Are you ever mistaken for another nationality when travelling? (move, rated)
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I grew up and lived in Chicago for 25 years before living in Germany. After I learned German most people guessed I was from Holland. As my German improved a few even thought I was from Schwaben, the area of Germany around Stuttgart.
Not a Schwabish accent!!! My 10 year old friend speaks 5 languages: Thai, English, Lahu, German and Schwabish!
I speak a bit of Bavarian from the OP; no one understands my dialect, not even those who come from other parts of Bavaria.
I'm frequently asked for directions when I'm traveling.
Mostly because I walk with purpose and dress like the locals. Sometimes I can even direct them to where they're going! (This happens in Prague quite a bit).
Last edited by chielgirl; 03-30-2011 at 03:10 AM..
Southern European, usually Italian (Especially in the northeast USA) though I have gotten every country in the Mediterranean on all sides it seems and a number of countries in Latin America. I travel pretty extensively too, throughout the United States and Europe. If I go to typical homogeneous, small town USA (especially Midwest or South) I get Mexican. Mexicans in general are predominantly behind olive/tan skin genetics in the majority of the United States or at least it appears that way.
I am Puerto Rican and my ancestry is obviously more Mediterranean than anything else.
As for me guessing others. Minus accent and the obvious language fashion/styles are usually a dead giveaway.
I get a lot of you look European. Whatever that means. But it's not so much getting mistaken for another nationality it's more of a what nationality am I. Most people have no clue.
I get a lot of you look European. Whatever that means. But it's not so much getting mistaken for another nationality it's more of a what nationality am I. Most people have no clue.
People are noticing two thing about you:
1. You are Caucasian.
2. You are not dressed like you are about to paint your living room even though you are waiting for a table in a nice restaurant.
Therefore, you are probably visiting from Europe, somewhere.
This is a fun thread. I am a white American from Georgia.
The most common one for me would be people often ask me if I am French. In Peru and Colombia both I've had people approach me and just start speaking French to me. I've only taken one semester of French so those conversations were quite disappointing for the other person
When I was in southern Brazil I was often mistaken for being Brazilian. To be fair though, there are a lot of European immigrants in that area.
Canadian is another one that I'm often confused with but that is rather common.
Even when/if someone guesses I am from the US, they are always surprised to hear I am from Georgia. I guess it is the lack of a southern accent. I don't think I have any sort of regional accent. I speak proper American English I guess, lol.
I'm a Serb and i speak all ex-yu languages except Slovenian i also speak English,bit of Bulgarian(can understand allot of words but don't now to speak my self) and a little Greek,i have been to Greece two times and once someone thought that i was actually Greek (which was very pleasant since i am learning Greek) and got confused of being a croat in croatia few times (cause the language is almost the same,difference is like difference in British English and US English)
I'm a Serb and i speak all ex-yu languages except Slovenian i also speak English,bit of Bulgarian(can understand allot of words but don't now to speak my self) and a little Greek,i have been to Greece two times and once someone thought that i was actually Greek (which was very pleasant since i am learning Greek) and got confused of being a croat in croatia few times (cause the language is almost the same,difference is like difference in British English and US English)
I am not surprised that you were confused for being Greek. I have seen images of Serbs on the internet and television, and a lot of Serbs do have a Mediterranean phenotype like this woman from Serbia for example
There was some fierce discussion years ago when a researcher wrote a book on the Greek of today. The essence was that the bulk of modern Greeks are not real Greeks in the Hellenistic sense, but Slavs. That didn't go down well with some Greeks
Australians and South Africans are also regularly confused. I sometimes have a hard time telling the difference because of the accent similarity.
by south africans , you mean the minority whites right? it'll be funny if australians and black south africans are regularly confused.
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