Quote:
Originally Posted by YuriTokoro
Hi.
Could someone correct my English?
"Gaijin"
Wikipedia says that Gaijin (外人[ɡaidʑiɴ]) is a Japanese word meaning "non-Japanese", or "alien".
I have heard foreign people hate being called “gaijin”. Is that right?
I went on a trip in Japan with an American friend a few years ago. When we took a taxi, I was talking to the driver in Japanese and I said the word “gaijin” in the conversation.
My friend wasn’t able to understand Japanese. She had started studying Japanese, but she didn’t even know how to say “mother” or “father”.
However, she seemed to catch the word “gaijin”, and got upset.
Most Japanese people believe that “gaijin” means “people from foreign countries” without any further meaning. We can say “gaikokujin（外国人）” and “gaikoku kara irasshatta kata（外国からいらっしゃった方”, but the first one sounds too formal and the second one is too long to say.
Since I didn’t know my friend didn’t like to be called “gaijin”, that I was shocked to know she was angry.
I believe the definitions in Wiki are a bit wrong. The Japanese people don’t mean anything negative by the word.
I’d like to know why and how the word has become associated with a bad meaning or impression.
If you know any reasons, let me know, please.
And, what should I say instead of gaijin???
Thank you.
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Hi Yuri
This is a really interesting topic.
If you have any questions about the changes i've made, please ask me.
ユリさんの質問に関しては、ちょっと複雑と思います。 外国人は日本について学び始めると、必ず『日本人は外 国の事をよく分からない』や 『日本人に取って、外国 人が宇宙人みたいん』の意見を聞いています。それはや っぱり正しくないですが、何か普通になりました。もち ろん、その意見は大学で、日本人の友達で、直していま すが、日本の社会をよく分からないの人の中で、そのよ うな意見に信じている人はいっぱいんです。それにも、 日本の社会に着いて勉強し始めるの人でも、他の外人か ら変な意見と聞いています。「日本人があなたの事を『 外人』と呼ぶ、悪口だ。人種差別的な響きがある.」だ� �ら、日本人は「外人」を付けると、外国人達、「実は� �日本人さんは私の事がすきじゃないの？ばかにするの� �」と心配します。多分、この考え違いの理由は:
1)英語で、人を国籍で呼ぶのは人種差別的な響きがあり� ��す。たとえば『ジャップ』『パッキ (パキスタン人）』
２）ある子どもは外国人を見ると「あ、外人！外人だ！ 」道の中に呼ぶので、日本人の大人も「外人」を付ける 、何か子どもぽいです。みて、みて、僕のペット外人の 感じがあります。
３）有名な人は「外人」は悪事と言います。たとえば、 デビト。
4)自分の国にいるでも、日本語に取ってまだ『外人』で� ��。そして、それが好きじゃないんです。
and various other reasons.
For me, I don't mind being called 'gaijin' by someone I don't know, unless it's people openly pointing and bawling it, or kids making a fuss, then I might tell them (in japanese) that they're being rude. I don't mind if a friend uses it now and then as a joke, or ironically, but I don't like it when people use it all the time. Even if ~you~ don't think it's got a bad meaning, the foreign community generally does, so if I let everyone call me 'gaijin' all the time, I'll have to deal with my foreign friends asking me why I allow it, don't I find it demeaning, don't I realize it's a bad thing, and so on.
Also it lumps us all together, like it doesn't matter who or where we come from, the thing is we're Not-Japanese. I've also had conversations like "gaijin cause a lot of crime in Japan; these days loads of drug dealers and prostitutes are gaijin.... Oh, Hi Columbine! Everyone, this is my friend Columbine, she's gaijin." I think you can see why sometimes it's really frustrating! Also if you're white, a lot of Japanese people seem to think 'gaijin' means 'american', so it can be annoying for Europeans to be introduced as 'gaijin' and then get asked about America.
So for me, if you have to refer to me by something other than my name, please use my actual nationality, イギリス人、or I'd rather be called 外国人 than がいじん、even if it's more formal. The formality actually means that both the japanese people using it and all the foreigners KNOW for sure there's no bad meaning.