i sometimes can and can't
it's sometimes hard to differentiate between vietnamese chinese korean filipinos japanese cambodian thai and laotians

how do you know where a person comes from specifically in asia?
i know it has to do something with their facial features
what the the similarities and differences?

thanks in advance

Not only facial features. If you can, listen to them conversing. You can tell what a person is if you know what language they're speaking. I guess there are other ways such as: the clothes they wear, what they eat, what music they listen to, accents... But yeah, sometimes telling the difference can be tricky, even if you're Asian. No one can be 100% sure what someone is just by what their face looks like.

Japanese might stand out as the easiest to tell. Lighter skinned than Koreans so I have noted, but please don't take this as anything more than a personal observation of mine when teaching different classes of very small sample groups. As with other observations below, although I still have to think of them yet.

Many Chinese people have a unique look, and again that similar skin tone (perhaps) as Japanese although very different features. Maybe Japanese people are notably the most unique, but just an observation on a few people I've met, and not meaning to shed negative nor positive light.

Although there is a look that seems Thai, and maybe the same for the I've known for the dozen or so Filipino blokes I've known, the SEA features are quite difficult to determine. Indonesians often have a certain look, although it's a bit like asking if you can tell the difference between Italians, Greek and Spanish - English, Dutch and American - Argentinian, Chiliean, and Peruvian. All very much based on the few people that we might get to know personally and actually find out their origin, and a Venuzuelan at 20 might more resemble a Mexican at 50.

Still, Japanese, Chinese and Korean do tend to share certain attributes on features. Please accept this as a very personal opinion and in no way an empirical fact. The most reliable means of working out someone's natoinality is probably still to just ask them where they're from.

yes i can. i just ask.

i can only tell whether someone is south east asian or east asian, as east asians have lighter skin and a more typical mongolian look, while south east asians have less asian eyes and browner skin.

other than that i can't tell who's chinese who's korean ans so on.

but i can tell where people come from in europe and middle east and if someone is american white, just by their look.

I can tell SEA's from EA's, too bad most non-Asians in America can't do that.

probably not, but then again, can you tell mine?

Japan: they eat raw fish.
Korea and Mongolia: they eat more beef than other asians.
China: All kinds of soy sauce.
Vietnam and Thailand: Fish sauce crazy. But food in Thailand is generally hotter due to abondant chili peppers.
Cambodia-Laos-Burma: They don't eat much.
As for the rest of asia: They with their hands.

No, I can't.
I've met many people when travelling.
Mostly to Hong Kong and China.
The people are so different and varied.
But, sometimes, you can listen to their speech and guess at it.
Or, get a name or two. It might help.
Also, mannerisms might give a clue as to where in Asia a person is from.

in east asian, i can tell but not in southeast asian.

you know fobs can tell each other apart though. LOL. my fob friend told me its the styles they wear, clothes, hair etc.

yes

I thinkyou can do it as much as you can do that with europeans

in some extend

most of the time ya

i can usually tell a korean or japanese when i see one

but theres been several cases where i thought some were filipino and were actually korean. they didnt look korean at all. and some i thought were japanese.

i thought i could tell right away people of my ethnicity. But its not always easy

some filipinos are confused about their own ethnicity and might have lied to you

i can tell who chinese/korean/japanese/viet

flilopino n hmong race the only 2 race i cant tell..

Most of the time I can tell someone who's Korean; especially Korean guys.

Sometimes I mistaken Japanese as Chinese.

I can usually tell apart HongKongers and mainlanders.

I usually can't tell apart mainlanders and Taiwanese.

I usually can tell someone who's Filipino but I guess I can't tell apart Filipino and Thai etc.

I usually can't tell apart Vietnamese and Chinese. I think Vietnamese look very similar to Chinese

I have a tough time distinguishing Korean men and Chinese men

I can tell apart Korean women and Chinese women very easily

Sometimes I think Japanese men and Chinese men look very similiar

I think Chinese and some Vietnamese look very similiar

Everyone mistakes us Filipinos for almost everything else, but nobody mistakes others for Filipinos.

When an EA or SEA speaks it is usually possible to identify that person by simply recognizing the language even if you can't speak it. I can usually distinguish EA from SEA by physical appearance. I can usually distinguish Japanese from Koreans because of facial characteristics and skin tone. Because of the multitude of ethnicities in China, their intermarriage with each other, and wide variety of skin tones, identifying someone as Chinese is much more difficult. Distinguishing Filipinos from Malays is not always easy. Distinguishing Malays from Thais or Viets is much easier. Distinguishing EA and SEA from Hapas is usually pretty easy.

Can any of you distinguish Swedes from Finns? How about Czechs from Germans? How about Lombards from Alsatians? How about identifying the ethnic background(s) of white Americans who are usually an admixture of two or more European ethnicities?

Can you?

Usually not. But I can recognize the Irish by smell.

I can usually tell apart someone from North America, Eastern Europe and Western Europe.....

i think the easiest ethnicity to notice is koreans. i can usually tell if someones viet too (especially the fobby ones that speak viet out loud ). i can also recognize lao people too, by the way they dress and talk. i can tell if someone's filipino too. my accuracy is about 90%

^ Why is that??

why is what?

I meant what gives?

u mean about the koreans?

Koreans got that certain look to them. The eyes, complexion, how they dress and talk. A lot of them look the same, but there are exceptions though.

- I suck at telling the difference between people from ASEAN countries
- I can easily tell the difference between Koreans and Chinese
- I haven't met many Japanese so I can't say I know what they look like.

sure I can... I just see a lot in California and I just know what's what

Yeah koreans have puffy eyes or something, I cant explain it.

I thought you were Korean. LOL

no, Korean don't have puffy eyes.

Their eyes have alot of fat around them or something like that =/.

um no.

I can tell the difference between South Asians and East Asians.

Maybe you dont notice it yourself, but I live in an area that's basically korea town.
And it's probably not just me on this, my non-korean asian friends do too.

i dont know how to explain it either, but i know what your talkin about. its pretty easy to spot the koreans in cali.

They have round faces. See: Aerain

what? lol



well, i guess i dont look very korean then lol

Our eyes have epicanthal folds, but I don't think we have more fat around our eyes.

Many Filipinos have eyes almost like Westerners.

This picture isnt of a korean guy. but I think he's talkin about eyes that look similar to this. Like how he has those baggy bags around his eyes.

$hit, I did not know I had it before. lol

wait actually, this one isnt a picture of a korean guy, but i think this is the type of eyes hes talkin about

Lol, what is he japanese?

yeah lol. But i think thats the type of eyes the other dude was talkin about

you mean no eye fold?

I notice those more on women than on men