Do you ever get confused with another Asian?, I have. Options

[Cha]

Have you ever been confused with someone else because you're Asian and because some of the Americans can't tell us apart?

This happened to me when I was a college student. My roommate's girlfriend suddenly asked, "you work at Macy's, right? I said hi to you but you didn't reply back." I never worked at a department store and I explained this to her. She said, "oh," but she didn't look convinced. My roommate told me that he met her on the street near the dorm. She was getting off a taxi with her luggage. Although she was around our age, she wasn't in college. She started to work in a department store soon after she met my roommate. I wondered about her question and went to Macy's. Sure enough, there was a tall Asian dude like me. Other than that, I didn't look like him.

Another moment during my college student days was at a deli store across the street. The guy who made a sandwich or curry for me would greet me happily saying, "hello, what can I do for you, ok, don't worry be happy." Then several times later, him and the others who worked there wouldn't greet me and looked at me with cold eyes instead. Then they'd be happy again after a brief conversation. I wondered about this until one day one of the guys over there asked me if I had a brother. He said that I looked like this other guy who often came to that store. They thought I was him at first. I said that I didn't and asked jokingly, "did you think I had a twin?" They just looked at me with serious looks. Or maybe they assumed that I had some sort of close relationship with every other East Asian they met.

This post has been edited by Cha: Sep 1 2011, 02:20 AM

[CAsian]

I am Kazakh. People in different countries thought differently:

In Thailand US guys decided that I was a Chinese
In Thailand a Thai girl decided that I am a Thai Chinese
In Thailand a Korean man have found that I looked like a Japanese
In India Indian guys thought that I was a Japanese
In Turkey Turkish man asked me if I was a Mongolian

[AsiaticGlory]

- In Japan, the people thought my family and I were Japanese.
- Chinese people obviously think I am Chinese. They talk to me in Mandarin.
- Taiwanese people think I am Taiwanese which is true.
- Some Vietnamese immigrants thought I was Vietnamese.
- A Kazakh foreign student from Kazakhstan thought I was a Kazakh.
- Some white people and Asian Americans thought I was Korean even though Koreans from Korea know I am a Han Chinese.
- Some white guy back in high school thought I was Japanese because he thought I looked like the Japanese foreign exchange student.

[CAsian]

- In Japan, the people thought my family and I were Japanese.
- Chinese people obviously think I am Chinese. They talk to me in Mandarin.
- Taiwanese people think I am Taiwanese which is true.
- Some Vietnamese immigrants thought I was Vietnamese.
- A Kazakh foreign student from Kazakhstan thought I was a Kazakh.
- Some white people and Asian Americans thought I was Korean even though Koreans from Korea know I am a Han Chinese.
- Some white guy back in high school thought I was Japanese because he thought I looked like the Japanese foreign exchange student.

LOL... so, you are a truly Universal Asian
that's why you think globally!

[ElapsePride]

I think I'm pretty lucky, most ppl know I'm Chinese by my looks, I have a typical Chinese face I think,
but occasionally I'm mistaken for a Korean by Koreans, like sometimes I go to a Korean shop and the owner speaks Korean to me(mostly likely when I wear a hat, haha, dunno why), was never mistaken for a Japanese tho.
Have never been mistaken for Vietnamese or other Asians so far.

[rahul1000]

I'm sure I'd make a lot of mistakes just by looking at an East Asian and finding out where they are from. I'd probably do the same thing for a
white European as well. I don't think I could tell the difference between all of them. I'll need to learn the differences.

This post has been edited by rahul1000: Sep 1 2011, 05:47 PM

[AsiaticGlory]

LOL... so, you are a truly Universal Asian
that's why you think globally!

yep
I am a Taiwanese guy. Our culture is influenced by China and Japan. The ancestors of Taiwanese were the Yue peoples who were also the ancestors of Vietnamese. I have a personal fascination with Altaic nomadic culture as well.

I am interested in traveling to Asian countries.

