SO a few people point at you… get over it. Kids in oyur school used to point at you too. You are going to waste petty emotions because somebody points at you?
We have a lot of backpackers coming up to my village in Alishan from Europe. It’s funny when some of the local kids get all excited by the presence of some foreigners and come
rushing over to my house to say there are some foreigners visiting. What about me I ask? They reply, what about you? To the kids I am not a foreigner just a local they have known their whole lives. The kids are just nervous they might not be able to communicate with those visitors. Often the local guest house will call my wife and ask her to help out with translating to some of the visitors.
Tommy: How often to Koreans and Vietnamese mistake each other for each other’s nationalities though? Even without hearing each other speak, facial characteristics, fashion, mannerisms, and other things would probably give them away.
when I took my in-laws to Canada a few years back, they were more than chatty with other Asians (mostly Cantonese) they came across, especially in the smaller towns.
you can’t say ‘hi’ to every cracker you stumble across at Brass Monkey or anything, but a simple nod when you pass each other on a lonely sidewalk is hardly a thing, in fact it is more awkward when you try to act like you didn’t see each other.
Im half Asian and I can honestly tell you that I can not for sure identify a korean from a japanese from a taiwanese from a thai person.
And honestly maybe being on the wan makes you peeps who are obviously NOT Taiwanese have this problem of whether to say hi or not to a passing fellow foreigner. Because here in the USA where there are many ethnics, it would be laughable.
edit: But as iv said many times. GO AHEAD, and nod, say hi or whatever, if it feels right. NOTHING wrong with it. But also nothing wrong with NOT doing that, in my book.
[quote=“Deuce Dropper”]when I took my in-laws to Canada a few years back, they were more than chatty with other Asians (mostly Cantonese) they came across, especially in the smaller towns.
you can’t say ‘hi’ to every cracker you stumble across at Brass Monkey or anything, but a simple nod when you pass each other on a lonely sidewalk is hardly a thing, in fact it is more awkward when you try to act like you didn’t see each other.[/quote]
How true. When I travelled with a group of Taiwanese professors last year, one of the first places they looked for was the local China town.
Every time a foreigner says hello to me on the street, My girlfriend asks me, “do you know him?”… To date the answer has always been “no” and to date, she always laughs at the absurdity of the situation… and I have to agree.
If anyone (foreign or not) gives me a nod and a friendly hello, I will certainly reciprocate but I am definitely not in the “oh look! another white dude!” camp
Im half Asian and I can honestly tell you that I can not for sure identify a Korean from a japanese from a taiwanese from a thai person.
And honestly maybe being on the wan makes you peeps who are obviously NOT Taiwanese have this problem of whether to say hi or not to a passing fellow foreigner. Because here in the USA where there are many ethnics, it would be laughable.[/quote]
Here’s an interesting question for you tommy: do you notice other Eurasian/Amerasian people? Are you more or less likely to acknowledge or say something to such a person? What about when you were growing up in Taiwan?
Tommy: That’s because you live in America. I can’t really tell different Southeast Asians apart (though mainland and island Southeast Asians look different to me), and East Asians can be difficult to distinguish also. There are also quite different fashion senses in different places. I’m not 100% accurate by any means, but I’m sure Asians would do a much better job. I can spot a Southeast Asian guest worker a mile off here, even when compared to some of the darker skinned Taiwanese. Also, at my school, there are both students and teachers who range from looking really Han to really aboriginal.
i Keep thinking of this quote
“You know when it comes to racism, people say: " I don’t care if they’re black, white, purple or green”… Ooh hold on now: Purple or Green? You gotta draw the line somewhere! To hell with purple people! - Unless they’re suffocating - then help 'em."
–Mitch Hedberg
Is it ok to nod at foreigners, but freak out when I see a Taiwanese person, grab the closest person I can, point at them, and scream, “Taiwanese,” then be surprised that they understood me?
[quote=“Puppet”]i Keep thinking of this quote
“You know when it comes to racism, people say: " I don’t care if they’re black, white, purple or green”… Ooh hold on now: Purple or Green? You gotta draw the line somewhere! To hell with purple people! - Unless they’re suffocating - then help 'em."
–Mitch Hedberg
[/quote]
I think it was Isaiah Thomas who first said that, after he said something less conciliatory about Larry Bird I think. Unless he copied it. I remember seeing it on TV.
