um, now I’m not sure if he said something that I said something he said I said that I didn’t say.
At least three people seem to think I said I could recognize Philippines people by their physical characteristics, so my wordings must have been wrong. But I don’t know why they cannot understand I didn’t mean it, after I explained a lot what I meant.
You’ve reached par with the sense this thread makes, so that’s good.
Now, if they call her “Ying Wen Ren,” that’s just too much!
The first thing he was asked was, where he is from. Sounds to me like she assumed he was a foreigner or was not sure if he is Taiwanese. I mean, if I ask someone where he is from without knowing whether the person is a foreigner or not, my question is aimed at the country/nationality. But I understand that some other people actually are asking, where you live/in which city you live. Eventually we don’t know what she was thinking, but if I had to guess, I’d say she assumed he is a foreigner.
I’d ask where he is from, if I think it is highly probable that he originally came from a foreign country and is a foreigner. If he was born and raised in Taiwan, he can answer so. It is different from assuming he is a foreigner and treating him as a foreigner without confirmation, imo. It can be a different question from what his nationality is too.
I thought her complaint was not being thought of as outsider but being thought of as American.
Sure, there is certainly a difference because she wasn’t verbally stating that the person is a foreigner. However, the person asked will probably believe that the question is raised because it is assumed that he is foreigner (which some people also find insulting?).
Of course we still don’t know at what the question actually was aimed, because we simply haven’t sufficient information to answer it. Maybe she was just asking where he lives.
If-definition: . You use if in conditional sentences to introduce the circumstances in which an event or situation might happen, might be happening, or might have happened.
Anti-gingerism!
If asked ( in Mandarin by a person I assume from their looks to be Taiwanese) where I’m from, I’ll reply “Taitung” just to mess with them. I’ll reply “Canada” if asked “Zhen de ma?”, which my wife will hastily correct to “Yingguo”. She says it is because Taiwanese think your ancestry is more important, but I suspect it’s because she doesn’t think Canada is a real independent country.
BD-
When were you last in Sweden? Or Ghana for that matter…
1972 for Sweden. Never been to Ghana; my old stomping grounds were eastern and southern Africa. Though I have a French friend in Taitung who is good friends with their Prime Minister President
If I were to teach conditionals, I would use the 2nd.
You were asking a question I replied, that’s all.
Very nice! 
It took 20 years of teaching, but I got there eventually.
Whoops !
I have no idea, i assumed she was half american.
Some of those Facebook comments sure are…something…
So did anyone else see the (I’m assuming) mainland Chinese (he was pretty tall for a Taiwanese) guy inside Ximen MRT near the escalators that seemed to be spitting at foreigners today? Had a mask on but had it dragged under his chin so not really wearing it at all.
No, what happened?