Chinese declined at restaurant. Tue, Dec 5, 2006.

12/05/2006. 765. After shopping at the home improvement store, my friend and I went to a nearby Chinese restaurant.

My friend thought the waitress may have been intimidated by me, but I could tell before I said anything that she noticed the Chinese Books of Mormon on the table, and was uncomfortable. My guess is that she already participates in a church, and her opinion was already somewhat tainted against the Book of Mormon, perhaps by incorrect information, and perhaps by the use of the Chinese word for "bible" in the Chinese title of the Book of Mormon. As mentioned elsewhere in this blog, the word used to translate "book" in the title "Book of Mormon" actually means "holy book" and is the same word/symbol used to translate the word "bible." Thus, the Chinese title is "Mormon Bible" not "Mormon(,) Book (of)."

The waitress was very quick and perfunctory in her visits to our table, and when I did make an offer, she politely declined, but I also could tell she was uncomfortable with the offer, so I didn't repeat, nor did I try a different angle.

This was another case in which I needed a bilingual Chinese/English New Testament, but recently the International Bible Society has been out of stock, so I'll need to check again and buy some more when they are in. It just occurred to me that Chinese Gospel Principles, the Sunday School manual, may also be appropriate in these cases where the title "Mormon Bible" causes misunderstanding.