Eastern asian people

Alot of this thread is going to cover controversial topics, but my aim in this is to remove a form of racism from my life so please read this.

I come from Scotland. It really riles me, and my fellow scots, up when people confuse us for irish or english. Considering the history between these countrys and my own it's not difficult to understand why.

This brings me to my point. Myself and a large proportion of the planet have a great deal of difficulty being able to tell which country an eastern asian person comes from. It's something that I always knew was disrespectful but I decided that using the umbrella term "Eastern Asian" has me covered. If I say that it means I can't be wrong and therefore wont end up "assuming" someones from a specific country because of their physical features.

This, however, is a problem. I am offended when people say "British". Alot of Scottish people are. It's a long story and if you're interested feel free to PM me and I will direct you towards some history sites. But back to my point.

Being called british puts me into a category alongside countrys that I would prefer not to be associated with. If I use the term "Eastern Asian" that puts Japanese, Korean, Cambodian, Chinese and the rest into the same category and I know there are individuals that would resent that.

This is something I'm sure alot of other people do and I think it's about time we dropped the relaxed nature towards it and dealt with it.

I'm asking for help. Yes it's a controversial subject but my only aim here is to become more racially aware and less offensive. If anyone can help me out, let me know Thanks.

My advice: get accustomed to the unique naming patterns of each of those countries. If you know that Mei Ling is more than likely a Chinese person and Hatsune Kobayashi is more than likely a Japanese person then you've already won half the battle.

Ideally though, I'd tell you to learn all the languages as that would solve all your problems, but that is, admittedly, rather difficult.

Oh so Japanese names tend to be more syllabary complex while the chinese names are more straightforward? This helps alot.

Do a little research and you should understand it all no problem.

Thanks man

I dunno,we French has a reputation of trolling,flaming,and all the bad stuff you can find on 4chan(But we trolled it really hard so we kinda deserved that part) and yet,I don't really care...although I do get insults sometimes on LoL,Warcraft 3(They don't like Europeans...especially Russians(Asian/EU) and germans(I can't count all the "Germans are nazi" rooms)

...oh wait it's about IRL nvm >_<

Well the only way I've known to get somebody's origin without failing&offensing/asking is to guess the language he use(often by the accent).
Yet you still have to divide origins between languages similarities.
For Russian for example,you got all the others nations around who speaks a different kind of Russian,similar orally but not vocabulary and if you say of a Georgian he is Russian...well rage incoming,probably.
Same for German and the nations around(again).

vatar5 wrote:I dunno,we French has a reputation of trolling,flaming,and all the bad stuff you can find on 4chan(But we trolled it really hard so we kinda deserved that part) and yet,I don't really care...although I do get insults sometimes on LoL,Warcraft 3(They don't like Europeans...especially Russians(Asian/EU) and germans(I can't count all the "Germans are nazi" rooms)

...oh wait it's about IRL nvm >_<

Well the only way I've known to get somebody's origin without failing&offensing/asking is to guess the language he use(often by the accent).
Yet you still have to divide origins between languages similarities.
For Russian for example,you got all the others nations around who speaks a different kind of Russian,similar orally but not vocabulary and if you say of a Georgian he is Russian...well rage incoming,probably.
Same for German and the nations around(again).

This is actually an odd point because I can tell where most white people come from on sight. I can look at a russian or german person and know theyre russian or german by their physical attributes. Don't ask me how, I honestly don't know lol

Half of the world believes Latino relates Mexico. And that America means USA, maybe + Canada. And that South America looks like the movie-commercialized Brazil (jungles and favelas everywhere). Also they tend to think completely black people are from Africa and "half" black (brown, don't want to be offensive), are from Mexico (a.k.a Latinos).

Discrimination internationally tends to degrade black people and to relate Spanish speakers with well, "brown" people. Even in my country Argentina, we (as a term of argentinians, not me) discriminate black/brown people, we tend to relate them with our neighboring country Bolivia, or Peru, which we associate with thieves. This is stupid because half of our population is "brown". Most people that are the standard "white" it's because they are descendants of our colorization of the past, Spain. It's a bad world. Acceptation it's just a impossible goal because human beings follow the principle of Ambition. And Ambition leads to be better than others. Leads to the thought of Pyramid. Someone has to be down.

