introduce one's race

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sebayanpendam

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Hi,
Should there be an article 'a' with a race?

e.g.
I'm a Chinese or I'm Chinese.

Thanks
 

bhaisahab

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5jj

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We normally talk of our own and other's nationality, not their race. About the only time I ever refer to myself as 'Caucasian', is when, in talking about people's reactions to seeing my colleagues and me for the first time when we worked in China, I say "We were the only Caucasians within five hundred miles of the town".

I normally say, depending on the situation, "I am English" or "I am British". I never say, "I'm an Englishman" or "I'm a Briton". Of a Chinese or Japanese colleague, I would only ever say say "S/he is Chinese/Japanese", with no article.
 

sebayanpendam

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We normally talk of our own and other's nationality, not their race. About the only time I ever refer to myself as 'Caucasian', is when, in talking about people's reactions to seeing my colleagues and me for the first time when we worked in China, I say "We were the only Caucasians within five hundred miles of the town".

I normally say, depending on the situation, "I am English" or "I am British". I never say, "I'm an Englishman" or "I'm a Briton". Of a Chinese or Japanese colleague, I would only ever say say "S/he is Chinese/Japanese", with no article.


Hi,
Therefore, an article 'a' as in she is a chinese is redundant, right? In my country, people would ask our race because we are too diverse in racial composition. Even when filling forms, there is an item which asks us to write our race.

Thanks
 

Tdol

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We have to fill in ethnicity on many forms too- there are over 200 languages spoken in London and we're a diverse society. We don't ask people directly about this, but we could ask about nationality. And we generally don't use the indefinite article. :up:
 

sebayanpendam

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We have to fill in ethnicity on many forms too- there are over 200 languages spoken in London and we're a diverse society. We don't ask people directly about this, but we could ask about nationality. And we generally don't use the indefinite article. :up:

I see the difference between The West and Southeast Asia culturally now.
 

Tdol

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There are many cultural differences- I find it weird to be asked how much money I make, a question I have never asked my brothers. That's what makes the world so interesting.
 

SoothingDave

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Who is asking you that? Unless it's on a job interview or with the tax man, it's a "none of your business" question for sure.
 

sebayanpendam

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Yes, I agree. I have been asked many times about my race because many think that I am Chinese, which I am not, like, 'Are you Chinese?' Or 'Is any of you parent Chinese?'

But then again, to learn a language is to learn its culture too.
 

5jj

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Yes, I agree. I have been asked many times about my race because many think that I am Chinese
They are almost certainly asking if you are from China, or are of of Chinese origin, not what your race is. If people ask you this question, then it is pretty clear what race you are.
 

SoothingDave

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"Race" is thought of in Western terms (or at least American terms) as being one of three broad divisions: Caucasian, Negro, or Mongoloid.

"Chinese" is not a "race." It is a nationality and an ethnicity.
 

emsr2d2

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However, you do have to bear in mind that the terminology means different things to different people. To 5jj and I, nationality refers to the passport you hold (or the country which would grant you a passport if you chose to apply for one). When I started to work at an international airport some 21 years ago, I discovered that this understanding was not the same for everyone. I dealt with a particular form which almost all arriving passengers had to fill in and which had a question simply marked "Nationality". Most passengers from Western Europe and from the Antipodes completed it with what was required, ie "British/Irish/Swiss/Swedish/Hungarian" etc. A large number of people holding USA passports, completed it with "Caucasian", "Hispanic", "Afro-American", "Asian".
When I first started the job, I would query these answers and say to those people "Sorry, we asked for your nationality" but they would always say that that was what they had given on the form. In the UK though, those answers would have been the answer to the question "What race/ethnicity are you?" - a question we absolutely never ask.
When told that the answer we were expecting was "American" or "USA", we were told "Then you should have asked us for our "Citizenship".
We had the same kind of issues with people from the Far East. The answers we were trying to elicit were, for example "Chinese", "Singaporean", "Taiwanese" etc, but the passenger completed the "Nationality" question sometimes with "Oriental", "Eastern", or "Asian".

For the 18 years I was in that job, we pushed for the wording to be changed to "Passport Held" or something similar but seemingly legally that didn't do it. It had to be nationality, even if some people didn't understand what was meant by that in the UK.
 

SoothingDave

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However, you do have to bear in mind that the terminology means different things to different people. To 5jj and I, nationality refers to the passport you hold (or the country which would grant you a passport if you chose to apply for one). When I started to work at an international airport some 21 years ago, I discovered that this understanding was not the same for everyone. I dealt with a particular form which almost all arriving passengers had to fill in and which had a question simply marked "Nationality". Most passengers from Western Europe and from the Antipodes completed it with what was required, ie "British/Irish/Swiss/Swedish/Hungarian" etc. A large number of people holding USA passports, completed it with "Caucasian", "Hispanic", "Afro-American", "Asian".
When I first started the job, I would query these answers and say to those people "Sorry, we asked for your nationality" but they would always say that that was what they had given on the form. In the UK though, those answers would have been the answer to the question "What race/ethnicity are you?" - a question we absolutely never ask.
When told that the answer we were expecting was "American" or "USA", we were told "Then you should have asked us for our "Citizenship".
We had the same kind of issues with people from the Far East. The answers we were trying to elicit were, for example "Chinese", "Singaporean", "Taiwanese" etc, but the passenger completed the "Nationality" question sometimes with "Oriental", "Eastern", or "Asian".

For the 18 years I was in that job, we pushed for the wording to be changed to "Passport Held" or something similar but seemingly legally that didn't do it. It had to be nationality, even if some people didn't understand what was meant by that in the UK.

Thanks for the word "Antipodes." I've never seen it used like that.

I would expect some white American citizens to put down something like "German-Polish" to describe the origin of their family's ancestors if asked for a "nationality."
 

5jj

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Thanks for the word "Antipodes." I've never seen it used like that.
It's not uncommon for us speakers of BrE. For us, New Zealand is roughly on the other side of the world, and we can extend that area to Australia (most of us believe that New Zealand is nearly as close to Australia as England is to France). For most of you Transponders, the Antipodes would be just the Indian Ocean.
 
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