheiro Incrível

Hungria:uma paixão pela gastronomia « Dinheiro Incrível — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 02:34:22 +0000

[...] húngaros adoram a carne de porco, como a autora do Buda Bites, Carolyn Bánfalvi, explica: Since I’ve been living in Budapest I’ve been eating more pork than I ever have before in my [...]