While not attempting to be abrasive, after doing extensive worldwide travels, I am staggered as to the contempt many hold for the U.S… One may easily state that only jealousy against the “greatest nation on earth” provides for this negativity, however I’m more interested in Americans becoming more introspective on the issue. Why else does it exist.
Americans quickly identify with this contempt found while travelling and,I was suprised by the number of Americans sewing Canadians flags on backpacks to avoid confrontations.
Reply with thanks.
A few points:
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Tourists are held in contempt the world over. If you hang around a European tourist region long enough to get to know the local help, you will find that they are generally disparaging of Germans, Brits, French, Japanese, and a host of others as well as the Yanks.
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Quite a few Yank tourists are really horrible. (Not all by any stretch of the imagination, but it only takes a couple to spoil it for all of us.) My dad ran into an idiot who waved a handful if lire in his face and asked loudly (on a Venetian water taxi) “What are you supposed to do with this funny money?” I have been near idiot Yanks trying to demand stuff by speaking slowly in loud voices. I have fled in terror as people in my party have demanded “good American food” while travelling in Europe.
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The U.S. is currently the world’s 800 pound gorilla. Nobody really wants to like the guy that can get what he wants just by taking it (even when he is being reasonably polite about it).
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In Europe, the folks on the continent adopted the supercilious air that the Brits had taken toward us rustic farmers during the last century and (like many stereotypes) the attitudes persist.
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Numbers 2 & 4 get heavy reinforcement from 3 because for a very large number of people, the largest number of Yanks they meet are going to be young, horny, guys that went into the military rather than go to college. Many of those guys are wonderful, but there are enough guys who only want to get drunk and get laid so that they don’t spend a lot of time developing culture. And there are, in several countries, a lot of them. (“What’s wrong with a Yank?” “Everything.” Alternatively, “What’s wrong with the Yanks?” “They’re over-paid, over-sexed, and over here.”)
Tom~
One addendum question I have to the OP is, what is it that identifies you as an American when you’re abroad? It always seems obvious to the locals, but I don’t know what is giving us away. I’d really rather blend in when I’m abroad, but I don’t know how. Look at photos of the natives and buy clothing to match theirs? I have a feeling I’d still stick out…
That which does not kill me just makes me really irritable
Boris,
I’ve heard that athletic shoes (sneakers) are a dead give away.
My suggestion to Americans who want to be liked when they’re abroad is to go to Ireland. They love Americans. Of course, they also like clog dancing and blood pudding. There’s no accounting for taste.
In Europe, a favorite “riddle” is:
If someone who speaks three languages is trilingual, and someone who speaks two languages is bilingual, what is someone who speaks one language?
American.
Seriously, I have seen some real ugliness erupt in Germany because some American’s God-given right to free ketchup at McDonalds was infringed upon (it cost 10 pfennig or ~ 7¢ per extra-large packet).
And you should hear the expletives when, in some places, the ketchup has curry in it! Or, horror of horrors, the Pommes frites (french fries) come with mayo…
Sue from El Paso
Experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted.
That’s the only way I’ve eaten them in the mumble years since I was introduced to Friten met mayo on a frosty September night in Leuven.
Tom~
I’ve travelled pretty extensively in parts of Western Europe (Britain/Ireland/Spain), and I’m quite proud of how frequently I’m told that I’m “not a typical American.” I think the disdain comes down to a few “typical” American tourist traits:
[ul][li]inability (or unwillingness) to adapt to different cultural situations, e.g. mayo on french fries[/li][li]surprise that these different cultural situations exist in the first place (you mean EVERYONE doesn’t do things like we do?)[/li][li]what an expat friend of mine in London calls the look-at-me-I’m-American-syndrome: talking very loudly and overexaggerating Americanisms, as if (to quote said friend) “they’d never seen a real live American before”[/li][li]treating the rest of the world like your playground rather than showing any genuine interest in the country & culture[/ul][/li]
I think the volume at which Americans tend to speak is probably the biggest factor (and let’s not excuse Canadians from this. I’ve travelled with Canadians - you guys are just as loud as we are!). If every Yank abroad would just speak a leeeeeeetle bit quieter I think it would improve things immeasurably for the rest of us!
