This post isn’t to slander our US friends before anyone starts. It’s usually kids that do it. They walk past with the compulsion to shout ‘Mei-gouren" at the top of thier voice to their parents. It usually results in me retorting with "wo buh shih mei-gouren, Wo shih Yin gouren,’ which results in the kid scuttling of into an alleyway out of sight much to the amusement of their parents.
What’s worse is when adults do it. I always answer “Wo shih Taiwan ren’” which get’s the desired look of bafflement followed by the inability of them to continue the converstaion.
“WAI GOUREN” is just as bad. Pakistan, er, I mean England where I come from you would not get away with walking down the street shouting “Pakistani” or “black bloke” everytime you saw one. You would be decked into a pulp within 10 minutes. The whole black community would be upon you and you would probably get arrested by the boys in blue for being a racist looney.
I suppose in Taiwan, were few and far between. I’ve been here for about 4 years but I still think it’s strange…
Keep in mind that “meiguoren” and “waiguoren” just mean “white person” in Chinese.
I agree it’s annoying, mostly because back home no one goes around shouting out “Hey look, there’s a …!” every time they see someone of a different race.
Often I point back at the kids and, in a humorous, good-natured tone, say “Taiwanren, Taiwanren.” The kids always look confused but the parents always get it and laugh and often I hear them quietly telling their kids as they walk away that what they just did is impolite. Never once had a parent not understand what I was trying to get across. I guess I just know how to deliver a line in Chinese.
Of course they don’t. Well, only in Taiwan. In my six months in Shanghai I was never referred to as an American once. (And yes I do know the Shanghainese for American!) Or in Yunan, or wherever the hell all those other places I went to were.
Anyway, the Taiwanese generally just don’t get it that not all white people are American. But it’s improving. A lot more people now ask me where I’m from instead of blithely assuming I’m American.
You’ve got to understand the Taiwan is an American protectorate and exists in its present form only because China and America allow it to. Used to be lots of Yank troops here and twenty or thirty years ago if you’d called every white man you met a Yank you’d probably have been right.
We do get our revenge, of course, because everyone at home will assume they are mainland Chinese and not have a clue where Taiwan is.
Last time I was in Malaysia everyone assumed I was English, which is no more flattering, but at least it’s a change It’s not just the Taiwanese that make assumptions on your origin based solely upon what color you are. Don’t worry about it. The only people who point at foriegners or find it necessary to comment these days are the retarded and country bumpkins. Who gives a shit what they think?
I think it is so funny how they pronounce the alphabet. No matter how much you teach kids how to pronounce the letters they can never get their toungue around it. They are a lost cause.
Anyway, I refuse point blank to teach kids. I only teach adults. That way you can sometimes get a decent conversation out of peole instead of talking about Sally going to the zoo or David buying cakes.
A, B, xi, D, E, effu, G, eichi, I, dzei, K, ello, M, un, O, P, Q, ah, esez, T, U, wi, daboliu, ekesez, Y, Z [/quote]
And they say ‘zee’ for the last one too! How strange. Has no-one taught them that it’s ‘zed’?
[quote=“songzzz”][quote=“Dangermouse”]DON’T YOU JUST HATE BEING CALLED A meiguoren?
…
I suppose in Taiwan, were few and far between. I’ve been here for about 4 years but I still think it’s strange…[/quote]
DITTO! Anyway, Taiwan has some interestingly confusing terminologies and pronounciation…
2) Caucasians
Taiwan: 美國人 mei3guo2ren2
ROW: 洋人 yang2ren2
[/quote]
Strange, we use “bai2zhong3ren2” to mean Caucasian. This is the terminology I used in interpreting for Ovid Tzeng and Dr. Wells (Nat’l Geographic’s “Journey of Man” events in Taipei) where the precise terminology for the racial characteristics was quite important. No one corrected me (and believe me, they would have).
As for your Romanization/transliteration examples, so what? That proves nothing.
The point here is that mei3guo2ren2 is NOT a term accepted in the ROC as meaning “white person”. If you ask a Taiwanese to define it, they will not say “a person with a white skin”, they will say “a person from the US”. The issue at hand is that people lack the global vision (which, fortunately, all the children are being inculcated with at innumerable preschools, judging from the ads I see while riding the buses here!) to realize there are other countries, and the tact to realize that it might be less than relevant to comment in the first place.
You’re going to wear yourself out going round correcting people who call you meiguoren. It’s just not worth it.
Just smile, flash a ‘V’ sign, stick your tongue out and forget about it.
As for the alphabet, it’s not really that strange if they say some of the letters wrong. Actually, you should hear the way Taiwanese mimic foreigners speaking Chinese - it’s pretty funny.
As for the alphabet, it’s not really that strange if they say some of the letters wrong. Actually, you should hear the way Taiwanese mimic foreigners speaking Chinese - it’s pretty funny.[/quote]
Are you serious? I think the mimic Chinese thing is so NOT funny, and if I weren’t American and people pointed to me and said, “meiguoren” I would be furious. I already do think it is ridiculous children point to others and say that anyway, and any child in my vicinity that does that to me is met with a swift kick, and that usually does the trick.
If the government didn’t carry on and on about how educated their population is and what a wonderful internationalized place this is or the public had no access to the Internet, foreign movies or libraries, this kind of crap would be excusable.
Eh I think it gets to a point where you have to let it roll off your back since it really is trivial. I get lamblasted and called “fat” all the time, sometimes with some real viciousness behind the words. Big deal. All I have to remember is these kids probably don’t know any better. And they are only kids, anyway.
It probably shows how marginally on the fringe non-US foreigners are in Taiwan. Perhaps because of the difficulty of the language. But, er- is it related to the Chinese culture, or is it definitely Taiwan? Quid of continental China? Hexuan seems to speak of experience and says it’s different over there. I wonder why…
I am Taiwanese-Australian, and in Australia for some reason I’ve very often been mistaken as a Vietnamese, and frankly I don’t care if people refer to me as Vietnamese or whatever, as long as it’s done in private and/or when they are speaking to me, so I can correct them. But I agree, pointing and chanting someone’s perceived ethnicity/nationality/or whatever is simply obnoxious and impolite.
Hexuan brought up Yunnan as being different from Taiwan. True, Yunnanese don’t scream “waiguoren” or “meiguoren.” But they do point and yell “laowai,” especially outside of the more touristy areas.
You know, I’ve never had anyone yet point and call me a meiguoren (mind you, it’s only been 5 months). I’ve had a few kids ask me “ni shi meiguoren ma?”, to which I reply telling them I’m not, I’m a New Zealander. Occasionally they’ve been like “niu xilan?” and I’ve had to explain that it’s near Australia, then they get it
Which reminds me:
[quote]6) Australia
Taiwan: 澳特籣大 ao4te4lan2da4 (another commonly confused word with Atlanta)
ROW: 澳洲 ao4zhou1 [/quote]
Not that I’ve seen/heard. I’ve heard 澳大利亞 (sp?) (ao da li ya), but never, not once, have I heard it said 澳特蘭大,
Well, only in Taiwan. In my six months in Shanghai I was never referred to as an American once. (And yes I do know the Shanghainese for American!) Or in Yunan, or wherever the hell all those other places I went to were.
It’s not just the Taiwanese that make assumptions on your origin based solely upon what color you are. Don’t worry about it. The only people who point at foriegners or find it necessary to comment these days are the retarded and country bumpkins. Who gives a shit what they think?
It’s just not worth it.