[quote=“tommy525”] yeah cuz one could be from China and the other from the place that is not a country.
or one could be chinese, the other Korean or vietnamese or thai or indonesian chinese or whatever[/quote]
Yeah and I have never heard one person from Mainland China claim that Taiwan is not a country. It’s part of China hahahahaha
Happens a lot when Chinese visit Korea. I was in Korea for a vacation with my wife and Koreans would speak Korean to visiting Chinese. But at the shope they emplu many Chinese who speak Korean in the areas where they sell cosmetics and cheap clothing. Seeing that Koreans are ethnically Chinese you would expect them to look alike eh
Hold on a minute - I’m not assuming everybody has the same setbacks and problems - I’m just stating people do - some people share common problems and setbacks through being a foreigner here. Just because you don’t, it doesn’t mean other people don’t. Being in Taiwan, as in any other country, has it’s unique set of problems and circumstances which a majority of foreigners have to face at one point or another.
[quote]Having lived here nearly half my life I do not feel as if I am a foreigner. This is my home country and has been for a long time.
[/quote]
That’s fine, and if you are happy with that, all the better. But that is you, and it may be the same for other foreigners here. But by and large, not everyone - certainly not the majority.
Why would you? I’m not suggesting that this should be the case, so why are you?
I suggested you were leaning towards bigotry in the sense that you only indentified foreigners as white in one of your earlier posts, when you were referencing your own skin colour.
[quote]Why would I when I am not a foreigner, I am just another local citizen living his own life here, just like President Ma, another foreign born citizen of Taiwan. Why don’t you go rush up to him and give him your " look we are both foreigners we should make contact" face and see how far you get[/quote].
We don’t. But to go so far as to obviously avoid eye contact is another issue. I was thinking about this this morning at a coffee shop. It just so happened that as I was gazing around the room I caught eyes with another foreigner who quickly averted his gaze and hid behind his Apple Mac. What a dick.
Yet when I met eyes with other customers who were Taiwanese, they’d either look away naturally - in an unpronounced sort of way, or give a little smile. It’s natural to make eye contact with other people, no matter where we are from - it’s the first step in communication and a major part of body language - and when other people avert their gaze in such a way as other foreigners do to me on occasion, it’s weird. It happens to me sometimes with women - I’m not leering, but sometimes I make eye contact
and they look away quickly - just because I am a guy. I do it when I get eye contact with a girl - I sometimes look away quickly - automatically, because I don’t want to appear like some kind of letcher. But in Taiwan, many foreigners have the same response. What? Is it because I am encroaching on your own little piece of paradise? You want to be the only foreigner around? Think you’re some kind of special case? What?
[quote]In fact Super Hans many foreingers and locals who don’t know my wife, assume she is a foreigner living in Taiwan as well as she doesn’t look Chinese. Who cares where you originated from?
[/quote]
I don’t understand how this is relevant.
Isn’t this what we all do. Who goes out and rubber-necks other foreigners?
And who is talking about this? I am discussing chance encounters or little nods as you walk past someone - many people do it to me and I reciprocate.
[quote]I take the MRT and pass hundreds of people each day, I don’t around looking at them except to try and avoid bumping into them. I don’t need to give them, or you, any eye contact.
[/quote]
Well, you should try just ploughing through them. That’s what I do. Anyway, they have the MRT in Alishan? Must have really long escalators.
Guy in Taiwan - I don’t really understand your question.
It’s highly unlikely this is the reason for any foreigner looking away. Perhaps he or she just doesn’t want or need to be singled out as something special and simply recognizes that he or she is a foreigner in Taiwan like many others. I’ve sometimes made eye contact with or said hi to other foreigners (and with Taiwanese of course) and sometimes haven’t, but I find it sad that there might be foreigners out there who actually expect me to have to say hello every time.
My suggestion (it’s been made before, as the thread is - alarmingly - 50 pages long): make eye contact if you like and let others do their own thing without assuming reasons for their doing it. Not everybody is extroverted and it is no personal insult to any foreigner if another does not say hello. Geez - how sensitive are foreigners in Taiwan? Live and let live. It’s nice to admit we’re in the same boat (a similar-ish boat), but not cool to insist we be bosom buddies because of it.
yeah cuz one could be from China and the other from the place that is not a country.
It’s highly unlikely this is the reason for any foreigner looking away. Perhaps he or she just doesn’t want or need to be singled out as something special and simply recognizes that he or she is a foreigner in Taiwan like many others. I’ve sometimes made eye contact with or said hi to other foreigners (and with Taiwanese of course) and sometimes haven’t, but I find it sad that there might be foreigners out there who actually expect me to have to say hello every time.