To be fair, they’re not entirely equivalent. I wouldn’t bristle at all at being called “an American,” but I would never call someone “a Chinese.” In the plural form with a definite article, it doesn’t feel as bad, but I’d probably prefer to say “Chinese people,” whereas “American people” feels a little clunky, though it’s probably the best option if you want to keep both terms the same.
I don’t think this is necessarily a racist thing though, because I’d probably be fine saying “the French/ Congolese /Japanese*” and “Guatemalans/ Nigerians/ Tibetans/ Swedes.” Demonyms are definitely a weird area of language that feels biased when you see a direct comparison though.
*interestingly, I couldn’t think of a “new world” country where I would say “the+singular demonym,” but it does sound right for some tribal nations, like “the Hopi/Navajo.” I don’t think it’s uniform though, because “Pequots/Algonquins” sound much better than “the Pequot/Algonquin” to me and I’m not sure why.
It’s still generally Hopis and Navajos. Usually you see the “the” definite article added when it’s referring to actual whole groups, example: “The Navajo (tribal govt or tribe as a whole) are fighting against X” as compared to “Navajos (people) are fighting against X”
Like I’d feel comfortable saying I’m an American, but like “I’m a Chinese” sounds so like… gramatically wrong.
Like, idk if its the -ese suffix. Or ifs its because the term “Chinese” can be 中国人 (Chinese National)，华人 (Chinese Person (as in ethnicity))，中文 (Chinese Language)，中国的 (China’s)，华裔 (Ethnic Chinese)，汉字 (Chinese Characters)… so it feels so like imprecise as a term, where as “I’m Chinese” is obviously refering to ethnicity (or nationality)
When someone say “the Chinese”, like when they refer to China’s success or failures, as in “the Chinese have managed to do XYZ”, idk why, but I half expect the speaker to be subconciously racist for some reason… like I feel like that phrase is categorizing me into the CCP’s decisions… like as if they’re assuming I’m part of a monolith that doesn’t have independent thoughts or something.
Maybe it’s just me and I’m overthinking this weird grammer rules.
I would say “the Chinese invented many things in the last two millennia.” And “China is constantly posturing against Taiwan” to separate the people from their government.
“The Chinese” doesn’t have to be racist it can just include all the people of the region across all times. It can be a bit ignorant but doesn’t flag maliciousness
To be fair, they’re not entirely equivalent. I wouldn’t bristle at all at being called “an American,” but I would never call someone “a Chinese.” In the plural form with a definite article, it doesn’t feel as bad, but I’d probably prefer to say “Chinese people,” whereas “American people” feels a little clunky, though it’s probably the best option if you want to keep both terms the same.
I don’t think this is necessarily a racist thing though, because I’d probably be fine saying “the French/ Congolese /Japanese*” and “Guatemalans/ Nigerians/ Tibetans/ Swedes.” Demonyms are definitely a weird area of language that feels biased when you see a direct comparison though.
*interestingly, I couldn’t think of a “new world” country where I would say “the+singular demonym,” but it does sound right for some tribal nations, like “the Hopi/Navajo.” I don’t think it’s uniform though, because “Pequots/Algonquins” sound much better than “the Pequot/Algonquin” to me and I’m not sure why.
It’s still generally Hopis and Navajos. Usually you see the “the” definite article added when it’s referring to actual whole groups, example: “The Navajo (tribal govt or tribe as a whole) are fighting against X” as compared to “Navajos (people) are fighting against X”
Language is so weird tbh.
Like I’d feel comfortable saying I’m an American, but like “I’m a Chinese” sounds so like… gramatically wrong.
Like, idk if its the -ese suffix. Or ifs its because the term “Chinese” can be 中国人 (Chinese National)，华人 (Chinese Person (as in ethnicity))，中文 (Chinese Language)，中国的 (China’s)，华裔 (Ethnic Chinese)，汉字 (Chinese Characters)… so it feels so like imprecise as a term, where as “I’m Chinese” is obviously refering to ethnicity (or nationality)
When someone say “the Chinese”, like when they refer to China’s success or failures, as in “the Chinese have managed to do XYZ”, idk why, but I half expect the speaker to be subconciously racist for some reason… like I feel like that phrase is categorizing me into the CCP’s decisions… like as if they’re assuming I’m part of a monolith that doesn’t have independent thoughts or something.
Maybe it’s just me and I’m overthinking this weird grammer rules.
I would say “the Chinese invented many things in the last two millennia.” And “China is constantly posturing against Taiwan” to separate the people from their government.
“The Chinese” doesn’t have to be racist it can just include all the people of the region across all times. It can be a bit ignorant but doesn’t flag maliciousness