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For me as an Asian, I can't tell the ethnic difference among various European people. We only can tell the rough difference between the dark skin, dark haired southern Europeans (Spanish, Greek, Italians, Portuguese) from the light skin light haired northern Europeans (Germans, Scandinavians, English etc.), although there is great variation within a country as well. For example, There seem to be many light skinned Spaniards as well. I don't know about the French, or east Europeans. Anyway, these are all just "white people" for us. I can't even tell the difference between a Russian from a Brit.
However, a colleague of mine told me that she could pretty much tell the difference in appearance (not all the time of course) because each ethnicity has a "certain look".
Does each European have a unique look that distinguishes it each other (besides hair/skin colour)? Of course in very general sense, and it is by no means 100% accurate.
It's somewhat subtle, but you can get used to discerning the difference in facial features. But of course, not everyone in a given population will have those features or fit the mold. After spending quite a bit of time in Asia, I can definitely notice differences, and to some extent can ID a nationality by looking at the face. Same in Europe, to some extent. And in the US: you can sometimes guess people's ancestry by reading the face.
It's mostly possible to differentiate between the rough categories. For instance, Northern/Western Europeans are the "light" ones, Southern Europeans are typically "dark", Eastern Europeans tend to have their "own" features which are not that common in other parts of the continent, Central Europeans seem to be a mixture of all types etc.
I can also easily spot fellow Germans in foreign countries. There is something special about them and I'm not even referring to the "socks and sandals" stereotypes. However, there are nationalities like the English, the Danes/Swedes, the Dutch, the Swiss/Austrians and the Poles with a lot of "German-looking" and "German-behaving" individuals who can be mistaken for being Germans. The same goes for the Mediterranean or Eastern European countries, e.g. there isn't a significant difference between the average Ukrainian/Russian and the average Portuguese/Spanish.
There are over 90,000 Poles and around 25,000 Lithuanians in Norway. I am pretty sure you will find plenty in other Western European countries, too.
Wow. The EU accomplished peacefully what Stalin's deportations and population transfers did by force. Except that the destination was so much better under the EU.
I think there's a clear difference between North, East, South and West. Like I can of course separate a Northern from a Southern but I don't think there's much difference between Dutch, Germans and Scandinavians or Spanish, Italians and Greeks for instance.
Although some ethnicities have very clear features I think, like the French and English. I can usually spot them pretty easily.
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