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
Hello Europeans! I’m Chinese from mainland China of Shanghai. And I’m here for expressing my opinions about Europeans and Europe in general. Since here in Shanghai we have quite a number of European expats living, that’s where I get my first impression and contacts about/with them. Do you want to know my opinions? Okay, I’ll explain them one by one, if there’s something offending or unpleasant pardon me.
Northern Europeans a.k.a Scandinavians (Swedes, Danes, Norwegians, and Finns):
I view them as calm, efficient, yet very introverted people who don’t want to get into any troubles and very self-controlled. I like their living standards, secretly envy them, wished if my country China could catch up with them. Most of them I know are tall, good looking, polite, blonde, blue eyed, pale and calm I really like them. Some of them are also serious and quiet or shy like the Finns, some of them are also trendy and fun loving like the Swedes. Some of them are also laid back and comical like the Danes, then some of them are traditional and humble like the Norwegians. Among all Scandinavians I personally like the Swedes and the Danes the most, they are amusing always satisfying. Norwegians are okay, but I find them can be a bit boring sometimes, or maybe too strange. Finns are fine, but I somewhat think them too melancholic, or even depressive at the moment.
Southern Europeans (Spaniards, Greeks, Italians, and Portuguese):
Laid back, somewhat lazy, warm hearted people who never worry too much about their lives. They like to enjoy their life the most, while gathering around with their families and friends. Have great sense of art and taste, love all kinds of luxuries or artistic things especially the Italians. But unfortunately, I sometimes view them as lazy, loud, and frivolous or careless for that matter they never think carefully that’s the bad side of them. In same token, I secretly envy their sense of joie de vivre, wished if I could appreciate my own life like the way they do, since here in China I have to work hard time 24/7 in the middle of the Shanghai crowd. Italians stand out as the most amusing Southern Europeans because they’re known as snappy fashionistas, great cooks, great artist, and great designers they’re special people.
Western Europeans (British, French, Germans, Swiss, Austrians, Dutch, Belgians, and Irish):
In case of the British I view them as somewhat cold, calm, yet friendly and understanding. But in the not very good aspect I find them can be hypocritical and judgmental about anything which make me suspicious sometimes. Or even some of them also have somewhat superiority complexes among themselves, especially with us the native. British people are known as the “gentlemen” in Shanghai because in the old times they’re viewed as aristocratic, refined, and sophisticated even though things have changed nowadays. Then, I also think that British people are very curious and adventurous always wondering something that they don’t know or they’re really curious about it.
In case of the French I view them as refined, cultured, elegant, sophisticated, and classy people with more “sense of superiority” as compared to the British. They’re known as people with fine taste and relaxed attitude somewhat like Italians but more distant and cold. In the bad aspect they can be arrogant, judgmental, and hypocritical like the British in the first glance, after I knew them they’re fine I guess. French people also like to appreciate something which is unusual for them after I knew even better.
In case of the Swiss I view them somewhat similar to the Scandinavians but more rigid and stiff like the Germans. They’re seen as efficient and hardworking people with the great passion of money and banking. Can be introverted too in some occasions, or maybe can be a bit boring if they’re not interested with something. They like mountains and clean nature the most since Switzerland has lots of mountains and clean environment. And I also secretly envy their living standard like the way I envied the Scandinavians too, wished if I could follow their path. Most of them are also healthy and clean, that’s why a lot Swiss can live so long enjoying their pastimes. Swiss people also have lots of money, thanks to the awesome banking system in Switzerland. If I can spot the Swiss by my trick, I can see them wearing watches and bringing Swiss knives everywhere they go, since they’re great at making those things. And I also love their chocolates, especially Toblerone and Lindt I sometimes but them at the mini market if I have some money.
In the case of the Dutch, I think they’re extremely liberal and tolerant like a bad ass. They’re so horrendously open about sex, they like to talk about sex without feel any shame, which make me feel a bit shy with them. They also like drugs the most such as Marijuana or Cocaine, they like to smoke them during their past times as their habit I guess. But in the same token, I find them very amusing and fun to be around, just like any other westerners with lax attitudes.
