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Old 01-12-2008, 06:58 PM
 
365 posts, read 697,648 times
Reputation: 69

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Quote:
Originally Posted by chielgirl View Post
I think we get the responses we look for.
I live in Asia, have lived in Europe twice and have rarely had bad experiences.
I see American kids (and sometimes parents) behaving poorly, and being LOUD, in many cultural settings.

FYI, most people don't know you're american. You could be from any other english speaking culture.
Do you speak any of the language of countries you're visiting?

I've traveled to dozens of countries (including Italy) and my experiences have been easy and conflict free.

If we cannot communicate, it is not the other person's problem/issue.
...true, I wish we could convince the American govt of that when it comes to issues about going out on a limb to speak Spanish for these illegals....I never remember going to any European country tho they didnt know we were Yanks...
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Old 01-13-2008, 12:28 AM
 
7,330 posts, read 15,341,033 times
Reputation: 3800
I've never had a particular problem with rudeness in Europe. No more than in the states. Some areas, sure. Then again, I've dealt with rude areas of the US. I found the UK quite polite, and found France very polite outside of Paris. Paris, though, was not as impolite as some had told me it was. I think it gets a bad rap. I don't speak French, and found everyone MUCH more polite when I was with my French-speaking friends in Paris. I think it annoys a lot of people to have so many tourists around all the time. I can understand that.

Germany, Austria, Spain, Czech Republic, Hungary (Budapest, anyway), all pretty polite. Then again, I try to avoid the overly touristy areas and tend to try to blend in and travel with people who know the area well whenever I can.
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Old 01-13-2008, 03:26 AM
 
Location: The Silver State (from the UK)
4,664 posts, read 8,226,900 times
Reputation: 2862
Quote:
Originally Posted by BigHouse9 View Post
My brother took a trip over to Italy recently and was amazed at how rude the people were. He said that he and his wife were walking down the street in Venice just minding their own business and trying to enjoy the sights and folks would walk between them while they were holding hands. They would bump right into them and just be plain rude to them in general.

So much for the ugly American. Can anyone say if this was just a unique experience or is all of Europe like this now?


I wouldn't label 'Europeans' as arrogant because your brother had to move out of somebody's way in Venice. Have you ever been there.. walking areas are kinda narrow!
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Old 01-13-2008, 03:55 AM
 
Location: The Netherlands
8,568 posts, read 16,198,959 times
Reputation: 1573
Yeah well I'm Dutch but do not consider myself European.
Heck, I don't think the people in Europe consider themselves European, rather German, English, French etc.
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Old 01-13-2008, 04:40 AM
 
Location: Central Maryland
102 posts, read 384,105 times
Reputation: 54
The perception of "rudeness" is perhaps a cultural misunderstanding. Most Americans have a relatively large "personal space" extending at least a foot in all directions.

European personal space is more like three to six inches. Italian personal space is particularly non-existent, and can extend deeply into another's.

My husband and I have been living in Southeastern Germany for almost six years now. I've learned that the deeper my understanding, and ability to observe and imitate, local habit and culture, the less rude things seem.

We were in Holland in November 07, and I truly enjoyed the Dutch sense of humor. We stayed in Utrecht and took the train into Amsterdam, where we floated through the canals and dodged drunks and stoners. Lovely architecture!

E.D. Gordon
Tex-patriate
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Old 01-13-2008, 07:54 AM
 
Location: in the southwest
13,396 posts, read 44,933,671 times
Reputation: 13599
Quote:
Originally Posted by edge_gordon View Post
The perception of "rudeness" is perhaps a cultural misunderstanding. Most Americans have a relatively large "personal space" extending at least a foot in all directions.
Yes indeed, body language can really vary all over the globe.
And then there is spoken language.
Where there are barriers, there can be misunderstandings.
I've traveled a bit and other than, in the 70's, a couple of unsuccessful pickpocket attempts and an uncomfortable ride on the notorious #64 bus in Rome, the only actual rudeness I ever encountered was during the 90's in Italy, in the Camogli train station. I don't know if she was having a bad day or what, but that lady behind the counter did have an attitude and was not interested in selling us a ticket.
I can't remember if we went to another counter or what, but we did eventually get out of Camogli.
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Old 01-13-2008, 08:09 AM
 
Location: Anchorage, Alaska (most of the time)
1,226 posts, read 3,638,893 times
Reputation: 1934
Default Europe is not a country, hence Italy does not speak for the rest of us

Quote:
Originally Posted by Tricky D View Post
Yeah well I'm Dutch but do not consider myself European.
Heck, I don't think the people in Europe consider themselves European, rather German, English, French etc.
Precisely. I'm a Swede, and I would NEVER EVER call myself a European. You constantly hear that "There is no 'general American', because the US is so big and diverse". But then there's always an adding "But we're not like the prissy Europeans".

I'm sorry, but the US is ONE country. If one cannot lump all Americans together, who are ALL of the SAME people, then how can someone lump all Europeans together when Europe consists of 47 countries? There is so much more diversity in Europe than in the US, so why do Americans keep insisting on calling us Europeans as if we were of the same people?

If the OP wants to talk about rudeness in Italy, please do so. Don't lump all of us living on the European continent together as if we were one people. We're not. Differences between Italian culture and for example Swedish or Dutch or British etc is ocean deep- just because something happened in Italy it does not even remotely mean that the same will happen in another European country.
Just as if I went to Argentina and found people to do something, I wouldn't expect Americans do the same, or even ask if it is the same in the US.

