The title is shit and confusing, so let me explain.

I’m a white latin american who lives in a latin american country, so in my environment there is very few asian people, in fact, in my region there is so few asians that if there is one in a friend group, they will automatically be “El chino” or “La china”.

Anyway, I understand there is a phenomenon that when ur not used to hang out with people from other races, you might see people from other specific race as “they look the same”. This is part of the reason why so many people in this part of the world thinks that “asians look the same” when that is absolutely not true. It might also happen that some asians also think all white people look the same. And yeah, in a limited genetic pool, many people will look similar.

Anyway, I like asian media and I consume Jpop, Kpop, and I’m starting to try and get into watching more dramas. The thing is when I face the “they look similar” barrier so I have a hard time differentiating people.

I can identify well for example the Black Pink girls, GIDLE girls, Mamamoo, half of the BTS members, etc, just to give you an idea, but sometimes I’m stuck playing a game of “Oh, this is X? No, I think that’s actually Y, nah, I’m wrong, really is Z”.

Is kinda stressful sometimes, not being able to differentiate people in dramas or groups and trying to hang on certain identifiable features to do not get me lost.

Is there a way to kinda “train” myself into identifying Asian people and differentiating them better?

I hope this post doesn’t sound racist, is not my intention at all. I’m just looking for some advice. Thanks.

  • m0darn
    2·
    11 months ago

    My understanding based entirely on zero evidence is that our brains recognize faces based on that person’s differences from ‘average’. Where ‘average’ is the average face you see/ consider. And your brain mostly examines the parameters that help you distinguish between the people you normally consider.

    So like a person’s eyes are one standard deviation larger than average and 5 standard decisions further apart. And their nose is 2 standard deviations longer than average and their nostrils are 1 standard deviation smaller than average.

    Ethnic groups will have some parameters that vary a lot between them and some parameters that don’t, your brain just needs to learn. Basically just keep trying.