I'm sure I'd make a lot of mistakes just by looking at an East Asian and finding out where they are from. I'd probably do the same thing for a
white European as well. I don't think I could tell the difference between all of them. I'll need to learn the differences.

I have some success in differentiating among them.

[devils666]

I was once approached by a Mexican waiter at a Chinese restuarant who told me that he couldn't tell the difference between Chinese and Korean.

But people can never tell what my ethnicity is. I get everything from Lao to Uzbek. It makes sense since I'm a mixture of different Asian ethnicities.

[aZnRiCeChiQ]

I always get mixed up with my friend when meeting new people and at work

Asian people always get my ethnicity wrong. I always get Vietnamese and Chinese. I have a friend who is Indian and her father thought I was white

[KraterosHellas]

I am Kazakh. People in different countries thought differently:

In Thailand US guys decided that I was a Chinese
In Thailand a Thai girl decided that I am a Thai Chinese
In Thailand a Korean man have found that I looked like a Japanese
In India Indian guys thought that I was a Japanese
In Turkey Turkish man asked me if I was a Mongolian

i think kazahks look mongolian and sometimes chinese.

[mastaping]

I'm not Asian but I've gotten confused for Filipina ..

[WoahZtong]

I have a friend who is Indian and her father thought I was white

maybe he had bad vision and wasn't wearing any contacts/glasses

[CAsian]

i think kazahks look mongolian and sometimes chinese.

we look differently

here are some students who study abroad

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXybCeG7K94...feature=related



This post has been edited by CAsian: Sep 2 2011, 11:24 PM

[Cha]

I always get mixed up with my friend when meeting new people and at work

Wow! That's extreme. You meet your coworkers almost everyday and they still get confused.

[LittleDeathAngel]

Everyone thinks I am Korean but I am Chinese. o_o

This post has been edited by LittleDeathAngel: Sep 2 2011, 03:19 PM

[fivers]

@OP, yes I've been confused with another Asian lol, since you gave some examples of mistakes by whites I'll focus on this in my answer too...

-when I was little whites would often confuse me and my sister lol and we're not even twins or look alike.. whites can be so dumb lol
-when my hair is dyed whites overhere in Belgium will mistake me for Japanese, when it's not than Chinese, but never ever Korean
-one time I was entering a store with this Peruvian like beanie on and the shopkeeper mistook me for a Peruvian lol
-my mom has this picture of a hill tribe girl hanging in her living room and my brother in law (oblivious to the rings around the girl's neck and different facial feautures) would ask if that was me lol
-once I was at a Thai restaurant and some woman thought I was Thai and asked me for the menu

[chiuchimu]

- In Japan, the people thought my family and I were Japanese.
- Chinese people obviously think I am Chinese. They talk to me in Mandarin.
- Taiwanese people think I am Taiwanese which is true.
- Some Vietnamese immigrants thought I was Vietnamese.
- A Kazakh foreign student from Kazakhstan thought I was a Kazakh.
- Some white people and Asian Americans thought I was Korean even though Koreans from Korea know I am a Han Chinese.
- Some white guy back in high school thought I was Japanese because he thought I looked like the Japanese foreign exchange student.

I confuse Taiwanese and Japanese all the time. I wouldn't know unless I was told.

[FluffyFuab]

I've been accused/taken/mistaken by people for all sort of Asian ethnicities. Some even asked me if I were Cherokee/Choctaw Indian.

This post has been edited by FluffyFuab: Sep 2 2011, 10:30 PM

[KraterosHellas]

we look differently

here are some students who study abroad

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXybCeG7K94...feature=related

great video. i thought for some reason kazahks were dark-skinned. but i can see that u guys have pale skin like east asians

[CAsian]

great video. i thought for some reason kazahks were dark-skinned. but i can see that u guys have pale skin like east asians

we can be dark-skinned and pale skinned, with hazel, green or blue (not often) eyes, with black hair or light colored hair, with pure mongoloid or eurasian phenotype