# Is the word "Chino/a" in Spanish a general term for Asians? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 14, 2011, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-word-chino-a-in-spanish-a-general-term-for-asians/592700 "2011-08-14T17:58:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2011, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-word-chino-a-in-spanish-a-general-term-for-asians/592700/61 "2011-08-16T19:39:11Z")
> [@guizot](#): > > technically, when you write in English _about_ words–and especially foreign words–you should put them in italics, not quotation marks (as you did above), although that’s what most people do on this board. Thank goodness–finally someone around here has got a clue about that! Thank you, **guizot.** ---
**Author:** ![Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aji_de_gallina/32/260_2.png) [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aji_de_Gallina)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2011, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-word-chino-a-in-spanish-a-general-term-for-asians/592700/62 "2011-08-16T20:09:07Z")
In Peru at least, I’ve never heard _chino_ for jaundiced people (maybe as a joke but not as a common thing), it’s always for eastern Asian or slanted eyes. \*Chino \*can also be a term of endearment. Since Native American have Asian genes, it’s relatively common to see slanted eyes, like my most recent godson who is \*chinito \*\*lindo \*despite being mestizo. Although the term is almost dead, people my age (41) and older would still use _el chino_ or \*el chino de la esquina \*to mean bodega or corner shop. _[El Chino Recoba](http://participacion.elpais.com.uy/futbol/files/2009/12/chino1.jpg)_ is a Uruguayan football player to give you an example of how chino is used for non-Asian people. ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2011, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-word-chino-a-in-spanish-a-general-term-for-asians/592700/63 "2011-08-16T23:55:22Z")
> [@llcoolbj77](#): > > We also have one attorney from Korea [. . . .] I will say that an equal number of white folks will call and identify their attorney as, “the chinese one.” I’ve run into a number of white Americans who refer to all East Asians as “Chinese”. They tend to hail from regions of the country not well known for being terribly cosmopolitan. I wonder if this was more common several decades ago and is merely slower to fade in some places. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-word-chino-a-in-spanish-a-general-term-for-asians/592700/64 "2011-08-17T01:26:13Z")
> [@Pyper](#): > > When I lived in Spain, I futilely tried to explain to my roommates on several occasions why the people who ran the city’s only sushi restaurant were not “chinos.” I guess it was just my own cultural ignorance talking, because in retrospect, when they called those people “chinos,” they didn’t mean they were Chinese, but rather were referring to them by a generic term for Asians. Are you sure they weren’t actually Chinese? I ask because in the US it seems like most Japanese restaurants are run by Chinese or Koreans. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-word-chino-a-in-spanish-a-general-term-for-asians/592700/65 "2011-08-17T03:25:43Z")
> [@Ruken](#): > > I’ve run into a number of white Americans who refer to all East Asians as “Chinese”. They tend to hail from regions of the country not well known for being terribly cosmopolitan. I wonder if this was more common several decades ago and is merely slower to fade in some places. No, you’re right, it’s true. So many native English speakers do just that, who are we to accuse the Spanish speakers of doing the same thing? I noticed something similar in Malaysia. They call Sikhs “Benggali.” Yep, the people from Panjab… 1,000 miles away from Bengal, clear over on the other side of India. My Malay dictionary has this entry under _Benggali_: “a native of Bengal, but Malays also use the word for Punjabis.” And there is such a large population of ethnic Indians living there, I don’t know how the Malaysians managed to goof up the geography so bad. ---
**Author:** ![auRa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c4cdca/32.png) [@auRa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/auRa)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-word-chino-a-in-spanish-a-general-term-for-asians/592700/66 "2011-08-17T07:05:32Z")
> [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](#): > > Although the term is almost dead, people my age (41) and older would still use _el chino_ or \*el chino de la esquina \*to mean bodega or corner shop. Visiting my friend in Madrid earlier this year, most of our last-minute grocery shopping was preceded by “We’ll just get it at the chino”. It was the commonly used term among pretty much everybody. (We’re 25-30.) ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 7:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-word-chino-a-in-spanish-a-general-term-for-asians/592700/67 "2011-08-17T07:56:35Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Where do you live, exactly, that people take such severe offense? I’m from New York, and I doubt too many people would respond so violently there. I live in California, and that seems a bizarre overreaction to me, too. “Gringo” isn’t exactly complementary, but I can’t imagine anyone getting genuinely, mouth-punchingly upset over it. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 9:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-word-chino-a-in-spanish-a-general-term-for-asians/592700/68 "2011-08-17T09:17:28Z")