In the case of Germans, hmm there’s something intimidating yet awesome about them, which make me curious. They’re extremely cold, rigid, distant, arrogant, and proud just like the stereotypical Germans that we had known in the past, when they settled here during 19th century. In the eyes of most Chinese, Germans are known as hardworking, trustworthy, efficient, and precise people with lots of money and cutting edge technology. Chinese people love German cars and they also demand German technologies for our industrial machines, so we can produce more products. And, we also think they’re much more reliable compared to the Japanese when it comes to settle a business or making a deal.
In case of Austrians, they’re somewhat similar to the Germans but more friendly and laid back compared to the Germans. Austrians are extremely comical and amusing unlike the Germans who are too stiff for my opinion, they’re just the more amusing version of the Germans.
In the case of Irish, I view them as funny people with frivolous nature who know how to enjoy themselves. But they like to get drunk way too much like the British, I knew this when I met a couple of Irish tourist at the Shanghai bond. Irish people are also more amusing and laid back compared to British, just like the Austrians.
In the case of Belgians, they seems very humble and amusing to me, they can make a great playmates like the Irish, the Danes, and the Austrians. I really like their chocolate, maybe not as good as the Swiss but it just taste good to me especially the Belgian dark chocolate. Belgians like to drink beer and eat everything with French Fries from what I know, I notice this when I went to the restaurants at Brussels. Belgians are also laid back, they like to enjoy their life the most yet industrial like the Germans or the Dutch.
Eastern Europeans (Russians included):
Alcoholic people with lively spirit, some of them are quite aggressive but some of them are quite friendly as well. I personally think they’re kind of intimidating at the first, quite okay when I approach them. In the case of the Poles, they’re friendly and humble thought they have great passion of drinking like most Eastern Euros. Poles are also hardworking inventive people, which can explain why they had Chopine and Marie Curie. But with Russians, the ones I know are more aggressive and alcoholic compared to the other Eastern Euros, as they like drinking Vodka everywhere they go. Russians are usually come in two types, the smart and the humble ones embrace communism, while the dumb and the superficial ones love capitalism. Plus, we have quite a few of Russians living in China as you can see them somewhere at the Northeast China or Western China border to Russia.
That’s all I can say, thanks for let me spending my time writing these things I explain above.
Comment by Chinaman — October 9, 2012 @ 2:22 pm
About other western people outside Europe, well let me give you my opinion, may I? If so, thank you so much for the time.
In the case of Australians, I like them I see them as very cool, friendly, laid back people who likes surfing and wicked sense of humor. They like throwing up parties that I simply forget, even some of them enjoying all the wild things like getting drunk or playing crazy games. Chinese people also like to go to Australia for holiday and studying English in Australia’s top universities, or immigrating as expats. We also benefited a lot from the Australians from their coal and steel mine business for our industry materials, which pretty much saved the Australians from the economical crisis. I also like Australia for its Kangaroo, beaches, surfing, and Koalas wish if I could see them.
In the case of the Canadians I view them just the same like Australians but more reserved, they’re known as very liberal and tolerant people with open mind. I pretty much enjoy my conversations with some Canadians, they give me somewhat more interesting knowledge outside my own country. And I also like to exchange my thoughts with some Canadians, sharing my ideas of life and experience. They’re also polite like the Swiss or the Japanese but in the more relaxed manner, unlike some Japanese or Swiss.
