QR menu in Kazakh and Russian

How a bilingual menu works in User-QR

Every item in User-QR has three sets of fields: Kazakh, Russian and English. Not only dish names are translated but also descriptions, ingredients, category and kitchen names, and option groups such as «size», «milk» or «doneness». The guest sees the whole menu in the chosen language rather than a mix of translated headings and Russian descriptions.

The language switches with a button in the menu header. By default, after scanning the guest first picks Kazakh, Russian or English; if you turn the language choice off in settings, the menu opens in the language set in the QR code and can be switched with the same button. One QR code serves every language: on tables, in Instagram and on takeaway packaging.

Prices, photos and availability are shared across languages: raise a price once and it changes in the Kazakh, Russian and English versions at the same moment. The stop list is shared too, so a dish disappears everywhere at once.

What the Language Law requires

Article 21 of the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan «On Languages» covers visual information, and menus and price lists fall within it: they are presented in the state language and, where necessary, in Russian and other languages, in a font of the same size. The translation must be authentic, that is, convey the meaning without distortion.

In practice this means a Kazakh version for every item, not just for section headings, and no smaller type for the Kazakh text than for the Russian. On paper that doubles the page count; in a QR menu the languages sit side by side and the data structure itself satisfies the requirement.

• Dish and drink names in Kazakh and Russian for every item.
• Descriptions and ingredients in both languages: guests must understand allergens in their own language.
• Categories, kitchens and option groups translated, otherwise the menu looks half done.
• The same font and layout for both languages, which a QR menu does automatically.
• English is optional: the law does not require it, but tourists and foreign guests expect it.

How to translate a menu into Kazakh: a practical sequence

Translating a menu of 60–120 items with descriptions usually takes a translator one or two days; loading it into User-QR takes about an hour. The sequence:

1. 1

   Export the list of items

   Collect names, descriptions and ingredients in a spreadsheet: three columns for languages, one row per dish. The translator sees the whole menu and you see what is still empty.

2. 2

   Translate with a native speaker

   Names that have become proper nouns, such as beshbarmak, latte or tom yum, are transliterated rather than translated. Descriptions and ingredients are translated for meaning, not word by word.

3. 3

   Check numbers and units

   Weights, volumes, calories and allergens must match across languages. A wrong number is more dangerous than a wrong word.

4. 4

   Load it into User-QR

   One Excel file with all three languages at once, or field by field in the admin panel. A category name is translated once for all its dishes, and a ready option group with its translations can be copied from another dish.

5. 5

   Check it on a phone

   Scan the QR, switch to Kazakh and walk through every category. Gaps are obvious on screen and easier to close before the table stickers are printed.

Three languages: English for tourists

The English version is a third layer the law does not require. For venues in tourist districts, near stations and airports or in business centres it removes the «what is this?» questions and speeds up ordering: guests read the description themselves instead of quizzing the waiter. In User-QR names are filled in all three languages, while English descriptions can stay empty and be added later, once foreign guests start arriving.

Paper bilingual menu versus QR menu

A bilingual paper menu means either twice the pages or small type, and the law specifically forbids shrinking the state-language text. Every price change means reprinting both versions, and a seasonal dish means a paste-in for both copies.

In a QR menu the languages sit side by side in one record: an edit takes seconds and lands in every version at once. A paper copy in Kazakh and Russian can stay for guests without a smartphone; it stops being the primary medium and no longer needs a monthly print run.