> [@auRa](#): > > Visiting my friend in Madrid earlier this year, most of our last-minute grocery shopping was preceded by “We’ll just get it at the chino”. It was the commonly used term among pretty much everybody. (We’re 25-30.) Grocery? Interesting, either that’s a regional variation or that particular grocery is Chinese-owned. In most of Spain I’ve seen it used for dollar stores. It’s a recent development, too: for about a decade, they’ve been a market with a lot of Chinese ownership. For some reason we say “el chino” to mean a Chinese or Oriental restaurant (the “Great Wall” restaurant near my grandmother’s specializes in Thai cuisine) but “los chinos” to mean a dollar store. ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-word-chino-a-in-spanish-a-general-term-for-asians/592700/69 "2011-08-17T18:22:33Z")
> [@Rigamarole](#): > > It’s commonly used that way… technically it does mean Chinese and there are words for the different nationalities as well as a general word for Asian: _asiático_. But at least among the poor, uneducated Latin Americans that live around here I almost never hear the word asiático actually used, it’s always chino/a. > > It’s similar to white Americans referring to all Latinos as Mexicans. Ironically, their culture hasn’t developed to the point yet that they understand/care how it could potentially be offensive to an Asian person to refer to them as Chinese when they’re not. I don’t know whether more educated Latinos are sensitive to it or not. > [@voltaire](#): > > I once had a misunderstanding with a Costa Rican woman who referred to a rather large black man who was also her boss as “ **negrito** ” (-ito being a diminutive suffix.) I understood it to be disrespectful at best and racist at worst, but she had another Costa Rican back her up that it was an acceptable term of endearment. > > Yeah, Spanish is generally much less PC than English. > [@Pyper](#): > > Yeah, didn’t we already have that argument in a previous thread, ending on the conclusion that the “l-yeh” pronunciation has been out of use for 50 years? > > When I lived in Spain, I futilely tried to explain to my roommates on several occasions why the people who ran the city’s only sushi restaurant were not “chinos.” I guess it was just my own cultural ignorance talking, because in retrospect, when they called those people “chinos,” they didn’t mean they were Chinese, but rather were referring to them by a generic term for Asians. Man, this kinda stuff has always seemed like the height of cultural and linguistic imperialism to me, arrogance and ignorance at its best. Why would anyone try to apply their own cultural and indigenous baggage to others that have an entirely different set of political, linguistic, and cultural experiences? It simply does not translate and I don’t see how one can be so arrogant and provincial to even try. You aren’t translating, you are superimposing. ---
**Author:** ![JoelUpchurch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f05b48/32.png) [@JoelUpchurch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoelUpchurch)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-word-chino-a-in-spanish-a-general-term-for-asians/592700/70 "2011-08-17T20:11:59Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Where do you live, exactly, that people take such severe offense? I’m from New York, and I doubt too many people would respond so violently there. I live in Florida. I doubt that many people would react that violently here, but it is a stupid unnecessary risk. Gringo is listed as a racial slur in wikipedia and a lot of people in the United States will interpret it that way and it doesn’t matter what it means in Panama. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-word-chino-a-in-spanish-a-general-term-for-asians/592700/71 "2011-08-17T20:29:10Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > I live in California, and that seems a bizarre overreaction to me, too. “Gringo” isn’t exactly complementary, but I can’t imagine anyone getting genuinely, mouth-punchingly upset over it. There are\* much\* ruder terms… ---
**Author:** ![Crazyhorse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crazyhorse/32/31_2.png) [@Crazyhorse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crazyhorse)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-word-chino-a-in-spanish-a-general-term-for-asians/592700/72 "2011-08-17T20:54:49Z")
> [@JoelUpchurch](#): > > I live in Florida. I doubt that many people would react that violently here, but it is a stupid unnecessary risk. Gringo is listed as a racial slur in wikipedia and a lot of people in the United States will interpret it that way and it doesn’t matter what it means in Panama. Well then, if Wikipedia says so then all Spanish and Latin American countries should cease their perfectly normal, non-insulting use of the word which has been a common part of their language for over 200 years. All the wiki says is that some in the US don’t understand the meaning and mistakenly consider it an insult. As a Spanish speaker in the US perhaps one should take care not to use the term due to this misunderstanding, but as an English speaker visiting any Spanish speaking part of the world you can expect to hear it regularly and with no insult intended. There’s nothing wrong with saying someone isn’t from these parts, which is basically all it means to those using it. The only way it can be made into an insult is based on the situation, not the word. “Welcome, stranger” isn’t an insult. “Get out of my club, you goddamned stranger” is. Its not the word just the context it is used. From the Wiki you cite: > [@](#): > > In English, the word is often considered “offensive” or “disparaging”[[1]](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gringo#cite_note-0) while it simply identifies a foreigner in Spanish, without any negative connotation ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-word-chino-a-in-spanish-a-general-term-for-asians/592700/73 "2011-08-17T21:25:14Z")
> [@JoelUpchurch](#): > > I live in Florida. I doubt that many people would react that violently here, but it is a stupid unnecessary risk. Gringo is listed as a racial slur in wikipedia and a lot of people in the United States will interpret it that way and it doesn’t matter what it means in Panama. Yes, I would probably 1. Advise Latin Americans visiting the US to avoid using the word in order to avoid giving offense where none is intended. 2. Also advise any Americans, whether in the US or visiting Latin America, that they should not automatically take offense at the word, since the majority of Latin Americans use it as an non-pejorative descriptor. ---
**Author:** ![Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aji_de_gallina/32/260_2.png) [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aji_de_Gallina)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-word-chino-a-in-spanish-a-general-term-for-asians/592700/74 "2011-08-17T23:07:06Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Yes, I would probably > > 1. Advise Latin Americans visiting the US to avoid using the word in order to avoid giving offense where none is intended. > > 2. Also advise any Americans, whether in the US or visiting Latin America, that they should not automatically take offense at the word, since the majority of Latin Americans use it as an non-pejorative descriptor. Agreed. However, at least in Peru, gringo means “white, European-looking person” and also “blond(e)”. “El gringo” means “the sun” in Peruvian slang. ---
**Author:** ![JoelUpchurch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f05b48/32.png) [@JoelUpchurch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoelUpchurch)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-word-chino-a-in-spanish-a-general-term-for-asians/592700/75 "2011-08-18T01:26:54Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Yes, I would probably > > 1. Advise Latin Americans visiting the US to avoid using the word in order to avoid giving offense where none is intended. Thank you. BTW, do people from Latin America get offended when people from from the U.S. call themselves call themselves “Americans”. I noticed no one seemed to use the term in this topic. For that matter, how do you feel about the term “Latin America”? ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-word-chino-a-in-spanish-a-general-term-for-asians/592700/76 "2011-08-18T02:48:07Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > No, you’re right, it’s true. So many native English speakers do just that, who are we to accuse the Spanish speakers of doing the same thing? > > I noticed something similar in Malaysia. They call Sikhs “Benggali.” Yep, the people from Panjab… 1,000 miles away from Bengal, clear over on the other side of India. My Malay dictionary has this entry under _Benggali_: “a native of Bengal, but Malays also use the word for Punjabis.” And there is such a large population of ethnic Indians living there, I don’t know how the Malaysians managed to goof up the geography so bad. Perhaps because the majority (I think about 60%) of Malaysians of South Asian descent are (ancestrally or by birth) from the Dravidian parts of southern India, particularly Tamil Nadu state…so, for many, “non-Tamil Indians” are all sort of lumped together. Reminds me a little of how Maya-speaking Indians I met in Yucatan who also spoke Spanish, but little or no English, assumed that English was closely related to Maya, because Spanish is the dominant, default language of the country (Mexico), so anything “non-Spanish” was assumed to form a cohesive group, despite no real evidence to think this was so. