Foreign Country Person

「外国人」は「foreign country person」だと思っている人が多くいますが . . . 間違ってます❗️


じゃあ、英語で外国人って何て言うの？

A very common mistake Japanese make when speaking English is to say, “foreign country person”.

 

This is wrong! So, let’s fix the Broken English! 

 

Now, I think this problem comes from Japanese believing that “gaijin” is a rude way to refer to non-Japanese and they should say “gai-koku-jin”, instead. The problem arises when gai-koku-jin is directly translated, or 直訳, into “foreign country person”, which is not English. 

 

So how should you speak about 外国人?

 

The word foreign is an adjective (形容詞) and means 外国の, 他国の, 外国からの, 外国産の, and 外国人の. The opposite word is domestic or home.

 

So, you can say a foreign language, 外国語; a foreign country, 外国; a foreign investor, 海外投資家, and so on.

 

To say, gaijin, or the more polite gaikokujin, you can say “foreigner”. The word does not in itself have a negative or bad nuance.

 

In some airports in the US, you might see the word alien, but in recent years I am seeing more and more airports and travel-related businesses using “visitors from abroad” or “foreign nationals” which has a softer, more welcoming sound to it.

 

Incidentally, I once read that the word 外国人was created by Fukuzawa Yukichi.

 

Oh, one more thing: foreigners who live in Japan often prefer to be indicated by their country, such as アメリカ人, フランス人, エジプト人 rather than 外国人. The English word foreign comes from the old French forein which was based on the Latin foris, meaning “outside” and fores, meaning “door”. So, foreigner could mean, “one who is outside” or “one who is outside the door”.

 

Okay?

 

Well, I hope that helps. Catch y’all next time!