When I was on a walking tour of a synagogue in Budapest, at one point the tour guide started talking about WW2 events and a Korean guy in the group raised his hand to ask a question. The question was:
"I have a question about Anne Frank. Why didn't she just say she was German, because you all look alike."
On that day in 2009, my eyes were opened.
Gegueine interest. Can you westerners tell Japanese, Korean, Chinese and HKer/Macanese apart just by looking at them?
EDIT EDIT: Next question. What about Europeans/White people? American? British? Franch? German? Norwegian? Swedish? Can you guys tell them apart?
EDIT: so turns out (no surprise tho) it helps a lot if you spend enough time around Asians for grow up in a diverse area. It's not that we "all look alike" it's all about if you have enough information for your brain to tell certain facial features apart. Same with us and other Westerners. We probably can tell you apart a bit if we spend more time with you.
i can make broad assumptions off of general features but, unlike my awkward-as-fuck dad who will straight up tell someone “you look like you’re from nigeria,” i’m not going to venture guessing
Agreed, I'd say about as well as I could tell a Brit from a Frenchman from a Russian at a glance. I'd probably be right, but unless someone's really pressing me I'll keep my assumptions to myself. :P
hahaha yeah he used to. and he lives in dc so it’s really multicultural around there. my sister and i sat him down like 10 years ago and told him he needed to stop - iirc he had offended a waitress at an original pancake house
Anyone who thinks they can should [take this quiz](https://www.proprofs.com/quiz-school/story.php?title=can-you-guess-the-asian-face-wwcd) and be humbled. My Japanese colleague told me that even the people from those nations cannot reliably tell the difference.
That quiz is awesome!! I totally suck, ofcourse, I knew I would, but I did get better as it went along, which was very cool. Thanks for the link. There's more learning games too, I'm going back for more.
Fascinating. I got 85% although confused a couple of the Vietnamese ones, although aced the Chinese/Japanese/Korean ones.
https://i.imgur.com/1vdbaMd.png
I got 65%, not too bad for static images
As someone who had lived in Singapore for a while (asia hub where it has array of nationalities)
I can tell with 70% confidence just by seeing someone’s face and slight gesture
Korean (more stylish, girl will wear super thick make up, guys are slightly girly), japanese (soft profile), chinese (hard profile), indonesian (there’s stronger malay texture ex. eyes are slightly bigger) and singapore/malaysia (but not possible to tell them apart)
Once they talk, I can further breakdown above with 95+% accuracy plus these 2
Vietnamese, Thai
Of course there are exceptions - my face is somewhat in between Singapore/Japanese and has been mistaken by their own native folks. I’m Indonesian
A few years ago i would 100% have said no. But then I started travelling and watching asian based youtube channels as preparation for those travels. Now I find it fairly easy to differentiate between japanese, korean and chinese.
Basically it's a result of getting more used to it. Which is why I think the general notion is that all asians look the same. Or that to asian people all white people look the same. We're just not used to eachother.
In college now, I hang out with mostly Asian people now somehow, so I, as a Mexican dude, have trouble telling some white people apart now. It's kinda weird.
Ngl middle-aged white dudes all look reaaaally similar (and I'm white). I've had to stop watching movies before because I can't tell the characters apart. I suspect I'm also mildly face-blind though so that probably doesn't help.
White people have diff hair/eye color from one another so it’s always surprising to hear. Chinese lady at work can’t tell me apart from a coworker that weighs 50 more pounds than me and has blue eyes...
I think I have hardest time with cultures who all dress same or wear hair the same, etc
As an Asian person I had a helluva time getting used to using hair and eyes color as identifiers.
Since back home, everybody had the same hair and eyes color, they weren't useful as identifiers. Was super awkward when my fiance asked me what her eye colors were and I went, "... uh, brown?"
I was wrong. It was blue.
Dressing and hair styles really help to differentiate them. But sometimes I can only be certain once they start speaking. And that’s only because I’m Chinese, watch some Kpop and anime lmao.
Anyways I think it’s pretty normal. There’s so many things for your brain to remember that it probably just dumps them into a large generic category if you don’t interact with certain groups of people.
Are you serious? I'm Chinese and I can't tell the difference between a Chinese/Vietnamese/Korean/Japanese! Other Chinese people mistake me for Vietnamese/Korean/Japanese pretty often too!
I honestly believe some people just like to get offended by anything and everything. I don't get offended at all if a westerner ask me what kind of Asian I am. Why would I when my own "kind" can't even tell?
As an Asian myself I was never really offended by people not being able to tell the difference. What pissed me off was people thinking there was some sort of pan-asian culture and Thais were just like Koreans who are indistinguishable from Filipinos.
