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From: loek.van.kooten@tip.nl (H.L. van Kooten)
Subject: Re: Gaijin as a derogatory term
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Date: Mon, 24 Jun 1996 10:03:48 GMT
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Xref: glinda.oz.cs.cmu.edu sci.lang.japan:35616 sci.lang:56236

naka kambayashi <nkambaya@ucla.edu> wrote:

>chlmarti wrote:
>> 
>> Ambrose Li (acli@byron.net4.io.org) wrote:
>> : On 19 Feb 1996 13:32:04 GMT, in article <4g9u4k$l5q@usenet.ucs.indiana.edu>, Charles L. Martin <chlmarti@ucs.indiana.edu> wrote:
>> : >: >>: The other poster is correct. "Gaijin" is merely a contraction of
>> : >: >>: "gaikokujin."
>> : >
>> : >
>> : >Which means "barbarian".
>> 
>> : Hey man, what language are you thinking about? "Gaikokujin" means
>> : "person from a foreign country"; absolutely no derogatory sense.
>> : If you insist that it means "barbarian" you would be insulting
>> : every Chinese person for imposing this meaning on the word.
>> 
>> To reiterate my point, "gaikokujin" and "gaijin" both mean barbarian
>> in the Japanese language.  Originally, this term was applied to Chinese
>> and Korean immigrants entering Japan.  Only later did it evolve to the
>> labeling of Americans and other westerners as barbarians.

>To make the point clear, both "gaikokujin" and "gaijin" do not have the meaning of 
>barbarian. Their original meanings, which root back more than 1000 yrs ago, may have 
>such meaning, but not anymore. They simply mean "the person who comes from abroad." If 
>you doubt, please check your dictionary, thanks!

Actually there's a special word for barbarian: yabanjin, which sounds
completely different. If the Japanese really want to call you a
barbarian, they'd probably use that word, and not gaikokujin, because
that's far too nice a word.

By the way, how do you think about the English ALIEN huh?

Loek.

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