Is everybody from the continent of Asia considered "asian"?

Question

**Before you read, let me tell you real quick that I am not here to offend/insult/judge/put down anybody and am very sorry for my ignorance** This has probably already been asked a lot but at least its better than running around looking stupid.

So a lot of people have said that as long as a country is in the continent of Asia, they're asian. So my question is, if Middle East is in Asia, why aren't people there called Asian? And is the Pacific Islands in another continent? Because I don't hear a lot of Pacific Islanders calling themselves Asian.

And I guessed that if they possibly aren't considered Asian, it must be because of cultural reasons. So is Philippines not considered Asian because its culture is different from the other countries?(ex. religion, Spanish influenced culture). I've always considered Filipinos asian geographically, but I have seen people that separated Filipinos from Asian AND Pacific Islanders.

Thanks!

Answer 1

if you dont have any previous understanding, when u hear the word asian, you think of china and japan and places where the majority of people look like that. thats what people usually mean. technically thats incorrect but that seems to be the social norm for how we see and group "asian" people.

Answer 2

Technically yes. Many, particularly Western countries are not aware that Middle East countries (except Egypt) are also part of Asia & its people are also Asians.  In fact even Turks & Cypriots or those people from Turkey & Cyprus are also considered Asians. Georgia is also in Asia & as well as greater Russia. Filipinos are also Asians.

Asia has diverse cultures w/c is why you cannot compare one Asian country to one another. Not only Filipino culture is different but even Middle Eastern, East Asian & Indian cultures also differ from one another. East Timorese culture is also more Latin coz of the Portuguese influences & yet they are Asians too.

That's the main reason why Asia is considered as the largest continent & it makes up almost half the size of the entire planet earth.

Answer 3

I am Filipino but lives in America..we are still considered Asians..coz like in school they categorize us as Asians..i'm not really sure about Pacific Islanders..coz they seem to categorize it differently

Answer 4

its strange coz in england if you say you are Asian then it means ur Indian, Pakistani, Sri Lankan etc (not chinese,phili, japanese for example) we dont have the category "pacific islander" although it would be useful.  

Answer 5

The middle east is not entirely in Asia. Some parts of it are in Africa. Therefore, people from the middle east consider themselves middle eastern or caucasian.

Answer 6

*Technically* anyone from the continent of Asia is Asian. So that'd be from Japan to Singapore to Russia to Jordon.

I think, too, oriental can even refer to people from countries like Iran.

It's just a technical thing. If you're worried about insulting someone, I think guessing their country wrong is more insulting than just calling them Asian. Like calling someone from Vietnam Korean.

Answer 7

Yes, they are all Asian because they are in the continent of Asia.

Western Asians/Middle Easterners are Caucasians, Eurasians, Semitics (Arabs), etc are all "Asian."

Southern Asians (India, Pakistan, etc) are Australoid-Caucasian, Caucasian, Australoid, etc are all "Asian."

East Asians (China, Japan, Korea, Mongolia), are Mongoloid are all "Asian."

South East Asians (Thailand, Philippines, etc) are Australoid, and mixed Australoid-Mongoloid, are all "Asian."

Asia is a geographic designation, so these groups are all considered 'Asian.'

Answer 8

Yes we are all Asian.

However due to cultural differences we like to be specific and say

south asian

far east

middle east

central asia

Answer 9

To make a long answer short: all from the continent of Asia are asian. Same with Europe. All from Europe are European. Etc. etc.

My friend who is Filipino considers herself asian, but my Chinese friend considers her a "pacific islander". ^^; That is often debated (are Filipinos pacific islanders or asian).