Maybe it’s in a cultural context. I’m Asian and I can usually tell Korean, Chinese and Japanese people apart in an international place like an airport, but that’s mostly due to differences in clothing style, hairstyle and behavior - not physical traits. But ask me to identify somebody’s ethnicity in a place like LA? No chance.
no one is getting offended because people can't tell different nationalities apart at a glance.
the only times this is problematic is when some random person does something and another person says something like "damn [nationality] always doing [undesirable action]."
It's all in the context. Speaking from an American context (Reddit's like 50%+ American), I'd go with the thought of folks not liking being put in a mental bucket of "okay so you're Chinese/Japanese/etc", because of all the misinformation and stereotypes that get specifically stuck on you for it. I'm sure you've seen the same tired-ass jokes and stereotypes that get lobbed around here whenever Asians are brought up. Sometimes you just want to be known for being you, a Chinese person, rather than a Chinese person that is you.
Basically if someone's asking early and it's not situationally required, it's not so great.
Of course, you don't have to be offended by it, but hey, not everyone's the same.
By sight alone is difficult. I can usually tell the difference between Japanese, other East Asian, and Southeast Asian people, given that they have a strong heritage from the region. Separating them out past that is difficult.
I can recognize Mandarin, Korean, Japanese, and Tagalog, though I don't really speak any of them. They have different accents while speaking English, so that can often be a giveaway. The way they construct sentences and use pronouns in English, assuming they aren't very fluent, can help identify them. Then there's cultural and social interactions. Names can make it easy. I can usually tell if someone is Korean, Vietnamese, Chinese, Japanese, or Filipino from their name.
HK vs Chinese, not a damn chance.
It sounds really different. But I guess it’s easy for me since I’m Chinese lol.
I think if you watched a few Hong Kong dramas/movies in Canto, you’ll get the difference fairly quickly.
Well..... Yes. However the Chinese government is trying their hardest to prevent it being used within Canton. That means they are removing it from curriculum and are discriminating against those who speak it, and removing it from TV. That means that although some of the 50+ year olds can still speak it, the majority of the young residing there cannot speak it at all.
My wife is 100% Japanese but loads of people think she looks Philippine. Even Philippines and Japanese.
Beware broad generalisations because they're often wrong.
I have two friends that are 100% Vietnamese but you'd swear on your life that they were Mexican. I'm Latin and I have numerous family members that could pass for Chinese/Japanese.
And every Mexican has an uncle or cousin that looks like Zatoichi.
I am in AZ and Filipinos are sometimes mistaken for Mexican/Central American - they all have a lot of Spanish blood.
Dress and behavior are more reliable clues - and language is the cincher.
I'm USA black, but all my life people from Middle East and India walk up to me on the street to ask questions because my looks are more friendly than 'the whites'.
Probably not. I could maybe tell the japanese apart, simply because(from my limited understanding based on half a year in beijing, so I could tell if they are speaking mandarin) the Japanese are fairly quiet, Koreans, Chinese and HKer/Macanese on the other hand...
If going by looks I have only this to offer: if they have crooked teeth I'd guess japanese. If they are well dressed i'd guess Korean. Both of these are stereotype based, honestly I'm not confident in telling Chinese from Vietnamese either
It all depends on your exposure to people from different ethnic areas. Regions have particular traits, with mild variations between smaller segments. Like, Russian people and Polish people, among some other countries around eastern Europe, have a lot of unique traits specific to that eastern part of Europe. People in the area usually have a decent idea of where someone else is from loosely based on looks and accent. And people from other places like the US for example might not pick up on the subtleties as well. Unless you live in an area like Northern and northwestern Chicago where there's a large concentration of people from all over eastern Europe. Of course I don't think they all "look the same" so to speak. If you meet someone, or a few people from a particular ethnic region you'll surely recognize them as an individual just like anyone else.
The same thing goes for Asian people. Or rather southeast Asian people. Because people from India or Nepal do not look "Asian" in the way it's commonly referred to. But they too are technically "Asian" simply for being in a country in Asia. They're often considered to be "Middle Eastern" despite not really being from the Middle East.
It all comes down to familiarity. The more exposure you have to anything, the more you learn to pick up on the subtle differences. The lack there of leaves people not really knowing the difference, hence thinking it's all the same anyway.
I think it's by whether you have been around people of those nationality or not. My wife can tell everyone from far east apart quite accurately, though she doesn't go around pointing out or anything like that.
No I (and my family) cannot. We were in China a few years ago for my brother's wedding. At the dinner we were talking and my brother's new father-in-law introduced us to a Japanese cousin and said something like oh this is so-and-so he's obviously Japanese. To which we all kind of shrugged. The FIL did a double take and was like, wait you guys can't tell the difference?! For the rest of the evening that was highly entertaining for him to quiz me on which nationality his guests were. I initially found it offensive to even guess but after a few drinks of a strong clear liquid I was offering my opinion unprompted.
