Why is a ethnic Chinese born in Britain called "British-born Chinese" instead of "Britain-born"??
I really cannot agree with that. The BE expression is British-born, and it does not mean born as a British citizen. The two ways of expressing this meaning (identically) in BE are:To be Britain-born means to have been born in Britain; it does not imply that the person, by birth, is a British citizen. To be British-born means that the person is by birth a British citizen; it does not imply that the person was born in Britain.
The BE expression is British-born, and it does not mean born as a British citizen. The two ways of expressing this meaning (identically) in BE are: British-born [;] Born in Britain [.] If I meant somebody was born a British citizen but not necessarily in Britain I would say born British or British by birth...
To me, yesIf I understand you correctly, to be born British and to be British-born have different meanings.
To me, yes
-born combines with adjectives that relate to countries or with the names of cities and areas to form adjectives that indicate where someone was born: The German-born photographer was admired by writers such as Oscar Wilde. (Collins dictionary, 2007).
To be Britain-born means to have been born in Britain; it does not imply that the person, by birth, is a British citizen. To be British-born means that the person is by birth a British citizen; it does not imply that the person was born in Britain.
I really cannot agree with that. The BE expression is British-born, and it does not mean born as a British citizen. The two ways of expressing this meaning (identically) in BE are:
British-born
Born in Britain
If I meant somebody was born a British citizen but not necessarily in Britain I would say
born British or
British by birth
As nzfauna says, I would also use
New Zealand-born
(and born a New Zealander)
but
French-born, German-born, American-born, Greek-born
That is because New Zealander is a noun, not an adjective, whereas French, German, American and Greek may all be used as adjectives. If you want to have an adjective for New Zealand, you make do by using New Zealand - a New Zealand ship, a New Zealand bird. Similarly, a Hong Kong mountain, Hong Kong-born
My daughter
Hong Kong-born, British by birth
my son
British-born, British by birth
...we use the terms British-born, French-born, Spanish-born etc to mean born on the soil of that country. It does not imply any nationality of that country.
Right. All we know in such a case is that he was born on British soil.
However, it does imply one other thing [...] that he later lived elsewhere, or changed his nationality to non-British.
I'm not sure I understand the above part [which is an addition made to post #20]. Do you mean that it is okay to use the expression British-born to mean British by birth when referring to Britons who no longer live in Britain or have changed their nationality?
Dear members,
I would like to be advised regarding this:
Why is a ethnic Chinese born in Britain called "British-born Chinese" instead of "Britain-born"??
Thanks very much!
What does "ethnic Chinese" mean anyway?
If the person is of Chinese nationality born in Britain I would call him a British-born Chinaman.
If the person is of British nationality with Chinese roots, I would call him a Briton of Chinese origin.
What does "ethnic Chinese" mean anyway?
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I think that is what we refer to people by ethnical groups in Canada, as I remember.
As I understand, in many cases it can be confusing to call a Canadian with Chinese origin as "Chinese", as his citizenship is Canadian. So the alternative is to add "ethnic". Moreover, it is considered not correct to call decendents of aboriginal residents who lived there before Columbus discovered them "Indians", we call them "first nations".
I can't accept that. See my earlier post. This isn't specific to British/Britain. It's not that using nouns didn't catch on; we use adjectives. We do not say France-born, Germany-born, America-born, China-born, Mexico-born. When we say New Zealand-born or Hong Kong-born or Wiltshire-born, we are using New Zealand, Hong Kong or Wiltshire as an adjective. As we also do in phrases like a Hong Kong citizen, a New Zealand ship, a Wiltshire field.I think we have to use British-born because Britain-born has simply not caught on.
We do not say France-born, Germany-born, America-born, China-born, Mexico-born
When we say New Zealand-born or Hong Kong-born or Wiltshire-born, we are using New Zealand, Hong Kong or Wiltshire as an adjective
Actually those are my points. Maybe 'France-born' is normal in New Zealand, but I certainly have never heard this, and it's always been 'French-born' for me. This is what I meant when I said 'Britain-born' hasn't caught on (for a lot of the English-speaking world).
I think we have established that British-born is not incorrect grammar (although no one is forcing anyone to use it). I would not use Britain-born, and I wouldn't recommend it to someone learning English, but I would certainly understand it if I heard it. If I heard water-born I would interpret it as water-borne.'Britain-born' is like 'water-born' = someone who was born in the water.
'British-born' is like 'watery-born' = incorrect grammar.
I interpreted your question for which the guy is Chinese naturalized British. In other words, the Chinese guy has become the British citizen.
Not particularly - described here by the UK Border Agency http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/britishcitizenship/aboutcitizenship/Britishcitizenship/British nationality law is very complex.
It's clearly about neither, it's about grammar.I thought about that. I totally agree with you. It wasn't clear if the question told about ethnic or political matters.
Excellent examination and account. I never considered the hyphen before."I'm a British born Chinese", he said "I'm a British-born Chinese" - you can't hear the hyphen.