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Multiracial or Multicultural | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Cultural Experiences in Foreign Languages |  | |
 g0bananas Pro Member United States g0bananas.tumblr.com Joined 4669 days ago 6 posts - 6 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Mandarin, Korean Personal Language Map | Message 1 of 26 16 February 2012 at 7:41pm | IP Logged |
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Being an Arubian, Chinese-Trinidadian, African-Trinidadian, Russian/Polish-Jewish(ethno-religious
group) American, I have been asked what I am by strangers all my life. Are there specific terms to explain ones multiracial identity in different languages without having to explain ones family backround? Is any term or phrase that you have come across that would translate as the broad term, multi-racial/cultural/ethnic? If you know the history of the term I'd love to learn about that as well. I never want to leave any of my cultures behind, but not everyone wants to stick around for an explanation- especially when I can barely stumble through/recall the pronunciation of the nations my target languages. Personally, I'd like to know how to explain my ethnicity in Asian languages(mainly Chinese, Japanese and Korean), for those are my target languages as of now but I'm very curious to learn how the rest of the world expresses their multiracial identity in their native language. Edited by g0bananas on 22 February 2012 at 5:15am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Solfrid Cristin Heptaglot Winner TAC 2011 & 2012 Senior Member Norway Joined 5337 days ago 4143 posts - 8864 votes  Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian Studies: Russian | Message 2 of 26 17 February 2012 at 9:13am | IP Logged |
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I cannot give you any advice on how to do this in Asia, but I can tell you how we solve it here, given that anyone asks at all.
I have such a boring ethnic background, that I never get the question, 1/16 Swede and 15/16 Norwegian is not exactly something to get anyone's adrenaline pumping. I would just state it mathematically, like done above, if you do not want to tell your full family story. I have a friend who is 1/2 Indian, 1/4 Scottish and 1/4 Norwegian and who was born in Great Britain. Most people who just see him consider him Indian, I consider him Norwegian, but I think he considers himself British. The son of my American cousin is 1/2 Mexican, 1/4 Norwegian and 1/4 Irish. He says he is Norwegian, for me he is American through and through, since his grandfather came to the US in the 1930ies. He has spent exactly 4 days in Norway and does not speak a word of Norwegian. Anyway Norway is paralysed by political correctness, and people are always hunting for new words to be able to label others as racists. Since the last word which has been found to be racist is race, and derivatives thereof (with the exception of racist of course, which they bitterly need), it would probably be considered racist also to use the term multiracial, therefore it would be difficult to translate right now. And you do not have to tell me how crazy that is, I know. Hence the use of mathematical entities. However, unless it for some reason is a sensitive topic for you, I would consider explaining your family background. It might make people feel closer to you, and create a connection, and that its always a good thing. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |
| zenmonkey Bilingual Tetraglot Senior Member Germany Joined 6555 days ago 803 posts - 1119 votes 1 sounds Speaks: EnglishC2*, Spanish*, French, German Studies: Italian, Modern Hebrew | Message 3 of 26 17 February 2012 at 9:42am | IP Logged |
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I laughed. I'm sure that the Swede and Norwegian mix "gets a lot of adrenaline pumping". It's very exotic to a lot of people, just move abroad!
I'm not very favorable to using fractions; these were often used in a variety of race laws in various countries and I find them facile, reductive and awkward even when they are understandable. I have four answers. 1) "Not from here." Short, easy and moves on. But I understand that isn't really the answer you are asking for. Still, it allows to close the conversation when it isn't appropriate to ask. 2) "It's complicated. I was born in ____ but my parents come from ____ and ____. There families come from ____ and ____" I don't think necessarily in terms of race but culture, languages and identity so I use that when it warrants an answer. 3) "How much time do you have?" I can then go into a long explanation of growing up in different countries, third-culture kids, social, religious and ethnic backgrounds (intelligentsia Mexican nuclear physicist son of a migrant communist Jewish-Polish trader/industrialist met biologist daughter of a landed jack-of-all trades Basque/Spanish/Mexican with a splash of Aztec-princess-according-to-the-stories and they had me in France.... and we travelled). 4) I'm a mutt/mongrel. Edited by zenmonkey on 17 February 2012 at 11:43am 7 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Bao Diglot Senior Member Germany tinyurl.com/pe4kqe5 Joined 5769 days ago 2256 posts - 4046 votes Speaks: German*, English Studies: French, Spanish, Japanese, Mandarin | Message 4 of 26 17 February 2012 at 10:03am | IP Logged |
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Continent/s of ancestry, and, if applicable, the rough time when the move to another continent happened. That's all I care about. Ethnicity only makes sense in combination with culture, and you can roughly guess at a person's ethnic origin when seeing their face, but you can't guess at their cultural roots. Edited by Bao on 17 February 2012 at 10:03am 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| eggcluck Senior Member China Joined 4704 days ago 168 posts - 278 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Mandarin, Japanese | Message 5 of 26 17 February 2012 at 10:03am | IP Logged |
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I usually have the same problem. I just describe myself as a mongrel. It usually gets a snicker or two. However I am rarely asked this except by other English people no one else seems to notice I do not quite look full English.
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| Chevalier Diglot Groupie Brazil Joined 4710 days ago 53 posts - 104 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, English | Message 6 of 26 21 February 2012 at 12:03am | IP Logged |
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My country is a melting pot, but it is not really common to ask someone about where they are from, unless they're speaking a foreign language or speaking Portuguese as a second language.
If you were born in Brazil, lived here and speak the language, you would be just Brazilian and that's what it is. What might happen is that if you're Asian (using your example) someone would ask you if your family is Japanese or Chinese, not because they are racist, but because they are curious, but it is not common, it is more likely to be asked by a friend. It usually happens when someone reads your surname and they might ask you 'is that an Italian surname?' for example. It is not an issue here because Brazilians do not look in a particular way, so people don't care if your grandfather was Italian for example. I know I have French, German, Russian, Polish, Uruguayan and Brazilian in my family background and my surname is Portuguese so I might be a bit Portuguese too, but I can't remember the last time I was asked about that in Brazil. Of course when you are abroad people ask you, then I just say I'm Brazilian but some of my family came from Europe and Uruguay. If you are an American but look Asian, just say that you are American and that's enough. 4 persons have voted this message useful | |
| cathrynm Senior Member United States junglevision.co Joined 6128 days ago 910 posts - 1232 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese, Finnish | Message 7 of 26 21 February 2012 at 12:15am | IP Logged |
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I'm in some mixed-blood Japanese ancestry groups online, and I think we've figured out that there is no word that implies mixed heritage in Japanese that does not have negative connotations, other than haafu, which to Japanese will imply mixed Japanese ancestry. Me, I just own up to being 'haafu' and accept this. If you're trying to maintain ambiguity of some other situation I don't know of a good way to do this, other than to hem and haw and avoid the topic.
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| g0bananas Pro Member United States g0bananas.tumblr.com Joined 4669 days ago 6 posts - 6 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Mandarin, Korean Personal Language Map | Message 8 of 26 22 February 2012 at 5:23am | IP Logged |
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Thank you all for your insightful tidbits! You have all made me curious...
I love being a mutt/mongrel!(us mutts are the cutest! :P), but some people look down on it because of the connotations is holds... Does anyone have any experience with being treated differently as a result of being multiracial? Do you think it could stem from the fact that there is no P.C.(ish) term for it in whichever language? Is there a term for multiracial but no one uses it, resorting to saying mutt? 1 person has voted this message useful |
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