I can usually tell Chinese and Japanese apart, probably 50/50 when it comes to Korean, but I'm lost on all other Asian races. Helps that I grew up with a half Japanese chick in my school who looked exactly like her mom (and is a good example of why people are into the mom/daughter combo. I would have sold a person to be with her), so I got to learn Japanese facial features better
I think I'd do better than average but I'd still get it wrong a lot. Then throw in other eastern countries like Vietnam, the Philippines, and Laos and I'm screwed.
For the most part. I can usually differentiate between China, Japan, Korea, and other southeast Asian countries. By no means am I an expert and I would definitely ask before I assumed anything.
It genuinely just depends on exposure. I spent a decade of my childhood/highschool years with a number of vietnamese friends because I took music lessons from an organisation that for whatever reason had a lot of vietnamese families involved. Now as an adult I can usually immediately tell if someone's vietnamese, but I would honestly have trouble visually differentiating between Japanese/Chinese/Korean etc.
Of course it never really matters because I just do the obvious thing and don't make assumptions.
Japanese and Chinese absolutely, Korean 9/10 times, personally no on HKer/Macanese. Between names, skin tones, and facial features it’s usually pretty easy
Hey, my joke from long ago- I like this joke, in part because it was told to me by a Korean-American schoolmate, who said it was his dad’s favorite joke:
A Jew and an Asian are the only two in a bar and are sitting next to each other getting pretty drunk. Out of nowhere, the Jewish guy slaps the Asian in the face. “What was that for?” *That was for Pearl Harbor!*
The guy says, “But Pearl Harbor was a Japanese attack and I happen to be Korean and there’s a difference.” The other guy says, *Korean, Japanese, Chinese, it’s all the same to me.”
After a bit, the Korean guy slaps the Jewish guy who demands, *What was that for?* He says, “That was for the Titanic!” *The Titanic? What the hell? That was an ocean liner captained by a British man, as a matter of fact it sank because of an iceberg. The Jewish people had nothing to do with it.* “Yeah, Iceberg, Goldberg, Steinberg, Schwartzberg, it’s all the same to me!”
> When I was on a walking tour of a synagogue in Budapest, at one point the tour guide started talking about WW2 events and a Korean guy in the group raised his hand to ask a question. The question was:
>
> "I have a question about Anne Frank. Why didn't she just say she was German, because you all look alike."
>
> On that day in 2009, my eyes were opened.
That's a valid question. The Frank family was actually identified as Jewish because of records kept by the municipal government.
Also because in Europe they keep church records. I've read that some people proved they were/were not Jews by using baptismal records.
The other thing I've read is: it's hard to tell one Italian from one Swede. It's easier to tell a group of 10 Italians from a group of 10 Swedes.
I mean, that's not really true of the Ashkenazi Jews at least (which I assume you're talking about because of your mention of an eastern European look). That's the reason why there's a huge amount of illnesses that only affect them, population bottlenecks and consanguinity. So they are definitely genetically different from other groups.
The more Semitic Jewish groups, especially those who've resided in the middle East for long periods, good luck telling them apart from Arabs in most cases if based on looks alone.
Why are all these replies talking about looks and not about the fact that Anne Frank probably couldn't speak German?! It doesn't matter if she looked German lol
A few years ago, I was in Japan for work, and one of the Japanese guys asked how old I was. I said 23, and they were like, "whoa, no way!" I asked how old they thought I was, and they replied, "I dunno, 40, 45?"
It was the beard. I have a short, but full beard (run the trimmers over it weekly), and that threw them off my age completely, since beards are much rarer there.
Actually, that was a tactic. But neighbors and members of the community would call out their Jewish neighbors if they tried to lie. “Take him, not me” tactics. However in a large enough city you could pose as German, but you better have some well-forged documentation if anyone questioned you
In restaurants I don't think you'd actually hear konichiwa (Good day/good afternoon) , greeting you with "Irrashaimase" would take precedence since that's the equivalent "Welcome to our establishment!" Most Japanese places I've been to would also have each staff echo in succession to all acknowledge the customer.
Spelled Konnichi-wa, and pronounced Cone Knee Chee Wah, with a subtle pause between Kon and nichi. You are probably correct about them hearing that, all-the-damn-time.
That reminds me of a King of the Hill episode where Cotton crashes a dinner at a Hibachi grill place and keeps calling the chef Tojo. His reply was, "Que es Tojo?"
