What Europeans think of each other
This is a basic backgrounder for Americans, primarily, who might think Europeans do nothing all day but bitch about Americans. Don’t get me wrong—they do love bitching about Americans. But they also like bitching about each other, as well. Bordering countries, especially, have complex caricatures of each other, even when an outsider might think they’re more or less the same. The following is based on my numerous interactions with Europeans, having lived there for 4 years. Here’s a run down:
The French — Disliked by some Spanish (particularly the Catalonians), for being arrogant. One woman from Barcelona told me, “Come on, who really likes the French? Nobody!” The Swiss don’t like the fact that they have contempt for authority and are lazy. The Brits, of course, have the most mixed feelings about the French, though. One half the country hates them, the other half loves them. Those that hate the French tend to like the Americans, and vice versa. In the UK, they’re considered stinky, rude (they never line/queue up like decent people), and a bit yellow, based on their tendency to not fend off invaders like the Nazis.The French, in turn, dislike the British, look down on Belgians for being stupid, and don’t have much to say, in my experience, about Spaniards or Germans (oddly).
The Italians — Most of the stereotypes are positive, but mostly because of the food. Northern Europeans consider them lazy and flaky, and maybe incapable of managing anything right (mostly because of the 50+ governments they’ve had since WW2). One Dutch professor I had dismissed another Italian one, saying, “All the Italians care about are pasta and mamma.”Italians, in turn, don’t have strong feelings about other Europeans, but within Italy, the north-south divide is pretty strong. Northern Italians continuously complain that Southerners are lazy and unproductive, while Southerners complain that Northerners are devoid of culture or joie de vivre.
The Germans — Germans are considered industrious but uptight and humorless, by just about all the other Europeans. They know WW2 is a sore spot for them, so other Europeans will often mercilessly tease them about it. As much as Germany is considered an economic powerhouse, the vast majority of Europeans don’t really want to learn German or study there (or send their kids there to study). The food is considered uninspired, too, and only Berlin has some cachet among younger Europeans for its vibrant underground club scene. The most anti-German sentiments are among the Dutch and Danish, who just hate them from invading their countries too often. When German ask for directions in Holland, they’re usually given directions to the shortest way out of the country, or told “Give us back our bikes!”, a reference to the fact that Germans confiscated Dutch bicycles during WW2.Danes hate it when you pronounce their capital as “ko-pen-HAH-gen”, because this is the German pronunciation. Either pronounce it the English way (with “HAY” instead), or the Danish way, which is literally impossible to put down here.Germans tend to like their Western neighbors far more than they are liked by them, but they look down on their Eastern neighbors, particularly Poles. They, oddly, have some mixed respect for the Czechs, who have resisted German aggression.
The Scandinavians — Widely respected by most other Europeans, because of their high standard of living …and blond hair and blue eyes. However, within Scandinavia there are some persistent stereotypes. The Norwegians, Danes and Finns all think the Swedes are stupid and uptight. Norwegians are considered racist. Danes are considered more blunt than the others, maybe a bit more cranky, and the Finns are oddly introverted, even by Scandinavian standards. Except for the Danes really disliking Germans, and Finns really disliking Russians, they don’t really have anything against other Europeans.
The Belgians — Considered idiots by both the Dutch and the French. Belgians, in turn, consider the Dutch to be a bunch of cranky assholes, and French stuck-up.
The Dutch — The Dutch, like the Scandinavians, have an enviable economy and social order that’s admired by southern European countries. However, they do have a reputation of being self-righteous “know-it-alls” and very similar to their German cousins in terms of their rigidity. But they do not like any comparisons to Germans, and if you remind them that the Dutch national anthem makes a reference to the Dutch being “van Duitse bloed” (from German blood), you might quickly get the silent treatment. The Dutch are also disliked for being the biggest misers in Europe, and because of this they incur the wrath of the tourist industry wherever they travel. The Dutch have been known to stock up on water before they take their campers down to the south of France.The Dutch, in turn, kind of look down on just about everyone. Yes, there’s a bit of a reason for the “know-it-all” smart-ass reputation they have.
The Swiss — Considered extremely rigid, even by the Germans. Blunt to the point of being rude, the Swiss probably have the least likely reputation for being characterized as “friendly” or “warm”. Note that there is a big cultural divide between French-speaking Swiss, and the German-speaking Swiss. The former are almost exactly like the French, except having a blander cuisine and more respect for authority, the latter being more like the Germans except even more stiff, rigid and cranky. However, everyone knows Switzerland “works” so the fact that foreigners comprise 20% of the population (mostly from EU member states) should make this clear.Note that the German-speaking Swiss also speak their own variant of German, which sounds very strange if you’ve only been exposed to standard “hoch-Deutsch”.
The Spaniards — Honestly, very little antagonism against the Spanish or by the Spanish. No one really seems to dislike them, and they don’t seem to really dislike anyone else. (Yes, some Spaniards near the border to France don’t like the French very much) Not entirely sure why. However, God forbid you speak Spanish with a Latin American accent — there is still a lot of snobbery among Spaniards towards Latin Americans. Spaniards consider themselves white and European, and would be deeply insulted if you suggested they were Latin American of any kind.
The Greeks — Only nominally considered European by other Europeans, but the Greeks fiercely identify as European. Naturally, this is a huge irritant to Greeks.
The Poles — Not much seems to register about Poland and the Poles except that they’re quiet. They are a relatively big country (40 million people) so the supposed scare of being overrun by Eastern Europeans when a bunch of Eastern European countries joined the EU in 2005 focused in on the Poles. The Germans really don’t like Poles, and among Germany’s 9 neighbors, are disliked the most. Poland is considered a country of car thieves by the Germans. Really, the relationship between Germany and Poland is similar to that of the United States and Mexico, and often for many of the same reasons (differences in income, history of war, different languages, etc.).Poles really shore up their hatred for their eastern & southern neighbors, primarily Russia and Ukraine, although they don’t like Czechs, Slovaks or Lithuanians either. Oddly, they don’t really mind the Germans, and probably still fear them a bit — you never, ever hear jokes about Germans in Poland.
The Czechs — Considered a relatively bright spot of Eastern Europe by Western Europeans, but I think primarily because Prague is such a gorgeous city and a popular tourist destination. Czechs are a bit like Germans, though — a bit rude, blunt, and cold. Poles don’t have much good to say about them.
The Austrians — Considered a mix of the best & worst aspects of Germany and the Balkans, Austrians are considered laid-back but very nationalistic and racist. They’re said to be the birthplace of Hitler, but never came around to being fully apologetic about the Holocaust (unlike Germany). Neutral feelings from most ofWestern Europe, negative feelings from Germans (who consider them backwards, and not always the representing the best image of German-speaking people) and admired by Eastern Europeans (a throwback to the Hapsburgs).
The British – About half of the British would be really angry at being called European, so that should provide an apt starting point. The main beef with the Brits is that they’re considered the lapdog of the U.S., and are anti-European because the U.S. tells them to be so. They are considered polite, but maybe a bit two-faced (hence “Janus Britain”) and snobby. The Scots and Welsh are tolerated and liked, inasmuch as that no one really knows too much about them outside the UK, but the English are those that bear the brunt of negative sentiments among other Europeans. After all, London is in England.
The English also have a poor reputation in tourist traps, such as Amsterdam and Ibiza, for being loud-mouthed, obnoxious drunks.
The English, in turn, really seem to hate everyone. This is because it’s pretty hard to find an Englishman that has even, at best, neutral opinions about other Europeans (or Americans, or other nationalities). Europe is full of English expats, and the longer they live abroad, the more they seem to hate their host country. And yet they never seem to want to move home.
The Irish — A very small country, despite its exaggerated importance in Americans’ minds (just over 4.6 million in the Republic of Ireland) but considered polite and humble. They nominally dislike the English, but I have yet to meet an Irishman who really loathes the English. The sentiments towards the Irish and by the Irish seem to be positive, overall.
I personally don’t know much about how the Portuguese, Hungarians, Romanians, Bulgarians, and others are perceived, or how they perceive others, but if you have something to add, please do so in the comments below.
I’ll leave you with this poster I saw in an Italian office years ago, that helps sum it up in some ways:
In Heaven…
- the mechanics are German
- the chefs are French
- the police are British
- the lovers are Italian
- and everything is organized by the Swiss.
In Hell…
- the mechanics are French
- the police are German
- the chefs are British
- the lovers are Swiss
- and everything is organized by the Italians.
Update: Here’s my follow-up after this post got an avalanche of traffic and comments.
Another update: Here’s a related post on what Americans think about Europeans.
And another: 20 ways to slice up Europe.
- Excited
- Fascinated
- Amused
- Bored
- Sad
- Angry
In China the Russians were once being called “lao da ge” or big brother because the Russians also ever conquered China during the fall of the Qing Dynasty, and became our boss. Our relationship with Russians also ever cracked in the year of 1963 during the end of the Sino-Russia relationship.
I also often read that Chinese people eat dogs and cats, yes some Chinese people may eat dogs and cats but not all of us. Only some people from the southern province of China, Guangdong (Canton) in particular. Nowadays, in the big cities of Southern China eating dogs and cats is forbidden, because it is considered violent. Northern Chinese people don’t have this peculiar eating habit, except the ones at Korean border of China.
Chinese people maybe rude, but some of us are very nice people too you know, you should know that because of the bad habit that we still hold from ancient time until now, particularly at the north of China. As for the dirty thing yes I do understand, only the Chinese from the countryside of China are disgustingly dirty, but Chinese from the cities aren’t that dirty.
Please don’t afraid to visit our China, our China is great too, there are lots of place that worth enough to visit, you’ll have your good time there I’ll promise. Me as a Chinese welcome you all :D, zhong guo wan wan sui.
Comment by Xinmei — June 18, 2012 @ 11:55 am
The Germans divide Spain in half by having half the country admiring their achievements and the other half hating their guts and thinking they are still Nazis. Same goes with the British which is another nations that divides Spain, as a whole we admire the British working basis but we think they are stuck up, racist and arrogant, two things they in return think of us, and that they drink way too much. Many people mistrust them due to historical reasons, and others think they are just American wannabes…which rings true…and keeping in mind the deep mistrust that Spaniards have for Americans, who we tend to see as warmongering and uncultured, things are no better this way…
French are actually loathed by almost everyone in Spain but we tend to keep it grudgingly hidden because a lot of Spaniards have French family members, they are like our bullying big brothers, they are rude, arrogant and can’t grasp minimals of hygiene and somewhat they are sexy, refined and cultured at the same time. The fact that they engineered the fall of our Empire doesn’t help at all.
The Portuguese are loved in Spain and Spaniards see them as brothers, Portuguese in turn see the Spaniards as condescended and hate them when they are in other countries other than Portugal or Spain, or when they are with non Spanish population.