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-word-chino-a-in-spanish-a-general-term-for-asians/592700/77 "2011-08-18T02:59:13Z")
> [@JoelUpchurch](#): > > Thank you. BTW, do people from Latin America get offended when people from from the U.S. call themselves call themselves “Americans”. I noticed no one seemed to use the term in this topic. Varies, in my experience, among regions and education levels. Mexicans tend to prefer “norteamericano” for “US citizen”, though this is nearly as “wrong” (Mexico being in North America); some Central Americans say “estadounidense” (“United Statesian”, which works pretty well, though technically Mexico, for one, is also the “United States”)… I would generalize by saying that it is very rare for someone to be _offended_ by someone using “americano” to refer to a US citizen, unless the US citizen says something which indicates _surprise_ that the rest of _the hemisphere is “America” as well._ Even then, a gentle correction is more likely than one’s taking offense. > [@JoelUpchurch](#): > > For that matter, how do you feel about the term “Latin America”? There are other threads on this topic…but most Meso-, Central, and South Americans I’ve met are fine with it (“America Latina” or “latinoamericano/a”), though some are familiar with it only as sort of an academic term, and would be wary of the implied attempt to dampen nationalistic allegiances. (The thread I remembere on this made the point that the term should encompass not only Brazil, but also Quebec…interesting point!). ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-word-chino-a-in-spanish-a-general-term-for-asians/592700/78 "2011-08-18T03:58:23Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > … (the “Great Wall” restaurant near my grandmother’s specializes in Thai cuisine) … How odd. That would be like a Great Pyramid Restaurant specializing in Greek food. As for the term Latin America, it’s always troublesome over here, because the Thais believe it’s a straight synonym for South America. They will therefore insist that Mexico is in South America, since Latin America is the “same thing.” I think it may be taught that way in the schools. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-word-chino-a-in-spanish-a-general-term-for-asians/592700/79 "2011-08-18T04:32:27Z")
> [@JoelUpchurch](#): > > Thank you. I’m not sure why you’re thanking me. I’d rather that you acknowledge that the term is less offensive in general than you have depicted it to be (although you have conceded that it wouldn’t provoke such a violent reaction in your own area as you originally suggested it might). > [@](#): > > BTW, do people from Latin America get offended when people from from the U.S. call themselves call themselves “Americans”. I don’t think that many people _actually_ get offended. Some people _feign_ being offended to try to score political points. _Latinos_ generally don’t want to call themselves _americanos_; they just object to people from the US monopolizing the term for themselves, even though their own common term of _norteamericano_ is scarcely more correct. When they are not being political, at least in Panama for most people generally use _americano_ to refer to someone from the US; I have rarely if ever heard _estadounidense_ here. > [@](#): > > I noticed no one seemed to use the term in this topic. I’ve been using “American” all along. It’s the correct term for a person from the US in English, regardless of what Spanish speakers might choose to call us in their own language. > [@](#): > > For that matter, how do you feel about the term “Latin America”? Seems reasonable as a regional identifier to me, and I don’t recall any Latin Americans of my acquaintance objecting to it. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-word-chino-a-in-spanish-a-general-term-for-asians/592700/80 "2011-08-18T05:42:56Z")
I’m a gringo. It never would have occurred to me to be offended by the use, neither in the United States nor Mexico. When in Mexico, sometimes I’m asked if I’m _americano_, because _norteamericano_ often includes Canadians. During one such interrogation in Manzanillo (lots of Americans and Canadians) I was first asked if I was norteamericano and then to clarify, americano! “United States of Mexico” isn’t Mexico’s preferred translation; it’s “United Mexican States.” Thus one can’t say that they’re also a “United States.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-word-chino-a-in-spanish-a-general-term-for-asians/592700.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-word-chino-a-in-spanish-a-general-term-for-asians/592700.md?page=5)