Thanks Waygo team!
Absolutely love the app.
does the "test user" function allow for users to suggest other translations or add crowd-approved ingredients lists?
The Waigo iPhone App Conveniently Translates Chinese Menus
The rise of phone-based optical Chinese character recognition is a dream come true for us laowai. I've been using Pleco's USD 14.95 OCR add-on for my translation needs, but if most of your needs originate from your stomach, the free Waigo iPhone app will do the trick.
At least for now, Waigo's main focus is translating Chinese menus, so it probably won't help you with all that homework you've got for class. The software itself is simple to use and surprisingly fast at identifying dishes. It has a flash mode to help brighten the image and you can zoom the box in and out to better frame the characters.
I would, however, like to see some more info beyond just the translated dish names, as sometimes the English versions aren't much help. Take "Aged Godmother Squash," for example. Though it brings a fanciful image to mind and a smile to my face, I'm still left not knowing exactly which dish it's referring to. Lots of Chinese dishes have these inventive names, so mysterious translations like this are a pretty common occurrence. I'd like to see a small note with some background on how the dish is usually prepared.
Still, if you need a bit of quick help reading menus, you can download the app directly here.
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Re: The Waigo iPhone App Conveniently Translates Chinese ...
Dear The Beijinger Readers,
We were excited to read Josh's review review about us! Update: we’ve changed our name to “Waygo” rather than “Waigo” so there is less confusion about pronunciation, especially since many users are unfamiliar with pinyin. If you’ve already downloaded the app, you’ll see the name change reflected as soon as you update your apps.
Check out blog post about Josh's review at blog.translateabroad.com:
We totally agree with Josh about giving users more insight: “Lots of Chinese dishes have these inventive names, so mysterious translations like this are a pretty common occurrence. I'd like to see a small note with some background on how the dish is usually prepared.”
Even with an accurate translation, you have no context if you would even like a dish. For example, if you are unfamiliar with Kung Pao Chicken, it would be helpful to know it’s a (usually spicy) dish of diced chicken, peanuts, chili peppers, and veggies. We would love to provide this extra information to Waygo users so that you can spend your money wisely, and arguably more important, save your tastebuds from any preventable dining disasters. Stay tuned for product updates!
We were also curious to learn about the infamous 老干妈西葫芦 dish that Josh found while using Waygo. Waygo translated it as “Aged Godmother Squash.”
老干妈 (lǎogānmā): Old godmother
西葫芦 (xīhúlú): Cucurbita Pepo A.K.A., summer squash or zucchini
While Aged Godmother Squash is an accurate translation, most foreigners have no idea what’s behind the dish. We can only imagine what Josh’s imagination came up with! After investigation, we discovered the dish is a stir-fry made up of zucchini, seasoning, and black bean sauce. Where does the name come from? The black bean sauce used is the 老干妈 lǎogānmā brand, but could probably made with any ole’ black bean sauce.
Sound yummy? Here’s a recipe to make it. And one of the best parts? It’s classified as easy--制作难度：简单--and takes only 10 minutes to make! Sounds like you’ve got tonight’s dinner menu all set.
Thanks again to Josh and The Beijinger team for helping us get the word out about Waygo! With Waygo in hand, we hope you can go places you’ve never gone before, like those hole-in-the-wall noodle joints that don’t have English menus.
We appreciate any and all feedback in order to make Waygo the most useful app possible, so please feel free to sign up as a test user.
How to Become a Test User:
Download Waygo. Once the app is open on your device, hit the “i” button to take you to the Info screen. Next hit the “Feedback” button and then the “Tester Opt-In” button. That’s it!
Happy Eating,
The Waygo Team