Universal language

New York – Google Translate has teamed up with 18 chefs to create a pop-up restaurant featuring a range of global cuisines.

• Diners could use the app, which features more than 100 languages, to translate the menus
• The pop-up was accompanied by the hashtag #EveryoneSpeaksFood

Google celebrated its 10th birthday with a novel brand extension concept for the Google Translate app. Each night the pop-up restaurant, Small World, featured a diverse three-course menu to create a melting pot of global cuisines, all written in the local language of that cuisine. The concept was developed in collaboration with the New York-based production and entertainment company m ss ng p eces, which coordinated the ad campaign.

The video begins with a voiceover by one of the 18 chefs involved, Einat Admony, which explains: ‘Food is a universal language because it’s not just a necessity of life but it’s one thing that definitely brings people together.’ Small World celebrates languages and diversity by using technology to make these differences accessible and intelligible to all.

The app, which is available on both iOS and Android, enabled guests to scan the restaurant’s menu in its original language and translate it into their own mother tongue.