Okay I have a question. Asian has become the politically correct term for peoples of Japan, Korea, China, Thailand, Cambodia, Indonesia etc.
Now I know several Asian people, my Fiancee included, that hates that. They prefer to be called Oriental. They don't find it offensive and like it because it separates them from the rest of the Asian continent. Afterall, Indian, Middle Eastern and former Soviet Union people are all technically Asian too.
What do ya'll think?
Just curious,
Jenny

I don't think it's that big of a deal. I personally prefer being called Chinese

I didn't think it was either, but some people get really upset about it.
The reason I brought it up is because last week one of my coworkers got reprimanded for saying "oriental" instead of Asian, and I was like..wow.
Jenny

Call me Asian, Oriental, Vietnamese, Vietnamese-American. Just don't go "Hey, Oriental!" or "Hey Asian!"; it all depends on how you say it.

Funny, I heard the exact opposite that asian people didn't like to be called "oriental" <_< Personally, it doesn't make a difference, so much conflict for something not worth getting mad over -_-; Asian/oriental, it's the same thing to me.

Assuming they don't know my exact ethnicity I don't care if they call me asian or oriental because its a generic term. Its better then "are you chinese or japanese?"


I'm korean btw

I think Oriental is more appropriate for reasons jenny2004 mentioned. But it doesn't matter to me. Maybe because I'm a "half-breed."

i would prefer they call me Asian. Oriental is okay, but i'm not used to being addressed that way.

oh, i hate it when people come up to me and ask, "Are you Chinese?" or say "That Chinese" and stuff like that.

I prefer "Asian," because to me, "Oriental" refers to the far places of Europe, in this case Asia. But now that it's not so far anymore because we have better transportation. The first Europeans didn't call us "Asians," they called us "Orientals." Which sounds way too far from them.

But call me "Asian," or "Vietnamese," or "Daivietan." Hehehehehehee...

Is it really wrong for people to make such an assumption?
There are more Chinese people in the world than all other Oriental/Asian races combined. Unless you include Indian. I can tolerate the whole "are you Chinese?" thing. That's just me. I suppose most people don't like it.

This morning, a Chinese lady asked me if I was Chinese/Taiwanese. Darn it, I look 105% percent Vietnamese, I thought Asians are supposed to recognize each others' ethnicity.

That reminds me of something. Every single time we go out for chinese food, some waitress asks my fiancee. oooh are you chinese? and he tells them he's 3/4 vietnamese and 1/4 chinese. and they go, woooow you are a very very tall chinese man LOL.
People always think he's full blood chinese. although he is rather tall, he's 6'2".
Jenny

That's funny, the original application of the word Oriental was used by Europeans when referring to the people of the Middle East. Central Asia was known as the Orient and later as trading between Europe extended well beyond Asia Minor, into East Asia, the Oriental became a universal term for all Asians including Middle Eastern and South Asians.
Now, the term itself is considered to be politically incorrect and since the 1970s, Asian and Asian-American were adopted to signify peoples of regions beyond the Central Asian periphery.
I think Oriental is often associated with stereotypes while Asian is more precise since its purpose is to denote ancestry. That's just my opinion.
The best way to go about it is to be as specific as possible. For me, I prefer Vietnamese-American best.

Yah...

Not from where I am currently. There are more koreans here then chinese or japanese in fact I only know one chinese and like fifty koreans here.

And the other people here have met only koreans but their first assumption when see a asian/oriental is "are you chinese?" it gets redundant. The Koreans are make up the majority of the asians here so why ask if they are chinese?

I suppose you are right, DAI_VIET. Although it's not easy to distinguish ethnicities like that.

same thing here. There are only 2 to 3 Chinese at my school, and the rest are mostly Vietnamese. They knew that but call us Chinese anyway.

What the!?!?!?!?! Hahhaahhhhahahaa... all they see in Asia is a big chunk of land in the middle, and that's China. So all they think is China.

They really call you Chinese even though they know you are Vietnamese? I've never heard of such a thing!

yea that happens a lot down here. Some people just don't learn. heheh

I prefer Chinese. To call Chinese "Asian" is like calling French "European". But of course, I'd prefer East Asian, Southeast Asian, South Asian, and Central Asian.

What school are you attending dtb? That sounds insensitive as if they are too lazy to take the time and actually address you by your real ethnicity.

Indian is Asian. I don't think you should consider Cambodian Asian or Oriental if you don't consider Indian because that where a lot of Khmer culture came from.
I don't like the word the word Oriental because ppl apply that word to Northeast Asian more and different region of Asia is so different. The ppl even look different. Asian a better meaning it ppl that lived in Asia. So when they Oriental, I don't feel accepted for some reason.

