New iPhone App Translates Italian Menus To English

App developer Menu Translate has released a new iPhone app that aims to help travelers who see the world food-first on their next trip to Italy. The unique app, which was released Oct. 3, is designed to translate Italian menus to English, telling diners exactly what it is they are about to order.

"Translate a Menu – Italy Food Dictionary" offers instant translation of more than 5,000 Italian foods and dishes. In order to be accessible anywhere, the app does not require Internet connection, or for the user to sign up for an account. The app will then tell you exactly what you are ordering from an Italian menu: the ingredients, how it is cooked, and how to pronounce a dish. It also has a "reverse search" function, to translate a food from English into Italian.

To further improve the dining experiences of diners not fluent in Italian, the app's "notepad" allows a list of foods to be created from search results, which can then be shared on social media.

"Travelers can now venture beyond tourist restaurants and confidently order dishes even where no English menu descriptions exist," Menu Translate's marketing manager Roslyn Young said in a recent press release. "It's a tool that will be as indispensable as your map and guidebook."

Menu Translate is said to be working on Spanish and French menu translation apps, which should be released by the end of 2013.