Which of the two observations is more pertinent to the claim that only white people do this?
It's like people don't even begin to think.
Historically the word has also refered to Americans and British people moving from one to the other.
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Why do expats refer to themselves as expats but not as immigrants?
- Thread starter Taki
- Start date
Which of the two observations is more pertinent to the claim that only white people do this?
It's like people don't even begin to think.
Historically the word has also refered to Americans and British people moving from one to the other.
So? That's the definition. If people choose to use it incorrectly, that's their problem, but it's also very common with big companies.
We didn't do this, though, so I'm an American living in Germany and France before that. I suppose I'd be considered an immigrant then. Definitely not an expat.
Then your circle is limited. My wife got a local contract over here in Europe rather than an expat assignment but her company has many expats of all different origin and gender. It's extremely common. Maybe they're just ahead of the game? Obviously not every company is going to be equal.
I would have thought it was the term for people living in countries for whom immigration isn't really a common path.
Like an American moving to Japan. That isn't a multicultural melting pot regularly accepting immigrants. Even if you get permanent residence you're not typically looked at as a Japanese (by the locals or foreigners).
Like an American moving to Japan. That isn't a multicultural melting pot regularly accepting immigrants. Even if you get permanent residence you're not typically looked at as a Japanese (by the locals or foreigners).
I always thought of expat as people who are not tourist but also not immigrants either. They hold a temporary Visa or something equivalent. They also have plans to return to their home country sometime in the future. I consider immigrants as people who are firmly settled in the new country with no plans to return. Expats is the term a lot of westerns use because most of them don't really settle in where ever they choose to live temporarily.
I don't understand what you are saying? Expats generally get sent someplace by multinational companies they work for
I may be misreading, but the premise of the OP is "why can't immigrants be called expats too?", implyin some kind of double standard (possibly based on race, reading some other takes), when they are 2 completely different things.
This.
Although I ALWAYS refer to myself as an immigrant, I have met many people here in Sweden that refer to themselves as expats even though they aren't covered by any of the "explanations" that have been posted in this thread. In just seems to be how a lot of people refer to themselves, whether they are over temporarily or not.
This is always how I understood it as well, with "expatriate" having a connotation of having totally broken ties with the home country.
I'm not close to international business in any way so I wasn't aware of the connection to temporariness. It must be a relatively recent change in usage, because I'm not finding it in any dictionaries.
In my experience that is not how the word is used anymore, regardless of its original meaning.
ex·pa·tri·ate
noun
1. a person who lives outside their native country.
I've lived abroad most of my adult life in multiple countries in 2 continents and while I don't usually use the term expat just because it can come off as pretentious at times to people who don't understand it, see for example how the dummies in this thread react to the word, it's just a word that more clearly describes a type of person living in a foreign country. It has nothing to do with integration or not. It has nothing to do with your professional status. Immigrants are different because they generally intend to live permanently in the new country. Most people would know the difference between an immigrant and an expat so if you want to be more clear about your status in a country you can just use the correct word. Again, I don't typically call myself an expat (or an immigrant for that matter), I just say I live in China. It's easier and no one will think you are a douche.
Now as an American living in China for 6+ years now, I think I'm quite well integrated. I speak and read the language, eat the food, have Chinese friends, am part of the general culture...but I'm not an immigrant. I won't stay in China permanently, I don't have a Chinese "Green Card," I'm not a permanent resident or citizen and I don't intend to be one. This makes me an expat.
noun
1. a person who lives outside their native country.
I've lived abroad most of my adult life in multiple countries in 2 continents and while I don't usually use the term expat just because it can come off as pretentious at times to people who don't understand it, see for example how the dummies in this thread react to the word, it's just a word that more clearly describes a type of person living in a foreign country. It has nothing to do with integration or not. It has nothing to do with your professional status. Immigrants are different because they generally intend to live permanently in the new country. Most people would know the difference between an immigrant and an expat so if you want to be more clear about your status in a country you can just use the correct word. Again, I don't typically call myself an expat (or an immigrant for that matter), I just say I live in China. It's easier and no one will think you are a douche.
