do people still get surprised when you refer to yourself as Asian? or would you not be referred to as Asian?

No, nobody gets surprised.

India is not in the middle east to begin with.

hahaha, errm....no one is surprised if I'm called Asian or refer to myself as Asian as I'm Asian. India isn't a part of the Middle-East, but the Middle-East is a part of Asia with India, so it shouldn't be of any surprise for them to call themselves asian either.

Agree.

Almost every other South Asian I know refer to themselves as Asians.

Unfortunately, some retarded Chinese and Vietnamese at my university think so, they don't want India to be "asian", they think its better off being middle eastern.

I assume those guys think the word "Asian" is excusively reserved for them? These kinds of peoples are almost as bad as some Jews who think the word "Semite" is exclusively reserved for them.

The fact is that if you look at the SAARC or UNESCO definitions of South Asia then South Asians are the majority of all Asians

i dunno y chinese n japnese dont consider middle easterners n indians as asians......anyone from continent asia is asian...

I don't think it was a Chinese or Japanese thing initially.

It's just something coined by white-Americans, and everyone else followed.

In the UK, people don't equate Asian with being Chinese or Japanese. I only see people in America doing it.

in canada too people only consider chinese kinda people as asians....
this japonese girl once asked me r u asiaphile..u tell everyone that u r asian... n i was like india is in asia so i m asian....n she said by asian they mean people like me.. i was so surprised i wast asian for her even though india is in asia.

This topic has been discussed to death, why are we discussing it again. The first Asian ppl to come to US were Orientals(like japanese and chinese) which is why they are called Asians. PERIOD. The same thing happens in Europe except in reverse. The first asian ppl there were Indians, so they are referred to as asians. There, asian is exclusively reserved for desis.

I refer to myself as Indian. None of my friends refer to themselves as asians. All Indians i know place preference on Indian as ethnicity rather than asian. The only time I do put asian is when It is asked in forms or Census because Asian also includes Indians. Normally in conversation i never ever refer to myself as Asian.

Ppl who just came from India do refer to themselves as Asians because they aren't aware of who is historically called asian in continental America. To them since they are from asia, they are asians.

THis is just like why Egyptians aren't seen as "Africans" even though they are from Africa, because the word african is assoicated with blacks. The same way "asian" is associated with orientals - atleast in americas.

Indians aren't Asians, atleast in continental America( in people's mind ).

I would rather call myself indian than asian! Or in some cases East Indian.

why do stupid people think that Indians aren't Asian? because they're racist. oh schwell here's what asians look like chinesey eyes, straight hair, pale yellowish skin.

stupid people I'm doing services to y'all. here's a map of Asia. and In english we call people that live in Asia, "ASIANS" repeat after me A...S...I...A...N...Ayshens.

http://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/as.htm

yea at that time i wast aware that asians here means orientals...punjabis normally tell everyone that they r punjabi....if someone dont understand..then they say indian.....and if people talk about continent asia.....punjabis who just came to canada tell they r asians......like every new immigrat i wast aware that asians means orientals...in india we r taught like china japan n other asians countries... india is in asia...so we r asians...

I didn't know Asians could be called Asiaphiles.

Actually where I live, the Pakistanis like to mark themselves as "other" on identification forms.

The Indians I know just mark "Asian."

Yeah thats pretty much true. Though nowerdays in the UK Asian people (or the ones I know at least) refer to all Asians as Asians. If they want to differentiate between East Asians with South Asians for example, they'll either say "East Asian" (probably the best way to differentiate) or "Oriental" (I heard Saying Oriental in America is considered insulting or something?).

For western people, (Yellow skin & Small eyes) = Asian.

^^ That's not the case, as has been said already in this thread, in the UK, 'Asian' was usually referred to those of South Asian descent (i.e. brown skin, fairly large eyes)

LOL...but then you do have SE Asians who are as brown as Indians, and I've seen Koreans with big eyes before.

Some East Asians also can have slim noses. Westerns stereotype East Asians to have straight out broad noses.

No, it's only for North American and Australian people. In European, African and Carribean countries, especially the UK, "Asian" usually refers to South Asians, including Indians, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, etc.

The odd thing is that the word "Asian" originally referred to Middle Eastern people over 2000 years ago. Nowadays, they don't even refer to themselves as Asian anymore.

Its utter ignorance for people to say that Indians 'arent' asians. India is in the continent of Asia and has influenced most of its neighbours with her culture these past centuries.

Indians are Asians as we Thais are Asians. Same for every other national that are within the confines of the continent of Asia.

