I reacted the same way to Americans when I lived in Europe, but a lot depended upon how those countrymen were acting.
When I arrived there, I quickly became aware of the stereotypes surrounding Americans because everyone I met told me that I didn't act like an American. I generally chalked this up to European prejudices about my country and culture, and decided they were learning something by interacting with me.
But then I went out for a drink with friends, and at the next table, a loud foursome of Americans were sitting. They were just... embarrassing. They expected everyone to speak English for them, while simultaneously acting as if no one could understand them. They were loud, crass, and came across as snobs who lived in a trailer park. And their regional accents were hurting my ears, because it had been so long since I had heard English spoken that way
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Thank you for such a thoughtful response. Given how you write and theatre background, I can easily imagine why you might come across as far more sophisticated compared to the average American. Most haven't read Shakespeare little alone be able to quote long passages of it.
When I've found myself in the EU, the first words I try to learn are hello, thank you, how much and where is the washroom.
Rather than liking or not liking people on an individual basis though, I was trying to hint that the reason why my Colombian friends had such strong reactions is because they were afraid about their safety and that of their friends and family back home. After all, they fled a country where people were trying to kill their families.
Absolutely a valid point. I found communities of people from specific countries mostly for linguistic reasons - you hung around people with whom you could effectively communicate, and relied on the ones who could speak the local language for specific situations.
But I could see where personal security could be a big issue.
Oh, and probably more ironically, because I didn't fit the American stereotype, I was variously assumed to be British (or more specifically Scottish, because of my appearance), Canadian, or South African (because of my accent in Dutch).
I did have one funny exchange in a pharmacy. I kept speaking to the pharmacist in Dutch, but he insisted on replying to me in French. Until finally, I asked him why he kept doing that, and he said, "well, aren't you French?" :-P
The accent interactions reminded me of gpeters efforts to learn Cantonese while living in Toronto. He discovered fairly early on that English and German accents are nearly indistinguishable in Cantonese, and being blond-haired and blue-eyed, would respond with incomprehension and assert that he only speaks German and Cantonese when whoever in Chinatown that he was trying to practice with/on switched the conversation to English.
Being Polish on my mother's side, I have been recognized as looking Polish by Polish immigrants in non-Polish settings in Toronto, and wound up in conversations that have occasionally ended with my being asked to convey greetings to my mom's side of the family. So I'm inclined to suggest that Poles are even more vigorously embracing
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When I arrived there, I quickly became aware of the stereotypes surrounding Americans because everyone I met told me that I didn't act like an American. I generally chalked this up to European prejudices about my country and culture, and decided they were learning something by interacting with me.
But then I went out for a drink with friends, and at the next table, a loud foursome of Americans were sitting. They were just... embarrassing. They expected everyone to speak English for them, while simultaneously acting as if no one could understand them. They were loud, crass, and came across as snobs who lived in a trailer park. And their regional accents were hurting my ears, because it had been so long since I had heard English spoken that way ( ... )
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When I've found myself in the EU, the first words I try to learn are hello, thank you, how much and where is the washroom.
Rather than liking or not liking people on an individual basis though, I was trying to hint that the reason why my Colombian friends had such strong reactions is because they were afraid about their safety and that of their friends and family back home. After all, they fled a country where people were trying to kill their families.
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But I could see where personal security could be a big issue.
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I did have one funny exchange in a pharmacy. I kept speaking to the pharmacist in Dutch, but he insisted on replying to me in French. Until finally, I asked him why he kept doing that, and he said, "well, aren't you French?" :-P
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