Spaniards LOVE the Irish also deeply, the Irish as far as I know have mixed feelings with the Spaniards. Spain has a deep love and fear for Russia…its complicated, we admire them deeply, even the ones that like Germany too, but at the same time we believe they are out of their minds the a day they are not sleeping…we would like to admire their achievements from a safer distance (let’s say…New Zealand)
Serbians in Spain are seen as compulsive rapists, all Balkan countries (except Greece and Bulgaria) and Romania are considered burglars for statistical good reasons.
Italians are considered pimps and are said to be amazing lovers, and curiously enough, soldiers, but also to consume many drugs, and that they fear commitment in relationships which isn’t actually a bad thing in Spain, mind you. We somewhat believe that they are similar to us even though Italy is way more industrial and rich than Spain…don’t ask me why…We also respect them deeply as we consider them some kind of father\cousin thing as we know that without them we would still be humping our horses and living in trees, to the point Castilian and Spanish kings declared the Empire to be an extension of the Roman Empire, which is bullshit but here you go.
Poles are often seen as either Russians by Spaniards who haven’t traveled there or some kind of Baltic Italians, without the drug thing, they are seen as excellent lovers and a very work and party hard people but also as people who dislike commitment in relationships which we don’t have a problem at all really…
Greeks even now a days are considered some kind of cradle for us, if Italians are our fathers, Greeks are our Grandfathers and the people we consider Western Civilization owes the most, even if our Queen was expelled from there. The first places of civilization in the Peninsula were Greek outposts and colonies.
Dutch are highly admired for their social liberties and their achievements, and we strive to be like them and use them as example in the same way Britons use the Germans, for the good examples I mean. History freaks have a love\hate relationship, admiring that they got independence after fighting with us for 150 years and becoming some kind of “Vietnam” for the Spaniards. Even nowadays Spaniards love Dutch culture and art, the Netherlands is what we want to be when we grow up, except the ones that like Germany for some reason.
Germans if I recall correctly started considering the Irish human beings well after the reunification of Germany, having them featuring in German zoos before that (they had the famous “No dogs or Irish” signs in pubs and everywhere)
Polish: Poles as far as I know hate either Germans, Russians, or both actually, but this is just the older generations though, the new ones seem to get along with everyone.
Comment by lol — June 18, 2012 @ 1:33 pm
As a Croatian living overseas I find it really sickening reading what most of so called Europeans think of each other. I guess current crisis is in a way reflection of all these attitudes. In all my years I haven’t seen one family that endured for long where people couldn’t stand each other to such an extent and I’m guessing any other union would not either.
It is rather ironic that far away from Europe all these nationalities find easy to co-exist and in fact cooperate without any difficulties while most people back in EU can’t…What is wrong with all of you?
Comment by Mato — June 18, 2012 @ 5:26 pm
And oh, there’s still a myth about German women never shave their armpits and legs or even not taking shower by a daily basis. I know this rumor since someone ever told me that Germans have a questionable hygiene.
Comment by mary — June 19, 2012 @ 11:19 am
This is so funny, it really made me laugh out loud…please do not take this too seriously!
I was born and raised in Germany but have lived abroad for the last 10 years. Yes, Germans are nerds and they do have a strange sense of humor, but once you get to know them they are quite nice.
The truth is that we all tease and poke and make fun of each other, but really, we all respect each other in one way or another. Coming to think of it, we are all related in one way or another too, depending on what part of Europe you are from. Northern Europeans can trace their ancestry back to the germanic tribes (has nothing to do with GERMANY as we know it today though, I think the GERMANS were just too lazy to come up with a better name!) that is why english, danish, dutch, german, etc. are so “similar”. Anyway, so we are all cousins and who doesn’t enjoy making fun of their own family members. 😉
Group hug and then let’s have a beer.
Comment by Lola — June 19, 2012 @ 1:35 pm
6. 27. 12
Hi! I read the whole 107 pages of comments about what Europeans think of each other, who is left out, etc., etc…
Regarding the Portuguese who still think about their empire, why shouldn’t they? It was an achievement. Others like the French talk about their achievements all the time–best wine, best food–and all that jazz. Portuguese wonder why they are not as well known as Spaniards, French or English for their empire. Well, part of their policies was to keep a low profile so that they would be forgotten and not attacked. That is why they did not lose as much as Spain did.
Regarding which European nations or people I like the best, I would say: Anglo-Saxon, Scandinavian and Germanic. I met a guy in France one time who told me that with his job he met English and German on vacation in France. When a French guy would come with his car and asked how long it would take to fix it, he would always get mad because it could not be fixed right away. With English and German, they would say: “Could you, please, tell me the nearest hotel where I could stay until my car is ready tomorrow.” I like that flegmatism.
I feel that Anglo-Saxon, Scandinavian and Germanic peoples are nicer because I like how they are calm in every situation. One of my favorite story took place in World War II in England. After the Fall of France, a Polish refugee in England asked an Englishman if he was worried now that France had fallen and that England was the last one to stand against Germany. The Englishman responded calmly: “No, I am not worried. We are in the Finals and we are playing at home!” I love it , I love it.
I had the greatest teachers in France–I was born and raised in France. One of them told us that England had not been invaded since 1066. I liked that. Another teacher said that during World War II before the airmen went to fight, they would play soccer–sorry but even though I am French I have been living in America for 24 years– or football as they call it in England. I liked that.
One time in France, during the 1970s, I met this German guy who was playing the guitar and he was singing Beatles’ songs. I liked that and we became instant friends. I felt then a fascination for German people and their culture.
Germans are not cold or rigid. I lived with Germans in America. One of them was from Hamburg. Ernie was his name and he was hillarious. The other one was a girl from Bavaria. We had a good time.
Because the French like to surround themselves with rules that make them appear cold, I think that they are more prepared to accept the German temperament than the British or American who are supposed to be more similar but because they are more laid back, in that situation, the French are closer to the Germans. The French are a serious people who like to look up to the best and try to emulate them.
The French like to think about the future and save their money. They are not like the Spanish who spend it all and say: “when it comes to money we will worry about it tomorrow.” That is why Spain is in dire straits right now. They do not have the work ethic of the NorthWestern Europeans.
You can tell about the division in France about the people. It is between North and South. Northern French immigrate to countries like USA, Australia and Canada, whereas Southern French immigrate to South America.
When I used to live in England–for ten years–I used to hang around South Americans: Brazilians and Bolivians. They told me that in South America people wished they had been conquered by the English or the French because they would be rich. In one book about Brazil, I learned that Spanish and Portuguese are considered inferior Europeans in Brazil.
In another book on South America, I learned that the Spanish never learn from their mistakes, the French learn from their mistakes after making errors. The English avoid making mistakes.
I think when it comes to the French and English , I think this is true because the French are abstract and the English are more concrete or practical. The French like ideas and forget the reality. That is why they elected Hollande a socialist–the worst political party to have in power. Everytime they come to power, they have to move back to the center. Their policies do not work. I cannot believe that after Mitterand, they want another socialist. The worst part is that Hollande has no experience, just like Obama
It is hard to get rid of the nightmare that socialism represents. Mrs. Thatcher had to fight every inch of the way to get things right again. The English learned the lesson. They never elected a truly socialist government again. Tony Blair had to recognize Mrs. Thatcher’s achievements and he never touched any of it.
I think when it comes to the European Union, they need to create a federal state with English as the national language but with particular care for preserving local languages. Germany being on the continent can make sure to run things right because of their tendency to remain calm, work hard, be disciplined, etc.
When it comes to the Constitution, the European Union should adopt English law. I have heard about the benefits of Anglo-Saxon law in France many times during the 25 years that I lived there.
It is clear to me that Greece has been in too much financial trouble for half of its time as an independent country. It does not take that long to get it right. Look at how Germany bounced back after World War II. They had to go through humiliation of defeat and destruction of their land and property.
Based on that, I do not think it is fair for countries who are not willing to pull their own weight to be in the European Union. They got it wrong when they set up the requirements. To be a democracy is not enough. Because of that I think that the countries that should be part of the European Union should be those who are more like Germany: hard working, save for the future, be disciplined, etc. For other countries to be accepted, they would have to rise to a higher level of achievement economically.
It is nice to have a culture where people are warm or where they have good food or wine, but they does not pay the bills and that does not bring stability in a region. We need something that gives confidence in a successful system of government like work ethic, financial responsibility. Hang on Mrs. Merkel , you are more right than you think
Comment by Bertrand Feuvray — June 27, 2012 @ 2:42 pm
European’s all have so many opinions about each other because we have all spent so much time killing each other.
Still, I’m from London and my close friends are French, German, Danish, Swedish, Italian, Norwegian, Hungarian, Australian and American. We do joke about each other’s culture, but it’s light hearted.
Most of the differences are not nationality, but WHERE in the country you are from.
People from big cosmopolitan cities (and I mean proper ones like London, Paris, Berlin, where you’ve got a big mix of black, Asian and white) tend to be less racist. Like, it wouldn’t occur to my generation in London that racism is acceptable.
But people who live in towns and the countryside where everyone’s white, they’re often racist, they sometimes don’t even know it.
I know loads of Poles/Czechs who moved here, loved Hip-Hop and didn’t think they were racist, then they actually MET black people and hated them!!
Comment by Battleofstamfordbridge — June 28, 2012 @ 9:14 am
China and Europe is connected through the silk road which can be traced back during the ancient and dynasty era. A lot of our ancestors were trading with the Europeans that time, we exchange our goods with them then in turn they give us their goods. We trade silks, papers, and porcelain then they in turn gave us gold, jewelry, and carpets as a gift to the Emperor. Then the Marco polo came to China in order to discover our land, he returned to Europe and made a journey book about China. Marco polo is the first man who introduced China to the west.
Comment by Zheng Youshan — June 29, 2012 @ 7:34 pm
Well I’m Chinese, at my above posting that’s the entry. Sorry if I didn’t give anything to say because I was a bit confused, but I suddenly remembered what to write based on my experience. I met quite a number of Europeans when I took my European vacations and staying for a few weeks. Here are what I think about some Europeans, just for an impression.
Dutch: Tall weed smokers and dairy consumers who are very tolerant and liberal, they’re known as very efficient people. But they’re very stingy unlike the Americans who are very “generous”. Sometimes, the Dutch can be very judgmental about everything and they like to complaining quite a lot. In terms of relation, I find the Dutch are friendly welcoming people.
English: Calm gentlemen who are very calculative and can be a bit two faced if they show up themselves. They’re seen as cold people at the first glance, but after met the English I think the English are very warm people. English people don’t like to gush around with strangers, they just don’t take the piss off it either. They like to enjoy small talk about everything while busy drinking tea or reading newspaper. However, they’re also very stiff and old fashioned people who are proud of their history and culture.
French: Somewhat boastful and chauvinistic about their identity and their country, the French like to worry too much about everything and a bit judgmental for their own sake. They are seen as very serious people who are sophisticated and elegant by nature. French people are proud about their language, history, and culture until they have to protect them like crazy. They also don’t gush too much with the strangers which make them appear cold and distance. Once I know the French I find them quite nice. French people are a bit snobby sometimes, though I don’t mind because well at least they’re not cheats or crooks.
