with or without 'the'?

Yoong Liat

I understand what you mean now.

However, I 'm providing the poster with what  I consider to be the best version. 

The Japanese (people)  --  To me, 'people' is redundant,

The Chinese/Malays/Indians. ('people' is not needed)

People isn't needed in the Japanese but Japanese people is correct English regardless of what you think about it. Besides, it isn't much longer than the Japanese; both consist of two words!  In my opinion it's a good idea to tell the poster which one of his alternatives is right. Otherwise he may think they are both wrong. There are usually two or three ways to refer to the people of a country in English. One or two of them may be longer or shorter than the others, but they all exist and are used even by native speakers, not just me: Americans, the Americans, American people. There is little agreement  -  as usual  -  about which one of them is the best choice in a given situation.

CB

Peaceblinkfriend

Hi all,

Does it mean that we can either say 'the Japanese make excellent cars' or 'Japanese people make excellent cars'? And the article 'the' is not needed before 'Japanese people'? 

Thanks

PBF

Correct!

CB

The Japanese make excellent cars.

To me, 'The' is not optional; it is needed.