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Asian Invasion (just
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Asian Invasion (just
Asian Invasion (just kidding, I promise) Thread
Let's get down to business here. That Mulan reference was unintended, but relevant, I suppose.
I'm Asian, Vietnamese to be specific. I've made this thread as a place for those who are Asian to 1. be able to say so without clogging other threads ("As someone who's Asian..." "Oh my gosh you're Asian?" and the ensuing chaos, not that I blame those who've done this, as it's amazing to meet others who share anything with yourself, but just to make this full CB a little more organized to Type A me) and just to talk about that: being Asian.
I'll take a leaf from NaNo's book and say: if you want information about being an Asian person but are not Asian yourself, please respect this as our space: we're Asian people and this is our community. On the other hand, I personally think it's important to share your way of life with others, so I'm fine with talking about that!
Although Asian racism pales in comparison to racism experienced, sadly, by African-American and Muslim people and many other racial/cultural/religious groups, it is in fact a thing! It's often overlooked because stereotypes about Asian people are construed as positive ("You're so smart!") and less derogatory.
On the other hand, Asian culture is *amazing*: holidays, relatives, and oh my gosh the food!
So let's talk!
submitted by Air
(March 14, 2016 - 11:01 pm)
(March 14, 2016 - 11:01 pm)
I'm half Japanese. I've been to Japan and while I haven't really dived into the cuisine (the last time I was there, raw meat disgusted me, so I never did try real sushi) what I have tried is so good. Udon, oden, rice, noodles (I could rant all day about ramen and udon), takoyaki, okonomiyaki . . . awesome. What are your favorite Vietnamese foods?
(March 19, 2016 - 6:32 pm)
Ramen, udon, soba... yum! I'm lucky to live where eating sushi can be a regular thing. In terms of Vietnamese food, there are so many! Pandan leaf waffles: they're regular waffles but with shredded pandan leaf inside, so they have a texture as though shredded coconut was added and they're beautifully green! Banh beo (banh bew): little rice flour... cakes, I guess? With shrimp and mung bean paste and fish sauce! Bun bo hue (boon boh hwey): round noodles with meat and bean sprouts in spicy broth!
I'll be honest, about half my Vietnamese vocabulary is just food.
(March 19, 2016 - 9:11 pm)
Yeah, same. I don't speak that much Vietnamese, but it's mostly food names! :) Banh beo is my favorite. I consider myself lucky that we live a half-hour's drive from Little Saigon!
Also, yes, I have ao dai! I love wearing them so much, it's like wearing air, they're so light!
Here's one of mine. Gr, the picture's blurry. I was holding it up to my computer.
(March 20, 2016 - 11:00 am)
@ Air
A question mark? Does the Vietamese language have tones, too?
Chinese has five.
(March 20, 2016 - 8:05 am)
Yes! There are five diacriticals (I guess they're tones?) One is "up", one is "down slightly", two are very similar "up and down" like question marks, and one is "down hard." There's also a neutral one, with no mark. That sounded more confusing than absolutely necessary. But Vietnamese is derived from Chinese, which is why I think we both have five!
Announcement: I'm taking Mandarin next year as my high school foreign language! Eeek!
(March 20, 2016 - 8:04 pm)
In Mandarin, we have:
Flat (Like a robot)
Up (Like when a musician plays glissando, or like a question mark)
Down-up (Before the up, there is sort of a "turn" in the pitch)
Down (Like when you yell at someone)
I heard that Cantonese has eight! It must be really hard to understand a Cantonese person!
(March 20, 2016 - 9:38 pm)
Something interesting is that Vietnamese is written in Roman characters (a, b, c, d, etc.) and not characters like Mandarin/Taiwanese, etc. There are Vietnamese characters, but they're for calligraphy and other not-so-common occasions.
Which basically means that I cannot at all fathom how one can learn to write in characters. The foreign/heritage language I barely know is even in Roman characters!
(March 23, 2016 - 11:19 pm)
No, Chinese also uses Roman characters. The letters just sound different. (The letter i is sometimes pronounced "er", for example.)
The Roman letters are called pīn yīn in pinyin, and the characters are called han yü in pinyin. I can't show you pīn yīn in hanyu or han yü in hanyu because Admin will delete it.
Sorry if that was confusing.
The only difference in that pinyin is less common than characters in Chinese.
(March 24, 2016 - 11:02 am)