As a near native speaker of Japanese, I find it annoying to be called 外人 since it seems to imply that I "know nothing about Japan" (outsider). I much prefer 外国人.
In modern usage, how do native speakers regard the differences between 外人, 外国人 and 外人さん?
Also are there any newer more "PC" uses of the word coming into use (akin to not calling North American natives 'Indians')?
Nowadays 外人 and 外国人 are similar in meaning, with the latter seeing less usage. However, traditionally speaking 外人 is a derogatory word that shouldn't be used towards foreigners. 外人 actually doesn't mean foreigner as much as it means "outsider" to a group. So one could technically refer to people in a different social class/group as you as 外人 and technically be ok. Though I've have not heard this usage recently. This usage is the derogatory one btw.Though the only people I've met that know about this distinction have been Japanese teachers and people over 60.
外人さん I have heard is just japanese throwing a title onto the end of a group of people to make it seem more polite like Tanaka-san, though whether or not it is actually more polite is questionable.
lastly, I've actually been called this by my grand-mother-in-law, 異国人(いこくじん) which is a VERY old very polite way of referring to foreigners as it means "people from a different country". But even my wife was shocked when she heard this, since she has never heard it before.
I'm a native speaker and I'm sure that there's no difference between them.
It's a evidence for it that Japanese government uses 外人 on its public document.
It's said that 外人(さん) should not be used because few people feel discriminated when Japanese call them 外人.
Thus, especially on public document (e.g. TV programs), 外国人 are used nowadays.
(EDIT) Here are some pages in www.mod.go.jp (Japanese government: Ministry Of Defence) that use the word 外人.
Japanese government built some cemeteries for foreign people, called 外人墓地.
An article on Wikipedia mentioned about 外国人 and 外人.
Please take a look at reference #2:
「[外人墓地]{がいじんぼち}」や「[外人部隊]{がいじんぶたい}」など[公的]{こうてき}な[名称]{めいしょう}としても[長]{なが}く[使]{つか}われており[差別的]{さべつてき}な[意味合]{いみあ}いはなかったことは[明]{あき}らかである
(Both
外人墓地 (Foreign cemeteries)and外人部隊 (Foreign legion)have been used for long time. So, it's certain that there are no meanings that imply discrimination.)
First, I am not native, but let me share my idea on how I feel.
I also prefer 外国人, but I don't feel offended with 外人.
It could be because they think 外人 is a more common word than 外国人 or everyone around them use 外人, and Japanese use short-form of the words a lot, so may be they don't intend to be discriminate.
I personally feels 外人さん is sarcastic, but may be I am wrong.
I'm surprised that this isn't mentioned in the above posts. I can't remember the exact sociolinguistic study but the differentiation in usage of both terms for a majority of Japanese speakers sampled was based on race. 外国人 is a catch all term for all foreigners (asian, black, white, etc) and considered the modern polite term. Whereas, 外人 is used for white people and black people.
First of all, there's only one modern polite word to call a foreigner and it is 外国人. There are other phrases too, such as 海外の人 or 海外の方. The latter one is used more often.
However, you mostly hear 外国人 when a politician talks from a tribune or an overly politically correct Japanese person tries to be polite.
In fact the normal way to refer to a foreigner is 外人 and there's zero offence in it. When talking about a particular person, -さん is added, making 外人さん. Again, this is not offensive even a bit and is hardly ironical. I'd say it is quite polite way to refer to a foreigner even if not suitable for an official setting.
And of course there were always foreigners who feel offended by the 外人 word because apparently the word is made of "outside" and "man" and with some fantasy can be translated as an "alien". Which is well, quite true, so I see no reason to be offended here.
Alien is perfectly normal word to refer to a foreign national or to a foreign introduction.
