Comparing Asian Nationalities | Asian American Poll

COMPARING ASIAN NATIONALITIES
(Updated Tuesday, Apr 1, 2008, 05:20:29 PM to reflect the 100 most recent valid responses.)

CONTACT US | ADVERTISING INFO

© 1996-2013 Asian Media Group Inc
No part of the contents of this site may be reproduced without prior written permission.

WHAT YOU SAY

[This page is closed to new input. --Ed.]

im ashamed to be chinese. we always embarass ourselves in movies.
FOB Sunday, March 31, 2002 at 06:25:45 (PST)

TSJ, papasmurf, and abc to TSJ,

Hapa in Hawaiian actually means half. However, in Hawaii and in much of the AA community, it has generally been accepted as meaning half white/half asian. But really, it means half.

On a side note, the if you've ever heard the term "haole" (pronounced how-lee), it translates to foreigner in Hawaiian. The term, as generally used in Hawaii, refers to a white person, not just to any foreigner.

AM born and raised in Hawaii Saturday, March 30, 2002 at 19:47:14 (PST)

Papasmurf:

The word Hapa is much like the word Mestizo. It varies in meanings depending on where it is used.

Hapa specifically and categorically defines an individual of pure Native Hawaiian i.e. Polynesian (not the "Native" Hawaiians who are really hybridized Asians with sparse Polynesian blood and call themselves Native Hawaiians) and Caucasian ancestry.

Eurasians, however have taken the word “Hapa” and applied it to themselves.

This is much like the word "Mestizo" in the Philippines. In all Latin America and Spain, as well as Brazil and Portugal the words "mestizo" or "mestiço" define a person of Caucasian and Indian ancestry, and only people of this mix are considered "mestizos".

Filipinos however took the word “mestizo” and applied it to anyone who is mixed. Hence in the Philippines a person, who is Malay/Caucasian, or Chinese/Malay or Malay/Polynesian, etc, are all called mestizos, despite the word being meant only to describe a Caucasian/Indian mix.

This happened because the Spanish language was at one point in time an important language in the Philippines and the Filipinos moulded the word to fit their needs.

Likewise, Hapa has become known to be a mix of any races, despite its meaning being specific to the Caucasian/Hawaiian mix. This too has happened in Hawaii because people of Asian descent have become the overwhelming majority and have taken the word Hapa and moulded it to fit their needs. As such, the new definition of the word has travelled to the mainland USA where Asians there are using the word with its incorrect definition.

Happa – Hawaiian/Caucasian mix
Mestizo – Caucasian/Indian mix
Eurasian – Asian/Caucasian mix
Mulatto – Black/Caucasian mix
Senden Saturday, March 30, 2002 at 05:52:01 (PST)

The literal translation of hapa means "half." It has been modified over the years in common usage to mean half Hawaiian/half whatever. The funny thing is, when I was in college (about 15 years ago), all the Japanese Americans here in NorCal would tell me that hapa was a Japanese word and means half-Japanese/half-white. I have never heard anyone define hapa as being half Asian/half white, but I guess its meaning is morphing over the years.

I have always heard of half Japanese/half whites being called Hapas. Half Filipino/half whites are called mestizo. Is there a similar term (that's not derogatory) that refers to chinese mixes? Korean mixes.

JustMe Friday, March 29, 2002 at 23:07:07 (PST)

"TSJ, I believe you mentioned that you are a fairly recent immigrant so let me enlighten you."

Nah, maybe that was someone else. I'm first gen ABC. Thank you for the enlightenment.

"Believe or not, there are many Hawaiian dictionaries in Honolulu.
Based on one of them, the word hapa means half Hawaiian and not eurasian."

Yeah, this is what I thought. I guess California, or at least Norcal, people don't use it so much. We use mestiza, Spanish for mixed, which is commonly used in the Phillipines. I know tons of mixed people, and never have I onced heard any of them refer to themselves as "hapa" (unless they are from Hawaii).

What do true blooded Hawaiians think about people desecrating their vocabulary like that?
TSJ Eric@KristinKreuk.net Friday, March 29, 2002 at 16:42:48 (PST)

I'm Indonesian and while Indonesia is the 4th most populated country in the world, there are not a lot of us in the U.S. Most of the Indonesians here are foreign students. Mainly it's because Indonesia is a beautiful rich country with 17,000 islands. Before the Asian Economic crisis in 1998, Indonesians prefer to stay at their home country. ONly now do they want to immigrate to the U.S.

Indonesians are always underrepresented in America. Most Americans have never even heard or know where Indonesia is. You never see Indonesia as an option in any Asian polls or questionaire.

So if you see an Indonesian, try to talk to them and be friends with them. I believe we are one of the friendliest people and receptive people. We are funny and have a lot of charm and charisma. HEHEHE
Sukarno Gunawan Friday, March 29, 2002 at 11:34:59 (PST)

Oyster Pancake:
Yo do Taiwanese people actually use the word "¥Ë´µ" (wa3 si1) to mean "gas"? My Japanese teacher told me this one but I thought he was either joking or misinformed ... I know earlier in history Japanese didn't use katakana to write loanwords from European languages, but instead used Chinese characters. I wonder if a lot of these were reabsorbed back into Chinese, resulting in a Chinese reading of a Japanese mispronunciation of an English word written down in Japanese pronunciation of Chinese characters.

abc, TSJ:
I am mixed-race Chinese, born in Berkeley and raised almost entirely in South San Fran aside from a short stint in Malaysia, and I never heard the term hapa until I reached university. I also attended an Asian-American networking dinner about 6 months ago at my university, there was one of those "pick a single word to identify yourself" icebreaking activities, one girl chose the word "hapa" and two '98 grads had no idea what she was talking about.
T.H. Lien Friday, March 29, 2002 at 11:06:30 (PST)

fromwhichprovince
tall, slender, hairy, white? You sound like me, lol. I'm about 6'3, and can grow a beard, not to mention being significantly hairier than the typical asian. Maybe it's the American food, pumped with hormones and steroids. well, my ancestry consists namely of east Chinese provinces, all along the coastline, though mainly from Shandong and Jiangsu province. I think you're probably from a middle province, in terms of latitude, that is also situated farther west, perhaps from northern sichuan or Gansu. You may even be from Shaanxi, where some Chinese can grow beards, or so rumors reside.
chinatown Friday, March 29, 2002 at 10:15:08 (PST)

NEWEST COMMENTS | EARLIER COMMENTS