Comment

A Fantastic, Moving Short Film by Pixar Animators: "Borrowed Time"

264
wheat-dogg, raker of forests, master of steam10/15/2016 8:35:22 am PDT

re: #233 freetoken

Bit of Japanese culture: the word ā€œgaikokujinā€ (外国äŗŗļ¼‰means litterally ā€œoutside country personā€. So when I was in Japan I was a gaikokujin (which is the proper and polite word, the impolite is ā€œgaijinā€ which is a word far too many gaikokujin use which they ought not if they want to sound intelligent. You will never hear an NHK talking head say ā€œgaijinā€.)

Anyway, I once tried to use that word here in the US, to a Japanese person (an instructor), saying that in the US they would in fact be the ā€œgaikokujinā€. Nope, I was instructed. Japanese are not ā€œgaikokujinā€. Even when they are in a different country.

Funny how we humans stick with our ā€œinā€ and ā€œoutā€ labels.

The same characters (外国äŗŗ) in Mandarin are pronounced ā€œwaiguoren,ā€ with the same meaning. Chinese agree with the Japanese (how rare!) in that Chinese living abroad are not referred to as waiguoren, but when they return they are called ā€œhaiguiā€ (sea turtles).

The mandarin equivalent of gaijin is ę“‹é¬¼å­ ā€œyangguiziā€ ā€” foreign devil, especially referring to Westerners ā€” or just ā€œguiziā€ ā€” foreign invaders. I was referred to as a yangguizi only once (that I know of), by a friend of a student making some reference to me online. He didnā€™t know I could read some Chinese, and I told him in English that I was offended and he needed to apologize. He did.