Learning an oriental language - need help!

[Tiam]

I'm actually a bit confounded by why "Oriental" is offensive, but it is, so I use Asian. But "Asia" itself is huge. "Asia includes the middle east and even Russia.

[Alan]

I'm actually a bit confounded by why "Oriental" is offensive...

Me too, and I didn't even realize it was considered offensive until reading this thread. I did a little research and it now makes more sense, it seems that influential white people decided it so, and now it is whether anyone from the Orient (literally the East) agrees or not. I suspect they think we Occidentals are full of ourselves.

[LDAHL]

Right, like Asian culture, Asian cuisine, Asian rugs.

Crazy rich Asians.

[jp1]

I suppose it doesn't surprise me that people in the straight white majority fail to understand why minorities might not want to be described with outdated terms that were used to describe them in the past. But sure, feel free to describe me as homosexual. The reason for my annoyance will be the same as the Asian American you call Oriental or the African American you call negro after you've been asked not to. And if you do it it will say more about you than it does about us.

[Alan]

I suppose it doesn't surprise me that people in the straight white majority fail to understand why minorities might not want to be described with outdated terms that were used to describe them in the past. But sure, feel free to describe me as homosexual. The reason for my annoyance will be the same as the Asian American you call Oriental or the African American you call negro after you've been asked not to. And if you do it it will say more about you than it does about us.

Well, I suppose I'm not surprised to find the term offensive only in the United States, and further suppose that if we Occidentals want to impose our preferences beyond our borders, we've got a lot of work to do.

[jp1]

And i suppose we can make jokes about minirities finding pejorative terms offensive.

[Alan]

And i suppose we can make jokes about minirities finding pejorative terms offensive.

Remember when we used to be able to laugh at our self importance? I do.

[jp1]

Remember when we used to be able to laugh at the calgon commercials? I do.

[LDAHL]

As a slur, or even an insensitive term, “oriental” seems like pretty weak tea. I can’t ever recall hearing it used as a deliberate insult. I remember a few years ago Chrissy Teigen said she wasn’t offended by it, and got widely attacked by people who were offended by her failure to be offended.

I’m not interested in offending anyone (except as individuals in their own right), so I try to use the right terms. But it seems to be getting more difficult to keep up. Not long ago someone cautioned me against using “Hispanic” because it was too broad a term. Who gets to decide what is and isn’t acceptable? Where is the sociolinguistic Emily Post we can turn to?

I don’t want to offend but I also don’t want to submit to a sort of weaponized hypersensitivity either.

[Ultralight]

For me, what matters is intent and meaning. What does a person say when they use a term like "oriental?"