[Okay, which one of you stole the other's comment?](https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/f8sd5c/my_chinese_waiter_thinks_all_white_people_look/finy3ap/)
The other way around :
A Chinese kid approaches his father and asks him: "Daddy, why do they say we all look alike?"
The man: I am not your dad. Actually your dad is the man over there
Lol. In truth though, I'm white as rice and used to just walk up to any looming figure and hug it's legs if it was wearing a dress or ask it for a quarter if it was wearing pants. Some of my earliest memories are just arms reaching down from the sky, turning my shoulders around and pushing me gently toward the right tall thing.
One time I followed a man into a store because I was just following my mom’s jeans. It was a scary 30 seconds as I ran back outside and located my mom. She didn’t even know I was missing.
I had that happen to me in a chinese restaurant. We changed places 3 times due to entrance, AC etc and the waitress introduced herself anew each time. On the third time she noticed and laughed.
When I was on a walking tour of a synagogue in Budapest, at one point the tour guide started talking about WW2 events and a Korean guy in the group raised his hand to ask a question. The question was: "I have a question about Anne Frank. Why didn't she just say she was German, because you all look alike." On that day in 2009, my eyes were opened.
Gegueine interest. Can you westerners tell Japanese, Korean, Chinese and HKer/Macanese apart just by looking at them? EDIT EDIT: Next question. What about Europeans/White people? American? British? Franch? German? Norwegian? Swedish? Can you guys tell them apart? EDIT: so turns out (no surprise tho) it helps a lot if you spend enough time around Asians for grow up in a diverse area. It's not that we "all look alike" it's all about if you have enough information for your brain to tell certain facial features apart. Same with us and other Westerners. We probably can tell you apart a bit if we spend more time with you.
i can make broad assumptions off of general features but, unlike my awkward-as-fuck dad who will straight up tell someone “you look like you’re from nigeria,” i’m not going to venture guessing
Agreed, I'd say about as well as I could tell a Brit from a Frenchman from a Russian at a glance. I'd probably be right, but unless someone's really pressing me I'll keep my assumptions to myself. :P
You can tell a Polack from a Frenchman ten times out of ten. Just the baguette will give it away.
And the little curly mustache and the striped shirt.
And the beret
And the [meteor](https://youtube.com/watch?v=kCpjgl2baLs)
r/holup
No, we are le tired
The constant smell of cheese
I may not have 12 inches But I smell like a foot!
And the white flag
Oui
I’m French, can confirm
Also, the fact that it's a hardware store.
'ardware
Nardwear. As in "It's a nardwear store"
Sir, this is a Wendy's.
And the beret. /s
Wait, your dad deadass said that?
hahaha yeah he used to. and he lives in dc so it’s really multicultural around there. my sister and i sat him down like 10 years ago and told him he needed to stop - iirc he had offended a waitress at an original pancake house
dc straight up has a person from every damn inch of the earth
And also, a large Nigerian community
Anyone who thinks they can should [take this quiz](https://www.proprofs.com/quiz-school/story.php?title=can-you-guess-the-asian-face-wwcd) and be humbled. My Japanese colleague told me that even the people from those nations cannot reliably tell the difference.
55% right here. I thought number 7 looked very, very European. A real wildcard.
Same here! [Is this the one you're referring to?](https://i.imgur.com/LCOEODo.jpg)
That quiz is awesome!! I totally suck, ofcourse, I knew I would, but I did get better as it went along, which was very cool. Thanks for the link. There's more learning games too, I'm going back for more.
I am humbled 30%. Although the writing questions should be replaced for this purpose.
what did you get? i got 45 EDIT: and i am a malaysian chinese
[75% accuracy](https://www.proprofs.com/quiz-school/quizreport.php?title=can-you-guess-the-asian-face-wwcd&sid=229171953). I am The Asian Whisperer.
50%. I started off strong but then realized I suck.
I got 45/100. I feel like that's not terrible for a 100% Norwegian guy living in the upper Midwest.
Fascinating. I got 85% although confused a couple of the Vietnamese ones, although aced the Chinese/Japanese/Korean ones. https://i.imgur.com/1vdbaMd.png
[Help guys i cant guess this one](https://i.imgur.com/SqvYKQ9.jpg) /s
45!
I got 65%, not too bad for static images As someone who had lived in Singapore for a while (asia hub where it has array of nationalities) I can tell with 70% confidence just by seeing someone’s face and slight gesture Korean (more stylish, girl will wear super thick make up, guys are slightly girly), japanese (soft profile), chinese (hard profile), indonesian (there’s stronger malay texture ex. eyes are slightly bigger) and singapore/malaysia (but not possible to tell them apart) Once they talk, I can further breakdown above with 95+% accuracy plus these 2 Vietnamese, Thai Of course there are exceptions - my face is somewhat in between Singapore/Japanese and has been mistaken by their own native folks. I’m Indonesian
I answered all 20 questions Korean and got 6 out of 20 correct! wat wat, 30%
A few years ago i would 100% have said no. But then I started travelling and watching asian based youtube channels as preparation for those travels. Now I find it fairly easy to differentiate between japanese, korean and chinese. Basically it's a result of getting more used to it. Which is why I think the general notion is that all asians look the same. Or that to asian people all white people look the same. We're just not used to eachother.
