Introducing the Menu Stealer

This post is written by Matt Coleman, who stars in the new video series, The Menu Stealer.

Many students learn spoken Chinese, tones, pinyin, the characters, but still can’t read the menu or order a decent meal at a restaurant. Some photograph the menus, however others will acquire these menus by nefarious means. The Menu Stealer video series has been created to not only solve the difficulties mentioned above, but also to become an interactive experience for Chinese food-related language, culture and adventures — Foodshare 3.0!

By mixing different styles of narration — from developing plot lines, to documentary-style segments introducing the viewer to a whole range of food related culturo-linguistic information in an engaging and interactive way — The Menu Stealer works on multiple levels, with both linguistic content aimed at assisting the new learner, as well as the historical and cultural content which appeals to the high-level learner. In addition to these, there is also the element of online interaction and sharing of knowledge.

From customized content (mock-menu PDFs, key vocabulary, expansion/contextual sentences) to community interaction using social media (online discussions, Twitter @themenustealer) The Menu Stealer serves as a nexus point for the sharing of people’s food experiences in China and beyond. Be it posting your best food photos or recipes, asking for Chinese foodie advice, or sharing your own epicurean adventures, this is the next level of learning for food lovers.

The Menu Stealer is purposely suited to the mobile learner; it’s a video handbook. Whip out your mobile device (or new gen mp4 player), freeze the frame, and point to the relevant photos or vocab on the screen in order to get the food you want in China. For those who are up to trying out the new Chinese skills, you can refer to the pinyin onscreen and test out your Mandarin skills by ordering the dish yourself. (You know you’ve been drooling over it ever since first viewing the video!)

So without further ado, let’s dig in!

The Menu Stealer – episode 1: Guilin Mifen from PraxisLanguage on Vimeo.

(The first episode only will be made available to non-subscribers.)

Tagged as: china, chinese food, eating, Food, learn Chinese, Mandarin, menus, ordering food, Shanghai, speaking Chinese, The Menu Stealer, Twitter, video