What does 'ese' means?
By Adarcy
@Adarcy (94)
China
September 5, 2009 10:13pm CST
When I was still a junior schoolboy, my English teacher told me that the 'ese' in the words 'Chinese', 'Japanese' and 'Vietnamese' is a real insult. And in international meetings, when someone asks about your nationality, don't use the word 'Chinese' in your name and 'I am from China' will be okay. But native speakers of English, what does 'ese' means as a matter of fact? Thank you for your responses in advance.
Abrat.
2 people like this
5 responses
@cloudwatcher (6861)
• Australia
6 Sep 09
Adarcy, I can't understand your teacher saying this. I think I would question an authority in your own language, but I can assure you that when Westerners use the term, they mean no offence or insult.
In English, the "ese" simply means "one from" so that a Japanese person is one from Japan etc.
@lakerfanster (2577)
•
6 Sep 09
They do have very strange feelings in Asia but I have not heard anything about this before. I had a few teachers would told us stuff that wasn't true just for a joke.
1 person likes this
@scarlet_woman (23463)
• United States
7 Sep 09
it's usually just an english add on to denote the people of a place,and sometimes a language type.
i don't know why they'd call it an insult.
some words in english will have an "s","ish" or an "n" added instead of "ese",it depends on the original word.(like america=american)
@coldmoon (1088)
• France
6 Sep 09
It's silly what your teacher said. Besides, these two expressions have different meanings. Saying "I'm Chinese" is to cite your nationality, and "I'm from China" means you're living in China (a foreigner living in China can say so, but not the first sentence).
@mipen2006 (5528)
• Australia
6 Sep 09
Didn't know it had any meaning, other than forming an adjective from the noun.
@inedible (768)
• Singapore
6 Sep 09
I think your teacher is just making stuff up. =/
The part about not saying that you're Chinese is good advice, though. Lots of Chinese people are living in countries that aren't China. When someone says "I am Chinese", they could be referring only to their race and not to their nationality, so saying "I am from China" would make things a lot clearer.