Now as an American living in China for 6+ years now, I think I'm quite well integrated. I speak and read the language, eat the food, have Chinese friends, am part of the general culture...but I'm not an immigrant. I won't stay in China permanently, I don't have a Chinese "Green Card," I'm not a permanent resident or citizen and I don't intend to be one. This makes me an expat.
LOL so many definitions in this place, According to the dictionary:
expatriate
verb
ex·pa·tri·ate | \ek-ˈspā-trē-ˌāt \
expatriated; expatriating
Definition of expatriate
(Entry 1 of 3)
transitive verb
1: BANISH, EXILE
2: to withdraw (oneself) from residence in or allegiance to one's native country.
expatriate
adjective
ex·pa·tri·ate | \ek-ˈspā-trē-ət, -trē-ˌāt\
Definition of expatriate (Entry 2 of 3)
: living in a foreign land
expatriate
noun
ex·pa·tri·ate | \ek-ˈspā-trē-ˌāt, -ət\
immigrant
noun
im·mi·grant | \ˈi-mə-grənt \
Definition of immigrant
: one that immigrates: such as
a : a person who comes to a country to take up permanent residence
So they are basically the same thing.
expatriate
verb
ex·pa·tri·ate | \ek-ˈspā-trē-ˌāt \
expatriated; expatriating
Definition of expatriate
(Entry 1 of 3)
transitive verb
1: BANISH, EXILE
2: to withdraw (oneself) from residence in or allegiance to one's native country.
expatriate
adjective
ex·pa·tri·ate | \ek-ˈspā-trē-ət, -trē-ˌāt\
Definition of expatriate (Entry 2 of 3)
: living in a foreign land
expatriate
noun
ex·pa·tri·ate | \ek-ˈspā-trē-ˌāt, -ət\
immigrant
noun
im·mi·grant | \ˈi-mə-grənt \
Definition of immigrant
: one that immigrates: such as
a : a person who comes to a country to take up permanent residence
So they are basically the same thing.
Unless you don't consider the "to withdraw (oneself) from residence in or allegiance to one's native country. "
Negatory. "Living in a foreign land" and "person who comes to a country to take up permanent residence" are far different things.
Yes, an expat withdraws their residence from their home country temporarily. Allegiance to ones country has absolutely nothing to do with anything in this context.
People have hated immigrants for thousands of years. Nothing new about it.
Wrong, you are making emphasis in that inmigrant is making "permanent" residence in another country.
Negating allegiance to your country also implies that you are not planning to return to your country any time soon.
And you avoided the whole "Banish" thing, in which you are required by your goverment to leave your country (you don't have a choice to stay or to return)
Hey...I'm just sticking to the dictonary here my friend.
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True statement kind of.. if by "new" you mean "always has been." And also please learn to read before you drop your drive-by dumpster fire posts on everyone.
I thought expats were people who temporarily worked in another country with the intention of returning, i.e. teaching English for a year in a different country from the USA. Whereas immigrants intend to move to another country permanently for various reasons that could include work too.
Thought this was a derogatory term for Western nerds who have to move to Asia to get girls. They're calling themselves that now?
In my experience most people who call themselves expats expect to be there for relatively short terms and don't intend to go through the country's naturalization or citizenship process, for one reason or another. Expats expect to return to their home country, immigrants don't. That being said the word has gained a douchey, pretentious tone that is not unwarranted given how it is used by many who identify as one.
Some real dumbass hot takes in here from people trying to demonstrate their wokeness or something.
My experience with the term only really relates to people from abroad living in Japan, but it certainly covered all ethnicities and almost always applied to people living in the country not as a tourist, but also not as someone with an intention to stay there indefinitely. It usually was used to refer to people who had fixed-term (or at least terms that were expected to end at some point) employment agreements with an employer that more often than not was based outside of the country. It also usually didn't apply to international students.
I'm sure how the term gets used differs from country to country and community to community, but there is a reason it is not used to mean the same thing as "immigrant."
My experience with the term only really relates to people from abroad living in Japan, but it certainly covered all ethnicities and almost always applied to people living in the country not as a tourist, but also not as someone with an intention to stay there indefinitely. It usually was used to refer to people who had fixed-term (or at least terms that were expected to end at some point) employment agreements with an employer that more often than not was based outside of the country. It also usually didn't apply to international students.
I'm sure how the term gets used differs from country to country and community to community, but there is a reason it is not used to mean the same thing as "immigrant."
