language - aren't the japanese funny sometimes

Sometimes Japan can really throw you a curve ball. In Japan, like in all countries, there are foreigners living and working there, from countries like the Brazil, Peru, South Korea, the U.S. and so on. They fill various jobs, such as English teachers, translators, factory workers, you name it.
The other day I was in a game center, and I saw a sign posted on the wall that stated in extremely polite Japanese, "Thank you for using this game center. Please understand that our staff can only speak Japanese, so we
cannot communicate with foreigners who can't speak Japanese. If you can't speak this language and have some trouble with our games, please go to another game center." Since the sign was written in Japanese, I don't
know who they thought was going to read it.

copied from e-mail sent by keot, sent to keot by jlist.

by rach, posted on Sunday, 18. January 2004 @ 0948.31 gmt