As to what gives us away - well, Ursa, it can’t possibly be the sneakers, because all the British and Irish kids wear them too. Baseball hats and sweatshirts are the big clues, so are those little bead chokers that have become fashionable for young adult men in the past few years.
Oh, and taking a wad of money out of your wallet … that’s a tip off too …
I have never experienced any anger in my travels. Don’t want to say it doesn’t happen, but it hasn’t to me. Even in France, the most I experienced was a little irritation over the fact that I can’t speak French. (That really does bug them.) I went to seven non-US countries in 1998-1999 and was warmly greeted everywhere. And, yup, it’s pretty clear that I’m an American; it would be difficult to mistake me for any other nationality. Maybe it’s because I was a backpacker, but on a few occasions, I would even meet cool random locals and hang out in pubs or whatever with them.
:::recalling happy memories of Wales:::
I think that an attempt to speak the language - even if it’s just ‘hello’ and ‘goodbye’ - is really the way to do it. My Italian is nonexistant, but that didn’t stop my friends and me from trying to communicate with people, on the train, in restaurants, etc., in Italy. They seemed to dig it.
Actually, the only hostile thing I can think of was a (drunk) Irish guy ranting about how Irish-Americans weren’t Irish, and they should all shut up and go away. But he wasn’t ranting at me, so I didn’t really mind.
~Kyla
“Anger is what makes America great.”
I spent the summer backpacking in Europe. I tries to learn at least a bit of the languages, dress approproately (No shorts or ungodly garish clothing) and generally not make an ass out of myself. People treated me well and helped me out to a lot. Even in France people would (in a friendly way) help me with the language.
But, I see where Americans got their bad name. One time I was eating a picnic by the Eiffel Tower, haveing conversations with Parisians, and a tour bus came by. All these Americans spilled out, yelling and even spitting, and streamed over to the Eiffel Tower. Fifteen minutes later they all piled back into the bus and dissapeared. If this is people’s exposure to us…
Another thing that Americans do is walk up to people and expect them to speak English. Face it, the world is not your Disneyland! Learn how to say “Hello” “Thank You” and “Two Tickets, Please”. Of course it pisses people off.
And one more thing…I was at the Cathedral de la Sagria Familia (Ach! I might have written that wrong) and I heard an American tourist complaining that he paid good money and it wasn’t even finished. Now this catherdral was designed by Gaudi and has been in construction for almost a hundred years. All the money paid to see it goes towards the ongoing construction costs. And here this stupid American was complaining about it.
Oh yeah! Most churches in Europe have signs saying that apropriate dress is required. This means no shorts and no bare shoulders. Yet, people, yes, Americans, waltzed in with their limbs so dreadfully exposed.
So, if you want to not look like an ass, just have some common curtosy and do a little research. People will respect you and treat you well.
“Never forget that you’re never more than 72 hours away from death by
dehydration. Drinking will only prolong that death.”
-Joe Dietz
A European view:
Boris asked what identifies you as an American when you’re travelling abroad.
Speech: An immediate giveaway in any English-speaking country, but bear in mind than many educated Europeans speak English sufficiently well to detect an American accent or American speech patterns.
A French friend of mine, who is not educated above high-school level, speaks good British English and can also do a passable American accent (it wouldn’t fool an English speaker, but it’s clear that he’s alert to the differences between US and UK English). ruadh is right about the volume, as well.
Dress: Anybody over the age of 25 wearing trainers or a baseball cap. How much “legible” clothing do you wear when you’re abroad? Shirts with the names of sports teams, universities, etc. are all clues. There are also other, more subtle ways in which American modes of dress differ from ours, but I can’t quite put my finger on them. For example, on Sunday I saw a group of youths in the British Museum. I knew instantly that they were Americans (before I heard them speak) but I couldn’t tell you why: just something about the way they were dressed, their haircuts, or something like that.
