Hallo, ich habe diese Frage gestellt, weil ich lernen und vorsichtiger sein möchte. Ich bin Koreaner und habe so viele Freunde aus verschiedenen Ländern. Ich bin es gewohnt, sie beiläufig als meinen „ausländischen Freund“ oder auf Koreanisch als „외국인 친구“ zu erwähnen. ABER irgendwie habe ich gehört, dass die Verwendung dieser Worte als diskriminierend angesehen werden kann. Stimmt das wirklich? 😭 Ich frage mich also, wie ich diese Ausdrücke ersetzen kann. Natürlich kann ich sie einfach als „Freund“ erwähnen, aber ich möchte wissen, welches Wort ich verwenden soll, wenn ich hervorheben möchte, dass sie aus verschiedenen Ländern stammen.
Um mehr Kontext hinzuzufügen, wird der Begriff 외국인 hier allgemein verwendet, um Menschen aus verschiedenen Ländern anzusprechen. Ich werde einige Beispiele bringen.
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Ausländische Berühmtheiten in koreanischen Fernsehsendungen In einer Fernsehsendung mit dem Titel „대한외국인“ teilen diese Menschen ihre Lebenserfahrungen als „Ausländer“ in Korea. Panels werden als Fremdpanels eingeführt.
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외국인등록증 (Ausländerregistrierungskarte) Ein Ausweis mit der Bezeichnung 외국인등록증 (ARC) ist für Studenten oder Einwanderer gültig, die für einen längeren Aufenthalt nach Korea gezogen sind. Wir können alle Arten von Fällen sehen, in denen der Begriff in offiziellen Dokumenten verwendet wird. Dann frage ich mich….. Wäre es in solchen offiziellen Fällen nicht notwendig, sich auszuweisen? Aber ist das Wort „외국인“ oder „Alien“ immer noch beleidigend?
Als ich dieses Wort gegenüber meinen Freunden beiläufig benutzte, waren einige von ihnen überrascht, obwohl sie nicht die Absicht sahen, sie zu beleidigen. Deshalb möchte ich unbedingt erfahren, warum es in manchen Fällen problematisch ist und wie ich vorsichtiger sein sollte.
Um Fragen und relevante Gedanken hinzuzufügen: 1. Ist der Begriff „Ausländer“ problematisch oder ist sogar die Hervorhebung der unterschiedlichen Nationalität einer Person problematisch? Wäre es dann in Ordnung, einfach „Austauschstudent“ oder „Einwanderer“ zu verwenden, da dort zumindest Dinge zur Nationalität nicht explizit erwähnt werden?
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Ist „Internationaler Freund“ erträglicher als „Ausländischer Freund“?
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Wie werden in Ihrem Land Menschen aus verschiedenen Ländern angesprochen?
Vielen Dank, ich freue mich darauf, alle Gedanken anzuhören!
https://www.reddit.com/gallery/1ovlgq3
23 Kommentare
I’m interested in this too. Whenever I hear someone being referred to as a 외국인, it almost forcibly places a spotlight on them, which can either be good or bad depending on context
„Foreigner“ is not, and should not, be a problematic term. The end.
Depends on how it’s used I would say.
I used to be a regular at a lunch place in Busan and an old adjumma one day came in stared me down, called over the staff, and kept repeating waygookin and pointing at me angrily. That was offensive.
My Korean wife and I were back in Busan visiting last spring. She’s now gotten her American citizenship. Her brother kept calling her waygookin. That was funny.
As a foreigner living in Korea, I don’t think it’s offensive, per say. But if you know your friend’s nationality (which I’m assuming you would) I think it would be better to say “my British friend” or “my American friend”, etc.
Imagine you were in the US and someone introduced you as “my Asian friend”. It’s true of course, but you have a nationality (Korean), so wouldn’t it be better to label them that way?
The main thing that annoys me that I notice a lot of Koreans do is that they’re call anyone who’s not ethnically Korean a foreigner… even if that person is in their own country (for example, an American who is in the US is often described as a foreigner by Koreans)
No idea if other countries mind but it’s certainly not offensive to me, an American, living and working in Korea. I also know a teacher from South Africa and Canada, we’ve said foreigner to each other. I’m not sure who’s offended by this term but I think it’s definitely a small group. “Foreigner” is also a great band from the 80s, so yea, I think it’s alright to say and call people, at least from my experience
As a 외국인 myself, I have no problem with it. It’s just a word. I was never offended by people referring to me as that – it’s literally what I am.
