MELTING POT : Translation, Please

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