As for why Americans are disliked, I think most of the other posts have identified part of the reason. However, I think that the biggest factor is the general dislike of tourists that Tom~ identified. We’re not picking on you in particular. Other things being equal, the French don’t like British tourists any more than Americans.
OK, if you’re interested in a European’s point of view:
tomndebb has an excellent point about the tourists - they are never popular anywhere. And Americans have the (bad?) luck to make up a disproportionate amount of the world’s tourists - simply because your country is A: rich and B: populous. So a lot of the unpleasant attitudes are simply, in my belief, more specific instances of the general anti-tourist attitudes. There are people about with a general contempt for all things American, but they are few and far between, I think.
Sure, I know a couple of horror stories about ill-behaved Americans as well, but by far the most of those I’ve met have been charming and easygoing. I’ve never considered it a problem to be addressed in English - actually, I used to find it rather flattering. (“Hey, I must look like a well-educated fellow”, that sort of sentiment - silly, I know).
BTW, if you think you’ve ever been in trouble in France because you’re American, I DARE you to tell a Frenchman that you’re German! (I’m not, but I’ve been mistaken for one quite often - and any time and effort spent correcting that misunderstanding is definitely well spent!)
OK, turnaround is supposedly fair play: If I decided to visit US of A, which stupid european tourist attitudes should I try to stay clear of ?
Norman
Back to work…
Being worried is the thinking man’s form of meditation.
I have lived in several countries in the Middle and Far East over the years and, besides the “jealousy” issue, which is a primary cause for our being disliked, I found that what America suffers from the most is what all great world powers have suffered from going back all the way to the first recorded world power of Sumer:
We meddle too much in the affairs of other countries out of “so-called” self-interest.
Now, maybe that is a price that a world power has to pay for being the greatest and strongest nation on the planet and I am not saying I agree with it or disagree with it, but it is the perception of those in other parts of the world (as well as some of the citizens of this nation).
Of course, I have also found, that these same countries don’t mind us sending them our money…they don’t consider that interferring except when we put a stipulation on the cash.
shema yisrael adonai eloheynu adonai echad
Perhaps the fact that two (?American) posters have now suggested that dislike of Americans may stem from jealousy tells us something about the kind of attitutde to other nations which can make Americans unpopular.
I lived for 3 year in the U.K… There’s definitely an undercurrent of anti Americanism there. Part of it is jealousy, part of it is different expectations within the subculture altogether. For example, Americans tend to expect good service in resturants and stores. Good service in the U.K. means “maybe we’ll give you what you ordered, when we get around to it”. Because the Americans aren’t getting what they expect, they act impatient and that rubs the locals the wrong way. It’s not just American tourism on foreign soil that builds up the opposing stereotypes, either. The number one complaint from my friends visiting the U.S. is that everyone is so fake. Why do they think we’re fake? Because we’re always saying “howdy”, “good morning”, “have a nice day”, etc. from people you don’t know. In my three years in the U.K. the only pleasantries I ever heard at the checkout counter was “next!”. There’s also the problem of physical timing and body language. If you’ve ever spent any extended periods of time abroad you might have noticed a tendency to bump into people or do the side step boogie or just generally be always in the way… This is because the subtle body language we use to tell people which way we’re going is slightly out of step with the folks in other countries.
The problems are amplified in other countries, such as Japan. I visited Japan many times before one of my Japanese friends explained to me that my American habit of making eye contact with everyone was somewhat offensive, particularly to the elderly. Have you ever noticed how everyone on the train has their head bowed and often their eyes closed? This is out of respect to their elders. There are other mores and practices in Japan that are equally alien to Americans. One thing that often gets Americans into to trouble in Japan is the misinterpretation of the nod. The Japanese nod a lot! Generally their nods are not to express agreement, but rather to acknowledge that you have their attention. Americans often get confused and impatient when they find themselves covering old territory in a discussion where they believed they had previously gained agreement from their Japanese associates. The Japanese tend to be tolerant of our anti social behaviors because it’s obvious to them that we just don’t have a clue.