In the case of Americans I must say in my personal experience that Americans are usually come in two types, the arrogant hypocritical ignorant ones and the tolerant friendly understanding ones. Americans pretty much give me somewhat mixed impression, some can be annoying but some can be pleasing. The annoying arrogant hypocritical Americans are usually ignorant about China and like to ask ridiculous questions such as: ” Is that true that people in China eat babies?” or “Do people in China have freedom of speech?” or “Is China really that oppressive?”. I was pretty much a bit annoyed with the questions, but well I just answered them in somewhat understanding manner with my own knowledge about my own country and common sense. Some arrogant inconsiderate Americans like to say that my country is just the same like North Korea or USSR when its not, and they also can be self-righteous in certain ways. Then on the other hand, the pleasing friendly open minded understanding Americans are more interested in my country’s culture, history, and politics and sometimes like to exchange theirs. The things that I like about America is their pop culture, weaponry, and their sense of freedom I admire those things in some facade. But on the flip side the thing that I don’t like America is their government policies, American government in China is well known for some of their bad reputations. American government in China is viewed as being arrogant, warmongering, inconsiderate, aggressive, greedy, and threatening in most aspects. I also don’t really like some American medias like CNN, ABC news, or CNBC that constantly make false reports and twisted prejudiced facts about China, just to make China looks bad globally. The lifestyle of some Americans are also not very pleasing to me like their junk food eating habits, dependency on cars or SUV, consumptive behaviors, and their ignorance about the world outside America.
That’s all that I can say, if there’s something offensive I’m really sorry everyone. Because those are just my honest opinion based on my very honest experience.
Comment by Chinaman — October 28, 2012 @ 5:59 am
@Chinaman I really liked your post and it was interesting to read. For me,it would be interesting to hear your opinion on your asian neighbours.
Comment by Inforano — October 29, 2012 @ 8:05 am
@Inforano, do you want to hear my opinions about other Asians? Okay, I’ll give you my two cents. To any Asians who reading this, I’m really sorry if there’s something offensive here in my posting.
East Asians (Japanese and Koreans):
In the case of the Japanese, Chinese people in general have the most tragic relationships with the Japanese. There are still a lot of people in China hold their heavy grudges towards the Japanese, especially the old ones. But these bad relationships are shaped due to the historical wars and conflicts that we had with the Japanese in the past. Chinese still remembered the day when the Japanese invaded China and passing the Chinese with unequal treaties. Chinese still remembered the day when Japanese took some parts of China, turned them into their puppet states. Chinese also still remembered the day when the Japanese slaughtered, enslaved, and massacred them in the WW2. Until now, Chinese are still pissed of with the Japanese government hypocrisies such as: Japanese school text-book faking about WW2 and Chinese massacre, Japanese government still holds refusal to apologize to the Chinese of their sins in the WW2, Japanese government visited the Yasukuni shrine to “honor” the war crimes in China during WW2 and Sino-Japanese wars. I know this is kind of mean, but as a Chinese I personally forgive them no matter how violent they were to us. However in the bright side, some Chinese like to admire their living standards, technology, anime, music, fashions, hygiene, culture, food, comics, and politeness. Just like the way some Japanese admire our culture, history, food, frugality, and national monuments as their exchange. In my personal experience with some Japanese, I think that they are some kind of trustworthy businessmen and investor. They are much more reliable, honest, trustworthy, and considerate compared to the Americans who are more on the crooked side. Japanese are also very understanding and calm, though some of them still have uncomfortable feelings with the Chinese and vice versa. I also like their products and cars, they’re always come in the good quality like the German ones that’s pretty cool, I put my salute on them along with the Germans. I just think their contributions and products in China pretty much paid- off their sins to us, even though they don’t have to apologize so badly. And I also felt some kind of amusement towards them, when they showed-off their pavilion in China during the Shanghai Expo 2010 :D.
