"percent of (the or without the) Nation people": a mystery in Google hits

Question

The following data is some Google search I made to find how "the" should be used. I'm wondering why Canadians, Australians and Germans produced markedly quite opposite results to the rest. The hits for Canadians, Australians and Germans suggest to me that you should use "the" as in "...percent of the Canadian people." But the rest of the hits suggest that you can choose between them. Could you tell me why?[A]

"percent of Chinese people" 63,600 hits

"percent of the Chinese people" 82,700 hits

"percent of African people" 19,500 hits

"percent of the African people" 19,100 hits

"percent of Canadian people" 3 hits

"percent of the Canadian people" 7,220 hits

"percent of Australian people" 3 hits

"percent of the Australian people" 10,400 hits

"percent of German people" 10 hits

"percent of the German people" 32,300 hits

"percent of Japanese people" 24,600 hits

"percent of the Japanese people" 31,800 hits
"percent of American people" 193,00 hits

"percent of the American people" 51,300 hits

Cool Breeze · Accepted Answer

Hi Teleostomi

I suggest you forget all about Google. Since there are millions of German people, Australian people etc., you don't need the article when you refer to them all in a general sense:

German people are said to be hard-working. (I would prefer: Germans are said...)

If the reference is to a specific group, the is usually needed. In the following sentence the relative clause is the grammatical reason for the:

The German people who were interviewed hadn't seen the accident. (Again also: The Germans who were...)

You do need the article if you use an adjective as a plural noun:

The Chinese eat a lot of rice.
The British like watching cricket.

Cf. The rich like money.

It has become acceptable to use an adjective like Chinese without an article (and the word people) in expressions such as:
We saw a lot of Chinese [people] there.

CB

Teleostomi · Answer

"percent of American people" ~~193,00 hits~~ 193.000hits

"percent of the American people" 51,300 hits
Let me make a correction: It's not 19300 hits but 193.000 hits for "percent of American people".

Thanks Cool Breeze, your explanation is excellent.
I understand why people avoid using "German people" but would say "Germans". It's the same for preferring "Canadians" over "Canadian people", right?
But that doesn't seem to explain it all. What about "Africans" and "Americans"?

Why would people avoid using "Canadian people" "German people" and "Australian people" but not "American people" and "African people" in spite of the fact that all these adjectives end in -an?

Cool Breeze · Answer

TeleostomiI understand why people avoid using "German people" but would say "Germans". It's the same for preferring "Canadians" over "Canadian people", right?
But that doesn't seem to explain it all. What about "Africans" and "Americans"?

Why would people avoid using "Canadian people" "German people" and "Australian people" but not "American people" and "African people" in spite of the fact that all these adjectives end in -an?

I don't trouble my head with such trivialities.

I would sayGermans simply because it's shorter than German people. There is no grammatical reason to avoid German people.

CB

Teleostomi · Answer

This is a big mystery to me. Are there any answerers to bell the cat?

Mkyol · Answer

I found out the reason, it's because America and Africa are continents, whereas Canada, Germany, and Australia are countries.

So American people -> people of continent of (North) America (*but not Canadians)

African people -> people of continent of Africa

Because it's with regard to continent rather than country, it seems a little more justifiable to use American people, African people, etc, because continents are of a bigger scope than countries. Also note that there are two America's, North America and South America, and the US is not in both of them.. so by saying Americans, that is a bit misleading, because the terminology is more closely related to America with regard to continent than 'American people'.

SGSim · Answer

Cool BreezeGerman people are said to be hard-working. (I would prefer: Germans are said...)
We saw a lot of Chinese [people] there.
CB

Thx in advance.

If German people = Germans, Chinese [people] should be = Chineses, correct?

SGSim

Anonymous · Answer

SGSimIf German people = Germans, Chinese [people] should be = Chineses, correct?

Yes, Chineses should and would be correct if the plural were regular. Because it is irregular, the singular and the plural are the same, Chinese.

CB

Clive · Answer

Hi,

A small comment.

I've noticed that many of the Chinese people who post to the Forum use the word 'Chinese' in a way that is not natural. eg

Natural - On the bus, I sat beside three Chinese people.

Unnatural - On the bus, I sat beside three Chinese.

Best wishes, Clive

Cool Breeze · Answer

CliveI've noticed that many of the Chinese people who post to the Forum use the word 'Chinese' in a way that is not natural. eg

Natural - On the bus, I sat beside three Chinese people.

Unnatural - On the bus, I sat beside three Chinese.

Hi Clive

I have mentioned in another thread that Chinese as a noun referring to people was originally used only with the article to refer to the entire nation:

The Chinese eat a lot of rice.

However, it is becoming more and more common to use it without the with numerals, for example: three Chinese. This may be more common among the Chinese, as you say

, but native speakers of English are certainly "guilty" of the same thing. Grammatically it is equivalent to sayingthree English, which native speakers wouldn't say, as far as I know. I don't quite know what to think about three Chinese; and English will obviously evolve and change regardless of what I think anyway. I am just an observer and I appreciate your comment. I thought three Chinese was so common that no native speaker saw anything unusual about it.

CB

EDIT: Webster's disciples see nothing wrong with Chinese as a plural either. 40 years ago I would have agreed with Clive and said it's unnatural. I might have preferred to say it's wrong. Perhaps subconsciously I still avoid using these ese-words in the plural except when the is before them, like any other adjective. But, "live and let live."

Teleostomi · Answer

Mkyol, that must be the reason why I got Google hits like I reported. Come to think of it, my native language, Japanese has a similar usage. We prefer saying or writing "yoroppa no hitobito" (literally "European people") to "yoroppa jin" (European). Thanks a lot!

Clive and CB, thanks, I learned another curious point about how native speaker think about certain adjective ending.Thanks!

"percent of (the or without the) Nation people": a mystery in Google hits

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