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my husband is regularly asked if he is Scottish or Irish by Americans we have met since moving here despite the definate Germanic accent to his English...
When he does say he from Switzerland at least 6 times he has been asked if he speaks Swedish
I love accents and trying to place people, almost as much fun as trying to guess by how people dress... hours of fun when you are traveling... not in a horrid way. It just makes me giggle when people fit the stereotypes...makes the hours in airports more amusing.
LOL! You guys think it's so interesting. Try being Asian American.
When I travel to countries, often times people think I'm Japanese. However, if I got to Japan, China, or Korea, they think I'm local and speak to me in their native language which I don't understand.
Even Americans in my hometown will look at me like I'm from a different country.
I met a guy when I lived in Hong Kong who was born in the East End of London to HK Chinese parents. He spoke no Mandarin and little Cantonese which he said no one understood because he has such a strong accent. but hearing the real strong cockney accent come out when he spoke did make me smile because it was so unexpected !!
He did have lots of problems though because he couldn't communicate with a lot of his family and his parents were frustrated as they wanted him to marry a nice HK girl....
When he does say he from Switzerland at least 6 times he has been asked if he speaks Swedish
I don't know what it is ... but somehow I think you just might be exaggerating ... just a bit I know Swiss like to think that Americans are too stupid to distinguish between the Alps and Scandinavia, but I've never met one who has this difficulty.
I don't know what it is ... but somehow I think you just might be exaggerating ... just a bit I know Swiss like to think that Americans are too stupid to distinguish between the Alps and Scandinavia, but I've never met one who has this difficulty.
No seriously I could even name 2 of the people.. the others were random people we chatted to. One a waitress in Pennsylvania, one guy in Newport and 2 people in bars in NYC... the reason we started counting was because it was so funny. The guy in Newport refused to believe a country so small - about 16,000 sq miles could have 4 national languages..maybe they mis-understand his accent
I'm Polish but I've been mistaken for German a couple of times (mostly outside Chicagoland). But in Chicago most often I am mistaken for other Slavic nationalities (Croat, Czech, Russian). When I recently went to a Romanian store they talked to me in Romanian...
Isn't it funny when one is so sure you are from a country you actually aren't this person starts speaking that language as if he/she were sure you would understand it?!
Isn't it funny when one is so sure you are from a country you actually aren't this person starts speaking that language as if he/she were sure you would understand it?!
Its equally funny to pretend you don't speak the language and eavesdrop !! hubby does this all the time.... Its also a good way to get rid of people trying to sell you stuff when you are on holiday, just answer in another language..
We were in Rome recently and there were some people behind us at the Vatican and hubby asked them very politely in English if they could stop their child mis-behaving ( he was screaming, kicking our seats and being very disruptive) as it wasn't only disturbing us but also everyone around who had travelled a long way to see the Pope. The guy in German made quite disrespectful comments to his wife and told his child to behave because we were angry.... hubby replied in his perfect German and they guy was gobsmacked. They left very soon afterwards.
Its equally funny to pretend you don't speak the language and eavesdrop !! hubby does this all the time.... Its also a good way to get rid of people trying to sell you stuff when you are on holiday, just answer in another language..
I understand Cantonese and Korean and English, and I find that I eavesdrop often and pretend I don't understand what is going on. Depending on the situation, I can pretend I'm Chinese, Korean, or American and don't speak the languages spoken to me. Sometimes I will use this skill to avoid vendors trying to sell me stuff, or negotiate in a stronger language. Sometimes I play along and let people think I'm a certain race. I find that most people can't tell the differences between different Asian languages anyways, so I can just say I'm any race.
I don't know why I do this. I guess I got bored of having to explain to people that I'm born and raised in America. Also, I notice people treat you differently depending on your culture.
People have thought I was: Greek, Italian, Portugese, Puerto Rican, Spanish, East Indian and Brazilian.
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I know Swiss like to think that Americans are too stupid to distinguish between the Alps and Scandinavia, but I've never met one who has this difficulty.