In the case of the Koreans (both north and south), I somewhat have mixed feelings with them. As for the North Koreans, some Chinese viewed them as our poor little brother that constantly need our help. But some Chinese though, also like to view the North Koreans as our crazy neighbor with bigger guns that constantly burdening us. Some of us have to help the North Koreans by giving them our food supplies, in order to prevent the serious malnutrition happening in North Korea. When I had a few contact with my acquaintance from North Korea, I must say that they can be very cold and distant in many ways. As for the South Koreans, some of us are annoyed with them because they like to “copy” our culture (to me they don’t) and we also don’t really like some of their chauvinist/racist attitudes. And there’s some weird stereotypes in China that all South Koreans like to undergone plastic surgeries and eyelid widening. We also pretty much like their TV-shows, musics, fashion, cosmetics, technology, electronics, and their cars. I also like the South Korean airport at Incheon, it is very efficient and very modern I like so much as I stepped my foot there. In my personal experience with the South Koreans, they’re kind of cool people like some Japanese, but in more bewildered and temperamental way. South Koreans are also interesting people to be with, they like all the crazy stuffs though not as crazy as the Aussies. But in the negative side, some South Koreans can be racist and close-minded, as they have superiority complex towards other Asians other than them.
Others East Asians (Singaporeans, Hong Kongers, Taiwanese):
In the case of Singaporeans I view them as very progressive people, with amazing living standard and economical progress. I also admired the Singaporeans for their social order, educational system, efficiency, and their disciplinary which can be emulated in China someday. Most Singaporeans I know are extremely well educated, polite, trustworthy, clean, and some of them are considerate based in my experience with them. Think about the Asian Swiss (minus the cheese, chocolate, and the watch), they are extremely rigid, robotic, perfectionist, and stiff in a lot of certain ways like the Swiss. Also, like the Swiss they’re obsessed with finance and banking, since the banking system in Singapore is just as great as in the Switzerland. Singaporeans are also very precise and tidy, they like to do everything carefully like the Swiss too that’s kind of surprised me at the first place. I also like their cool airport in Changi when I step my foot for the first time there, wow it was eye popping and the service was awesome too.
In the case of Hong Kongers well since they have cultural similarities and historical ties with us, I view them as my brother. Even though we have some gaps and miscommunication with them, due to the British rule of Hong Kong in the past pretty much created those obstacles. We like to admire the Hong Kongers sense of efficiency, living standard, social order, and their respect of law, maybe not as rigid or robotic as the Singaporeans in that way. Unfortunately, there are some Hong Kongers who still like to look down on the Mainland Chinese like us for being poorer than them, and some of them like badmouth us. However, I still view them as my beloved country brothers no matter how much they still resent us in some ways.
In the case of Taiwanese we have somewhat tragical and complex relationships with them, due to the political and historical gap that we had with them. This relationship shaped because of the Japanese rule in Taiwan after the fall of Qing dynasty, and the heritage of Chinese civil war. KMT during the civil war was supported by the American forces, after they got defeated by the CCP Mao Zedong they retreated to Taiwan. Then, the Americans funded the Taiwanese regime by giving them economical and political support, trying to keep them away from us the mainland Chinese. That time, both us and the Taiwanese were being brainwashed to keep away ourselves from each other, make me feel guilty until today because of this. The American government pretty much ruined our relationship, they give their support to Taiwan and showing their hostility to the mainland China. It is very sad really, both of us embrace Chinese culture, both of us speak the same language, and both of us have the same life values. As a mainland Chinese from Shanghai, I sincerely hope that one day, both China and Taiwan can co-exist peacefully with each other without any fear or hostility.
Southeast Asians ( Indonesians, Thais, Vietnamese, Khmer, Malaysians, etc.):
In general I view them as laid-back, friendly, and welcoming people with a sense of hospitality. They are very friendly towards foreigners and like to showing their great respect to their friends and family, I like them. They have great culture and great lifestyle with a great sense of joie de vivre that I simply dreamed of. But in the negative side, I view them somewhat lazy and backward thinking without any desire to keep improving themselves. They’re kind of amusing people to me, I think they can make a great playmates if I could join them and befriended them.
that’s what I think about other Asians in general, hope you understand of what I’m saying. Xie xie everyone and have a nice day.