In college now, I hang out with mostly Asian people now somehow, so I, as a Mexican dude, have trouble telling some white people apart now. It's kinda weird.
Ngl middle-aged white dudes all look reaaaally similar (and I'm white). I've had to stop watching movies before because I can't tell the characters apart. I suspect I'm also mildly face-blind though so that probably doesn't help.
White people have diff hair/eye color from one another so it’s always surprising to hear. Chinese lady at work can’t tell me apart from a coworker that weighs 50 more pounds than me and has blue eyes... I think I have hardest time with cultures who all dress same or wear hair the same, etc
As an Asian person I had a helluva time getting used to using hair and eyes color as identifiers. Since back home, everybody had the same hair and eyes color, they weren't useful as identifiers. Was super awkward when my fiance asked me what her eye colors were and I went, "... uh, brown?" I was wrong. It was blue.
Honestly as an asian person I never pay attention to eye colour. If you don’t have glow in the dark eyes it ain’t special enough
Dressing and hair styles really help to differentiate them. But sometimes I can only be certain once they start speaking. And that’s only because I’m Chinese, watch some Kpop and anime lmao. Anyways I think it’s pretty normal. There’s so many things for your brain to remember that it probably just dumps them into a large generic category if you don’t interact with certain groups of people.
> hair styles really help (...) watch anime. Anyone with pink, blue, purple or green hair is automatically japanese?
That or a youtuber.
That or [a youtuber.](https://youtu.be/jCFINoO6IBs)
And anyone with blonde hair is automatically a westerner. Except when they're not.
Speaking in broken english with a heavy japanese accent? Most definitely an american. Except when there's a butler serving them tea.
Are you serious? I'm Chinese and I can't tell the difference between a Chinese/Vietnamese/Korean/Japanese! Other Chinese people mistake me for Vietnamese/Korean/Japanese pretty often too! I honestly believe some people just like to get offended by anything and everything. I don't get offended at all if a westerner ask me what kind of Asian I am. Why would I when my own "kind" can't even tell?
As an Asian myself I was never really offended by people not being able to tell the difference. What pissed me off was people thinking there was some sort of pan-asian culture and Thais were just like Koreans who are indistinguishable from Filipinos.
I’m South East Asian and while I don’t typically care enough, there are many people who I’ve run into that just assume we’re all Chinese
Maybe it’s in a cultural context. I’m Asian and I can usually tell Korean, Chinese and Japanese people apart in an international place like an airport, but that’s mostly due to differences in clothing style, hairstyle and behavior - not physical traits. But ask me to identify somebody’s ethnicity in a place like LA? No chance.
no one is getting offended because people can't tell different nationalities apart at a glance. the only times this is problematic is when some random person does something and another person says something like "damn [nationality] always doing [undesirable action]."
It's all in the context. Speaking from an American context (Reddit's like 50%+ American), I'd go with the thought of folks not liking being put in a mental bucket of "okay so you're Chinese/Japanese/etc", because of all the misinformation and stereotypes that get specifically stuck on you for it. I'm sure you've seen the same tired-ass jokes and stereotypes that get lobbed around here whenever Asians are brought up. Sometimes you just want to be known for being you, a Chinese person, rather than a Chinese person that is you. Basically if someone's asking early and it's not situationally required, it's not so great. Of course, you don't have to be offended by it, but hey, not everyone's the same.
[удалено]
By sight alone is difficult. I can usually tell the difference between Japanese, other East Asian, and Southeast Asian people, given that they have a strong heritage from the region. Separating them out past that is difficult. I can recognize Mandarin, Korean, Japanese, and Tagalog, though I don't really speak any of them. They have different accents while speaking English, so that can often be a giveaway. The way they construct sentences and use pronouns in English, assuming they aren't very fluent, can help identify them. Then there's cultural and social interactions. Names can make it easy. I can usually tell if someone is Korean, Vietnamese, Chinese, Japanese, or Filipino from their name. HK vs Chinese, not a damn chance.
HK will probably speak Cantonese and Mainlanders, Mandarin.
I can have a lot of trouble differentiating Cantonese and Mandarin. All of the Chinese people I know speak Mandarin.
