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Hello, I posted this question because I want to learn and be more careful. I am Korean and I have so many friends from different countries. I am used to casually mention them as my ‘foreign friend’ or in Korean, ‘외국인 친구’. BUT somehow, I heard using those words can bre regarded discriminating. Is it really true?😭 So, I wonder how I can substitute these expressions. Of course, I can just mention them as ‘friend’ but what I want to know is what word should I use when I want to highlight that they are from different countries. To add more context, the term 외국인 is so generally used here to address people from different countries. I will bring some examples.
When I casually used this word to my friends, some of them were surprised, although they saw no intention to offend them. So I really want to learn why is it problematic in some cases and how should I be more careful. To add questions and relevant thoughts: 1. Is the term ‘Foreigner’ a problematic thing or even a discourse of highlighting someone’s different nationality is a problematic thing? Then would it be okay to just use ‘Exchange student’ or ‘Immigrant’, since they at least don’t mention things about nationality explicitly?
Thank you, I look forward to listening to all thoughts! submitted by /u/korea_lifeshare |
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