Ok I'll be more specific, Oriental I think in most people's minds are those of East Asian decent.

How does skin color and Confucianism relate to "Oriental" Byron?

Oriental

That's true, so wouldn't you agree it shouldn't be used seriously? Maybe it's just me but I associate Oriental with the Middle East, I guess I have not come across the modern usage of the word.
OH YEAH that reminds me, Saigon was also known as Paris of the Orient but if we use Orient in its original definition, that would be Damascus or Baghdad.

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=oriental

Oriental:

Oriental Of or designating the biogeographic region that includes Asia south of the Himalaya Mountains and the islands of the Malay Archipelago.

So I guess it means anyone from a country that is south of the himalaya mountains and the islands of the Malay Archipelago.

Really? Hong Kong's nickname is 'Pearl of the Orient'. I never really looked into the meaning of the word and since many Chinatown shops have 'Oriental' in their names, I've always associated Oriental with East Asia.

Shanghai's "Dongfang Minzhu ta" is called Oriental Pearl tower in English.

When a caucasian sees an Indian, they can tell that he's an Indian by his dark skin and mustache. But they can't tell the difference between Vietnamese, Chinese, Koreans, Japanese at all.

Cambodians, Laotians, Indonesians, Thais, and Pacific Islanders look pretty the same to them, too.

Just opinion though.

Cambodian can also have dark skin and mustache. To what set Indian apart is that
Indian have very tall nose and large eyes, probably cause of the invasion of the Aryans, but south Indian look like some ppl southeast Asia just darker.

Yup...

Really? I can generally see a difference.

The dictionary definition isn't exact. I've always thought Oriental was East Asian and so do most other people I've asked. The world 'Oriental' also means Eastern.


Also another outdated word is 'Cathay'.

\Ca*thay"\, n. China; -- an old name for the Celestial Empire, said have been introduced by Marco Polo and to be a corruption of the Tartar name for North China (Khitai, the country of the Khitans.)

A medieval name for China popularized by Marco Polo in accounts of his travels. It usually applied only to the area north of the Chang Jiang (Yangtze River).

Cathay? Sounds familiar, isn't there a Cathay Airlines in China?

Cathay Pacific. Its the Airlines with the white wing and green blackground. I believe it is a Hong Kong based airline.

it doesn't matter to me. I like them both

I think "Oriental" sounds abit exotic. Besides, when people say "Asian", they refers to East Asians and South East Asians. It's not often that westerners call Indians "Asians", they just call them Indians. Also, same applies for Central Asians and Middle Eastern Asians

"Not from where I am currently. There are more koreans here then chinese or japanese in fact I only know one chinese and like fifty koreans here.

And the other people here have met only koreans but their first assumption when see a asian/oriental is "are you chinese?" it gets redundant. The Koreans are make up the majority of the asians here so why ask if they are chinese? "

I guess it has something to do with Chinese culture being the most known out of all the Asian cultures. It doesn't matter what kind of Asian you are, the first thing a clueless ignorant non-Asian person will say is "Chinese". Even Mexicans think the same thing. To them, Chino is synonomous with the word Asian. When they see a yellow-skinned person with slanted eyes, they automatically say "Chino" or or "Chinito".

It's the same for Hispanics, oops, I'm sorry, Latinos

People generally assume all Latinos are Mexicans because Mexico is the closest to the U.S. and therefore more exposed to the U.S. general population.

Did you know that chino also denotes curly hair? I never saw the connection through my five years of spanish but, yes, when a person is called chino, it can mean that they are talking about a curly-haired boy.

That's funny beause Chinese isn't exactly known for our curly hair

Hence my perplexity. And those "chino" pants huh, what's the relation there?

Chinese have been wearing chino pants for hundreds of years!

Really? What is the influence? Material or style?

Curses! I forgot the emoticon!

I just got it. Why am I so slow today?

I personally have a hard time distinguishing asians from Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, Korean, Cambodian etc. I mean, I know we don't all look the same, but seriously there's only so much you could get right on the first shot o_O I mean even on here I was mistaken for Japanese, but that doesn't really bother me all that much. I'd say it'd be the same asking people to distinguish caucasians in American, French, Germans, Russians and Italians on looks alone. Hard stuff, don't take it too personally

I've actually gotten pretty good at distinguishing the difference. It all has to do with eye shape, cheek bone structure and skin tone. But I guess being an American who is going to have EuroAsian children I am rather sensitive in distinguishing the difference.
Jenny