Comment by Chinaman — October 30, 2012 @ 7:11 am
@Chinaman Thanks for answering me
Comment by Inforano — October 31, 2012 @ 9:27 am
I’m Chinese girl from Sichuan province and I just stumbled upon this website just to find out about Europe and Europeans. Because as a Chinese myself I actually have somewhat great curiosity about Europe, I just want to express about what I know in general about Europe. Maybe I’m not as knowledgeable as you guys, but I’m just trying to tell you just as much as I know, thanks for the time by the way.
French: Elegant, sexy, romantic, refined and cultured yet arrogant, flaky, and lazy. The thing that I like about the french is their lifestyle, culture, fashion, and arts. French men are well-known as romantic lovers and French women are known as beautiful elegant mistress. French people make the best pastry and cuisine from I know, which make me often like to imagine that if I could eat them up.
British: Calm, inventive, calculative, and understanding yet hypocritical, judgmental, and distant. I generally like British pop-musics, TV-shows, tea, Big Ben, and James Bond as my amusement towards them. British are also well-known for their great curiosity about everything, and they also can make a good talkers.
Swedish: Tall, blonde, blue-eyed, attractive, well-mannered yet cool, trendy, and fun-loving people. They have the highest living standard in the world from what I know, generally well-educated too with very great social order and governing system. I only thing that I know about their products are IKEA, Volvo, and SAAB that I often see at the mall.
Germans: Punctual, well-organized, hard working, intelligent yet cold, rigid, distant, and arrogant. Germans make the best machinery and cars from I know because they like to sell those things here. Germans are also known as trustworthy businessmen with lots of money like the Japanese businessmen, when they come for investing their industry here.
Russians: Inventive, strong, brave, artistic, have better manners than most Chinese yet they’re “poorer” compared to us, cold, distant, and alcoholic. Russians are famous for their awesome military skills, literature, stunning girls, their great oil and natural gas industry as I heard. Here in China, I’ve seen quite a number of them somewhere at western and northeastern China border to Russia.
Swiss: Combination between Swedish and German, with more passion of money and banking. They like to make cheese, watches, chocolates, and army knives as I know so far. Most of them are also healthy and efficient, which can explain they have great living standard and environmental hygiene. Swiss people also like hiking and nature walking the most, which can explain why they live longer than us.
That’s all I can explain, I’m sorry if I make mistake because I’m just trying for my very fist time here. Bye!
Comment by Xu Lei — November 1, 2012 @ 11:56 am
Don’t worry Xu Lei. Your comment was very interesting and your English is pretty good comparing to the English skills of many Europeans.
Comment by Alexandre — November 2, 2012 @ 1:45 am
Good to read your opinion but I think the subject is “What Europeans think of each other” and not “what Chinese think about Europeans”.
Comment by John — November 2, 2012 @ 10:40 am
There should be other two topics about that: One about what Asians think of Europeans, the other about what Asians think of each other.
Comment by Joao — November 4, 2012 @ 3:30 pm
From a Dutch perspective:
Belgians; they tend to dislike the Dutch more than vice versa. Though once you get to know them they are fun to be around. Slightly introverted, with a (justifiable) love for their locally produced beer. The Dutch and the Belgians subtitle each other on TV, eventhough we can comprehend each other perfectly.
Germans: their reputation is on the rise. WWII is mostly forgotten, except by the elderly. The Dutch generally like the Germans, though we despise them in football stadiums. They are known for their unpleasant language, bureaucracy, beer and sauerkraut, driving like grannies on no-speed-limit-highways (in a traffic jam, Germans always flock to the right – we Dutch just pass them on the left..). They are very fond of our beaches and like to dig huge holes in them..
British: overall considered nice people, often drunk, which makes them a great source of revenue for Amsterdam, unnaturally pale with an unexplainable urge to tan.. However, they usually end up as red as a lobster (sunblock or umbrellas won’t kill you!)
Very nationalistic. Have the tendency to consider themselves above other Europeans (Glorious Revolution, in your face!)
Irish: we love the Irish, full stop.
Fenno-Scandinavians; considered fairly similar to us. Dutch society has many aspects in common with the Nordic countries. We envy their pristine nature (esp. Norway and Finland) but we feel sorry for their sky high alcohol prices..