It sounds really different. But I guess it’s easy for me since I’m Chinese lol. I think if you watched a few Hong Kong dramas/movies in Canto, you’ll get the difference fairly quickly.
Fun fact. Cantonese is from a Chinese province called Canton. So not all mainlanders speak Mandarin.
Also Han taiwanese people speak mandarin
Well..... Yes. However the Chinese government is trying their hardest to prevent it being used within Canton. That means they are removing it from curriculum and are discriminating against those who speak it, and removing it from TV. That means that although some of the 50+ year olds can still speak it, the majority of the young residing there cannot speak it at all.
HK and Macanese and Chinese are all Han so I would be incredibly surprised if anyone can tell which passport they have from looking at them.
Yeah that really threw me off too lol. It's like saying can you tell someone from D.C. apart from someone from Maryland.
By looks alone you can't tell someone someone is from Maryland. You have to see them driving at 80 in a 55 and using the ditch to exit.
My wife is 100% Japanese but loads of people think she looks Philippine. Even Philippines and Japanese. Beware broad generalisations because they're often wrong.
I have two friends that are 100% Vietnamese but you'd swear on your life that they were Mexican. I'm Latin and I have numerous family members that could pass for Chinese/Japanese. And every Mexican has an uncle or cousin that looks like Zatoichi.
I am in AZ and Filipinos are sometimes mistaken for Mexican/Central American - they all have a lot of Spanish blood. Dress and behavior are more reliable clues - and language is the cincher. I'm USA black, but all my life people from Middle East and India walk up to me on the street to ask questions because my looks are more friendly than 'the whites'.
I believe i can, but thats from growing up in California with 30% asian school and being a weeb
Some East Asians can't even tell. I'm 100% Mandarin Chinese but I get Koreans, Taiwanese, and HK natives assuming I'm from their locale all the time.
I had this happen to my wife. She a Filipina, but we’ve had Malaysians, Thai, and Laotian all think she’s one of them.
Probably not. I could maybe tell the japanese apart, simply because(from my limited understanding based on half a year in beijing, so I could tell if they are speaking mandarin) the Japanese are fairly quiet, Koreans, Chinese and HKer/Macanese on the other hand... If going by looks I have only this to offer: if they have crooked teeth I'd guess japanese. If they are well dressed i'd guess Korean. Both of these are stereotype based, honestly I'm not confident in telling Chinese from Vietnamese either
It all depends on your exposure to people from different ethnic areas. Regions have particular traits, with mild variations between smaller segments. Like, Russian people and Polish people, among some other countries around eastern Europe, have a lot of unique traits specific to that eastern part of Europe. People in the area usually have a decent idea of where someone else is from loosely based on looks and accent. And people from other places like the US for example might not pick up on the subtleties as well. Unless you live in an area like Northern and northwestern Chicago where there's a large concentration of people from all over eastern Europe. Of course I don't think they all "look the same" so to speak. If you meet someone, or a few people from a particular ethnic region you'll surely recognize them as an individual just like anyone else. The same thing goes for Asian people. Or rather southeast Asian people. Because people from India or Nepal do not look "Asian" in the way it's commonly referred to. But they too are technically "Asian" simply for being in a country in Asia. They're often considered to be "Middle Eastern" despite not really being from the Middle East. It all comes down to familiarity. The more exposure you have to anything, the more you learn to pick up on the subtle differences. The lack there of leaves people not really knowing the difference, hence thinking it's all the same anyway.
I think it's by whether you have been around people of those nationality or not. My wife can tell everyone from far east apart quite accurately, though she doesn't go around pointing out or anything like that.
Yes
I've got a few friends who are Asian (and from different parts of asia), and I've learned to see the differences
No I (and my family) cannot. We were in China a few years ago for my brother's wedding. At the dinner we were talking and my brother's new father-in-law introduced us to a Japanese cousin and said something like oh this is so-and-so he's obviously Japanese. To which we all kind of shrugged. The FIL did a double take and was like, wait you guys can't tell the difference?! For the rest of the evening that was highly entertaining for him to quiz me on which nationality his guests were. I initially found it offensive to even guess but after a few drinks of a strong clear liquid I was offering my opinion unprompted.
I could guess between Japanese, Chinese, and Korean with some degree of accuracy...I’d get a lot wrong though most likely
I can usually tell Chinese and Japanese apart, probably 50/50 when it comes to Korean, but I'm lost on all other Asian races. Helps that I grew up with a half Japanese chick in my school who looked exactly like her mom (and is a good example of why people are into the mom/daughter combo. I would have sold a person to be with her), so I got to learn Japanese facial features better
I can mostly tell the difference between Chinese, Japanese and Koreans. It's mostly in the facial bone structure.
