I guess. But you’ll find most Taiwanese to think other places are better depending on where you’re from.
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Haha…respectful, occasionally; discreet, rarely; discreet and respectful, don’t expect it here.
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At least you’re not called “黑人” as I am often called here. It would probably be tolerable if they use “白人” equally as often, but it doesn’t happen this way.
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Imagine yourself working in a service industry where “the guy/gal with black hair and glasses” would clusterfuck interactions with co-workers when trying to help a customer. Their use of ‘waigouren’ to refer to you is just expedience. It used to rub me wrong, you’ll get over it.
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I think its ok for now since there haven’t been many permanent resident foreigners but it should change if they really want decent immigrants. People would be less likely to stay if they are forever “the foreigner”.
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Replace “Jews” with “Waiguoren” and it’s a pretty similar situation. If you’re a foreigner, people will call you a foreigner. If you hear it in a sentence like:“Oh God now I have to deal with this bloody foreigner who can only probably say Ni Hao” then it’s not very polite, but 95% of the time it’s just a speedy way to point out a customer. I live in a small town in the middle of nowhere in Yilan, I know everyone and I’m still the Waiguoren. I don’t see it as a problem at all.
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Sad but true.
Actually, a lot of Taiwanese quirks can be traced back to boredom. Many of them live very monotonous lives on this little potato in the sea. That’ll make anyone a bit provincial.
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I’d call it big ticket. It’s more than half what the shop girl that is giggling entire monthly salary.
Someone else already said it but I just walk out if I’m getting disrespected. Lots of other phone shops.
Would that be the nervously giggling shop girl, who was twice as nervous, because last time she had a foreign customer, they got angry and walked out for no reason.
Or the one who is genuinely please that the interaction is going smoothly this time and giggling out of happiness and relief.
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Why do you get special attention? Non-Taiwanese background?
Big guns?
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Go where you’re treated best.
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Depends.
Giggle all you want, I couldn’t care less.
But you don’t need to use the word foreigner multiple times in a business interaction. Luckily I’ve noticed it only rarely as of late
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Yeah, it’s pretty clear from the usage that the term doesn’t really mean foreigner the way it is most often used. It means either non-Chinese or non-Asian. I would joke with people who would use the phrase about me and others when I was in the US.
As most people have said, the term is rarely used with malice or to denigrate, so I don’t take offense, though I do admit it bothers me from time to time.
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think of waiguo ren as meaning "the foreign gentleman " that’s what they meant to say and it’s not rude
I think this could be said about most communities where someone is the odd one out.
For example, in Mexico, don’t they use the term “gringo” for foreigners?
The way to deal with this word is to use it as much as possible among ourselves. We need to own the word. If you see another waiguoren on the street, use it in greeting that waiguoren. As the conversation with this waiguoren progresses, throw it in multiple times. Use the word so many times that it becomes devalued to anyone using it pejoratively.
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Yes, this is really it, isn’t it? What is their intention? I would say almost never negative. But kids, on the other hand, I think they do say and use waiguoren without good intentions. But in the end they are kids.
Whenever one calls my son a waiguren, I will usually talk to the kid right in front of their parents. I will say that the most important thing is that we are all “ren.” Another time, I told the kid in the same apartment complex that my son has a name and it’s “xyz,” and that his name isn’t “waiguoren.” His mom admonished him, saying “yeah, call him xyz and not waiguren.” This is all done with a smile on my face. The parents are often embarrassed but I can’t help that.
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the non-chinese gentleman
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It’s only the same as using the term Asian or African. It’s a polite way of referring to some one of none Taiwanese decent, it’s one of the formal quirks of the Chinese language. It’s much nicer than pointing and saying him/her/it over there.
If you get upset about people talking about you, learn to live with it or join in the conversation.
This is not a bad or racist place, there are places where you will be called a white/black devil or ghost person. Places where you get spat on for being western.
To be honest I don’t get a tenth of the racism my wife got when we lived in my country, just because a word can be translated into a term we find offensive, doesn’t mean it is.
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