"Where are you from?"

[Jessica]

When someone asks this question, "Where are you from?" do you answer where you live, where you were born, or your ethnic background?

Would/Should I answer Pennsylvania (where I live), Canada (where I was born), or China (I am Chinese)?

[Rusty]

Originally Posted by jchen

When someone asks this questions, "Where are you from?" do you answer where you live, where you were born, or your ethnic background?

That depends on how you perceive the question being posed. If you believe the person is wondering what city/state/area you're from, you answer accordingly. But the person may very well be inquirying after your ethnicity. The least likely of the three answers you proposed would be your birthplace.

When in doubt, ask for a clarification of the question.

[literacola]

Originally Posted by Rusty

That depends on how you perceive the question being posed. If you believe the person is wondering what city/state/area you're from, you answer accordingly. But the person may very well be inquirying after your ethnicity. The least likely of the three answers you proposed would be your birthplace.

When in doubt, ask for a clarification of the question.

Really? I would think that inquiring about ones ethnicity by asking "Where are you from?" would be the least likely situation.

[CrOtALiTo]

Originally Posted by jchen

When someone asks this question, "Where are you from?" do you answer where you live, where you were born, or your ethnic background?

Would/Should I answer Pennsylvania (where I live), Canada (where I was born), or China (I am Chinese)?

I think that the ask is depending where you are asking the questions, or also it's if you need to know something in specific , I don't know for me the four questions are correct and appropriate.

[Rusty]

Originally Posted by literacola

Really? I would think that inquiring about ones ethnicity by asking "Where are you from?" would be the least likely situation.

I'd say it all depends on the situation.

If I happen upon someone from another race, or someone with an accent, I would ask "Where are you from?" to learn the person's ethnicity (s/he may mention a country, and may even have been born in that country, but ethnicity is usually assumed - only a few have guessed wrong and given me an answer about region or birthplace).
If I ask the same question of someone who is from the same country as I, it usually prompts the region/area/city answer (seldom the birthplace).
If I want to know where someone was born, I ask "Where were you born?" Otherwise, I end up asking two questions.

[Jessica]

thanks all! I understand now

[Fazor]

I'm late for the party, but I agree with Rusty. It's one of those ambiguous questions that can depend on context.

Like, when I was living at school in Pittsburgh, if someone asked I'd say I was from Ohio (where I was born and raised). If I go out to dinner tonight in another city, and the server asked where we were from, I'd say the city we live in now.

The context can be subtle, and there's really no wrong answer. But if you aren't sure if they're asking where you currently live, where you were raised, or where you were born, just ask which they mean.