| Kommentar | 'Slitted' and 'narrow' both just sound wrong to my ears, unidiomatic. And you can't use 'eyes' as an adjective before a noun, it would have to be '-eyed,' with a hyphen.
If you were translating a 19th-century text (say someone like Kipling), I think the corresponding phrase in English would be '(visitors) with slanted eyes.' A less polite alternative might be 'slanty-eyed visitors'; this kind of construction with '___y-___ed' is often pejorative, like the 'pointy-haired boss' in the Dilbert cartoons.
You might even see 'slit-eyed' or 'slitty-eyed' occasionally, but it would be very insulting, like calling someone a Jap or a Chink, so you should never use it yourself.
Selkie's right that 'almond-eyed' is the positive term, but it's both slightly old-fashioned and rather poetic or literary. You could use it in a story -- for example, in an admiring list of the enchanting facial features of a beautiful Asian fairy-tale princess -- but to my ears it would be out of place in a description of ordinary Chinese tourists or businesspeople.
In general, there's really no valid reason for any such term to appear in a context where physical appearance is irrelevant. In English-speaking societies, describing people by ethnic facial characteristics when there is no need to mention such traits is simply racist, so it's always offensive. That's just the way it is in our culture.
So I agree with everyone who has said that you should not use any such term in modern English. Simply say 'nice Chinese visitors.' If this taboo seems strange to you, just chalk it up to cultural differences, but please observe it anyway. |
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