Germans: Chinese of the Europe, hardworking people who always want to try their best, very efficient too unlike the Chinese who are not as efficient as the Germans. In China, the Germans are seen as cold, stiff, withdrawn, serious and proud people who don’t take the piss off from other other people. That is why in Shanghai they’re being called ” Ge man” or ” Jie men” which means uninteresting or indifferent. The Germans I met are indeed cold, stiff, and withdrawn at the first glance, after I know them they’re quite interesting and intelligent. Like the French, they’re proud of their history, culture, and language even though not too extreme like the French.
Italians: Loud, friendly people who are proud about themselves and like to speak with funny gestures. The Italians are not very efficient like the Germans but much more relaxed people. They drive their car like a mad man who got drunk too much, they don’t have much self control. Italians are seen as impatient people who like to rush about everything any time, which I view a bit ridiculous sometimes. But I find the Italians are very interesting and funny people who like eccentricity and loudness just like the Chinese who talked as loud as the Italians. They are also very close to their family, enjoying life together while relaxing their days over. Proud of their culture, language, and history as well. They never ashamed to be Italians.
Swedish: Polite calm people who are extremely intelligent and tolerant, the ones I know are quite interesting and fun loving. Swedish people are very self controlled, they always want to do it enough just not too much or too little. It got something to do with their “lagom” culture they believe. Most of them I see are very blonde until their hair appears white or colorless to me, maybe that’s because we Chinese people have very dark hair like almost blue-black sometimes.
Spaniards: Warm and welcoming people, very laid back people who never think about tomorrow just enjoy themselves. Even though some of the Spaniards are quite racist. But when I went to Spain only quite a few are racist, not that much of racism. Like the Italians they’re very loud people who have no volume control, witness that when I sat besides a group of Spaniards. But in the not so good aspect, they’re seen as lazy and spending too much money, in the 3 o’clock they like to sleep until 6 o’clock, this is the part of their habit which is called “siesta”. Spaniards are proud of themselves and their identity for being Spaniards, very nationalistic.
Swiss: Slow speaking, tidy, precise, and efficient people live in the Alps. The Swiss like to speak slow and do everything in the slow pace unlike the rushed Italians. They do it very carefully it’s like they never miss a thing. I like the Swiss chocolate, Swiss clocks, and the Swiss very nicely made and very high in quality. Swiss people are seen as very clean and punctual people even though they can be a bit weird sometimes. Obsessed with tidiness, punctuality, and perfection which I view as a good thing. Swiss people are diverse from each other because they have the German part, French part, Italian part, and Romansh part.
Greek: Lazy people, like to enjoy life and are now in crisis stake because of their country is bankrupt. But I think them as a very proud people, who are proud of their past for being the cradle of the European civilization. The Greeks enjoy drinking Ouzo and eating together with their relatives or friends just like the Italians, they like to gather with their families.
Austrians: Laid back and relaxed version of the Germans, they’re proud of their heritage for having a royal empire of Hapsburg. Austrians at the Vienna are a bit rude at the beginning, after I know them they’re friendly, much a bit friendlier than the Germans. But like the Germans, they are efficient even though they’re not as efficient as the Germans. But I think them as quite efficient at some parts.
Belgians: Friendly and welcoming chocolate masters, rivals of the Swiss in chocolate making. The Belgians are very laid back people especially the French speaking Belgians. Flanders (Dutch speaking Belgians) are slightly more efficient than the Wallonians (French speaking Belgians), who are more relaxed than the Flanders. Belgians also like to enjoy beer, chocolates, and restaurants since in Belgium there quite a number of restaurants. Fries obsessed people as well, they like fries so much.
Portuguese: Same with Spaniards, lazy, and welcoming warm people who like to enjoy life. But I think they’re much calmer and much more introvert compared to the Spaniards. Portuguese people speaks the weird form of Spanish from what I heard them speaking, I find the language sounds unique. They like beaches the most just like the Spaniards, there are lots of nice beaches in Portugal so this is why the reason they like going to the beach.
Finns: Japanese of the Europe, smart, clean, efficient, but depressed people. I find the Finns are quite open minded, even though they have somewhat a bit grudge with Asians like me at the beginning. I don’t mind it though because the Finns are quite nice to me when I met them. They also share the same trait of Japanese like smart and depressed, have the Russians vodka drinking habit but not violent and harsh like the Russians. Cell phone makers, I like their Nokia phones and their software product Linux (just as nice as the Windows).
These are based in my experience, so don’t take it too seriously. This is just for impression about Europeans and if there is something not accurate or offending I’m sorry, this just a good fun right? Xie xie
Comment by Zheng Youshan — June 30, 2012 @ 3:25 pm
sorry if my comments are doubled because my computer sucks, but in the number 662 you can see some correction of the sentences. For once I’m rally sorry, xie xie.
Comment by Zheng Youshan — June 30, 2012 @ 3:28 pm
Spanish people are not all white. When I took my class on the Spanish Southwest (Southwest part of USA), we also had to learn about Spanish people. We learned that Spaniards depending on where they live in Spain are Black, Arab and Europeans. Because the Moorish Past had to be suppressed with the Reconquest by the Christians, people of African, Arab ancestry had to become Christian and therefore Spanish.
Because of that Spanish people with dark skin think they are better than Mestizo from Spanish America because these Mestizo are part Indian even if their skin is less dark than those Dark skinned Spaniards.
Without looking hard to prove this, I found two Spaniards–one male one female–who proved this point. The spanish guy said he had lived in Argentina and that there there were Indians with dark skin and he was condescending about it. I could not believe it when his hair was frizzy and his skin was black. The Spanish girl took a German class with me. I was running the French club during that time and a mestizo from Ecuador came to my class. We talked and found out that we knew that arrogant Spanish girl. The girl from Ecuador told me that she was roommate with that arrogant Spanish girl. They argued about their skin color and about their origin. The Spanish girl said something like: “yes I may be black but you are a mestizo.” The girl from Ecuador told me that many Spanish speaking South Americans go to Spain and when they go back to Spanish America they have nothing good to say about Spaniards.
As a Frenchman–naturalized American citizen– I do not like Spanish people because of what they did to the Indians in the American Continent. Spanish culture is a typical example of an inferior culture that took over superior cultures. They won not because they were better but because they had horses and guns. But their legacy in Spanish America is terrible. They exported their laziness there. That is why in Spanish America people there consider Spanish people to be inferior and they say that if they had been conquered by the French or English, they would be rich today.
Spanish people do not learn the lesson. They keep repeating the same mistake again and again. No wonder that they are poor when they say that they have always been poor and that they will always be poor and consequently why do anything about it. I feel sorry for North Americans to have such countries as neighbours which inherited that mentality because it does not matter how much money you give them they will never make it. Even when they do better it does not last. They just do not have the stamina to keep going.
I do not think much of Italians either. I feel sorry for the Germans in World War II to have had Italians as allies. They were useless. Every time the Germans took important positions back and leave it to Italians to defend they would lose it again. In the end they used Italians as office cleaners.
In World War I when General Pershing of the U.S. Army arrived in Europe, he made the following discovery: the English and the French had separate commands and helped each other at times. Concerning the Belgian Army, the French could not wait for the day they would leave France. And when it came to the Italians, he found that they were below contempt. A typical report from the Italian headquarters went like this: “today we did not lose a single ship, they never left the harbour.”
When I took German, we had to translate stories from German into English. One of them was about a German on vacation in the Canaries–a Spanish owned island off the coast of Africa. He started to watch a very different phenomenon that he had never seen before. This Spanish man would go to fish at about 9 O’ clock in the morning until noon. At noon he would pack his fishing gear and lay down on the sand and spend the afternoon there. He did that for a week and finally the German went to ask him a few questions. The Spanish man explained that in Spain people have their siesta, etc. Work days are short, etc.
The German explained that instead of sleeping all afternoon, he could fish some more to earn more money and save it for the future if he did not need it now. The Spanish man said; “No, here we work in the morning and that’s it. We do not worry about tomorrow but for only today.” The German said: “yes but with all that money saved up you could eventually buy a boat and to at sea to use nets and catch even more fish.” The Spanish again said: “no I have enough for today. ” Then the German said that ” when you have made a lot of money then you can buy a plane and locate the fish and send the boats there.” The Spanish insisted that what he earned was enough.
People in France are so stupid, they think that the Italians and the Spanish are like their brothers because they speak latin based languages. Maybe the languages may have something in common but not the mentality of the people of these three nations. The French like to think of the future. They like to save. On vacations, other people have known to have said that the French have money. We may not work as hard as the Germans but we are nevertheless more like them.
That is why France’s orientation in Europe is always toward countries that do better because France wants to emulate them. They may make a lot of mistakes and be stupid about things but there there are right to look for good examples to follow.
That is why I think that countries like Spain, Portugal, Italy and Greece and other Eastern Countries with similar mentalities should have never been allowed to join the European Union.
France has mixed ancestry like the Franks who give France its military culture genius and Gallic–Gaulish from Gaul–who gave France its sense of humour and mentality or temperament. But it is not the dominant influence–Gallic–that makes France excel. It is the Germanic influence from the Franks that makes France excel. If there was more Frankish influence and less Gallic influence, France would be a more successful country. Because of that it is too bad that Germany did not make France more German in 1870 because it would have been a good time to do so when France experienced a very low birth rate and Germany had then one of the highest birth rate in Europe.
A more Germanic or more Frankish France would have brought more stability in Europe. There would not be that lack of respect toward authority. After all if the French insist in being French which is a word that comes from the name France and if they insist in calling their country France, they should know that as Franks, they are Germans and should speak a German-based language. Not much of French has a german influence, only the accent. All the rest comes from Latin or Greek. French does not have a large number of words. They could do what the English did and join two languages together –Norman French and Anglo-Saxon–to create one. English has about five times as many words as French.
If it had been as I say above, France would not be there to be a pain in the ass in European affairs. In most issues in Europe France is always the trouble maker and England the problem resolver.
One way that the Germans could have avoided English jealousy if Germany had taken France and kept in 1870 would be to divide France into two parts and give the English the Western part from the coast near Belgium all the way to the Spanish border and use the Rhone River as a border between the English and the German part. And then they could have sent immigrants there to outnumber the French and get rid of that frivolous culture. Germany would have had access to the Mediterranean and would have been able to be a better counter weight to the Russian threat. Too bad politicians would not take the time to see what better things could have been achieved.
Comment by Bertrand Feuvray — July 1, 2012 @ 8:55 pm
There are 3 major races in Europe which have formed countries like:
-The Germanics (Germany, Austria, Denmark etc )
-The Latins and Latinized (Italy, France, Spain etc)
-The Slavs (Bulgaria, Russia, Poland etc)
Greeks are not part of those races. Also when when the populations of those races expanded in Europe the Greeks diminished due to the Turkish occupation.
