While in China, I didn't have time to do this blog. Now that I am putting together the photos for an album to commemorate our trip, I felt the need to share one of the most difficult aspects of travel in China. Not being able to speak the language of the people around you can be one of the most helpless feelings.While traveling, I witnessed many people employing various techniques in the hopes of overcoming the language barrier. Many people speak in a "loud voice". The most memorable technique I witnessed was Kristi's "nice voice" method. It appeared that Kristi felt that if she spoke something in a nice enough manner, then they couldn't possible ignore her and would try very hard to understand her. Personally, I figured that if I spoke in the simplest terms possible, then anyone could understand. That is why the only words that I committed to memory were "hello", "thank you", "water", and "beer". If you are in a country where survival is not dependent on these four words, then you have found a country that I do not want to visit.
I quickly abandoned any hope of trying to understand or be understood by the Chinese after I began to examine some of the translated signage around me. It is hard to describe some of what you read so I am posting some of my favorites.
The most straightforward signage I saw were written in the simplest terms, describing what you are looking at. These signs can be easily confused for ones that announce the name of the place. For instance, "Temple of Heaven" or "Forbidden City" are names of well known landmarks. The sign, "Large Stone Carving", is a bit puzzling though. Is it the name of the large slabs of stone at the Fobidden City or is it a sign just describing them? It wasn't clear but could have been if the carving had a name – like "Stairway to the Clouds" or something poetic like that. This is China, isn't it? I thought they lived for that kind of stuff.
The next type of sign is similar – but is usually used for directional or warning signs. "Don't Fall Down" seems to be oddly funny as compared to its more familiar counterpart "Watch Your Step". It beckons a response, doesn't it? – "I'll try not to." Sometimes these signs can be confusing though. While at the Temple of Heaven, we came across a sign that had me puzzled for a few minutes. I felt it should have a picture of Smokey the Bear next to it or perhaps it pertained to protesting Buddhists. But I was mistaken. "No 
Burning" actually means "No Smoking". The "No Burning" sign also has directions to the "Circular Mound" (a description of the big circular mound that maybe is also it's name) and to the "Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests" – a little closer to what I would expect of a name of a place in China.
Unfortunately the picture of my next fascination isn't so great but the sign to the men's room at the Lushan Hotel actual reads "Male Man". This is not to be confused with the Mail Man or Femail Man, I guess.
The Chinese should really give up translating whole directions or rules. While at the pavilion in Nanchang, there was a whole list of things that you were forbidden to do. The one item that sounded really bad, but I am still not sure what it is, was "pornographic gambling". Do the Chinese actually gamble with their porn? "I'll see you two Penthouses and raise you four Barely Legals?" Weird.
Finally, some translations are beyond explanation. I came across this mesmerizing ad in a store in Nanchang. It looks just like every ad you would see in any typical store in China – except for the slogan, "I Believe Feeling". What does this possibly mean? If you want to believe in feeling, you need these shoes? Or maybe part of the slogan is missing like, "I believe feeling good is having great shoes". O.K. that is kind of a stretch. There is something dreamlike in the ad though – like it has some mystical power. Perhaps believe and feeling were just thrown out there to sound cool. Either way, it caught my eye (though it didn't necessarily make me buy any shoes).All of this reminiscing about the confusion and wackiness in China makes me miss it. I experience the same sort of wackiness and confusion in Chicago on a daily basis – just fallow me on the train, around town, to work, and to city hall for a day, and you'll see enough craziness to last a lifetime. Unfortunately, I can't chock up the Chicago craziness to a poor ability to translate. If only that were the problem.
-Chris
