From the mailbag.

29May09

I’ve been meaning to write about interesting interactions I’ve had with other Asians who assume I’m something other than Chinese. Whether at a Korean deli or a Chinese nail salon, I usually enjoy these exchanges. But sometimes they definitely get awkward (more on that later).

Here’s a relevant story from a contributor:

New York City, NY

Greeting me as in reference to my race often seems endearing or humorous. The latter is when someone greets me in confusion to my actual race. I get this a lot.

The race people often confuse me for is Japanese or Korean. One of my stories comes from one afternoon. I walked out of a [Japanese] bookstore. From the corner of my eye I noticed an older woman approached me. She greeted me in Japanese and handed me a flyer (in Japanese) and discussed the program she was trying to promote. It was a workshop of some sort. She went on and on without the right moment for me to save her from her trouble. Finally, I said, apologetically, Thank you, but I did not speak Japanese. I should have added I was also not Japanese, but she went on as to where I was born (Here, in the US, I said) and then why my parents never taught me Japanese.

My parents are Chinese, I answered.

I only know a few simple phrases in Japanese and if I could have said them correctly to the woman – I would have really thrown her off.

A week later, that same woman was about to approach me again, but this time I lost myself into a crowd of pedestrians.

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Tags: chinese, conversations, japanese, strangers