| Summary: | 碩士 === 元智大學 === 應用外語學系 === 99 === English for tourism has begun to receive much attention in applied linguistics. To contribute to the field, this research examines the uses of bilingual menus in Feng-Chia and Shih-Ta night markets in Taiwan. Research questions are: 1. How many and what kinds of vendors in Feng-Chia and Shih-Ta night market used bilingual menus? 2. What were vendors’ possible reasons and perceptions of using or not using bilingual menus? 3. What were the translation strategies that the vendors used in night markets? In February 2011, a survey on food categories, price range, vendor types (shop or booth), and chain store was conducted on 183 Feng-Chia and 81 Shih-Ta vendors. 35 vendors were interviewed on their perceptions of bilingual menus. The survey finds that 33% of Shih-Ta and 18% Feng-Chia vendors used bilingual menus. Chi-square analyses show that booth vendors of traditional Taiwanese food with price range below NT 50 are less likely to have bilingual menus (p<0.001). On the other hand, if the vendor sold foreign foods with higher price in chain store shop, they were more likely to use bilingual menus. Most vendors started using bilingual menus from 2008, mainly because of communicative purpose for the increasing number of foreigners. And for those who did not use bilingual menus, the main reason was vendors’ English proficiency. Those with sufficient English proficiency chose not to use bilingual menus because they can communicate orally; while those without English proficiency could not make bilingual menus and some were afraid to attract foreigners with bilingual menus. However, half of the interviewees who did not use bilingual menus showed their intentions to make bilingual menus in the future. As for translation strategy, more than 80% of the vendors applied Domesticating strategy to translate the meaning. Bilingual menus have many functions in addition to communication. Half of the interviewed vendors agreed that bilingual menus enhanced customers’ images of their quality. The role of bilingual menu in the future is like a cultural bridge to promote Taiwanese local features to the worldwide.
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