Of course there is the fact that Germanics and Latins competed with the Greeks over the use of the term Roman Empire for their countries during the middle ages. Yet the Greeks fall to the Turks so the Germano/Latins won that contest and expanded further.
The Greeks don’t relate to Germano/Latins due to Race and Religion (catholics) and relate a little bit with the Slavs because of Religion, but not Race.
This makes the Greeks a stand alone country and Race.
Yet we are Europeans.
There are some negative eastern cultural leftovers due to the 500 year occupation by the Turks but hopefully after some time they will go away.
As far as other countries go
Italians, Spaniards, Portuguese: We like them. We consider them warm, fun and with rich culture and history
Germans: Until recently we respected them like we do the Scandinavians for their organization and standard of living. Now, since they are bleeding the country due to a debt that the people didn’t create, we conceder them Nazis who put money before human lives and have no regards for any kind of justice.
Dutch: Drugs hookers and pedophilia. Something isn’t quite alright with them
French: We like them. Rich culture, cuisine and we consider them cultivated. The heart of Europe. We do however consider them a bit “soft”.
Swiss: Neutral, and global Bank reserves. Tax evader’s dream.
Irish: We think they are crazy in a good way
British: We dislike the fact that they come to Greece in the summer get drunk and run around naked shitting the streets and behaving like animals. Plus they stole ancient monuments which they still haven’t returned. Uncultivated and imperialistic snobs. Other than that they have good football teams.
Scandinavians: We like them. We respect their organization, society and high standard of living. We think they are a bit cold and most likely to be depressed.
Albanians: We dislike them. We have tons of illegal Albanian immigrants here which cause many crimes.
Serbians: We like them. Great basketball players and we have good relations since the Middle Ages
Russians: Orthodox power house. We consider them an ally since the Americans tend to screw us over and over again. Lots and lots of Vodka.
Skopians: We dislike them. They are Slavs who try to usurp Greek history and culture by claiming that they are Macedonians, when even the dumbest people know that Macedonia was an ancient Greek kingdom. They can’t even pronounce the name Alexandros properly and they claim they decent from Macedonia.
Other Slavs: We only know that they were communist.
Romanias: Dracula!!! People think that they are Slavs when in fact they are not.
Turks: Definitely not European by any reason. I think people would rather have Satan or the orcs from lord of the rings dominate the world rather than the Turks. They nearly destroyed our entire culture and almost annihilated the population with genocides. Now they keep threatening us with war over the Aegean Petrol reserves. We spend a shitload of money for military because of them. They are still occupying half of Cyprus. Turk is a synonym for savage here. Capable of any kind of atrocities.
Comment by Haris — July 2, 2012 @ 6:54 am
The English are the funniest people in the world and very inventive. The French have great style and culture. Germans are organised, the Italians unorganised. The Spanish and Portuguese have a rich history and good climate. The swedes and Norwegians are a bit strange but the finns and icelandics are weird.
The Russians are cold, the polish are decent people the Czechs cultured. Belgiums are boring but not as boring as the Swiss.
The Bulgarians are crooks and the Albanians and Romanians can’t be trusted, the Serbs are to serious about themselves and a little paranoid. Croatians outside of Dubrovnik are good welcoming people and the Bosnians are a bit like the Irish always thirsty and amusing.
It’s a great debate but a shame that an American as caused a discussion between ourselves. As for the Greeks I can’t help having some sympathy for the turmoil in there country. Generally there are good and bad people in each of these countries an some of the charachatures are true to a small extent. On my travels I have come across exceptional acts of kindness from people in England ( not so cold people) , I have met a funny German ( just the one though) , French woman I have found to be friendly ( even the married ones! The Dutch are laid back but blunt but good people! Some I have missed out due to lack of knowledge.
I have travelled around the world and lived in America for a while but Europe is the best for history, culture, diversity, humour and colour. It’s great to be European!
Comment by Euro master — July 5, 2012 @ 6:45 am
I am half Irish and half English . I have lived in both countries and also Scotland and in my experience the scots drink more then both the irish and English.
Also in my opinion there are small differences between the Irish and English but largely they are the same. The Irish are less self conscious then the English and will care less what people will think of them. The English humour is faster and sharper but only just. Both have generally a good caring attitude and love to laugh!
Comment by Anglopaddy — July 5, 2012 @ 7:35 am
I am English and I am European. I have lived in the USA and I would never go back there. We have such rich diversity here in Europe and anyone that harbours stupid hatred towards other countries is uneducated. All countries have at some stage offended others through crazy or greedy governments, surely no one takes stereotypes seriously?
On my own people I have met lovely kind and inspiring people as well as nasty unpleasant ones.
I have met lovely French , German , Danish , Irish , Croatian , Portuguese and so on! Governments make mistakes people are people! X
Comment by Greatbrit — July 5, 2012 @ 8:35 am
I´m swedish and a friend of mine (a croat) once told me about ” the thing” between serbs and bosnians. According to him they are the same kind of people exept that the serbs thinks (as the new sellouts croats) that the bosnians are kind of sellouts. A long time back since the ottoman-era, when the turks conquered that region – one part of the people stood up and fought for their freedom (serbs), while the other part joined the turks, changed religion to Islam and got paid for it instead of fighting the mob. I dont know if this story is true but its a possible reason and shows more how complex the Yugoslav- history is (and other nations histories for that matter).
Comment by Mattias Mushroom — July 12, 2012 @ 7:41 am
I live in France and i must say that french ARE arrogant. I doesn’t mean that they are bad people, but they are usually rude with everybody. They are used to be like that. In some countries people try to be polite with others, in France that is seem as a form of hypocrism. (not exactly, but don’t know how to explain). Why would you be nice to a person that you don’t know? They are also very direct.
Im not saying every french is like that, but I do believe that it is kind of a general tendency.
French dislike the Swiss, British, Portuguese (for being poor in France) and Americans.
Comment by Pierre — July 17, 2012 @ 10:31 am
We, French, are so rude and obnoxious that France remains in 2011 the first touristic destination. Not bad for a hateful nation.
I don’t think the English, the Dutch, the Spaniards, the Italians, the Poles, the Swedes and the other Europeans are more hospitable and humble towards foreigners.
When you’re in a country, you have to deserve respect.
France is neither a Club Med, nor a motel and nor a museum. It’s a counry who has been built by one people during more than 20 centuries.
I notice that those who blame the French for being nationalistic are also nationalistic. For example, the British, the Italians, the Poles and the Spanish think it’s normal to take their flags each time their countries celebrates a national day or celebrate a sporting victory. However, some don’t accept the same case about the French.
Comment by Alexandre — July 18, 2012 @ 2:26 am
“The most striking characteristic (to their minds) was how the Portuguese have an incredibly strong tie their history – namely their long-defunct empire. Numerous anecdotes, such as the Weather Reporter who after giving the forecast in the Azores and Cape Verde always says, and now the forecast on the “Continent” – referring to Portugal.”
Sorry, pal! Wrong analisys. The Azores and Madeira are islands and are part of Portugal. They are authonomic, which means that they have a regional parliament and president, but they are part of Portugal. They send MPs to the national parliament in Lisbon, and their regional laws must comply with the national Portuguese laws.
Because the Azores and Madeira are islands, they are referred to as island (insular) Portugal, whereas the part of Portugal in the euro-asian continent is referred to as continental Portugal.
The Cape Verde islands are a different story. It’s a former Portuguese colony, but it’s nowadays an independent country. It’s never mentioned in weather reports as island Portugal. The weather reports on the Portuguese TV related to Portugal never include Cape Verde. It’s Madeira and the Azores what are included, not Cape Verde. Your friends are mistaken.
Comment by Joao — July 20, 2012 @ 11:52 am
“think you got the part on the Spanish wrong. They tend to stay in their country, do not speak any other languages and whenever they leave Spain they keep talking about Spanish food and how bad it is everywhere else. They tend to ignore the Portuguese even though they are their only neighbours except for France. To go to Portugal on holiday for the Spanish is like going to Poland for a German.
Comment by Alex — February 20, 2008 @ 9:13 am ”
Not really! Portugal is full of Spanish tourists. However they only started to come Portugal in huge quantities in first years of the 21st century. Before that they used to come only by easter to Lisbon. Spain is also full of Portuguese tourists. Spain sells cheap holiday packages (often cheaper than the Portuguese ones) throughout Europe, and Portugal is no exception. Some items such as gasoline and the VAT have always been lower in Spain than in Portugal.
If you hear an European saying that the Portuguese never go to Spain on holiday, he’s just making a wrong assumption.
Comment by Joao — July 20, 2012 @ 12:07 pm
“259.The Portuguese hate the spanish for messing up their reputation and the english for messing up their night clubs and beaches with loud-mouthed-drunkness, the south parts are practically ruled by brittish tourists in the summer.
The portuguese are considered brazilian by the spanish and spanish by the rest of europe. Portuguese however wish to have nothing to do with their former colony and are very piky about the fact that their language is different from both spanish and brazilian dialect, even if the difference is minute to a foreigner.
For some reason they seem to have a soft spot for the italians and eastern europeans, possibly because of sharing their standard of living, set much below most of the rest of europe, especially germany and the nordic countries.”
We don’t hate the Spanish. They’re really nice people. We just do not like that pushy insistence done by Europeans and Americans to watch Portugal (and Brazil) through a Spanish “colour filter”. You may go to South Africa, India, China or Japan to find out that Portugal is quite known, often more known than Spain. It’s in Europe (baaaahhh…) and the US that Portugal is overlooked and “Spanified”. OK, I admit I really hate that…
Also we do not have the standard of living of the Italians. Italy has higher living standards than Spain because it’s in the center of Europe. It’s tends to be looked down though, while Spain is sometimes overrated. Germany is also overrated. The area of Dresden for instance has slightly lower living standards than many areas of Portugal. Are you forgotten about the years long economic stall in Germany?
Eastern Europe is a very large area with many countries, cities and regions, and very disparate living standards among them. Would you put in the same bag the living standards of the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Moscow, Moldova, Georgia or Ikraine?
Only the ignorant ones do that.
Regarding Brazil, yes, many Portuguese think that they do not speak correct Portuguese, but that’s not my opinion. Brazilians speak Portuguese. It’s dialectal. They have their own version of the language, with a different accent and a few different words. It’s yet the same language.
Comment by Joao — July 20, 2012 @ 12:26 pm
I’ve posted three comments here. It’s strange that two of those comments were deleted. Why?
Comment by Joao — July 20, 2012 @ 8:32 pm
I think that this European Union is a complete nonsense. As a Frenchman who became a naturalized American citizen, I laugh when Americans refer to us–the French, the English, the Germans, etc.–as Europeans. There is no such thing as Europeans, just a geographical area on the massive land called Eurasia. The English are English and the French are French. It is too late to unite. Look at the mess in countries like Italy, Spain and Portugal and Greece and Ireland. They blew any chance to build this so called “Europe”. Nothing surprises me. The only intelligent people in all this are the British who stayed out of that Euro zone
The English tried to think of things before deciding. A good idea is a good idea only if it is going to work practically. The French who think they are somebody think of an idea and if they think it is great they implement it. Bad, bad bad!!!