The French; considered chauvinistic and unwilling to adapt to other people. The French are widely regarded as romantic wine sipping people who enjoy multiple-hour lunch breaks.
Poles: their image is improving. Poles are known for their work ethic and their after-work drinking. Polish wodka is awesome but the people are considered very bland. They do tend to pick up languages fairly easily.
Swiss/Austrians: in essence Germans with a funny accent and a better reputation. We love their mountains and snow, and especially their après-ski.
Czechs/Slovaks/Hungarians/Slovenes/Estonians: the most respected ex-communist nations. We generally like them a lot (Prague and Budapest are great contributors to this appreciation)
Spanish/Portuguese: dating someone from Spain or Portugal is considered a catch. We love those Iberians!
Italians: the men are considered effeminate and the women hairy. Greatly appeciated for their food, art, architecture and history. Though we often view Italy as a ‘banana republic’ (very pejorative), Italians are quite fun to be around.
Romanians/Bulgarians: typically viewed as criminals (though obviously most are not)
Greeks: we blame the Greeks for the crisis but deep in our hearts we all know it’s not their fault. At least not the fault of the common Greek.. We love their food, beaches and olive oil. And Chersonissos, Crete, is a modern Dutch colony..
Comment by Rbn — November 6, 2012 @ 4:55 am
Hey, very interesting comments. I would like to share our stereotypical point of view. I am from the very heart of Europe, the Czech Republic, city of Prague. Please don´t feel offended and take it easy, it´s about stereotypes.
Germany (except Bavaria and ex-DDR regions): our most respected western neighbour. Great mutual business cooperation. High quality products. People are generally OK, extremely disciplined, polite, hard working, productive, effective, saving, least corrupt, innovative, but clueless when things don´t go according to fixed organized plan. Also usually quite cold and a bit boring in private life. Horrible cuisine. We like them and refer to Germany as an example.
Bavaria: beautiful countryside, rich region, high quality life, but unreformed way of thinking since 1939, quite intolerant, fanatically over organized, still very problematic relations between us and Bavarians, mostly due to historical issues.
Ex-DDR regions: generally pretty much ignored here. More or less the population is seen as over too much patronizing with superior attitude toward other countries in the region due to fast modernisation and development … but hey, who paid the whole bill for that?…Western Germany Empty small towns as everyone hast left to Western Germany. Lacking high quality labour force.
Netherlands: well respected civilized country. Very flat, beautiful coastline. People are generally friendly, tall and good looking (except for Geert Wilders). We often refer to NL as an example of how things should be done.
France: islamic country in the south-western Europe. Chaotic and arrogant people, who are always astonished that the World does not speak French. They like to give tourists wrong instructions when they ask locals for directions in English. Strikes and multiple-hour lunch breaks are their top hobby. Haute-cuisine, beautiful countryside, lots of history. High-spending, indebted country, potential leader of the southern version of Euro.
U.K. and Ireland: generally friendly people, with good manners until you meet groups of young totally drunk males throwing out and pissing on historical monuments in the city. Wearing shorts and T-shirts in cold weather. Bad food. No, we don´t want your jobs in the U.K., that´s Poland who wants it.
Austria: our south-eastern neighbour. Although Austrian mentality and cutlure is identical to ours, relations between us and them are the coldest and most unfriendly that could ever exist between two neighbouring countries in Europe nowadays. Austrians like to lock some of the family relatives into the house cellars and keep them imprisoned for years. Their activists like to block borders due to nuclear plant. Austrians come into orgasm whenever They can call themselves western, although half of the country is situated east of the Czech Republic and when you travel from Prague to Vienna, you go pure east. All in all, Austrians are not respected at all.
Poland: our north eastern neighbour. Something Polish means something very cheap and extremely low quality. Although we are always put together in one bag with Poles, the mentality, culture and lifestyle is completely different. Nowadays Poles tend to be over too much self confident mostly because their country was almost untouched by the crisis, but that´s only because Poland has always been way more backwards and poorer than other countries from the region. Overall Poland is ignored here and we feel completely indifferent toward them.