I’ve visited a lot of different countries and cultures and can tell you this - they are all different in many subtle and not-so-subtle ways. Americans, probably due to our own subculture and global isolation, tend to be less understanding and empathetic to other cultures and this tends to rub people in those other cultures the wrong way.
I know I’m over generalizing, but then that’s another American habit…
I can understand why Americans are not well liked because of their behavior or cultural attitudes, but why do Europeans seem to have such a problem with casual dress?
I mean what’s so bad about walking around with shorts & sneakers on a warm day?
Not to hijack the thread, but what bothers me even more than European resentment of Americans is Americans who buy into that resentment.
Nothing pains me more than to hear an American abroad gleefully joining into a session of American-bashing. The self-loathing of some Americans is truly sad.
Yes, Americans have some annoying habits, yes we sometimes stumble over local mores, but instead of constantly apologizing for ourselves, I would like to hear more Americans abroad stand up for the good ol’ U.S.of A. [Cue patriotic music.] And I don’t mean in an obnoxious or jingoistic way, either. I simply mean that instead of sheepishly apologizing for our every mis-step, or joining in the American bashing, we should try to explore and explain the cultural differences. [E.g. Americans are not being “phony” when we are friendly. Heck, we’re just genuinely friendly. What’s wrong with that?]
And hey, why not point out some of the good we have done and still do in the world (with precious little thanks)? We’re not so bad, really…
Joeyblades, You’re certainly right about the level of service which Americans expect: standards are much higher in the US than in Europe and it’s not considered the done thing here to complain about poor service (which is pretty much the standard).
But, back to my earlier question, why do you suggest that foreign dislike of Americans (which I think, BTW, is being a little over-stated in this thread) is down to jealousy?
TomH:
I would actually go along with this. Since the OP was in regards to “why” and not “how much” I posted my best guesses.
Aside from specific groups with whom the U.S. is at odds, politically, and various individuals who have their own personal reasons, I have not found tat an anti-American sentiment is pandemic.
Reports from Iran through the late 80’s and early 90’s, for example, often noted how the Iranians were very friendly to U.S. visitors (although they might deplore the “evil actions” of the government).
I have never even encountered anti-American hostility in France–including the time that there were ongoing demonstrations against the Vietnam involvement.
Every hostile person I encountered in Europe (natives or U.S. visitors) seemed to be rude individuals, generally.
Periodically I would get the “Why aren’t you like those other Americans?” question. When I asked which Americans I was being compared to, it was always a vague stereotype, not an actual rude Yank.
As noted, I even found the French to be very friendly and I suspect that our stereotypes of them are not too different from stereotypes of us. There are a few rude twits that get noticed and remembered. (I also suspect that several people I know who encountered rude French (or Quebecois) set themselves up for the experience by initiating conversations with “I don’t suppose you talk American?”)
Tom~
I lived for 5 years in Germany and 2 years in Switzerland. I have also vacationed in France, Britain, Italy, Spain and a few countries in between. At various times my French has been excelent (as a child) and atrocious (now, with a couple of decades of inactivity) and my German has been passable conversationally but with a strong accent (combination of my American heritage and the northern farm communities where I picked up teh language.) In all of those travels I have faced anti-American attitudes probably a couple of dozen times. In every case but one the hostility vanished as soon as how I acted became more relevant than where I’m from. To me, the OP seems a non-issue. Rude people rpovoke hostility. Countries in conflict generate prejudices among their populations. Everything else is just folks getting along as best they can.
The best lack all conviction
The worst are full of passionate intensity.
*
Nothing to add to the above, except that I LOVE the user name “Mary Hart’s Legs!”
—“Ramon Novarro’s Smile”