Foreigner is definitely an offensive term in the US so possibly some language culture is being exchanged.
For me it’s one of those things I’ve come to accept due to the language restrictions and the immense difference between the lives and experiences of foreign residents in Korea.
But in the UK we would next say “foreign friend” or ever use the word “alien”. You can even see in the picture that they’ve stopped using alien in the 외국인등록증. When talking about friends at uni we would just say “my friend” unless their nationality had a relevance to the topic.
The unease that some of us have with the “foreign friend” is that it’s seen as a subcategory of “friends”, like people saying “gay friend”. It’s shouldn’t be mentioned every time you talk about us. And it really does feel that some Korean want to be friends with foreigners just so they can say they have a foreign friend (I’ve had people say it to my face).
But on the other hand I’ve also had foreigners living in Korea tell me all the time they want to make Korean friends. It goes back to my first point that we live such separate lives to each other most of the time, that’s it’s noticeable when someone has a lot of foreign or Korean friends.
I don’t think the word itself is negative. The only times I’ve been offended by it is when it’s used in a negative context or where I know it shouldn’t have been used. Like for example in service industries when they refer to me as just 외국인 instead of 손님 or 고객님 like I know they’re supposed to use. Like someone else mentioned if you know your friend’s nationality it’s best to just use their nationality unless you’re speaking in general and referring to your foreign friends.
ETA: I had a student (I live in Korea) who went to America came back and told me that he saw many foreigners there. It didn’t once occur to him that HE was actually the foreigner there not the people he saw so I think many Koreans just use 외국인 to refer to anyone who doesn’t look east Asian lol. Even if someone is born and raised in Korea if they don’t look east Asian they’re just considered 외국인
The term ‚foreigner‘ is not offensive on its own, but can be a little, if you’ll excuse the pun, alienating, depending on context.
There are a lot of interesting things to say about this topic. The first thing I would like to point out is that 외국인 is a very broad term, not specific to any country, only that it is not Korean. For some, this might sound strange or borderline offensive. After all, if the rest of the sentence goes on to say “Foreigners are…” (insert any stereotype), I think a lot of people would argue that no, its not ALL foreigners, it’s people from XYZ who are like that. To be brief, I will just acknowledge that that’s probably stemming from the fact that each country thinks highly of its own members while holding prejudices about other countries due to lack of knowledge and experience, generally.
Back to the questions at hand;
Take the case where a Korean tourist goes abroad. They often call the people they encounter abroad as 외국인s, rather than [insert country]인. This can diminish the country’s identity and perpetuate a mindset of “us vs. them.”
Perhaps even more absurdly, in this same case, from the perspective of an outside observer, the Korean person abroad would be the foreigner. So for Korean people to call the country nationals as “foreigners” when in another country is quite absurd if you think about it. This happens all the time, speaking from personal experience. In one particular experience I had, when confronted with the absurdity of the concept of calling me, a 내국인, a 외국인, the Korean person said “well to ME they are a 외국인.“
That implies that the meaning of foreigner has taken on a different nuance in the Korean Language. It is not relative to the land (or 국) where the speaker is. It is relative to Korea. At least for American English, I don’t think English has that same feature. I would personally never call the French people in France “foreigners.” I probably would call them French, or “locals.”
This is a matter of opinion, but international friend sounds worse to me. I think friend is the best term you could use. Student, friend, resident, and if their nationality or language becomes important, I would say their nationality or language (e.g. British or Russian speaker). I think that’s pretty normal in America when speaking about others. There is a lot of pride amongst immigrants who use the term proudly, especially recently. But I personally wouldn’t use that term like “Oh i met someone at work, they’re an immigrant/foreigner/etc” I would just say “I met someone at work” and then bring up relevant details as they become relevant.