Luckily the French learn from their mistakes. This is better than the Spanish who never learn from their mistakes. Other nations who do not learn from their mistakes are peoples like the Portuguese, Italians, Greeks.
So right there, you can see that we are not on the same wavelength. ON the continent of Europe the only you can trust are Germany and the Germanic countries and, Scandinavia. The rest are big troubles.
They should never have allowed countries who cannot save for the future like Spain become a member of the European Union. Spanish people only worry about today. Regarding tomorrow ,they say “we will worry about it tomorrow.” At least the French like to save and think about tomorrow. But they are at the bottom of the list of the capable countries of Western Europe…
Bertrand Feuvray
Comment by Bertrand Feuvray — July 25, 2012 @ 2:31 pm
I secretly put my respect on the Scandinavians (particularly the Swedish), the Swiss, and the Dutch. I viewed the Scandinavians, the Swiss, and the Dutch as my role-model that I can learn from them. I also like the Spaniards, the Italians, the British, the Greeks, the Austrians, and the Portuguese. I also like to admire the French and the Germans, but I sometimes feel a bit intimidated by the French because of their “haughty” upbringing. And I also feel a bit intimidated with the Germans as well, because of their cold and uptight upbringing. I feel cool with the Dutch, the Spaniards, the British, the Greeks, the Austrians, and the Italians they’re kind of pleasing to me. The French and the Germans stunned me a lot, but they also surprised me quite much.
I respect:
Scandinavians: Because they’re known for their extremely high living standards and their sense of calmness, they’re also very self-controlled about doing everything. They like to do everything the best for any kindness, trying to make the world is a better place. I also find the Scandinavians are extremely attractive and well-behaved, they’re cool people by nature also kind and considerate. Scandinavians are also very strong educated people who has the dedication of the efficiency and durability.
Swiss: Because of their sense of tidiness, punctuality, organization, efficiency, and they’re sense of cleanness. The Swiss are also very competitive, innovative, and well-educated people who like to try doing their best. They like to appreciate talented and creative people who wants to struggle in life to achieve the best. Swiss people are very well-organized, they like to do everything very carefully and avoid making any mistake. They’re also very disciplined and punctual, they never get late or being lazy. And I also like they way they live, they’re healthy clean people who has some of the highest life expectancy in the world, second/third after the Japanese.
Dutch: Because of their sense of tolerance and friendliness, they’re very kind to the other people who are different than them. Even though I find the whole “stingy” thing is the drawback for them but still I don’t mind if they’re “stingy”. They like to express their expression of life, never afraid to be different than the others. The Dutch are also very hospitable, well-educated and knowledgeable people.
I like:
The Spaniards: Because they’re laid back and fun to be around, they’re also very warm welcoming people. They know how to enjoy life and taking their time for having fun. The whole racist and lazy thing I find to their drawback, must be corrected next time. Spaniards never get to much stress and over worrying about everything, finding something else to enjoyed in life.
The Italians: Because they’re warm, cultured, unique, and eccentric people who like the sense of artistic and creativity of aesthetic. They’re proud of their history, culture, and language always maintained as their main tradition. But Italians are careless and lazy which I find as their another drawback. They know how to enjoy life and making something which is artistic and pleasing.
The Greeks: Because of their sense of pride, culture and nationality as the people who invented the European past. They’re laid back and warm as well like other Southern Europeans. Due to the crisis, they’re very wasteful of money and only depending on the government this must be corrected next time. However, they’re very family oriented and well-cultured people, never denied they’re own identity as the Greeks.
The Portuguese: Because they’re calm, welcoming, and know how to enjoy life. Just like Spaniards they’re fun to be around and never get stressed too much in life.
The British: Because they’re calm, friendly, and has a excellent sense of humor which I simply cannot forget. They’re also very calm people who never take the piss-off from other nonsense people. They’re comical people, always make me laughed and amused all the time. However, they have the craziness of football and beer.
The Austrians: Because they’re friendly and care for the environment, just like the Swiss but less competitive. They’re also very fun to be around, amusing in the not very comical way.
I admired:
The French: Because they’re very refined and elegant people who has the great sense of culture and aesthetic creativity, pretty much like Italians. The women are classy/elegant, know how dress well and the men are very refined/groomed with a very excellent taste. But I find the whole arrogant and pretentious thing to be their biggest drawback, should be toned down next time. French people are also very serious and conscious people who try to make something more pleasing for the culture, which I view is good. At the same time I also like with the fact that French people are cultured and well-mannered. They have their biggest pride of their identity, culture, history, and language always make something become artistic like the Italians.
The Germans: Because they’re hardworking, industrious, never give-up, diligent, and try to do their best in everything they working on. Germans are very efficient people too with the great sense of technological conscious. They like to think and invent something different for the humankind, that is why a lot great scientist come from Germany. Germans are very good at making mechanical things and has some of the best products around, gaining a lot of fans in China. I know that Germans had a terrible past for being Nazis, but I already forget that because Germans are nice people now. They’re always struggling in life, after defeated so badly in the war they suddenly wake-up and start building their country. That is why Germany now become the economical and industrial giant in the Europe.
About other Asian countries I give my opinion, since I’m Asian myself (Chinese in particular):
We share our greatest complex relationship with the Japanese, they’re being hated so much because of the historical wars they committed. But in the same time, some Chinese people especially the young ones admire their technology and culture viewed them as courteous. We also quite like the way they live nowadays, they live in a better condition than us and are very intelligent. A lot Japanese like come to China for holidays and seeing the monuments, we also like coming to Japan for buying electronics.
We also have the complex relationship with the Koreans, they’re hated by us because of some historical reasons. But we like to admire the South Korea dunno for the North Korea, in China we like Korean electronics and Korean entertainment (Films and Musics). Some Koreans also live in China as a labor or as a entrepreneur, they’re stereotyped as a rude Kimchi eating people.
We highly admired the Singaporeans, but dislike the fact that they’re become anti-mainlanders in the recent years. We admire they’re standard of living, disciplinary, economical progress, and efficiency also jealous the fact that they’re better educated than us. Singaporeans are also viewed as discipline, intelligent, honest, trustworthy, and hard-working even though they’re very robotic. We like to come to Singapore for seeking jobs or shopping, there are so much things to do in Singapore I love it there. There some of us living in Singapore too as well, but in better condition and better behavior.
We also like to admire the Hongkongers for their efficiency and living standard, but hate the fact that they hate us and look down on us. Hongkongers are also viewed the same with Singaporeans but less robotic. Some Chinese people like to make fun the Hongkong men for being effeminate and “pussy”. They’re sometimes being stereotyped as “dog-like” and arrogant in the not so good aspect, but I find it not all true. Some of us live in Hongkong as a worker or as a entrepreneur, but in better living condition.
Taiwanese are hated in China because they’re seen as overly nationalistic, arrogant, chauvinistic, and they like to hate us. But we quite like their technology and their products in China, they’re also admired for their sense of efficiency.
That’s all I want to say
Comment by Zheng Youshan — July 27, 2012 @ 7:04 pm
Bertrand, the problem is not about country x or y. It’s the dysfuctional structure of the euro, imposed on European countries without referendums and supported by bribed politicians, that it’s the problem.
It’s is pointless to make southern Europe the scapegoats by a self-destructive system imposed in most part by Northern Europe.
The debt crisis is created by artificially raising interest rates on Southern Europe based on biased ratings done by non-independent and non-impartial American rating agencies. Most of the debt owed by Southern Europe nowadays was not borrowed, it’s the self fulfilling result of high interest. The consequence is misplaced as the cause. We can see that the financial system can easy manipulate the flow of money everytime there’s a financial crisis (the Anglo-Saxonic one, aka, the real one). This is not denial. It’s fact.
We have now Northern European countries such as Germany, earning loads of money with the difference in interest rates, while southern Europe strugles. Very convenient as cushion against the Anglo-Saxonic crash of 2008. In the case of Germany, with many loooong years of economic stagnation and high unemployment, this comes as if they have won the lottery.
No wonder why it’s Germany who wants to keep the euro – not the other way around. The notices in contrary are just plain media bluff.
Greetings from Portugal.
Comment by Miguel — July 29, 2012 @ 1:41 pm
I’ve found this to be an extremely entertaining thread, so I’ve decided to provide a (stereotypical) Finnish perspective.
Russians – Without any doubt, Russia is the country that is most despised here in Finland due to historical grievances. Recently, our relations with the Russians have become warmer but we still don’t welcome them with open arms when they come to our country speaking Russian and thinking that we can speak it as well. We sneer at them very often and perceive them as unintelligent communists that don’t have general knowledge about anything else except vodka and their own country. Surely not all Finns think this harshly (at least I don’t) but it’s clear as a day that we don’t like Russians. The only positive thing we can come up with when speaking of Russia are the gorgeous women.
Swedes – Kind of a mixed bag. We don’t exactly hate them, but we are not very fond of them either. Most of the dislike we’ve formed against Sweden stems from their language – we absolutely HATE the fact studying Swedish is mandatory in school. We Finns also ridicule Swedish men because of their mannerisms, high-pitched speaking voices and appearance, which we find to be effeminate and homosexual.
Danes – We are generally on good terms with them.
Norwegians – We have nothing against them.
Icelandic people – They’re a friendly, mysterious and beautiful people. We like them!
Estonians – We generally like them. To the delight of many Finns the booze in Estonia is cheap and women are pretty. We also like the fact that the Estonian language resembles Finnish. Some Finns think of Estonia as sort of a smaller brother to Finland due to the perceived similarities between the two countries.
Germans – It’s difficult to say exactly why but we Finns often look up to Germans and think of Germany as sort of a big brother to Finland. I guess we’ve always had more or less warmer relations with Germany than any other European country – after all, they did aid us during World War II. Additionally, German cuisine is very popular here.
Americans – Another mixed bag. We generally find them to be friendly and extroverted (which, surprisingly, are traits that appease us even though we are often perceived to be extremely shy and introverted) yet we also have a tendency to think of them as… well, a bit arrogant and not knowing virtually anything about Europe. We will also likely be extremely irritated if an American mistakes Finnish language as Swedish, which has happened to me on more than one occasion. Despite these “quirks” we often seek acceptance and recognition from Americans and other historically strong countries.
Dutch – Tall, blonde and blue-eyed. Enjoy cycling and smoking weed. We have nothing against them.
Poland – Polish immigrants are sometimes sneered at but I can’t say we dislike Poland either.
Brits – Similar to Germans, British people are also often looked up to by us Finns yet it’s hard to say why. Well, maybe not looked up to but still liked.
