Common Japanese misconceptions regarding foreigners

**Ma Cherie** · Mar 20, 2005, 04:16

"Chinese and English are similar" that's the strangest thing I've ever heard. But then, most Westerns believe that Chinese and Japanese are very similar. When in fact, coming from someone who's studied both Chinese and Japanese, they're very different languages. However, it would probably make more sense for Chinese and Japanese to sound more similar than English and Chinese.

**lexico** · Mar 20, 2005, 04:34

Originally Posted by Ma Cherie

"Chinese and English are similar" that's the strangest thing I've ever heard.

I may not have been the first to say it, but I do believe that Chinese & English share many interesting features. Please see this thread Write English in Kanji, post #13.

**Brooker** · Mar 20, 2005, 06:38

Chinese and Japanese are probably about as similar as English and French or something. But I don't know any Chinese or French, so what do I know?

**Silverbackman** · Mar 20, 2005, 06:56

What are some common Japanese misconceptions of people who look Indian (from India)? Just curious, since most of the talk seems to be how Japanese view white people.

**Ma Cherie** · Mar 20, 2005, 08:26

Originally Posted by Silverbackman

What are some common Japanese misconceptions of people who look Indian (from India)? Just curious, since most of the talk seems to be how Japanese view white people.

My darling you'll probably get stared at, gawked at possibly, asked questions that would seem stupid to you, just like most foreigners who travel to Japan. I wouldn't worry too much about that, though. Because you'll probably end up making friends.

**Maciamo** · Mar 20, 2005, 10:38

Originally Posted by Silverbackman

What are some common Japanese misconceptions of people who look Indian (from India)? Just curious, since most of the talk seems to be how Japanese view white people.

Hey, I wrote the article and I am not Indian, so I will not venture say what Japanese think of/react to Indian people without a solid experience on the matter.

**Maciamo** · Mar 20, 2005, 10:37

Originally Posted by lexico

I may not have been the first to say it, but I do believe that Chinese & English share many interesting features. Please see this thread Write English in Kanji, post #13.

Thanks for referring my idea, but that works for about all European languages (at least the Romance and Germanic ones + Greek). In fact, it works best of all with Greek. When I was 10-11 years old, we learnt the roots of Latin and Greek words at school (I suppose other European children did too), such as "democracy" comes from Greek "demos" (the people) and "cratos" (power") so power to the people.