I have a lot of thoughts about this topic but I think I am risking rambling now . Questions welcomed
The word 외국인 is not offensive, it’s just often used as a diminutive in too many situations. I have found myself in situations where everyone would be call politely: 김은수님, 박지영 고객님, and then for me just my name without 고객님 or 님 at all. I was once at the emergency room in the hospital and the doctor would talk to the nurse: Mr Kim in bed 23, Mrs Cho is bed 12, and the foreigner. People refer to each other in my appt complex as the person in appt number such and such, but in my case, the foreigner.
Why the distinction?
There is always an exclusivity in how Koreans speak about themselves, and then there is everyone else. The term 외국인 is often used to emphasize that. No change in vocabulary will change that.
Just use whatever is comfortable to you and others will adapt.
I’ve lived outside of my home country for almost 30 years, 5 of those in Korea. In my experience, this is very much a Korea issue.
Living in France, Switzerland, Indonesia, I was never referred to as a „foreigner“ in any language. I was just a worker, student, tourist, whatever else. If my nationality was relevant, then I was Canadian. I wasn’t constantly defined by my distinct otherness as I was in Korea. I say this as someone who loves Korea and visits often, but yes it’s tiresome.
You ask „is international friend more tolerable than foreign friend“? I say, why not just say „friend“?
Nope. I like being a foreigner in Korea.
Thank you everyone who left their deep thoughts about this topic! I am really surprised and thankful of the attention this post received! I would like to send comment back to everyone who spent their precious time for this post, but my work begins soon 😭 so it will take more time for me to check the comment. But I will make sure to look into those thoroughly! All the ideas were so helpful and to make me focus on the person itself, not the fact that the person is from non-korea countries.
No, it’s not that’s how we identify ethnic Koreans and foreigners. It’s not like we are calling them illegal aliens.
I don’t find it offensive, or particularly problematic on a personal level. I am a foreigner, and the word describes me. I don’t think the word itself causes any particular problems on a 1:1 level. It could be used to offend, but that’s a problem of the words / context around it, not the word itself.
I do think it can be a bit limiting, though. I’d expect it to be used in contexts like airports, where there’s a reason for all non-Koreans to go one way, and all Koreans another way. But in day to day life, around other people, I notice Koreans are quick to use 외국인 whenever there’s anyone foreign, and slow to either: 1. Care about what part of the rest of the world I’d from, or 2. Care whether the person’s nationality is relevant. In the UK, I don’t think I’d ever have limited myself to describing someone as „foreign“ – either I’d have used their nationality, or it wouldn’t be relevant at all. My „foreign co-worker“ doesn’t mean anything in the UK without greater context, but „my Brazilian / American / Ethiopian co-worker“ tells me much more. And „my co-worker“ works when their nationality isn’t relevant“.
I don’t think there’s any direct harm, but i do wonder if it has a contributing element towards a „them and us“ type mentality, certainly to some people. But… who knows, I’m only speculating.
I am 영주권 but mainly live in Australia for our daughter’s benefit. Australia is paradise for kids anyone not a lot of study required to get into a good university.
In Korea despite having a Korean mother and being born there she was always referred to as 외국인. In Australia despite being born in another country, she’s Australian. No-one asks to see her passport, as a matter of fact a number of famous Australians including Russell Crowe, and Rosé aren’t Australian citizens and weren’t born here.
Also, if anyone referred to my Korean wife in Australia as a foreigner in refusing a service, it would be the easiest money we would make when they had to pay damages. For example if my wife applied for a mortgage and the bank said, we don’t lend to foreigners, that is illegal discrimination in Australia.
I am someone who refers to older Korean friends as 형, I am happy when they refer to me as 동생 without the 외국인.
I’d suggest referring to friends as 형 or 동생 or 친구 if you they’re the same age or you don’t worry about age hierarchy.
it’s just a result of a homogenous country like korea. foreigners who live in korea know it just means „non-korean“ and typically know that’s a linguistic/cultural difference
I prefer „alien“
No.
I’ve been wanting to call groups of Koreans 외국인 when touring in my country. How would they react? Mostly I doubt they would even understand as they wouldn’t be expecting the Korean language in Canada, but I think it would be fair play.
I used to hate being called a “foreigner” because it implies I don’t belong in Korea or that I’m a different status. My Korean wife explained to me that I shouldn’t take it personal. I told her if you called someone a foreigner in the US today it would be taken as a slur. I don’t let it bother me anymore.