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I have seen these kind of Americans in Europe. They can be annoying. American tourists are known for being loud. I knew an American guy (of Hungarian descent) from Cleveland living in Budapest (Hungary). He would say Canadian if someone asked where he is from. It made life his life easier.
There's also another side to the story. Europeans can be embarrassing too. I know a young Texas girl staying somewhere in England. English and foreigners alike give her quite a hard time. She's both polite and friendly to people. She's actually quite a liberal person. People make indirect negative silly comments about Americans when she's around. One guy (of Dutch descent) was straightforward. We were watching the movie Ruby. He went on how he doesn't like Americans. He was going on about how rugby is a game for men and American football is not. She didn't even care and no one asked for his opinion. He was drunk, which is not an excuse as he wasn't joking at all. I was diplomatic about the whole situation. She only smile or don't say anything. Sometimes she might reply with it's not like you think.
This guy and many like him get their ideas from media. Sure, George Bush and the neo-conservatives behind him have not made things better. He turned many Europeans against America. I believe people around the world will change their opinion of America with a new less aggresive foreign policy.
I've asked how it makes her feel. She says "what can I do when there are 50 against 1." It obviously affected her. She called her mother back home in Texas to tell how she is treated. Her mother was proud she was cool about the comments.
You are sooo right about Europeans being loud abroad too. I am Italian and often I feel so embarassed by the behaviour of some Italian tourists that I keep at a good distance and do not open my mouth for fear of being associated with them. And as few have mentioned already what about some British tourists or football fans abroad?
Also on a different note, I am now, for various reasons, in constant contact with both English and American people as well as other nationalities and I am learning to appreciate the cultural differences between them and I can see how sometimes they can get on each other nerves. While, generally speaking, English people are more reserved, speak softer, need a greater physical distance between people, take longer time to get close to you or involved (although when they do it they are really friends forever and very dependable) and need more time to take decisions and implement them, Americans can speak louder, seem more extroverted, need less physical distance when speaking to you, they get involved in a situation and hands on quicker and can become quite impatient if things don't happen at the speed they are used too. These are just some of the differences I have noticed that may cause some frictions sometimes and misunderstanding. As usual you can find a lot of people who do not fit in either group and I also find that depending on which social stratum you look at you have different type of behaviour. I think there are more differences between the middle-upper middle class people while the uneducated tend to behave very similarly everywhere.
Last edited by hutch5; 12-02-2007 at 03:10 PM..
Reason: grammar error
i'm from England and i absolutely love America and Americans!! I can't get enough. All the americans i have met have been so friendly and kind, i absolutely want to live in America when i am older. I'm looking now for how to get in but i need a sponsor or something so i'm going to have to wait a couple of years
Americans AND Brits are horrible abroad...plain and simple. Neither of you have the right to go all self-righteous on the other.
I know PLENTY of people who think the Irish are very pushy here in the States as well. I've seen it.
There isn't a country out there that doesn't have its set of people who are an embarrassment. Anyone who thinks that because 3 people from a certain country act on way that all people from that country act the same way is being ignorant and really doing themselves a disservice.
Just a little tangential comment on the behavior of "ugly Americans" and Brits abroad...
There was one point when I was on a public bus in Italy. A group of young college-aged women were on. When they tried to get off the bus, there was some sort of dispute with the driver over payment. The women were speaking to the driver in English, right off the bat, making no effort to speak Italian or to even ask if he even spoke English. The women were being incredibly rude and patronizing to the driver and other passengers at the time. It made me embarrassed for them. When the girls finally got off the bus after a 10 minute delay, the driver shut the doors and started cursing in Italian saying some not-so-nice things about Americans. Here's the thing, the girls weren't American. Not only were they not American, but they were not native English-speakers. Their English had an accent and when I heard the girls speaking to each other, it seemed to sound like they were actually speaking Dutch. It caused me to have a bit of a realization then and there. How many times are Americans or Brits unfairly blamed for being the culprit just by virtue of the fact that most foreign tourists (at least in Europe) speak English to people in service positions, positions where bad customer behavior is most likely to happen (i.e. hotels, airports, travel agents, buses, trains, restaurant wait staff)? It's something that I noticed quite a bit while abroad. If you get a Dutchman, a Swede, a Greek and a Spaniard on a train together in let's say Germany, they will speak to one another in English because that is the most common shared language, especially amongst the younger generation. If a Swede goes to Portugal, it's unlikely they will know Portuguese, nor will the Portuguese speak Swedish, so they will instead likely converse in English. For non-native speakers of a language, it is often hard to differentiate between accents, or to even notice IF someone has an accent when speaking that language. For example, I speak conversational Italian. However, if I hear someone who is German or French speaking Italian, I most likely won't be able to tell, (especially given the various accents within Italy) and will just assume that they are in fact Italian.
Let me say that I'm not saying that Americans cannot be embarrassing abroad, and I too have been in a restaurant in France only to hear a loud Texas twang complain about portion sizes, or when I heard a New Yorker throw a stink while in Israel because he couldn't get a free refill on his drink. The stereotype is not one that just came out of the blue. However, I couldn't help but wonder that while abroad, whenever I heard or saw an obnoxious display by a tourist who spoke English, whether this person who was Australian or British or Irish would be referred to and slurred as an American when whomever they were mistreating re-tells their story to friends and family, furthering the idea of the Ugly American. It seemed to me when I've been abroad, that I've seen just as much misbehaving from Germans, Brits, Aussies, Irish, Italians, Israelis, Japanese, Mexicans, etc. as I have from Americans; at least as far as the younger hostel crowd goes.
