Gisella said:
Thank u for the explanation Dong...but it did not change i bit my opinion..and if u have an English ear it will sound like any other word that u are used too...well...
but it may not so for the rest of the word. There is a big difference between calling foreigners 'derogatory' terms in official pappers and calling them whatever on native mouths on the streets...
I guess it is to some degree a cultural thing, and I don't personally believe the term is
intended to be or is derogatory in itself that feeling has anything to do with having an 'English ear' it's just a word. I accept that its use can sound derogatory to you but so can many others when desired. What word would you suggest as an alternative?
There is also the argument that if one has chosen to enter and live in a country illegally, being called an illegal alien is probably the very least of your worries..
Gisella said:
When u said many countries use aliens as legal term to foreigners , the many are English speaking ones...Since when English speaking countries use aliens as a legal term, for a long time or is a new term ? If its for a long long time the 'fault' of the term being known as an out of the earth person, is bcause of the movie...
Well, my example was simply relating to you as a Brazilian born US resident. I agree it's a term that can invoke some controversy in some countries, though personally I don't find it 'offensive' and have been an 'alien' myself many times. :tongue: I don't really see the confusion with the use of Alien in an ET sense as being 'at fault'. After all I don't think US immigration for example think that I am really from Mars when they stamp me in as an 'alien'...
Gisella said:
I would want to know how France call foreigners in legal terms just for curiosity...bcause they were a model as diplomatic country and foreigner relations for a good time and the preference of 'many countries' liked to deal with...
I don't
entirely agree with you about that, certainly French was the de facto language of diplomacy for a long time and the French had a reasonably good reputation in diplomatic circles at least some of the time....but as for the French being
model diplomats...I'm not entirely sold. Polite maybe....but like
any colonial power they would smile sweetly at you as they cut out your heart.
Remember they were also pretty ruthless colonisers as well and when diplomacy failed force was seldom far behind. They are not at all unique in that regard of course, just you seem to have an especially rosy image of the nation.:biggrin1:
So far as I could find out the French tend to use the word immigrant in this context, you really need a French resident to give you the fully skinny. Other common terms used worldwide are:
migrant
criminal alien
foreign national
illegal immigrant/ migrant/ alien
undocumented immigrant/ migrant/ alien / worker
undocumented resident
I think it's largely semantics. The word merely describes the immigration status of a person, an illegal immigrant is in any real sense exactly the same as an illegal alien, all that's different is the word used. Taking offense at the word itself seems a bit PC but maybe I'm just insensitive.
Also....rather off topic....:tongue: