How do I write a recipe so others (or Google) can translate it well?

Question

Many recipes online are correct, but they are very difficult to translate from one language to another.

Google Translate, for example, does not translate recipes very well.

How do I write a recipe so others (or Google Translate) can translate it well?

Answer 1

A. Use simple sentences so Google can translate them well.

• Yes. Mix sugar and butter.
• No. Mix the sugar and the butter together until completely incorporated.

B. Use grams for all weights. Spell out "grams".

• Yes. 100 grams sugar. 200 grams milk.
• No. 100 g sugar. 200 g milk.

C. Avoid imperial measures like cups and tablespoons.

• No. About 10 tablespoons of sugar and a cup of milk.
• Yes. 191 grams sugar. 245 grams milk.

D. Google will have problems translating ingredient names. I don't think there's much you can do to help with this. Link to a picture of the ingredient (or to an ingredient's Wikipedia page) instead.

Answer 2

There's actually a markup schema for recipes, which Google and others use to decide if something's a recipe, so they can present it differently in search results. (and can present it differently for each language, although they still need to translate the ingredients, amounts, and instruments)

For an example of usage, see https://developers.google.com/structured-data/rich-snippets/recipes .