Europe is not a country. European is not a people. In every European country there are often many different people, hence the trouble in for example former Yugoslavia and Northern Ireland. Please don't lump us all together as if one experience in one country would apply to all countries. Please.
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Old 01-13-2008, 09:53 AM
 
Location: Victoria TX
42,579 posts, read 86,702,293 times
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Amercans probaby, to strangers, really are the firendliest people in the world. But this itself might be a form of arrogance. Americans really, when you get to know them, are rather unfriendly and by world standards, pretty ungenerous. But we have all been conditioned to put on a 'have-a-nice-'day' mask around strangers.

Ive traveled quite a lot (130 countries, and lived in ten of them), and America is pretty low on the scale of how generously a stranger would be willing to help you in time of real need. I could cite dozens of experiences that Ive had that would simply never happen in America. Hotel guests in the lobby drove my wife and me to a hospital in their own car in Thailand, and waited for us to take us back. A teen-age girl in a soda shop in Panama offered to take us home with her for the night when the only hotel in town was inexplicably closed. A man in Taiwan gave us directions to a place to wait for a certain bus, then rode over on his motorbike ten minutes later to make sure we were at the right spot. Also in Taiwan, teenagers loaned us their raincoats in a downpour and walked with us to our hotel. This list could go on and on. Yet, in those same countries, 'service personnel' like hotel clerks, bus drivers and waiters are consistently and offensively rude, because it not their job to be PR staff.
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Old 01-13-2008, 10:24 AM
 
Location: Arizona
5,408 posts, read 7,779,474 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jtur88 View Post
Amercans probaby, to strangers, really are the firendliest people in the world. But this itself might be a form of arrogance. Americans really, when you get to know them, are rather unfriendly and by world standards, pretty ungenerous. But we have all been conditioned to put on a 'have-a-nice-'day' mask around strangers.

Ive traveled quite a lot (130 countries, and lived in ten of them), and America is pretty low on the scale of how generously a stranger would be willing to help you in time of real need. I could cite dozens of experiences that Ive had that would simply never happen in America. Hotel guests in the lobby drove my wife and me to a hospital in their own car in Thailand, and waited for us to take us back. A teen-age girl in a soda shop in Panama offered to take us home with her for the night when the only hotel in town was inexplicably closed. A man in Taiwan gave us directions to a place to wait for a certain bus, then rode over on his motorbike ten minutes later to make sure we were at the right spot. Also in Taiwan, teenagers loaned us their raincoats in a downpour and walked with us to our hotel. This list could go on and on. Yet, in those same countries, 'service personnel' like hotel clerks, bus drivers and waiters are consistently and offensively rude, because it not their job to be PR staff.

This is a nice post. I think that Americans are very generous with money to help charities and causes, but you are right about the everyday social aspects. We as a society are too busy to go out of our way to invest a lot of time helping strangers. I am always amazed when I travel on business how the people I meet in Mexico and other countries pick us up at the airport, drive us back and forth around the city, take us out to eat and see the sights. They really go above and beyond to make us feel welcome and enjoy ourselves. Poor people take us in and share their meals and house with us. I once dated a girl from Ireland and she made the exact remark that you made in your post...she said Americans will smile at you but will stab you in the back, whereas the Irish will let you know how they feel to your face. Probably some truth to that.
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Old 01-13-2008, 10:33 AM
 
Location: Oxford, England
13,032 posts, read 24,577,661 times
Reputation: 20164
I think apart from a couple of people with a bad attitude in Italy ( Venice) , I have never encountered anything but friendliness and hospitality. I always find Italians absolutely lovely, funny and charming and even though they can be quite demonstrative in ways which may seem odd to some of their more reserved European cousins, I always delight in their openness and genuine interest in foreigners.

To be honest I find most people pretty much anywhere to be friendly and hospitable as long as you take the time to learn a bit of the language, smile and respect local customs and mores.

A smile and a phrasebook go a long, long way. As for France and Ketchup, it isn't really used at all and most places won't have any. If they do it will probably somewhere at the back of a shelf gathering dust... I don't think I have ever seen ketchup in a cafe except the ones that offered "Steak Tartare". Restaurants wouldn't even have them usually as pretty much nobody will order it.

I am not sure not having ketchup makes you rude or arrogant. I don't expect to find French food in the US unless it is a specifically French restaurant.

I think the average family restaurant in the US would regard me funny if I asked for Steak Tartare , onion marmalade , home-made mayonnaise ( with raw eggs) , crepes or Maille Mustard rather than "French's" mustard. I think they even be a bit hostile considering me difficult.

I don't expect to find the things I get at home when I go on holiday. In fact the whole joy of travel is to try things which are different surely ?

Paris is not the friendliest place in the world ( and most French people would agree) but is not as bad as people claim it to be.

Then again neither is New York or Boston. Boston was easily the rudest place I have ever been to in the US. I didn't take it as Americans being unfriendly but as a big city with people who are often grumpy because they live in a big city.

The US is not friendlier than Europe or anywhere else. It is made of very different people , from different Nations, with different cultures and different customs. Sometimes it is easy to think people are rude when they are just reserved or even over-demonstrative. Being different does not make you rude or arrogant.

People are people, give them a chance.
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