For our Japanese readers : Things you should not say to Westerners

[Kagami]

Hi, while I can see where you are coming from, I still think you are over-reacted a little bit on these little things...
In my opinion they were all just trying to be friendly.. at least that's the way I see it...
People look at things at different ways, the message you are getting may not be identical to what the sender means...
or may be this is one example of cultural differences?
I hope...and I do believe that they had no intention to harm you.. so why get all so offended?

We cannot expect people to know everything about you... especially when you are not close..right?
How are people going to know you have been in xxx for x years, know how to speak xxx and whatsoever?
When I first met someone, the information I have on him/ her is very limited and I will link those information ( e.g. appearance, accent ) to my ''database'' (lol) in preparation for further communication. And I believe you would do the same.

I have been living in the uk for over 8 years by now, ( ok.. I know my English is still crap... )
and I love to go out with my camera which makes everyone think I am a tourist. ( I do indeed LOOK LIKE a tourist I suppose... )
Very often there are people offering to take a picture for me with me in the scene, should I feel offended by this?
( Actually I find that very heart warming~ keke )

Many (but not all of course...) people here assume everyone who look ''far-east'' are Chinese and greet them with '' Ni-Hao'', in rare occasions- ''こんにちは''. ( Although very often follow by ''where are you from?'' if we have the chance to chat up a bit. ) Most of the time I smile and greets back with ''Hiya/ Hello/ Hi''. If one day you suddenly come up to me and say konnichiwa, hoping for a Japanese conversation, then i may just upset you with a ''hi'', not knowing your intention since I can't read minds.

If you want to interact more with the natives in Japanese and they just reply in English, why not give a smile and kindly request to chat in Japanese? Rather than keep thinking they are being horrible to you? I'm sure most won't refuse anyway?
( If I were those people I would have reply in English too, because I think that's more convenient for you. ---unless you tell me you are good at Japanese and want to be treated as one. )

There had been tons of stranger saying ''Ni-Hao'' to me in the passed 8 years, at least 3 times per week in average I would say!
That's a worse scenario compare to yours may be?
Oh and I was often repeatedly asked if I know kung-fu! Haha

Here is the most epic one: can't remember all but here are some I can still recall.
I was going home after shopping at tesco and this guy came.
Guy: ''Ni-Hao'' ''I love Jacky Chan!'' ''Do you know kung fu?'' ''Can you fly?'' ''People in your movies can jump from tree to tree!'' blah blah blah.. then... ''Oh wait.. are you Chinese?''

I have never find these people annoying, and certainly would not open a thread criticising everyone in the uk because of them...
Try to look at things from a different view, life will be more colourful


Afterall.............. Why feel offended when others have no intention to offend you?

[Maciamo]

Thanks for your feedback, Kagami.

We cannot expect people to know everything about you... especially when you are not close..right?
How are people going to know you have been in xxx for x years, know how to speak xxx and whatsoever?
...
Many (but not all of course...) people here assume everyone who look ''far-east'' are Chinese and greet them with '' Ni-Hao'', in rare occasions- ''こんにちは''. ( Although very often follow by ''where are you from?'' if we have the chance to chat up a bit. )

I was brought up with the values of 'not judging a book by its cover'. One of the most basic rule of social conduct I was taught is not judge people based on their looks. It is generally wrong to assume things about people you don't know, and if they are indeed wrong it is offensive to voice them to their face.

That is why I find it just as offensive for Westerners to say 'nihao' or 'konnichiwa' to any East Asian they see in the street. From my experience, it is usually ignorant and racist people who behave like that. They almost never try to be friendly or start a conversation, but just to make fun at the 'funny-looking people' and often add derogatory comments that they (probably) won't be able to understand. I have travelled a lot and it's almost always boys and young men that behave like that, whatever the country. I have had Arabic kids gathering around me saying 'hello America', just like in Japan, then throwing stones at me when I walked away. I know that if there is any appearance of friendly feeling in those kids, it isn't real. When I was a child, I know that other kids would also make fun at any non-White (and sometimes even Mediterranean Europeans) because they looked different. "Greeting" them in their supposed country's language (or any language in the same region) is always derogatory in those situations.

I can think of one exception when greeting a Westerner in Asia with 'hello' or a Japanese with 'konnichiwa' (or a Chinese with 'nihao', and so on) isn't derogatory or racist. It is when a person knows the language in question, hears people talking in that language in the street and tries to have a friendly chat with them, perhaps to practice his/her language skills. It only works when you have actually heard the person(s) you want to approach speak (on the phone or with friends) so that one can be completely sure that they are indeed French, Japanese, Russian, or whatever. Assuming that a person speaks Mandarin just because they are East Asian (or even a Chinese national) is just as plain offensive as assuming any Western-looking person speaks English or French or Russian.

But even when you are sure that a person in the street speaks a language you can speak, I wouldn't encourage just throwing a 'hello', 'konnichiwa', 'nihao', 'bonjour', etc. just like that in the street. It looks suspicious, and nothing garantees that the other person actually wants to speak with you. I always try to ignore weird peope trying to talk to me in the street, even (or especially) people trying to sell/advertise something. Americans, Australians, Indians or Spaniards often feel confortable chatting up a perfect stranger in public, but that is not polite in most northern European countries, and it will just end up making the other person uneasy.