Use of the adjective Asian in the US

I was chastised by a Canadian when I used the term Oriental. He said that they were ASIAN!! -- trying to put me in my place. I in turn pointed out how ignorant he was for completely excluding the billion Asians surrounding us who were not Oriental.

How was he excluding anyone? If, as you suggest, all Orientals are Asian but not all Asians are Oriental, then calling someone Asian when they are from Asia will always be correct, while calling them Oriental may or may not be, right?

On topic: I've been told that "Oriental" is out of date and considered offensive these days, but I'm not qualified to have an opinion on this, so I'll leave it to someone else to answer your question.

Have you thought about the reason why Oriental could be considered offensive?

#2 was for the OP.

I'm a bit puzzled by the OP, was it intended to be a question? Discussion? It seems like a declaration but the "thanks" makes it seem like a request.

Without ignoring the other groups, is there a "PC" way of referring to the collective peoples of Japan, Korea, China, Laos., etc.

DiannaHaddad, Although I forgot the question mark, you will see that the above is structured as an interrogative sentence. That being said, the above is the actual question.

As for your question in #2, I have thought about it and heard the arguments, so that's why I'm looking for a better term.

Asian sounds perfectly appropriate to me; Oriental sounds odd. It seems that here in the United States, where African-American is considered a proper term for persons of African heritage, Asian-American is probably equally proper for persons whose origins are in Asia, regardless of the particular country on that continent they may come from.

I should add that what I think is appropriate is based on my living in the midwestern part of the United States. Oriental may sound perfectly fine in other parts of this country, but I think it would get some strange looks if used here.

Edited by: NorthAmerican

Oriental is definitely considered un PC/incorrect/offensive here in New Zealand and you would certainly be looked at strangely if you said it.

Asian is definitely the word we would use to describe those people from Japan, Korea, China, Laos., etc.

Regarding what we would call people from India, Pakistan etc, we actually would probably refer to them by their country of origin. When it comes to census information all the countries of Asia (Japan, Korea, China, Pakistan, India etc) are included under the blanket heading of "Asian". However, in most cases we specify.

Other than in the census example, Indian itself is generally a separate listing. So, if a person of Indian descent completes a form which asks for ethnicity he/she would tick the "Indian" box (ie not subcontinent, not Asian, Indian).

However, I think that the best thing to do is to use the same terms as the locals wherever appropriate. A friend of mine is Indian (but born and raised in NZ) and when she moved to the UK used to find it very disconcerting hearing that she was suddenly Asian. Finding out that she was now from a completely different area of the world was a bit of a surprise to her! But she learned that when in Europe she was Asian.

I am not entirely sure why Oriental is offensive but it appears from my brief google search that the term originated as a means of classifying an entire group of people which wasn't actually used by the people themselves. Even if that isn't quite correct I can understand how a word which isn't actually that which the people use themselves is possibly a bit contentious. There are similar debates in New Zealand about the words of Maori & Pakeha (indigenous and white settlers).

Edited by: sneaker_fish

The Middle East is in Asia and they are distinguished as Middle Easterners. South Asia is in Asia and they are viewed as South Asians. In "Asian" Siberia has many Caucasians living there. But in the US, Asian is considered the correct way to refer to the people of only one region of the continent.

1. In the English speaking world outside the US, are Israelis, Yemenis, and ethnic Russians from Novosibirsk commonly referred to as Asians? And while I'm on the subject, are Egyptians and Moroccans commonly referred to as Africans? (We already know from sneakerfish that people like her friend are not commonly referred to as New Zealanders.)

2. I think most Americans would think of Indians and Pakistanis as Asian, if asked. (That is, if asked: "Are Indians and Pakistanis Asian?" or something along those lines.) As DianaHaddad said, we'd probably call an Indian an Indian and a Pakistani a Pakistani, rather than calling them Asians, but I don't think you'd be corrected if you called them Asian here. So to say that "Asian is considered the correct way to refer to the people of only one region of the continent" here isn't quite right.

VinnyD - I think in regards to my friend I would regard her as a New Zealander but when it comes to ethnicity I suppose Indian.

I would also say that like my friend who was surprised she came from a different part of the the continent (Asian vs Indian) I think most people would recognise that India was part of Asia whe questioned but wouldn't necessarily categorise people from the subcontinent as Asian. Gosh, I'm as ineloquent as ever.

Edited by: sneaker_fish

I think, but don't know for certain, that people would object to Oriental as meaning eastern, which to an Asian might have Eurocentric implications. People would rather be classified as coming from where they come from rather than from east of where someone else comes from.