How can I tell the difference between asians?

You just have to train your eye. I can tell apart Asians pretty quickly especially when they haven't been mixed with other Asians for many generations. I believe Japanese have more square faces than Chinese, a bit more western looking. It's hard to describe, you just have to see a lot of Asians and after a while you will see the differences.

Oh and they sound totally different. Japanese has a lot of vowels. Chinese raise and lower their voices a lot cause their language requires it.

They act different too. Japanese tend to be excited and impressed by what you say, it’s like they are surprised by what you are telling them. I’m not sure they realize that’s what they are doing. Oh and they make less eye contact and agree with everything nonstop.

Honestly this isn’t something someone can explain to you, it will just come to you naturally, make some Asian friends.

Oh and if you still don’t get it, just ask them what they are.

The Chinese and Japanese languages are actually not at all similar to each other. They are vastly more different than French and English, for instance. While there are (stereo)typical "looks" associated with Korea, China, Japan, etc., the easiest and most accurate way to distinguish between people from different East Asian countries is accent.

It's just the same as for Europe, really. Although you might be able to tell a German person from a French or English person just by looking, fashion is actually a bigger clue than facial features. The real give-away is always going to be the accent. Even if you're really good at spotting ethnic features, this won't always tell you the country the person is actually from. There are for instance ethnic Koreans who were born and raised in Japan. There are also many people who don't have the typical "look" for their country.

A very obvious distinction is whether or not the person speaks a tonal language. Even if you don't speak a word of Chinese, it's easy to recognize that all Chinese dialects (also Vietnamese and Thai) use variation in tone to distinguish different words. Japanese is NOT a tonal language (nor is Korean). So you can narrow things down quite a bit just by listening to tone.

If you're ever just dying to know, you could just ask the person where they're from or what their ethnic background is. It's best to ask in an open-ended way ("Where are you from?") rather than guess ("Are you Japanese?"), because guessing the wrong country can sometimes cause offense.

Honestly its easier to tell once you've hung around or lived near a group of different asians. For me I can tell the difference between a Japanese girl and a Korean girl, for some reason I cant tell the with Korean men unless they have a "Korean face". Chinese just look different in general. Those are the asian groups I have hung around the most so I can tell.

I cannot tell the difference between a Cambodian, Hmong, Vietnamese, Malaysian, etc. because I have not been around them.

It is just best to ask maybe one of the two questions "What is your ethnic background" or "What country is your family from". I find those to be least offensive. Also I have been asked those questions from koreans/japanese, because they don't see black people on a daily basis so they don't know the difference between a black american, a jamacian, an african, etc.

so until you have lived in an asian country or hung around an asian community, it would be a little difficult for one to tell.

What makes you think the only type of Asians are East Asians (Chinese, Japanese, Korean)? There are plenty of other Asians, such as Indian, Nepalese, Thai, Pakistani, Sri Lankan, Burmese, Cambodian, etc.

How can you tell an American from an Englishman, or Frenchman from a Dutchman? The answer is that America is full of English genes, and France is full of Dutch genes.

The fact that Chinese and Japanese looke so alike is because they share the same gene pool.

Of course there are subltle differences, and similarities, but lets face it they are all from the same stock.

i second the Occidental above:

The same way you tell the difference between Americans! ASK THEM. How do you tell the difference between English, Welsh, Irish, Aussie, Scots, and Bostonians? They are all white, speak the SAME language (sort of), and are very hard for Orientals to tell apart!

Ok, if you think asians look all the same.. You can tell them apart by the way they talk, even the way they act.... thats if they have an accent from their country or whatever.

the languages arent the same.. I can tell them apart.. Well, maybe thats because I grew up around asians.. the primary school i went to was 95% asian because its pretty much an asian area.. it still is. lol

I live in Australia :)

EDIT: Just ask them.. but say something like.. "where are you from?" Dont ask them what kind of asian they are, its rude.

Huh ? Mandarin sounds NOTHING like Japanese ! It's a good guess you have no "Asian" friends. There are many different Asain countries. Some people "look" like the country they are from, while others don't. Just like a 'white' person from America, or Russia...

The same way you tell the difference between Americans! ASK THEM. How do you tell the difference between English, Welsh, Irish, Aussie, Scots, and Bostonians? They are all white, speak the SAME language (sort of), and are very hard for Orientals to tell apart!

It's not answer for your question but I wanna tell you something.

You answered "I'm Japanese" for the question below.

http://url.ms/ip2

I bet you are non Japanese who want to hurt Japan's image.

Because your answer for "Do they eat dogs in Japan?" is completely wrong.Japanese people never answer like you. You know Japanese people don't eat dogs.

And if you are a Japanese it's strange you say "even their languages are very similar to eachother.." Even answerers who are not Japanese answer their languages are not similar.

I can't understand why your answer which given 4 thumbs down and no thumbs up was chosen for best answer by John S.

By the way "Yoko B" and "John S" are very similar.Is this accidental?

EDIT

If these names "Yoko B" and "John S" would be changed it's according to this person's convenience.