...But you're Asian

[yuiyoshida]

[Expat in Korea]

1. Yep.

And it happens just as much to us white westerners over here in Korea. People are people and we all generalize and stereotype about things we're not very familiar with. (That was a helluva generalization in itself, btw)

[Lydia Leftcoast]

2. Yes, I got stereotyped when I lived in Japan

I was in my twenties then, and I was constantly getting hassled by Japanese men who read too many comic books in which blonde women were nymphomaniacs.

One of the advantages of growing older is that this no longer happens.

[Expat in Korea]

3. Here in Korea, if you're a foreigner

practically everybody makes at least these two assumptions:
1) you're Christian
2) you can't eat spicy food.

Neither of which apply to me or to most of my foreign friends here.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

4. In Japan it's that

1) You can't speak Japanese (although that stereotype is dying out as more and more foreigners do learn the language)

2) You can't handle chopsticks (People were surprised that I had learned how to use chopsticks from years of eating in Chinese restaurants)

3) You don't like sashimi or sushi (another stereotype that is dying out as sashimi and sushi become more popular worldwide)

[Expat in Korea]

5. I totally get that.

Except for the sashimi/sushi thing. When I speak Korean, though, I get smothered in praise. Whenever I encounter the stereotypes about foreigners, I remind myself how strongly Asians are stereotyped back home (and among the foreigners here, for that matter). It goes both ways.

AND I remind myself that stereotypes don't just pop out of nowhere. Yeah, my students are all better at math than I am. It only make sense, since most of them are introduced to calculus in high school. And, yes, there is no lack of foreigners here who can't eat spicy foods and refuse to learn Korean. Again, it goes both ways.