Menu Design
How to Write Pinyin on a Restaurant Menu
Pinyin helps pronunciation and search, but it should not make the menu harder to read.
Guide
- Place pinyin directly after the Chinese name.
- Use tone marks when possible.
- Keep capitalization consistent.
- Do not substitute pinyin for explanation.
Pinyin is a pronunciation system, not a translation, so it works best when paired with a plain-English dish explanation. Hanyu Pinyin is the standard Mandarin romanization system, which helps keep spellings consistent across menu pages and glossaries.