MELTING POT : Translation, Please
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Bilingualism may be de rigueur in the multicultural ‘90s, but if you’re trying to learn Chinese by translating the ideographs at your favorite restaurants, you may be in trouble:
ABC Seafood in Chinatown: The luck is as big as the ocean
NBC Seafood in Monterey Park: Fortune as big as the ocean
China Dragon in Fountain Valley: Huge good fortune restaurant
Ocean Seafood in Alhambra: The coming wealth (note: in the sister Hong Kong restaurant, a piece of abalone costs $200)
Panda Inn (seven venues throughout Southern California): The garden of full abundance (according to a corporate spokeswoman); or, You can keep the fortune forever (according to a native Chinese speaker)
Plum Tree Inn (three restaurants in the greater L.A. area): The prosperity and promise of springtime
Chicken Garden in Rowland Heights: Chicken village or chicken farm
Sometimes an ideograph that looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck is a duck:
Twin Dragon in West L.A.: Double dragon
Shanghai Winter Garden on Miracle Mile: Shanghai snow garden
Eat your way across L.A.
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