Well, there’s a few countries and some Finnish perspectives on them. Don’t take what I posted to heart, most of the things listed here are pretty much nothing but stereotypes and I am most certain that not all Finns feel this way 😀
What do I as a full-blooded Finn think of the people of my country? The stereotypical perspective of Finns is that we are quite shy, insecure and uptight. I myself do not find this stereotype to be exactly true having met hundreds and hundreds of Finns over my lifetime. It is true that we are shy at first – which usually diminishes quite quickly with familiarity, however – and that we really don’t have any sort of small-talk culture here which is why I guess tourists may get the picture of us being quiet and rude. One thing that does match the “ordinary Finn” stereotype is our fondness of alcohol. We consume a lot of it and the consequences are sometimes unwanted – we have a tendency to get aggressive and intrusive when drunk which irritates me to no end.
Yet there are a lot of good sides when it comes to Finland and Finnish people. The educational system is excellent, sports are popular and the country in general is very safe and peaceful. One thing that almost all Finns are more or less proud of is our unique language. And despite the shyness perceived in the majority of us, to my experience there are also plenty of extroverted, fun-loving an relaxed Finns out there – it depends pretty much on where you look. I guess the older generations of Finland are closer to the stereotypical quiet and shy Finns whereas younger generations (of which I am a part of) are more laid-back and outgoing. It seems like the traditionally quiet, shy and introverted Finns are finally learning the noble art of relaxation after all 😀
DailyCandor: Quiet and shy, yes, but uptight? I wasn’t aware that was a stereotypical trait of Finns.
Comment by Deth — July 31, 2012 @ 11:14 am
About Romanians: resent the Russians because of historical reasons, but love the Russian writers, painters etc.
Dislike the Hungarians because those still think Transilvania should belong to Hungary and because they consider them to be arrogant and self-delusional brain-washed pricks.
Like: Spaniards, Germans, Austrians, Serbs, French and Italians (less and less though, because of their racist attitudes), Turks, Bulgarians, Greeks, Portuguese..
Hate: the gypsies and the confusion many Europeans make betwen “Roma” term and “Romanian”.
Comment by Vicky — August 6, 2012 @ 7:16 am
About Slovenians: They are in a way proud of themselves, they are very educated and they are extremely clean and seem very distant people. They are rather blond than dark like other west slavic people. They are very sure and very proud about their routes and beautiful women and hard-working people. They like Americans.
Comment by Adriano — August 12, 2012 @ 7:31 am
From a Greek perspective (not MY perspective but merely the general feeling Greeks can be said to have of these nations):
The French – They’re quite well received by the Greeks. No particular stereotyping from the Greeks. Maybe something like “Their language sounds gay”
The Italians – For some imagined historical reasons, we think we’re culturally close (I don’t). There’s also the idea that we’re somewhat though not entirely, genetically related (Magna Grecia, etc). No negative stereotypes.
The Germans – Appearances to the contrary, we do not at all dislike the Germans. On the contrary, we wanted to emulate them and we have always liked the German people. Do not rely on the media or the newspaper for the views of the average Greek. Media = circus whose customers lust after exuberant gestures and name calling. The only negative stereotype I can think of is not really negative (imo). It’s the classic Germans being robot-like & cold.
The Scandinavians – We like em. Our former PM, George Papandreou (he is part-Swedish) even said he wanted to make Greece the Denmark of the South (to which I would respond… “LOL”). Women are hot and people in general are quite decent. I think the same Germanic stereotype would apply here though, imo, as I said, I don’t think it’s particularly damning. Being “cold” often is the manifestation of not being a complete joke.
The Belgians – I don’t think anyone has anything to say about them. Neither good nor bad. Though it must be said that the Greeks are generally biased towards Europeans of any kind – in a good sense. They associate “European” with good things. So the Belgians, being Europeans, would be assumed to be… “good”. But not much else will be known. Love waffles :D.
The Dutch – Same with the Belgians.
The Swiss – Bankers. Rich. Making money from corrupt politicians and Arab monarchs. Or something like that. Again falling into the Belgian/Dutch camp.
The Spaniards – Greeks seem to think we’re close to the Spaniards (because they’re Mediterranean) but I personally don’t. Chicks hot, cuisine’s nice. We also like their sports teams (football, basketball, etc).
The Poles – not to be taken as an offense (I don’t agree with it and I do think it’s offensive) but due to the influx of Eastern (Poles are central but same thing applies) European immigrants after the fall of the SU, Greeks tend to stereotype Eastern Europeans as being either cleaners or prostitutes. Now this does not mean that if you tell a Greek you’re EE, he’s gonna think of you in this way. Unlikely. But many immigrants from these places do menial jobs.
The Czechs – Nobody knows much about them. I think Greeks believe Czechs are Russians or something. But no stereotypes as far as I am concerned. BTW, author, the Czechs can not be considered a bright spot in Eastern Europe since the Republic is located in Central Europe.
The Austrians – Much like the Germans? I think Greeks believe that Austrians and Germans are pretty much the same (I have no idea, personally).
The British – We know them the most out of the aforementioned groups (along with the French and the Germans).
For some reason, the British but not the French or the Germans are stereotyped as imperialists. It should be noted that the Great Powers (England, France, Russia, Germany) were heavily involved in the creation of modern Greece. It’s a very long story but the Greeks view the British as always trying to interfere in our internal affairs – we think they treat us like children. Some Britons have written remarkably racist things about Greece and in general, Britain was always seen as very fond of the Turks to actually be a “real” ally.
Again I don’t actually agree with that but I’m giving a general picture. British women are not held in very high esteem (even though there are many marriages between Britons and Greeks – just from my school years, I knew several students of both Greek and British descent) and men are seen as … gay (homosexual) and strange (again, I don’t agree). Also young Britons are stereotyped as hooligans with no sense of those around them (I actually agree with this as far as British tourists are concerned)
The Irish – Not much is known except that the Irish are heavy drinkers and that Oscar Wilde was an Irishman! (not many people know about Joyce even though he wrote Ulysses). But otherwise we’re quite indifferent to them.
Comment by Em — August 13, 2012 @ 8:12 pm
What kind of research was done on this? Is there a scientific report which proves this is correct? or are these just your own personal, self acknowledge thoughts based on what you have seen and asked the…10 europeans you know?
If it really is a scientific research, what were the parameters? Which variables were taken and which were left out? (Keep in mind I’m just talking out of my ass; I wouldn’t know scientific research if it bit me in the ass.)
Comment by Dutchy of Netherlands — August 14, 2012 @ 3:49 pm
People in China are generally picky about Europeans due to the past and the contacts we had with them. Though they their contribution is enormous China, we have tons of European legacy here. Chinese in general like the Scandinavians, Swiss, Dutch, Austrians and Belgians becasue they’re known as civilized, intelligent, and refined. Also find the Spanish, Portuguese and Italians to be amuzing yet sexy or romantic, we think them as a warm fun-loving people. They are very highly opinionated about the French, Germans, Russians, and the British due to their agressive past especially in China. British are viewed as snobs, imperialist, calculative, and cold but very well-mannered and cultured, while Germans are viewed as cold, proud, distant, agressive, but very serious and punctual. Russians are viewed as cold, violent, agressive, and imperialist but their women are known as good looking and the men are known as being strong even though they’re extremelly alcoholic. French people are viewed as arrogant, chauvinistic, hypocritical, cold and pompous but cultured, romantic, charming, and refined.
In Europe, the Chinese are known as humble, hard working, polite, and modest in the good aspects. But also known as greedy, backwards, dirty, agressive, and calculative slicks in the not so good aspects. This the general views from them based in my experience with them. They also don’t really like our goverment, but as a Chinese I must say well that is due to the result of communism rule in China by Mao Zedong as the pioneer. Europeans are weary with our products because of the quality, yes but not to generalize not all Chinese products are badly made some are good depends on the brand.
About other westerners outside Europe we generally like the Australians, Canadians, and the New Zealanders because they’re known as open, welcoming, and laid back people. Some Chinese peoople like to emigrate to these countries for studying, working, or coming as a immigrant citizens. Americans are greatly hated/disliked in China because they’re seen as greedy, imperialistic, arrogant, shallow, and ignorant. Yet we share our great love/hate realtionship with the Americans since they’re our rivals in economy. We pretty much like their musics and movies, their sense of freedom, and their awesome technologies but we don’t like their government especially George. W. Bush who gave a bad name to Americans everywhere. Some Chinese people think that USA is a cool place for holiday and studying, they also like to migrate to USA for seeking better life oppurtunity.
P.S: Not all of us eating cats and dogs it is just the Cantonese thing not Chinese in general, plus we don’t eat babies anymore it’s disgusting and getting old.
Comment by Xinying — August 17, 2012 @ 12:09 am
The other countries in Europe are rarely discussed in these terms in England as far as I am aware, Although the press sometimes sensationalises stories from abroad. The only thing i noticed was the french portrayal of our country during the olympics, everything about us seems to be despised by them. Food, transport system, people, economy, athletes, weather, all are denegrated in every article i have read about us. I do not hate the french or france, but like most other Brits, getting tired of this constant barrage of abuse.
Comment by jeff — August 17, 2012 @ 3:34 pm
Chinese people in the modern days now tend to respect the Europeans as whole, we think that Europeans are civilized and laid back people. But we Chinese also like to think that that they’re somewhat lazy and living under the welfare state, in the not so good aspect. A lot Chinese people concerned with the European Sovereign Crisis (especially Greece), and scared that one day Europe will be doomed. That is why we must create a better relationship in order to save the economy, we don’t hate you we love you. There are also a lot Chinse going to Europe for studying nad living as a an expatriates, they do this in order to find their future.
But as Chinese, we sometimes have somewhat inferiority complex with the Europeans and concerned with their views about China. Racism and prejudices are the two main concerns of the Chinese when they’re abroad, a lot Chinese think they have bad image in the Europe. Some of us still worried that europeans like look down on us and treat us like a second class citizens. However, I do still believe that people changed nowadays due to the globalization and that image can be changed.
Comment by ?? — August 19, 2012 @ 12:54 am
People in China are generally a bit picky with westerners (especially Europeans) due to the contacts they had with them. I live in Sichuan by the way, there quite a number of European expats here. Now I’ll give you my take regarding European Nations, this is based on what the Chinese perceive them plus my personal experience. If there’s something offensive, I’m really sorry at least I’ll give my best to try.
Dutch, Scandinavians, Belgians, Swiss, and Austrians are greatly liked in China, they’re seen as intelligent civilized people who are very reserved and efficient. A lot Chinese view them as well educated and have the best living standard in the world.
They’re very highly opinionated with the French, British, and Germans due to their aggressive past. Germans in China are viewed as punctual, arrogant, cold, proud, and serious, they’re the ones who are settled at Shandong during the 19th century. German products are loved in China, a lot Chinese like to drive German cars and using German technology for industry. French people are seen as arrogant, chauvinistic, refined, hypocritical, cold, yet romantic and elegant a lot Chinese have fascination with the French culture (especially among the well educated ones). French people like Shanghai and Beijing the most, I’ve meet quite a lot of French expatriates there. British people are seen as cold, arrogant, distant, judgmental, imperialistic, yet polite and calm they’re the ones who make the most expatriate community in China along with Americans and Australians. These people are sometimes criticized for their past and their country policy, sometimes loathed and sometimes accepted as well.