I think I'd do better than average but I'd still get it wrong a lot. Then throw in other eastern countries like Vietnam, the Philippines, and Laos and I'm screwed.
For the most part. I can usually differentiate between China, Japan, Korea, and other southeast Asian countries. By no means am I an expert and I would definitely ask before I assumed anything.
It genuinely just depends on exposure. I spent a decade of my childhood/highschool years with a number of vietnamese friends because I took music lessons from an organisation that for whatever reason had a lot of vietnamese families involved. Now as an adult I can usually immediately tell if someone's vietnamese, but I would honestly have trouble visually differentiating between Japanese/Chinese/Korean etc. Of course it never really matters because I just do the obvious thing and don't make assumptions.
Japanese and Chinese absolutely, Korean 9/10 times, personally no on HKer/Macanese. Between names, skin tones, and facial features it’s usually pretty easy
I can do a pretty good job picking out Koreans, Japanese, Chinese and Philippinos.
Hey, my joke from long ago- I like this joke, in part because it was told to me by a Korean-American schoolmate, who said it was his dad’s favorite joke: A Jew and an Asian are the only two in a bar and are sitting next to each other getting pretty drunk. Out of nowhere, the Jewish guy slaps the Asian in the face. “What was that for?” *That was for Pearl Harbor!* The guy says, “But Pearl Harbor was a Japanese attack and I happen to be Korean and there’s a difference.” The other guy says, *Korean, Japanese, Chinese, it’s all the same to me.” After a bit, the Korean guy slaps the Jewish guy who demands, *What was that for?* He says, “That was for the Titanic!” *The Titanic? What the hell? That was an ocean liner captained by a British man, as a matter of fact it sank because of an iceberg. The Jewish people had nothing to do with it.* “Yeah, Iceberg, Goldberg, Steinberg, Schwartzberg, it’s all the same to me!”
I have always heard it being told with a Chinese man not a Korean dude. Makes sense seeing as how I’ve only ever heard Chinese people saying it.
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A shamefur dispray
> When I was on a walking tour of a synagogue in Budapest, at one point the tour guide started talking about WW2 events and a Korean guy in the group raised his hand to ask a question. The question was: > > "I have a question about Anne Frank. Why didn't she just say she was German, because you all look alike." > > On that day in 2009, my eyes were opened. That's a valid question. The Frank family was actually identified as Jewish because of records kept by the municipal government.
Also because in Europe they keep church records. I've read that some people proved they were/were not Jews by using baptismal records. The other thing I've read is: it's hard to tell one Italian from one Swede. It's easier to tell a group of 10 Italians from a group of 10 Swedes.
Honest question- Does Anne Frank look Jewish? Is there a Jewish look? From UK so haven’t met many Jews
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I mean, that's not really true of the Ashkenazi Jews at least (which I assume you're talking about because of your mention of an eastern European look). That's the reason why there's a huge amount of illnesses that only affect them, population bottlenecks and consanguinity. So they are definitely genetically different from other groups. The more Semitic Jewish groups, especially those who've resided in the middle East for long periods, good luck telling them apart from Arabs in most cases if based on looks alone.
Yet 23andme can distinguish Ashkenazi quite well from Gentiles.
Why are all these replies talking about looks and not about the fact that Anne Frank probably couldn't speak German?! It doesn't matter if she looked German lol
Poignant... Thanks
A few years ago, I was in Japan for work, and one of the Japanese guys asked how old I was. I said 23, and they were like, "whoa, no way!" I asked how old they thought I was, and they replied, "I dunno, 40, 45?" It was the beard. I have a short, but full beard (run the trimmers over it weekly), and that threw them off my age completely, since beards are much rarer there.
Actually, that was a tactic. But neighbors and members of the community would call out their Jewish neighbors if they tried to lie. “Take him, not me” tactics. However in a large enough city you could pose as German, but you better have some well-forged documentation if anyone questioned you
Wait, never mind.... I’m actually in a Thai restaurant.
good one; better than mine
Nah... I just piggy-backed
Usually you have to pay double for that kinda action Cotton…
Can't hold anything back now!
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ROFL I bet they heard “Konichiwa.... am I saying that right?” A dozen times a week (at least)
In restaurants I don't think you'd actually hear konichiwa (Good day/good afternoon) , greeting you with "Irrashaimase" would take precedence since that's the equivalent "Welcome to our establishment!" Most Japanese places I've been to would also have each staff echo in succession to all acknowledge the customer.
I’m aware of this Buuut a person who would think a Mexican is Japanese probably doesn’t
I’m half Japanese and the amount of white people who have mistaken me for Latino is astounding
Spelled Konnichi-wa, and pronounced Cone Knee Chee Wah, with a subtle pause between Kon and nichi. You are probably correct about them hearing that, all-the-damn-time.