I am indian, and I agree fully with Sirikittong, my thai bro

asian are asian


i mean indians are asian

Good luck trying to drill that simple concept into the heads of most Americans.

Just look who all the rednecks targeted after 9/11...

Not just in the US, but also in Australia most people would clump South Asians along with Middle-Easterners.

Several months ago in Sydney there was a racial riot where Australians mostly of Anglo-Saxon background were protesting against a series of violent attacks committed by Lebanese Australian youths in the area. For no reason other than they appeared to look 'Middle-Eastern', the car of two young innocent Bangladeshi students were smashed with rocks and bottles as they drove out of their driveway on that day.

A lot of non-Indians are smart enough to figure us out

middle east? wtf? i hate it when people confuse india and middle east.

If it's any consolation, in the UK, S. Asians are referred to as Asians and E. Asians are referred to as Orientals.

Not really....



I know exactly what you mean.

I hate being lumped in with South Asians, as well.

It is very demeaning.

often its the middle easterners who are lumped into being "indian"

it's bizzare.

there are cultural overlaps but they're totally different.

increasingly these days I see east asians referring to south asians as asian as well. so it's all good

Well, the difference between say an Iranian from Mashad and Indian from Gujart may seem huge to the groups involved, but in my experience with Americans, be they White, Black or Hispanic, have shown little capacity to distinguish them apart.

To them, Indians are Arabs, Arabs are Iranians, and Iranians are Indians.







True, and I agree, perhaps to an extent.

Of course, then we get into such discussions as to where Eastern Europe ends, and the Near(Middle) East begins and ends and what it's boundries are, how Central Asia relates to the Near East, where South Asia begins and Ends, and what truly contitutes the whole of Asia from a non-Eurocentric point of view.



I have noticed that as well, in the United States of course.

It just goes to show the nature of effective propaganda techniques.

30 years ago, the notion of an Indian and a Chinese person being lumped into one racial group would have seemed absurd.

^ it's the cultural similarities that binds them as "asian"

What cultural similarities would you say are those?

In my opinion, South Asian Americans, or people from the Indian Subcontinent should literally have their own "checkbox", if you know what I mean.

As strange as it is to hear, the litteral U.S definition of South Asians and East Asians as a grouping is from a racial perspective, even though such organizations as the Department of Justice end up using such phrases as "Arab, Muslim and South Asian", whater that is supposed to mean...

buddhism, for one
the cultures of most "major" countries/peoples in asia would be very different if not for indian influence. the two major cultural entities in asia were india and china, and of course they influenced each other as well. india's influence - whether direct or indirect, can be seen throughout asia.

Aap se mil ke khu shi hui. Kyaa aap Thai bolate hain?



HINDI-THAI BHAI BHAI

I like this phrase, it rhymes.......

LoL. Ya its what my friend's dad said during his birthday party.

FYI. Indian folks cant karaoke...just like us. LOL. Anyways. back to the subject.

I say Asian. And most people don't get surprised. some Chinese people do though..

In the UK, it's also more common for people to confuse a Middle Eastern person for a South Asian. It's quite rare the other way around here... but one foreigner did think I was an Iraqi though.


At the time, the US included Indians in the "Caucasian" section, much like how they define Middle Eastern people today. Although a majority of Indians do have "Caucasoid" features, most would consider themselves Asians rather than Caucasians.

As a cultural grouping, there's nothing wrong with the "Asian" label being used for both E. Asians and S. Asians, as long as it's not a "racial" grouping.

I guess Indians don't want to be lumped together with East Asians because they think East Asians are inferior to themselves.

^^that's not true at all...why would u group south asians and east asians into one racial catagory? we're all asian in terms of geography...the term "asian" doesnt belong to any one group.

in america asian means east and southeast asian, that's why most south asians will not call themselves "asian" but indian, pakistani, sri lankan, etc, so as to not be confused with another race.

the bottom line is, no one wants to be confused with any other race.

And vice versa. Some East Asians also don't want to be lumped together with South Asians because they think South Asians are inferior to themselves.

Either way, the term "Asian" should not be used in a racial sense but only in a geographical/cultural sense.

After reading all the post on this thread, I think the term "Asian" shouldn't be used at all.

People in China should just call themselves "Chinese".
People in India should just call themselves "Indian".
People in Japan should just call themselves "japanese"

etc etc

I have a hard time convincing ppl here in Jacksonville I'm Indian let alone Asian. Their stereotype of Indian ppl is ugly @$$ guyanese ppl.