Be yourself, if they are your friends, tell them to not relate you to that, and explain them why. If they don't care, then *** them. To don't offend people, just ask them where are they from. Don't do assumptions, because that's the mistake. You don't know nothing about new people, don't believe others, make your own conclusion by getting to know them. Assumptions in relationships tend to lead to prejudices.

I totally agree there should be a pyramid. But it should be based on the individuals merits.

Like I said, I dont want to be associated with Britain but that's the what the countrystands for and the government I disagree with, not the people.

I'll admit, I know how to tell a British accent from a Scottish or an Irish accent but I sometimes have trouble telling a Scottish accent from an Irish accent.

Pendant. What you said there is exactly the problem I have with the term "Britain".


Britain is supposed to include England, Scotland and Wales but like you just stated, when people say british most of the planet thinks of english people. It's after this when I get called british that I feel offended as no, I am not english. i am scottish. Know what I mean?

I can understand. I don't like to be called Hispanic - I don't even speak the Spanish language.

And I'm not african american. I was born in the us. I'm half black.

I can generally tell by looking because, just like every other race, they tend to look different than thier neighbors in several ways (skin undertone, eye shape, facial structure that kind of thing.)

I would recommed learning to at least recognise the native languages though, thats how I do it if theirs doubt.

(you could also just ask, it doesn't seem likely that they'll be offnended, and even less likely if you explain that you're just trying to avoid offending them unintentionally)

Forum Pirate wrote:And I'm not african american. I was born in the us. I'm half black.

I can generally tell by looking because, just like every other race, they tend to look different than thier neighbors in several ways (skin undertone, eye shape, facial structure that kind of thing.)

I would recommed learning to at least recognise the native languages though, thats how I do it if theirs doubt.

(you could also just ask, it doesn't seem likely that they'll be offnended, and even less likely if you explain that you're just trying to avoid offending them unintentionally)

See, recognizing individual races by their physical traits is exactly what I want to be able to do, but sadly I just cant tell the difference. You can call that racist, but I see it more of a failing on my part rather than racism.

And i'm awful at languages :| I got an A in latin when I was in school but Jesus, Buddha and Mohammed must've pulled together on that one!

I live in washington. There are quite a few asian people here, so I've been around them my whole life.

I wish I could tell you how I'm doing it but its mostly just exposure.

I also speak some japanese so I can immediatly pick out the chinese languages. (they sound similar to japanese) Distuinguishing vietnamese and korean people is more difficult for me without just asking them, but there arn't a lot of vietnamese people here so its been a non-issue

As an Asian person, I find no offense in simply being called Asian. Though, it's a lot nicer to have someone just refer to me by my first name.

I mean, if you want to know my heritage/culture, just ask? I'm sure a lot of other Asian people feel the same way. There's nothing wrong with asking. It just means you are curious/interested in someone's heritage/culture.

What bunny said. I work Ruth feverishly disabled adults which while using one term is a drastic spectrum of individuals. So not only have I encountered a good many races and nationalities in my 31 planets but add diagnoses and differing abilities to the equation. My job is investigating incidents so I could theoretically be called upon to interview and get the best possible info from anyone at ant time. In order to do that I have tobuild an immediate rapport with strangers sometimes. Barring an inability to communicate (language barrier, inability to talk/sign) I have this advice about communicating with anyone: regarding their ethnicity? Who the *** cares. Regarding color? Who the *** cares. Regarding ability/disability? Who the *** cares.

Be you, say "hello," be polite and just talk. If you're curious about their background and it fits in the conversation just ask.

As for being bothered by others' rudeness or misrepresentation of your roots, you can't control. If they're willing to listen all you can do is express how you feel and pray they listen

I would hope that all peoples would see it the same way Bunny, Skarekrow, but perhaps the racial tension in my city is part of the issue here. But yes, you are right. In future I'll just try to be honest and as non assuming as possible