Nationalities (Questions About Your Target Languages) Language Learning Forum

Nationalities
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Language Learning Forum : Questions About Your Target Languages

20 messages over 3 pages: 1 2 3

zarathustra
Groupie
Canada
Joined 5812 days ago
57 posts - 59 votes

Speaks: English*
Studies: German, Russian

Message 17 of 20

17 November 2009 at 1:35am | IP Logged

Captain Haddock wrote:

American/Canadian/British culture has no shortage of people who love being vicariously offended on behalf of others.

You're my hero.
1 person has voted this message useful

minus273
Triglot
Senior Member
France
Joined 5771 days ago
288 posts - 346 votes

Speaks: Mandarin*, English^C2, French
Studies: Ancient Greek, Tibetan

Message 18 of 20

19 November 2009 at 9:36pm | IP Logged

YoshiYoshi wrote:

IMHO, from a Chinese perspective, Chinaman itself sounds just as neutral as Frenchman and Dutchman (though I haven't found it out in the dictionaries, and grammatically, Chinaman? or Chineseman?), but some overseas Chinese are inclined to consider it slightly derogatory when a foreigner calls them Chinaman (中国佬, zhōng-guó-lǎor) in a haughty or hostile tone. Perhaps (I'm not sure) some Americans have the same feeling when they're sometimes called Yankee (美国佬, mĕi-guó-lǎor).

As a Chinese, 佬 seems pretty fine to me. It's hostile and derogatory, but in the way that we are all a bit hostile and derogatory to each other. When speaking Chinese, I even use 鬼子 and 棒子, to play the populist xenophobe persona which is far-removed from my actual opinions.
1 person has voted this message useful

Me has to learn
Groupie
Germany
Joined 5563 days ago
64 posts - 75 votes

Speaks: German*

Message 19 of 20

19 November 2009 at 11:11pm | IP Logged

Chinaman is not the preferred nomenclature.
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minus273
Triglot
Senior Member
France
Joined 5771 days ago
288 posts - 346 votes

Speaks: Mandarin*, English^C2, French
Studies: Ancient Greek, Tibetan

Message 20 of 20

20 November 2009 at 12:47am | IP Logged

The problem with "Chinaman" is that it means "damned East-Asian" not "damned Chinese", so it won't work as a good name/slur for the Chinese.

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