Misunderstood Nationality
Compiled from Submissions by: Mizuki Takahashi, Aika Fukue, Nana Onishi, and Nozomi Ohara, Kwansei Gakuin University
Review/editing: Aaron Rotsinger, University of St Andrews
Situation: Maki joined an English conversation club session and met some international students at the university. She really enjoyed it a lot, and she met lots of very interesting people. Different people came every week, and one day, they were divided into groups, and she ended up in the same group as three international students. There was a girl who looked Asian. At that time, everyone introduced themselves, but Maki couldn’t catch the girl’s nationality, so she asked the girl in Japanese. The girl didn’t understand her, so she switched back to English and asked directly where she was from. The girl replied, “Australia.” Maki thought she must live in Australia, but she couldn’t be from there, so she asked for clarification, saying, “sorry, you live in Australia? But I mean, where are you from?”
The Australian girl got really offended and started to speak a little aggressively to Maki. Maki realised her mistake and felt really bad. She apologised but didn’t speak much for the rest of the event. She no longer felt comfortable there, so she stopped attending after that.
Question: What went wrong here? Why did Maki think the girl was Asian? How could Maki have found out her nationality without being offensive? Was the Australian girl right to be offended?
The girl may have looked Asian, but it’s not a good idea to assume someone’s nationality or ethnicity based on their appearance.
Maki could have just asked her to repeat in English.
Maki could have just ignored her nationality for now and learned it later after talking a bit.
It is understandable that Australian girl was offended. She probably deals with a lot of stereotypes about her appearance.
Although Maki was rude, it was an honest mistake, and the Australian girl probably shouldn’t have been aggressive.
Have you ever been surprised by someone’s background or nationality? What happened?
Do you think physical appearance should ever be used to guess someone’s nationality? Why or why not?
How can we respond kindly when someone makes an incorrect assumption about us?
What is a good way to start a conversation when you’re not sure what language someone speaks?