That's what Blablurn said though:
> I've seen a lot of English teachers in China refer to themselves as sexpats
Oh, woops. Missed the S for some reason.
Yeah... living in Korea I never heard of anyone refer to themselves as a sexpat, that shit's weird and definitely a derogatory term.
Yup, join any group of expats on facebook and the subtle message for nonwhites is "You are not welcome Here"
White people like to do it because it sounds cool vs being called an immigrant they probably don't the label of.
lol ok. Check the main Shanghai Expat facebook page... lots of non white people there and no one being racist towards non whites. What are you even talking about?
"Or" isn't just there for fun.
Immigrants are expats. Expats are not necessarily immigrants.
lol So now you're just trying to apply every possible definition of expat to a very specific usage of the word in an attempt to argue it has the same meaning as immigrant?
This thread is a dumpster fire fueled by the inability to read/understand before making a hot take and the resulting desperation spin to make said hot takes not look stupid.
For what it's worth, I did my ESL gig for 4 years across Korea, Taiwan and Thailand. Joined many, many FB "expat" groups and never had that experience. I'm not white. If anything, it's mostly "where can I buy peanut butter" and people selling their TVs and shit.
I'm sure there are plenty of shitty fb groups out there though, but I think you're being a bit unfair.
I had the same experience as you (only just Korea for 4 years, not any other country).
I always associate expats with Hemingway's lost generation. Living in another country not originally where they are from and not really trying to be a part or partake in anything of substance in their adopted country. They just sort of float there in limbo, detached from everything.
Not only whites. During the 2016 elections a lot of Cuban groups called themselfs "Expats" or "Political refugees" in order to justify their support for Trump and asked not to be called "inmigrants". So yeah.
The "every possible definition" you are trying to dismiss is literally the first definition listed. Regardless if you decide to take it into consideration or not. That's not up to you. We don't get to choose what definitions to apply in order to help our arguments.
Agreed, same desperation your are showing. Also that "hot take looking stupid" you are trying to pin on me is the actual dictonary, not me.
From a BBC Article:
"What is an expatriate, exactly? And when is an expat an immigrant — or not?
The word expat is loaded. It carries many connotations, preconceptions and assumptions about class, education and privilege — just as the terms foreign worker, immigrant and migrant call to mind a different set of assumptions. It's front and centre currently as US President Donald Trump signed an executive order abruptly banning immigrants, short and long-term visa-holders and, for a time, green card-holders, from certain countries from entering the US.
But what makes one person an expat, and another a foreign worker or migrant? Often the former is used to describe educated, rich professionals working abroad, while those in less privileged positions — for example, a maid in the Gulf states or a construction worker in Asia — are deemed foreign workers or migrant workers. The classification matters, because such language can in some cases be used as a political tool or to dehumanise — as the debate around the word "migrant" suggests."
http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/20170119-who-should-be-called-an-expat
I love this. In the mid-1900s, many of the immigrants were scary Germans. There have been many other waves and an equal number of scares. Irish, Swedish, Italian, Chinese, Japanese, it just never ends.
The Cambridge Dictionary defines it as "Someone who does not live in their own country". But expat programs are definitely a thing. And, I mean, with how negative the optics on the word "immigrant" have become, I think people try to distance themselves from it as much as they can, and some privileged people are able to do so, or so they think. It's telling, everybody wants to see themselves as an "expat" who bring their skills and culture to foreign countries, while those others are mere "immigrants" coming to leech off of social security, steal jobs and dirty the place. People subconsciously think like that, even if they don't hold that kind of beliefs.
And that's the world we live in. Immigrant is an insult in the eyes of many.
because immigration is constantly demonised because of xenophobic fear of different cultures and peoples. expat however doesn't carry the same negative connotations of low-skilled immigration from developing countries and more of a specialised mobile middle class moving about for choice or lifestyle moreso than economic or political necessity
tl;dr racism
tl;dr racism
I work with a ton of Japanese people who call themselves expats, so this isn't the case. Probably because they'll eventually be sent back to work in the Japanese branch after a few years.
Same. But I've never called myself an immigrant either. Good timing for the thread though, because I'm going to the immigration office later today to pick up my permanent residency card.
