# Where are you originally from?



## Ali Smith

你们好！

If I wanted to ask someone where he was originally from would I say 您家乡在哪里？ or 您的家乡在哪里？?

谢谢！


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## SuperXW

Both are fine. 的 is optional in your question.
There are other ways to ask this, for example: 你老家在哪儿？


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## Ali Smith

Thanks! Is 您家乡在哪里？  more formal than 您老家在哪里？?


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## yuechu

I'm trying to remember...
Do 家乡 and 老家 refer to where one was born, where one grew up or where one's parents or ancestors are from? (or could it be any of these 3?)

Thanks!


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## SimonTsai

'家鄉' is the place where you grew up. You spent your childhood there and have so many merry memories associated with it that you are emotionally connected to it as if it were your family. (Note the nostalgia that it often connotes.)

For the place that our ancestors are from, we say '祖籍'.


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## yuechu

OK! Thanks, Simon!


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## SuperXW

yuechu said:


> I'm trying to remember...
> Do 家乡 and 老家 refer to where one was born, where one grew up or where one's parents or ancestors are from? (or could it be any of these 3?)
> 
> Thanks!


老家 usually means 祖籍. For some people who always travel, the question can be tricky.


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## aero2020

Because 祖籍，出生地，长大/成长的地方，久居的地方 may be all different, like my situation, I would be hesitant to give a quick answer when being asked? A little bit specific may speed my answer, 你祖籍是哪里？你来这里前，生活在哪个地方？....
当然，这不是最常见的情况。

I mean if you want to have a quick and accurate answer, asking in this way would be better.


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## Skatinginbc

SuperXW said:


> 老家 usually means 祖籍.


祖籍 usually doesn't mean 老家.
*祖*籍 is your *ancestor*'s (grandfather or above in the family tree) birthplace, whereas 老*家* is usually your parents' house or your "old *home*" where you were raised.

For example, my 祖籍 is in 大陸, but my 老家 is in 台灣.


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## yuechu

Thank you all for your further examples and explanations!


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## Oswinw011

老*家 in pra*ctical respect means *your parents' house or your "old home", *not necessarily a place where you were raised*. *I notice that when many people refer to 老家, they just mean the old house or hometown where their parents and grandparents had lived. There is a big family in the countryside. But as the parents migrate to urban areas to make a better living, grandparents are left in the old house because parents can't afford a big new house to accommodate three or more family members at the same time--grandparents included--in a city where property prices are skyrocketing, and some old people didn't want to leave the hometown for various reasons. Hence this phenomenon: the children may live in the old house for a short stretch of time before moving to the big city with their parents or some of them didn't even live in the old house ever. Nevertheless, although they do not grow up in the house, they would follow their parents to visit the childhood home from time to time, to see and chat with their grandparents, or to spend such traditional holidays as Spring Festival, Mid Autumn Festival in 老家. Therefore in these days 老家 is a meaningful word smacking of a sense of China's urbanization.


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## Youngfun

Skatinginbc said:


> 祖籍 usually doesn't mean 老家.
> *祖*籍 is your *ancestor*'s (grandfather or above in the family tree) birthplace, whereas 老*家* is usually your parents' house or your "old *home*" where you were raised.
> 
> For example, my 祖籍 is in 大陸, but my 老家 is in 台灣.


Tricky question: I don't know if you have children, but would you say that your children's 老家 is Taiwan or Canada?


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## Skatinginbc

Youngfun said:


> Tricky question: I don't know if you have children, but would you say that your children's 老家 is Taiwan or Canada?


老家: Canada  (父母的長居地), 回巢 (returning to the nest) 的 "巢" (nest)
籍貫: 台灣 (祖父的長居地)
祖籍: 大陸 (追認的遠祖生長地)


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## Youngfun

Skatinginbc said:


> 老家: Canada  (父母的長居地), 回巢 (returning to the nest) 的 "巢" (nest)
> 籍貫: 台灣 (祖父的長居地)
> 祖籍: 大陸 (追認的遠祖生長地)


Yeah, that's when your usage probably differs from mine.
For Chinese immigrants' children born here in Italy, I still consider their 老家 to be China (浙江 for most of them) even though they may have never been there in their life.


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## Skatinginbc

Youngfun said:


> Yeah, that's when your usage probably differs from mine. For Chinese immigrants' children born here in Italy, I still consider their 老家 to be China (浙江 for most of them) even though they may have never been there in their life.


It just happens that my spouse is actually Caucasian (German American), and I expect when people ask my children where they are originally from, the answer would be "Canada" (not Taiwan, not China, not USA, not Germany).  If the answer to "你老家在哪儿" (see #2) is different from the one to "Where are you originally from", then the former would not be the right translation that Yuechu is looking for.  But I think it is the right translation, and therefore I am afraid I have to disagree with you, Youngfun.

Where are you originally from  (你老家在哪儿)?
Me: Taiwan.
My spouse: USA.
My children: Canada.


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## Youngfun

Then we have a different understanding of both the meanings of "老家" and "originally from".

We use 老家 with different meaning in Chinese, and "origin" is a false friend between English and Italian. In Italian _origine_ means your ethnicity, where your parents are from, not where you were born&raised. This leads me to understand the English word origin wrongly.

If I was a mixed child, then my 老家 would be 台湾和美国都是我的老家.
If people ask me where I am from originally, then I'll say dad from Taiwan, mom is American.


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