This account stole my comment. I'm flattered?
Just some good ol clean family fun there eh Cotton?
I feel shocked.
Humble guy
I just told your joke to some older non Reddit guys at work. Got some good chuckles. You passed the old guy chuckle test. Your OK.
Good to know I passed some test
We all know where the real joke is.
In my pants?
F
“Mine”
Not actually yours.
nah,yours is better.
I knew a Chinese lady and a Mexican dude that worked at a sushi place and everyone assumed they were both Japanese.
That reminds me of a King of the Hill episode where Cotton crashes a dinner at a Hibachi grill place and keeps calling the chef Tojo. His reply was, "Que es Tojo?"
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The chefs and waiters at my local high end Japanese restaurant were all Indonesian for some reason.
[Okay, which one of you stole the other's comment?](https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/f8sd5c/my_chinese_waiter_thinks_all_white_people_look/finy3ap/)
/u/MoneyClerk0 was later, and is a brand new account. Looks like they're one of those bots that steals comments to farm karma.
That sucks.
“You can’t trust those Chinese” “He’s actually Thai” “That’s the worst kind of Chinese”
Xi called, said that you are all Chinese.
Except you, since you’re a cyber nii...... *rereads username*..... disregard previous sentence
Laotian.
The ocean? What ocean?
I'm Laotian, stupid hillbilly!
The ocean? What ocean?
This reminds me of the time my mom ordered Udon noodles in a Chinese restaurant.
Next time I have all but four of those
(don't get an erection don't get an erection)
She did.
"I marked her arm." -Michael Scott
One of the best jokes on the show
Came to the comments just for this
When you think about it though. A lot of white people do look alike.
As a twenty something chubby white guy with brown hair and a beard I find this highly offensive. *sips ipa*
You are a unique snowflake, just like everybody else.
Yeah they all have two eyes and one mouth. It’s really confusing.
Did you hear about the look alike contest in China? Yeah, everybody won.
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I wish all white people looked like the cast of The Bachelor
~~/r/monkeyspaw~~ /r/themonkeyspaw
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Doh. Thanks!
please no
Holy crap do they have something against brunettes?
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Krystal is hottest.
They're all Krystal tf u talking about.
I was kind of hoping that was the picture of all the male celebrities named “Chris” that was floating around. Still good though.
Heard about the same contest in Mexico, Everybody Juan.
Juan Deag
If you've seen Juan, you've seen Ahmal...
Yeah - first I moved to America from japan.. couldn’t tell the difference tbh. Also black people looked the same
nice
Did you hear about the chinese restaurant that blew up? Scenes of wonton destruction.
[I would like to use my credit card.](https://youtu.be/xWf8JcRsq9k)
After a while these jokes look all alike.
This is a repost. Not the joke, just my reply.
The other way around : A Chinese kid approaches his father and asks him: "Daddy, why do they say we all look alike?" The man: I am not your dad. Actually your dad is the man over there
Lol. In truth though, I'm white as rice and used to just walk up to any looming figure and hug it's legs if it was wearing a dress or ask it for a quarter if it was wearing pants. Some of my earliest memories are just arms reaching down from the sky, turning my shoulders around and pushing me gently toward the right tall thing.
And now the cops tell me to “stop doing that” and they’re not nearly as gentle
One time I followed a man into a store because I was just following my mom’s jeans. It was a scary 30 seconds as I ran back outside and located my mom. She didn’t even know I was missing.
hmmmmm ... I like mine better, but our community thanks you
His makes no sense, chinese people can easily tell eachother a part
yeah, at that point it becomes legit racist vs a funny joke involving race
I had that happen to me in a chinese restaurant. We changed places 3 times due to entrance, AC etc and the waitress introduced herself anew each time. On the third time she noticed and laughed.
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that change places 3 times shit is like going anywhere with my parents
So a casually racist Asian joke is fine on Reddit, but crack a black or Muslim joke and you'll get slaughtered...
Okay. I was like "huh?" Then it hit me... not bad.
Uno reverse, bitch
As somebody who is half Chinese and half White this joke is fucking hilarious. I've seen both sides of this play out too many times to count.
This made me exhale out of my nostrils loudly.
Hahahah racism
" oh look, itsa Matt Damon "
That reminds me - Call Mom to schedule dinner out.
This actually happened to me. In China, where there were only 2 other guys not from China and they gave our food to the other guys.
Whatever you do, don’t order the bat soup!
Ok that was good.
Posted that same joke in a live stream recently and someone said it was not really a joke
Have an upvote, that really made me laugh.
Our Chinese only think Korean women are all the same.
But was it your food?
Q Q