A FEW FUNNY SIGNS: A REVISED POSTING

Explanation: My original posting which included pictures of somewhat uniquely translated signs, accompanied with somewhat humorous pictures of Aleksandar, has been misunderstood. I wanted to set things straight with the upset blogger so here is my response/apology.

Thank you for your posting! I don’t think I have ever been “accused of” being demeaning toward other cultures (nor of being an American.) J After all, my mission, as a teacher of English as a Second Language and as a teacher educator in training, has been to promote appreciation of all languages and cultures. I want to thank you for your posting because it was a good reminder of how humor does not often translate across cultures and how my linguist’s fascination with translations may have led me to an act that could be viewed as inappropriate. What was meant as a joke was, clearly, taken very seriously by you and perhaps by many other people from your culture. It also made me realize that this blog has reached an audience wider than I had ever meant for it to reach and, as such, I need to be more careful about not insulting people from other cultures. I have decided to take the pictures off in order to show my respect for the Chinese culture. My experience here has been very positive and the last thing I wanted to do is to insult a Chinese person.

PS: I would disagree with your evaluation of Americans as being bad tourists. That cultural generalization can also be similarly perceived as inappropriate.