"Oriental" vs "Asian"; what's the difference?

Question

In America the term "oriental" is never used, it is considered offensive. Why is this? Likewise, why is oriental so widely used in the UK? And what countries/regions does it comprise of?

Answer 1

I think Oriental describes people from China, Japan, the Phillipines.  it's actually a geographical term since the "Orient" is the far east. i dont know how politically correct or prefered-by-the-group the term is. but that's wht it refers to.

Asian desribes people of these or more countries: Russia, China, Korea, India, Indonesia, etc..the Asian continent basically.

Your answer would have to come from a real Oriental/Asian person. they would know much much better. they would tell you exactly the sentiment the prefer when being described.

Answer 2

To me Asian is a completely wrong terminology...

Both Indians and Chinese are Asian (On the Asian continent)... yet they look very different with entirely different cultures.

Answer 3

It's wrong that in the UK they just call all races from Asia are Asian, e.g they call people from the Middle East are Asian while it should be Middle Easterner .... In another countries I have been, they call people from the Far East are Asian, which is very accurate. I wouldn't like to call them "Oriental" as I think it's very rude and they don't deserve to be treated with racism.

Answer 4

In the UK "Oriental" would refer to someone of a Mongoloid race such as Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Thai etc etc.  These countries are considered "The Far East" or "The Orient".  The term "Oriental" is not considered offensive in the UK.

Asian in the UK means Pakistani, Indian, Bangladeshi - basically from the Indian subcontinent

I think its because we have a much larger proportion of people from the Indian Subcontinent than from "Oriental" countries, because Pakistan, India, Bangladesh etc are members of the Commonwealth and were former colonies.  So we use "Asian" to refer to these people and "Oriental" refers to the people who would, in the USA be called "Asian" - we have a smaller number of people fron "Oriental" countries than people from "Asian" countries in the UK.

Confusing, I know!  But "Oriental" is not considered offensive in the UK.

Answer 5

In America they tend to called anybody from Asia an Asian, its not offencive, anyone from Asia would be fine to be refered to as that, but it can be is annoying, im sure nobody in the uk would like to be refered to as a european instead of a briton because we have very different cultures and languages. People can rarely tell the difference between a japanese person and chinese person and a korean person and the british particularly can be the most politically uncorrect about that, didnt we all sing that "chinese japanese hong kong gone wrong" song when we were kids? The term Oriental isnt considered offensive here because a lot of people from Britain associate Asia with India, and Oriental is just more to the point and less vague than Asian, but they often mistakingly call any oriental person chinese, which they go crazy about! Dont call a japanese person chinese, you wouldnt hear the end of it. Quite rightly

Answer 6

All Orientals are Asian, but not all Asians are Oriental(i.e-peoples of India and Pakistan,once peoples of the Middle East(formally Near East) were called Asians because most of the Middle East(Egypt being in the African continent-no, NOT Black either-Semitic White) was in the Asian continent.Arabs and the closely related Jews are Semitic White while most of the rest of the Mediterranean basin is European White.  

Answer 7

Oriental refers to Eastern Asia such as China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan,  and Hong Kong etc, I don't think Filipin, Thailand Indonesia are included.

Asia refers to the entire Aisan Continent including Oriental countries and west Asia such as India, Pakistan and south asian countries such as Philipines, Thailand, Indonesia, Cambodia, Malaysia, Singapore etc.

Oriental is not an offensive word at all.  

Answer 8

This is why (according to a Cultural Geography class I took, and from being Asian myself):

"Oriental" refers to THINGS from the Orient - such as food, rugs, souvenirs, etc...material THINGS.  Therefore, when you call a human being "oriental" you are referring to them as an object with no soul or substance.  This is why "Oriental" is offensive and LEGALLY a racist term (at least here in the USA).

Asian can be used for people or things, it is not an offensive word at all.  Asian refers to anyone or anything that comes from or is related to any country in Asia - from China  to India to Vietnam, including the Philippines and Japan, and in  some cases that large rural part of Russia.

I am unsure why "Oriental" is widely used in the UK, UK English is actually considered a different dialect of English from American English and Australian English, so words have different meanings there.

In the USA it's probably safer to not play with the word "Oriental" unless you are talking about food or rugs...but keep in mind you can call it "Asian" as well with no debate.  If the term "oriental" is used in teh wrong way at a workplace it could get the person who said it in trouble for discrimination nowadays so be super careful

Answer 9

in america, oriental and asian are both used and no one finds offense in either term.  why should they?

Answer 10

Oriental is a term meaning someone from Japan or China - traditionally with slanted eyes.

Asian is someone from Asia and traditionally has darker skin.

Oriental is not an offensive term in the UK.

Answer 11

Oriental apply to those from the asian mainland (chinese and mongolian). Asian are all who are... asian.

Oops... didn't read the answer above mine, lol.