Just a little tangential comment on the behavior of "ugly Americans" and Brits abroad...
There was one point when I was on a public bus in Italy. A group of young college-aged women were on. When they tried to get off the bus, there was some sort of dispute with the driver over payment. The women were speaking to the driver in English, right off the bat, making no effort to speak Italian or to even ask if he even spoke English. The women were being incredibly rude and patronizing to the driver and other passengers at the time. It made me embarrassed for them. When the girls finally got off the bus after a 10 minute delay, the driver shut the doors and started cursing in Italian saying some not-so-nice things about Americans. Here's the thing, the girls weren't American. Not only were they not American, but they were not native English-speakers. Their English had an accent and when I heard the girls speaking to each other, it seemed to sound like they were actually speaking Dutch. It caused me to have a bit of a realization then and there. How many times are Americans or Brits unfairly blamed for being the culprit just by virtue of the fact that most foreign tourists (at least in Europe) speak English to people in service positions, positions where bad customer behavior is most likely to happen (i.e. hotels, airports, travel agents, buses, trains, restaurant wait staff)?
I'd completely forgotten about that but you're right! People whose native language is not English often can't distinguish between an English and an American accent. No, seriously...they can't! Try telling the difference between a Parisian and a Provencal accent and you'll see what I mean. They sound very different to French people but not so much to us. Then there are Canadians, Irish, Australians, etc. We get blamed for what they do, too. If a north American English speaker is pitching a hissy fit, it can't possibly be a Canadian. I've seen people speaking English in France who were Dutch but who were taken for Americans; Dutch people often speak such good English that it's hard for ME to tell that they're not, so a French person usually stands no chance. So yeah, you're right; we could be falsely accused sometimes.
I think it's most sterotype as few have lived here. Just like americans sterotype brits as being lower or upper class rude and very stiff and pretty old fashioned.I think we get this from TV(altho we don't get much) and movies. Most think UK is all about the class sytem;upper class verus the socalist lower classes.
I've never been to Europe or the United Kingdom. I did once work with a fellow from Birmingham England. Very good guy, we used to constantly argue and joke with each other over the good and bad in England and the U.S. I really enjoy Brittish comedy and music. I love Celtic music. My family originally came to the states from Scotland and Ireland. My wife's family came over from Wales. We hope to make the pilgrimage to Britain and Ireland sometime to take in the land and make some new friends.
I'd completely forgotten about that but you're right! People whose native language is not English often can't distinguish between an English and an American accent. No, seriously...they can't! Try telling the difference between a Parisian and a Provencal accent and you'll see what I mean. They sound very different to French people but not so much to us. Then there are Canadians, Irish, Australians, etc. We get blamed for what they do, too. If a north American English speaker is pitching a hissy fit, it can't possibly be a Canadian. I've seen people speaking English in France who were Dutch but who were taken for Americans; Dutch people often speak such good English that it's hard for ME to tell that they're not, so a French person usually stands no chance. So yeah, you're right; we could be falsely accused sometimes.
Yeah it's amazing how sensitive we are to accents close to our own and yet how impossible it is to hear variations on other accents isn't it?
I was working with a really great Australian woman a year or so ago and one day we were running a course together - I spoke a sentence in what I thought was a pretty good Aussie accent and everyone on the course got it but she was totally oblivious - no Aussieness detected at all! It's like how sometimes someone in an American sitcom is allegedly doing a british accent and we're going "what accent is he doing??" (classic example is when Ross off friends decided to adopt one in class to get taken seriously) I'm sure you guys get the same thing the other way round - I'll never again try to imitate an accent in front of a native speaker!!
I was watching Madonna on TV this morning and wondering to what extent she sounds British now to American people. She's quite inconsistent - some words sound very English and others still sound completely American.
OK.. so you have just talked about 280 million people with the same broad perception. I can tell you that my wife, and the many American friends I have are not up tight, do not brag too much, and do not lack common sense. In fact, wifey went to one of the best universities in the world.
Thanks for the "unintelligent" response.
I am an American, married to an Englishman. We lived in England for 2 years before I begged him to move to the US. People would like to say it is all "Bush hatred", that is poppycock! I lived in the UK during part of Clinton's term, and I can tell you we were bashed all of the time. I never realised how patriotic I was until I moved abroad. We are perceived as being loud mouthed, egomaniacs with big teeth and hair. To lump everyone in the Nation into one category is ludicrous! I think that in the UK and most of the rest of Europe people long to be like us. It is a love/hate thing. They love to knock us, but strive to be like us. Pure and simple. The one stereotype that holds true for most Americans is when we are away, we long to be back home.
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I've seen people speaking English in France who were Dutch but who were taken for Americans; Dutch people often speak such good English that it's hard for ME to tell that they're not, so a French person usually stands no chance. So yeah, you're right; we could be falsely accused sometimes. 
Well said!