Russians are viewed as the big brother of China due for historical and political reasons, both china and Russia have political and economical ties also share almost the same history. There quite a number of Russians living here especially at North Eastern and Western China border to Russia. China and Russia both tried their best to mend such a good relationship since very long time ago, even though our relationship once cracked in the 1960s.
Italians, Spaniards, Greeks, and Portuguese people are seen as amusing and frivolous by the Chinese in general. We pretty much like their culture and their “live for partying” soul. Their culture are highly admired in China, lots of us also wished to go to their country for holiday and enjoying sunshine.
That’s all I want to say, bye.
Comment by xinying — August 21, 2012 @ 1:36 pm
most fuck to gipsy serbia
1 fak gayrmany
2 fak gayreece
3 fak rusia pussia
4 fak bulgayria
5 fak fyrom
from swiss we hate europe because its shit swiss has more money
Comment by fakgermany — September 1, 2012 @ 4:07 am
im half serbia half grecee we hate sliteyes and muslims
Comment by sliteye — September 1, 2012 @ 4:08 am
Why are you serbians and greeks so racist?
Comment by @sliteye — September 1, 2012 @ 4:13 am
A fun read, especially the comments!
As regards the Polish-German relation, it puzzles me that nobody even mentioned the ethnic cleansing of the eastern parts of Germany after WWII, when Poland was moved westwards, 14 million Germans lost their homes and two millions were killed (after the war was over). How is it possible to not even see the sufferings of the other side?
I am Austrian. Many Austrians dislike the Germans from the north due to the rivalry in the 19th century which led to German unification and Austria being kicked out of the second German empire. Many Austrians consider Germans as rude smartasses. On the other hand, I have heard many Germans have the same opinion about Austrians.
People in Austria feel superior to people from eastern Europe and from southern countries. Austrians, especially from the east, love Hungarians. There are many similarities with the Czechs and the Slovaks, but conflicts too: After WWII, there was an ethnic cleansing of the German minority in Czechoslovakia (these people were, in fact, Austrians) and some years ago, there were frightening articles in the Austrian press about insecure nuclear power plants who seemed to be likely to cause a new Chernobyl-catastrophe. And nobody on the other side of the border seemed to give a shit.
There is much love for Dutch tourists in the western part of Austria: They come to ski and break their legs. 🙂 Much more Austrians in that areas get married with Dutch than with Germans.
I also heard, the Swiss make jokes about the stupid Austrians, whereas many Austrians regard the Swiss as backwards and humourless.
Comment by FHS — September 4, 2012 @ 3:26 pm
Hi
What a nice post here. I loved it so I’m adding my opinion here. I’m Spanish and…sorry, my english isn’t good :
First of all: Stereotypes are wrong. It we use them to make fun of ourselves, like most people here, OK, thats fun. But when thinking about Europe I seriously think that we all europeans must remember this: Its the first time in History that we have such a long period of time with no wars or almost no wars in Europe, between Europeans countries. THATS what should be our main focus here. Peace. Peace and more peace. And then, we can make jokes with stereotypes and stuff, as long as we treat each other fine whenever we travel or move to different countries…etc etc. Lets use this E.U thing right :)!
My opinion on what most people in Spain think, is that as some brits here said, it depends on the educational background. I don’t support clasism or elitism, but there has to admit that people who have traveled around Europe, at least here in Spain, tend to be people studying an erasmus or just people from middle to upper-middle classes with a degree and more money and time to travel around. Anyway, talking about the general population, my opinion is more or less this:
France: People use to say “I love everything in France but the french” they go there thinking that French are rude, and of course they get rudeness. People think Paris is beautiful, and french cathedrals and culture, art etc are great, but that French are arrogant. People in Spain aren’t sure if France is a Latin country or not, so we don’t really know if they’re like culture/brothers or not. Its as absurd as it seem. Yes, french comes from latin, but they don’t look like as latin as we do, do they?
My own opinion: I’ve had exelent relationships with the frenchs that I’ve known, and they weren’t so different from us.
Germany: Before the crisis, the general opinion was 50/50%. The positive was “They are the richest country in Europe so they must do things right. Like cars and machinery” and the negative part was “nazis, nazis, nazis” and I’m afraid that the second one was stronger. THEN THAT was before the crisis. After the crisis started…………………..lets say it politely, most people think “they won’t stop till they destroy us all, along with the rest of South Europe” something that I’ve heard quite a lote of times, and sometimes in very educated forums is “What germans were not able to do with their Panzers, they are doing it now, with their Banks”
My own opinion:. I’ve only known well one german, whose opinion on world matters was exacty the same as mine. I know Germany has many people with differents points of view, as Spain has, so you cannot generalize with them or anyone, for that matter.
Portugal: People don’t think about Portugal much. And when they do….come on people, how can so many of you say that we hate each other? I’ve never in my life, never, known any spaniard who hated or disliked the Portuguese, and the only reason why we don’t think about them is ’cause they’re so near, and they’re so simmilar to us, that we don’t really think that if you visit Portugal you’ll be making the trip of your life. It will probably be like traveling around Spain, ’cause we are almost the same but with a different language. My own opinion is that.
I was in Portugal when Spain won the european cup in football. We were at a bar with many Portuguese….and they were like:
-ah….you go to hell you spanish bastards………………so are you on holidays?
-Yeah, nice place, really, having a great time here.
– Yeah thanks, what a pity you won, hahaha, just joking. Enjoy your time here, cheers!!!
-Smiles
-Smiles back.
Sweeden/Norway/Denmark/Iceland/finland: That lucky bastard who really are perfect in everything. No one knows anyone from there, maybe a couple of us, but everyone think that they are the best countries in the world because of their living standars. People here think that their system is perfect ’cause it mixes capitalism with a strong social system. Beautiful people, but maybe a little to BIG, I mean, like, tall and all that, they look a little scary for some spanish, I think. Too different to us. My own opinion is that There is no perfect country, things are more complex than that. About people from those countries, the ones I’ve known were very nice and polite….but shy, serious and reserved, so its not so easy to make friends with them.
Greece:
Previous to the Crisis, what people thought was. YES they are Europeans, of course they are Europeans. They are the roots of Europe and most people in Spain when thinking about Greece used to think about that. Greece and Rome, Western civilization. Latin and Greek. Like the two of them in the same pack.
Most people here don’t know a Greek in person, but we used to think “Mediterraneas so…..probably simmilar to us”. As simple as that.
After the crisis: See below.
Ireland: They are seen as that country with wonderful music, celts origins, wonderful green scenery (that many spanish love) and a difficult and complicated relationship with UK. Due to our own politics, we are well aware of the old existence of IRA and etc etc. Nowadays they seen as very catholic, more than us and simmilar to brits but more easy going. My own opinion is simmilar to that too. I’d add that I think they are a little xenophic since I’ve been verbally abused there twice, the only place in the world. For my bad english.
UK: Sadly, many people can’t tell the difference between UK and England. And about english people have two basic opinions. Else they are seen as Holligans who drink too much and jump from our balconies in the hotels while at holidays and come here to invade Canary islands along with the Germans. Or they are seen as wonderful upper class gentlemen and ladies who have tea at five, study at Oxford and Cambridge and are polite and lovely.
Politically they are seen as…………..(sorry guys, really) spies, like they are in the EU but they hate us and are here just to help U.S and not Europe.
But then, there are many Anglophiles. I mean, some people here are fans, like teenage fans of Japan (manga, anime, J.rock) some are fans of USA (New York, Freedom, Hollywood…) and some are fans of UK (Harry Potter, their history, their accent, Doctor Who, London, Onty Python…..etc etc)
As part of the angophiles. Its hard for me to give a serious opinion on UK. I love it, but I know, seriously speaking, that there are many kinds of people there. Some good, some bad. I think they tend to speak about classes and educational levels more than other europeans. Like….they seem not to hide classism as much as others. They are seen as classist by some people for that reason too. And too nationalistic, like too proud of the old empire. But then again, I’m sure it depends on the person. There are right wing and left wing everywhere. Rich people and poor people….etc etc.
Italy: Previous to the Crisis. Basically the most simmilar to us country in Europe. A little more conservative than us but we tend to think thats ’cause they’ve got the Vatican City there. A little more Catholic than us still. We do have a strong sense of common origin there.
There have been many races and nationalities in Spain. Greeks, Celts, Iberians, Arabs………but most spaniards consider themselves as coming from Ancient Rome (Rome invaded the peninsula, and we are happy they did, yeah!). And they are mediterraneas so….yeah, like our brothers. Thats our general opinion. Mine too.
Switzerland
Neutral. But simmular to the germans. People here always think about their banks, when thinking about Switherland. My own opinion is that they are very kind, speak many languages and have a wonderful scenery. They love skying, too.
Spain: We have a problem. Houston. A serious problem. Not only we have this issues about independentism Vs spanish nationalism. BUt also………..we had a civil war not so long ago….so….buf. Complicated.
Russia: They were communist. There was a Cold war and they took part on it *lol*. Their women are sexy and their maffia is sooooo agresive and dangerous!!
Thats what most people think about Russia here. Many people here, I must add, don’t think about the communist thing in a negative way. That people use to think about brave cosmonauts and Lenin and the red army wining the war and not U.S and U.K. My own opinon: Ok, a mixture. I know things are complex, but I respect their past and the role they played in XX century history. They character? don’t have any idea. Don’t know any Russian.
And last but not least POST CRISIS ERA:
Old stereotipes are a little bigger now. Sadly for some countries, and not so sadly for others.
This PIIGS name has made people to relate even more to Mediterranean Countries and……….less to Germany. People have a very very strong feeling of friendship towards Italy, Portugal, and Greece, we are fellow PIIGS, brothers, comrades in the same side of a battle. Its hard to explain, but that is happening. Its true. And Mediterranean sea helps to that.
Germany……on the contrary. Oh God. as I said before. General opinion on Germany has gone to hell. Like they are trying to kill us all so they banks get richer and richer. My own opinion is: Things are complex, its not about nationaly, its about….economy and how it works.
Ok, I should be studying….look at me!!! *lol* that all, I guess.
Comment by Rice — September 5, 2012 @ 9:16 pm
It should be mentioned that Norwegians hate Russia as well. A lot of Norwegians distrust Russia even today because of the hostility between the two during the cold war. Although most Norwegians doesn’t consider Russia a serious threat, we don’t really like them and often joke about that they will invade us someday 🙂
Comment by Finn Erik — September 11, 2012 @ 2:44 pm
Chinese people may dislike the French, yet they go to France for holiday, buying French cosmetic products, love French culture, learning French language, eating French food, and they shop at French supermarket (Carrefour).
