restaurants and their stories
DESCRIPTION
A project of UC Berkeley's East Asian Languages 84 Fall 2012 students Clement Tam and Allen ZhouTRANSCRIPT
RESTAURANTS AND THEIR STORIES
Allen Zhou & Clement Tam
Brief Outline
Introduction Research Question
Categories Data
Analysis and Conclusions Amuse-bouche: Brief Survey of the Linguistic Landscape of Los Angeles and
the surrounding areas.
Introduction Restaurants are a huge part of every community.
They tell a lot about their surroundings and vice versa. The sheer number of restaurants provides a huge population to study. The restaurants that we chose to study are located around the Berkeley campus. We chose these restaurants because of their “popularity” with the student body.
Research Questions
How does the linguistic landscape of a restaurant’s interior, exterior and signage help create a reputation for the restaurant?
Categories Name of the establishment
Meaning, etc. Identity of the location
Description Decorations
Interior/Exterior Menu
Language, dishes Music and/or Media Language of the staff
Amongst themselves and towards the guests
Data
Our data was collected through observations and photography of the establishment’s characteristics, as well as, through interviews with restaurant staff or owners.
T’oust Korean Restaurant located in
Sather Lane Meaning: no particular meaning Decorations
Exterior it’s inside of Sather lane, just
the menus and name of the restaurant
Interior regular American restaurant,
nothing in particular Menu
In both Korean, and English Music/Media
Plays radio in english channel, but also korean music
Language of the staff Korean, English.
Kirin Chinese Restaurant in Solano Ave,
Berkeley. Meaning: name of a mythical animal,
also means giraffe in Korean and Japanese
Decorations Exterior
very newly decorated, looks very modern, inside looks very dark from outside
Interior structured according to Chinese
Funshui, along with pictures of Chinese monarchs.
Menu In both Chinse, and English
Music/Media -plays radio in English channel
Language of the waiters Chinese, English.
Chipotle Mexican food chain
restaurant on Telegraph Ave.
Meaning: name of a spice Decorations
Interior Fast food style, with nicer,
industrial style furniture Menu
English only Music/Media
Plays Spanish language music with occasional English language songs
Language of the Staff Spanish amongst
themselves English towards customers
Tako Sushi Japanese restaurant on
Telegraph Ave. Meaning of the name: Kite Decorations
Exterior Has plain façade with English
letters and a Japanese character in the “O” of Tako
Interior Many Japanese characters
decorate the venue Menu
English with Japanese transliterations as well as Berkeley vernacular
Music/Media English language radio
Language of Staff Korean and English
Berkeley Sushi House Japanese Restaurant in Asian
Ghetto (Durant Food Court) Meaning: no different
meaning Decorations
Interior Sushi bar with picture menu;
owner will dress in traditional Japanese garb even though he is Korean
Exterior Asian Ghetto storefront with
pictures of dishes on the windows
Menu English with Japanese
transliteration Music/Media
English language radio Language of Staff
Korean and English
Analysis and Conclusions Based on the data and the categories that we developed, we were able to determine several things that we thought were important factors in influencing the signage.
Firstly,
Restaurants need to establish an image in a customers mind in a short period of time. This is usually done by the outside signage. We determined that they do this through a
variety of tactics
They can use characters from a foreign language
Use an established image
Both of these local restaurants use names that evoke certain images
Or simply telling the audience about the product through images or words
Or use something humorous and thought provoking
Secondly,
Restaurants also use interior clues to convey facts about themselves. One of the biggest tools for this is through the
menu
Pictures
Pictures tell patrons, with little or no confusion, what the restaurant serves.
Bilingual Menus
Tend to add some type of legitimacy to the establishment, especially to customers who may not be familiar with the culture.
Menus/Signage = identity
Amuse-bouche:A Brief Survey of the Linguistic Landscape of Los Angels and the surrounding areas.
Background
During the Thanksgiving Break, Allen and I decided to do a little side project. The project involved using the categories that we established for the Berkeley experiment.
Restaurant 1: Oomasa Japanese Restaurant in
Little Tokyo District of Los Angeles
Meaning (provided translation): Big Boss in Japanese
Location Little Tokyo is the traditional
center of Japanese cultural life in the Los Angeles area Now the area for Japanese
culture has extended to areas like Torrance and Sawtelle Ave. on LA's Westside
Area has many small Japanese shops
Very few chains except for Supermarkets/Markets Minority of restaurants
Restaurant 1: Oomasa Decorations
Exterior Japanese style
architecture (architecture of the center)
Interior Traditional Japanese décor
Sushi bar with Japanese style roof
Lanterns Wood pieces with
Japanese text Small landscape at front
window of the restaurant Lots of wood
Menu Exclusively in English Japanese dishes
American perception?
Restaurant 1: Oomasa
Music/Media No music or media Japanese and
Japanese/English publications were available Free publications
Language of the waiters Japanese amongst
themselves English towards
customers
Restaurant 2: Do Hueng
Chinese Restaurant in Arcadia, CA (suburb of LA) Multiple locations around the
San Gabriel Valley and Orange County Located in areas with
large Chinese populations Type of Hong Kong Style Café
Meaning (provided translation): Tasty Garden
Location Area where this branch is
located is in the main town part of a semi affluent suburb of Los Angeles
Chinese and Asians make up a large portion of the town's population.
Restaurant 2: Do Hueng Decorations
Nothing special Does try to look like a club with
purple velvet furniture Looks well designed, similar to
other Chinese restaurants of a similar type
Decorative fish tanks Menu
Various dishes that are characteristic of Hong Kong Style Cafes Western Influenced Traditional Chinese
Chinese and English Language Music/Media
No music Has televisions that show:
American sports Chinese Soap Opreas Chinese Language newscasts
Restaurant 2: Do Hueng
Language of the Waiters Chinese amongst
themselves Cantonese dialect
Lots of slang Chinese towards the
customers Cantonese or
Mandarin depending on customers More clean, less slang,
very conversational
Restaurant 3: King Hua
Chinese Restaurant in Alhambra, CA Traditional "Seafood
Restaurant"/ Formal Dining/ Dim Sum
Meaning (provided translation): Chinese Palace
Location Difficult to ascertain Restaurant is located far
from other dining establishments but is located in a town that is predominately Chinese and Asian populated
Restaurant 3: King Hua Decorations
Traditional Chinese "jou lou" restaurant décor Fish tanks with live sea food Table cloths, chair covers etc. Formal place settings
Menu Chinese and English
Minor mistranslations at times Filled with traditional Chinese
dishes and unique creations Restaurant bills itself as being
upscale and gourmet Menu reflects this
Offerings like Sharks fin
Music/Media No music or media present Restaurant is usually quiet except
for sounds of other diners
Restaurant 3: King Hua Language of the waiters
Chinese (Cantonese) amongst themselves Other dialects amongst themselves Chinese
Cantonese or Mandarin towards customers English
Used very rarely Not the best mastery
Explanation
Each of the establishments attempted to give off a certain perception of its type. This was similar to what we found in the main project. The major difference between the two locales are that the three Los Angeles area restaurants surveyed existed in areas with a very “homogenous” population. They were able to rely on a understanding of the population.
The restaurants seemed to do a good job at matching the expectations of the population they courted. For instance, the “jou lou” had all the trimmings of a the quintessential “jou lou”
Explanation (cont.)
The main thing that helped to show what kind of atmosphere each restaurant was going for was the fact that all the fact that the factors that we looked at, like the décor and signage helped to paint the picture that the owners wanted the patrons to see.