Languages

SelectWisely continues to expand its language selection to provide the best service to our customers. Our list includes most of the world's common languages. If there is a language that you do not see in our list and you would like to investigate whether we can provide translations, please see our Special Order page and send us an email.

One of the challenges with translating foods into various languages is that some geographic regions and cultures do not serve certain foods as part of their everyday diet. Translations - even with simple words - can sometimes be challenging. Some languages, like English, combine foods into a single food category such as "shellfish" or "nuts". In other languages this one English word would translate into a combination of several words.

Simplicity

We have tried to keep the foods and languages on our cards as simple as possible. Basic words and phrases are far easier to translate, read and understand. We have not used technical or medical terms that might lead to misinterpretation or misunderstanding by the common person. We do not reference medical conditions in any of our food allergy cards other than to state "I am allergic to …"

Chinese - Cantonese and Mandarin

A note on Chinese translations: The Chinese speak two dialects - Cantonese and Mandarin. Cantonese is spoken in Hong Kong and in many Chinese restaurants in the United States. Mandarin is spoken in Taiwan and on Mainland China. In addition, the written language has two forms: traditional and simplified. The simplified form is used on Mainland China and the traditional form in Hong Kong and Taiwan. SelectWisely cards combine Cantonese and Mandarin into one text. The written language form is based on one's travel destination - simplified for Mainland China and traditional for Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Foods

The types of foods that people are sensitive to is surprisingly diverse. In addition to the allergy foods that normally come to mind such as nuts and shellfish, many other foods cause people to become ill - spices, certain meats, cooking oils, tubers, vegetables. The universe of foods that cause serious illness is relatively small but the universe of foods that people are sensitive to is very broad.

We also provide gluten-free and lactose intolerant translation cards for people with restricted grain or dairy diets. Gluten-free diets can be very restrictive and include different processed foods, chemicals and synthetic ingredients. In keeping with our 'simple' approach, our list of gluten-free foods is narrowly confined to wheat, rye, barley and oats. These words translate clearly and can be understood by most restaurant staff. We do have other Gluten-free translations such as soy sauce and malt. Please send us an email if you wish to add these foods. Care and common sense must be taken even with these translations since the range of manufactured foods with grain ingredients is large.

Vegetarians typically avoid the major food groups of meats, fish, shellfish and poultry. However, individual preferences can extend to different variations of meatless diets. Vegans choose to be more restrictive by eliminating eggs, milk products and animal by-products such as honey. Again we are keeping the food translations simple and concise and focused on general vegetarian diets.

If you don't see a food listed our home page and would like to suggest one, please send us an email.