Chinese people may dislike the British, yet they like watching Mr. Bean, listening to British pop singers, love British Harry Potter, go to UK for college, love British football players, and they like drinking British tea.
Chinese people may dislike the Russians, yet they like Russian models, reading Russian literature, and admiring Russian ladies.
Chinese people may dislike the Germans, yet they driving German cars, using German machine technology, drinking German beer, admiring German Karl Marx and German Beethoven.
Chinese people may feel strange about the Swedish, yet they buy Swedish furniture at IKEA, listening to ABBA, driving Volvo car, and admiring Swedish welfare system.
Chinese people may feel strange with the Irish, yet they like Irish pub, go to Ireland for holidays, and some of them like drinking Irish Guinness.
Chinese people may be unfamiliar with the Swiss, yet they like eating Swiss chocolate, wearing Swiss watch, buying Swiss army knife, and go to Switzerland for holidays.
Chinese people may be unfamiliar with the Belgians, yet they like eating Belgian chocolate, drinking Belgian beer, eating Belgian waffles, eating Belgian fries, and reading Belgian Tintin.
Chinese people may be unfamiliar with the Poles, yet they like Polish scientist and Chopin.
Chinese people may be feel strange about the Dutch, yet they like eating Dutch cheese, wearing Dutch clogs, and going to Netherlands for holidays.
Chinese people love Italians, we love their fashion, their food, their culture, and we love Italian men.
Chinese people love Spaniards, we love Spanish men, Fernando Torres, and we love eating Paella.
But there’s one question, do Europeans love Chinese people ??
Comment by meimei — September 13, 2012 @ 6:45 am
I don’t think so.
Europeans like chinese food and buy chinese products because are cheap but considered of not good quality.
We think that chinese are from very different culture and rather not interesting people to be with.
China is viewed as an emerging economic superpower but I don’t know anyone who wants to live there or admires the chinese way of life. One whould move there only to make money.
Comment by John — September 14, 2012 @ 3:09 am
@John
As a emerging economic country yes, but you must know that China still has a lot of things to learn from European countries. Start from our living standard, our living standard is actually quite low compared to developing countries. But things are getting better nowadays, because China used to be worse around 20 years ago where almost everyone was poor and ill educated. We just have to work a lot on this, but we just have to be patient and have to learn a lot things, that’s all.
As a Chinese I also have to admit that our government is indeed still corrupted and greedy, that’s because China still has to learn and political reform in China need to be taken step by step. Chinese government hasn’t reach that level yet, so just be patient, we Chinese people also wished the same for our government. We always wish the best for our government and our country, don’t lost hope China will finally learn from its mistake and will continue its rising improvement.
Sadly, our society now is pretty messed up since the economic reform, love can be bought, respect can be bought, and even political image can be bought as well. That’s because the Chinese were so poor back then for such a long time, so now they entered a crazy chase of wealth in order to prosper.
Chinese people don’t hate Europeans or Westerners in general, but we just have somewhat gap and miscommunication between us. There are still some Europeans who like to look China bad, and we resent that because we don’t want to be discouraged in our improvements. We all wished that Europeans will stop discouraging us and started to understand China deeper, rather than believe in their biased opinion about China. A lot Chinese out there wished if they could communicate and share their thoughts with Europeans, but they still somewhat feel uncomfortable due to the miscommunication. The same for people in China, they also need to understand the Europeans or Westerners even more.
As for the products yes, our products may be not so good and cheap, but there is a reason behind it. You know why, that’s because China is a developing country that has a little experience about business and industrialization. Plus, most of the industry in China is run by a ill educated farmers that wanted to start business in order to seek a better life. The technological development in China is also still has to catch up with other developing countries in order to make better products. China hasn’t reach that level yet and has a lot of things to be improved, just wait we will improved it as soon as we can. Don’t think it is a bad thing, once the Chinese gain more experience and better education they will understand what went wrong with it.
Basically, China is not a bad country and Chinese people are not all bad. We actually just want to gain more experience and wanting to learn something more for our country’s better future. China will improve its rising, it just takes time to be developed, just any other countries used to be.
Comment by Zheng Youshan — September 16, 2012 @ 4:46 am
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Pingback by Proposition No 2: Coming to the table – the myth of inclusion. | The Millstone — October 1, 2012 @ 6:39 am
@John, @Zheng Youshan I’ll add something about the relationship between Europe (or western countries) and China.
I am really sorry to say that I think that Chine is viewed and its gonna be judged, as the new Cold War opponent. Our media and the most common opinion say that the more China progress, the worse for western countries. Its about …….resources. Sources aren’t infinite, and everyone knows China is huge and there are 3000 million chinese people in China. The moment China gets our living standars (asuming our living standars were the same in Europe, what they are not) will be a problem for us. ’cause there is not enough …..of anything, for all.
THAT IS NOT MY PERSONAL OPINION, but I think its western countries opinion as a whole. Of course its wrong, of course that opinion says that Africa and the rest of the World shouldn’t have a better life, but I think, what makes Europe to….kindly dislike China is Fear. Fear to loose resources, fear if China decides to become a military power (’cause if she does….it’ll be the biggest power in the earth) fear for many different reasons. Just ’cause China is huge and there are so many chinese. I think people is almost sure that China will end being the new big enemy, as the USRR once was.
Thats the opinion on China as a whole, I think, but chinese people living in our countries aren’t seen very bad anyway. But………I don’t know how to explain it. For western people chinese are too different and misterious. As if there was something dark about you. Really, I know, Sheng Youshan, you must be thinking this is the most stupid think you’ve read, I know is wrong, but there is even tales about what chinese do or don’t do. Like “they don’t bury their dead ones in our graveyards……what do they do with them?” and dark stuff like that.
Some people however, educated people, knows better. And is interested in China in other ways. People studying economics, are starting to make travels to China, Shanghai and some factories. And a couple of frined of mine study chinese ’cause they think it’ll be very useful in the future. We all asume you’re the next big economic power. That is taken for granted. Yes. But people prefer US than China as an economic power, ’cause be have been taught to see ourselves as the WEST, as a unity. That unity isn’t real. I mean, I’m spanish and I don’t really think Spain and Norway are closer culturaly than Spain and China. Are south Italy and US more similar than China and Italy? I don’t really think so. But be have been educated to think so. We are the “western countries” and people are generally ok (or at least not seriously annoyed at it) with U.S being the super power, but are afraid of China being the new power. Afraid of that uncertain future.
Other people like the far east countries, and study chinese, calligraphy, or tai-chi..or something very traditional, like chinese buddhism or things like that. That people love China too. But….most uneducated people, the mayority of people, just think China is a dark huge country who will easily become an enemy once it gets as rich as Europe………………:(………………………… U_Uu.
Comment by Rice — October 3, 2012 @ 1:01 pm
@Zheng Youshan One name they use for China is the “sleeping dragon” It says it all. A dragon about to wake up. And dragons are dangerous and not part of our culture ….U_U
Comment by Rice — October 3, 2012 @ 1:05 pm
I’m a git. The relationship between Poland and Germany is exactly like the relationship between Mexico and USA. Completely bloody the same thing.
Comment by Marlowe — October 5, 2012 @ 3:00 am
Dear Rice,
You should know that during the Cold War era when China “closed” its door to the world, China had learned “something” in order to prosper. Chinese people learned from both sides of the communism and the western capitalism during that time, step by step, time by time. Mao Zedong himself tried his own best to built China again (even though he made major mistakes like Great Leap forward and Cultural revolution policy), and he gave the foundation of modern PRC. Throughout the years we have to sacrificed a lot of our life in order to build in China “in our way”, we have to sacrifice ourselves and our beloved ones for China’s bright future. We Chinese people never forget our struggles in the past, and tried our best way to learn our mistakes by trying the best ways.
We had tried to emulate the best way of communism in the 1950s-1960s (beginning) by allied with the USSR and followed their model. Then we tried to emulate the best way of western capitalism in the 1960s-1970s by shaking our hands to the USA and Europeans. After that came Deng Xiaoping, the guy who helped China opened its door to the world through his Open Door Policy, which can helped China to view the world even wider. He was the ones who helped Chinese people gain more experience to modernize and be more developed than ever. Although we were end up in the very dark moment during the Tienanmen Square, that killed a lot of people. But luckily, after tragedies past throughout the years, Chinese people and government corrected their mistakes again and reforming again the country’s system and policies, by creating stability.
China maybe not as “democratic” as western countries, but you should know that China in the present is much more democratic than in the last time of Mao’s era. We have our own model of democracy, which is based on the collectivism not individualism (like the westerners embraced). China is not as communist as the USSR, so don’t view China as a major treat okay? We also have our own model of freedom and human rights practice, based on our country’s history, conditions, and cultural background. It is maybe more oppressive than the Western model, but it is beneficial for our country due to our huge population and complex conditions. Our freedom practice and human rights is also different than western countries, because China still has a lot of problems that haven’t solved yet (like separatism movements in Xinjiang and Tibet which has to be resolved soon, or corruption practices by the numbers of government officials which has to be overcome).
Don’t view this as a treat, because China will be friendly to any other countries that are friendly to China and the Chinese. Chinese people hold their strong values of Confucius in order to mend our great relationship with the rest of world. China is not as communist as it before, and China won’t turn aggressive like the USSR in the past, because we already had learned that before. Ideology is not very important to the Chinese, as long as we mend great relationship in the world, then everything’s fine. And Chinese people won’t be hostile to others, as long others are not trying to be hostile to China by putting China down. As long as you understand China and the Chinese, we have no problem with all of you, even with our “suppose to be rivals” the Americans. Don’t view this as a bad thing, and don’t use as treat to harm China and the 1,4 billions of us.
China may has it flaws, but Chinese people and Chinese government are trying their best way to overcome that flaw with our own way. Chinese people know what is the best for the country and the future, we learned that already and we will just get the hang of it.
And btw, cheer up for your country Spain, it is the most beautiful country that I’ve ever been to and I absolutely love it. Too bad it is undergone a bad economical crisis, it must be tough for you I know. Don’t worry! As a Chinese I wish the better future for your country, and wished your lovely country can overcome the hardship in the middle of the crisis. I will always pray for your country success and your country’s good luck, just believe in yourself and your country.
Comment by Zheng Youshan — October 7, 2012 @ 3:04 pm
Plus, China only uses the military power for defense, not for conquer and conquest. Because if you read up the China’s history, you’ll find out that China has tried so many defensive ways to keep the country safe. So, we won’t try to attack you, instead we try our best way to defend any country in order to maintain good relationship.
Comment by Zheng Youshan — October 7, 2012 @ 3:37 pm
Im polish and you are a bit off, German and Polish people have mutualism towards eachother pretty much an exchange of goods and services for cheap both ways. Poles hate most East neighbors especially the russians. From what my family has told me the Brits and Spaniards hate us. The French, Portugese, and Hungarians like us.
Comment by Sebastian — October 7, 2012 @ 5:40 pm