Slovakia: (upper Hungary), does not exist anymore as all the population is living in the Czech Republic and working in supermarkets,in hospitals as nurses, at McDonald´s, and accepting low paid administration jobs as the quality of life in the Czech Republic is higher than in Slovakia.Their students are occupying Czech universitities and college dormitories. All of them are constantly complaining and critisizing everything in the Czech Republic, but still will stay. Slovakia is a smaller version of Ukraine, but being a member of Eurozone, still has to financially support Greek salaries,even though 2 people in Slovakia are sharing 1 Euro coin. We feel more home in Austria than in Slovakia.
Hungary: generally friendly, good looking, self confident people. Great tasty food. Heavily struggling with crisis.
Slovenia: clean beautiful small country, optimally well organized. Friendly, generally good looking people.
Latvia/Lithuania: severely hit by the crisis but recovering quickly. Now struggling with Russia´s aggresive influence.
Estonia: the real example for everybody, least indebted country, they see themselves as smaller version of Finland. Russia´s influence is evident though.
Finland: civlized nordic country. People are friendly but extremely introverted. It takes an eternity until they let you approach them. They have Russia´s drinking problem, but now how to handle it.
Sweden, Denmark, Norway: well respected Scandinavian countries. Very clean, very civilized. Although the climate is sometimes depressive people can be very friendly and optimistic, but generally you need a lot of time to approach them. After one beer they change completely. Danes tend to be more racist and intolerant though.
Russia: …and that´s where the story begins. Absolutely most controversial relations. Without any doubt we thank them for having us, together with U.S.Army, liberated from Hitler, but what came after and lasted 40 years was another horror. Therefore they are having absolutely the worst reputation here. We are being already annoyed by constant flow of Russian immigrants seeking better life here and creating their own closed communities. They are bringing their old soviet habits, dirty mafia money, crime, aggresion, unfriendliness and their typical I-can-buy-you-all attitude. Russian tourists are generally welcomed though as they are a high spending clientelle. But we are glad when they leave again. And no, we don´t speak Russian.
Serbia: violent nation, very aggressive and confrontational, quite uncivilized. They have tight connections with Russia. People are very undisciplined, backwards, but over too much patronizing and too much self confident. Fanatic, aggresive football hooligans. Yes, Kosovo is free and independent.
Greece: the epicenter of the never ending crisis. The laziest and least productive people on Earth, requesting only more and more money and blaming others for their current problems.
Switzerland: breathtaking countryside, very clean. Very expensive country living from world dictators´money. People very reserved interested only in social status.
Spain/Italy/Portugal: generally friendly, good looking people interested only in their siestas, fiestas, parties, late night discotheques. Great food and great holiday opportunities.
USA: mostly friendly, informal, too much self confident, loud. They like their me-myself-and-I attitude.
Comment by St. — November 13, 2012 @ 2:29 pm
I know the idea of this article is that it’s your subjective opinion but what you wrote about Poles… it’s simply not true. The relations between Poland and Germany are NOTHING like those between the US and Mexico for so many reasons that I don’t even want to start naming them. In short, it’s a completely different historical, social, geographical and economical context.
Surely, the image of Poles in Germany is still quite negative but it’s much better than described here. I am Polish, and lived in Germany for year and never really noticed the “hatred” your talking about.
Also, it’s utter rubbish that Poles hate all their neighbors. Poles love Czechs and Slovaks (I know this from specialist polls, not just my intuition), most of us like Ukrainians and are rather neutral with Lithuanians. The only nation the Poles dislike (still, not everyone does!) is the Russians.
And as for Poles being liked/disliked in other countries, my impression is the following:
1. Germany: rather negative/netural, but not very negative; changing for the better
2. The UK: rather positive/netural
3. Ireland: rather positive
4. The Netherlands: negative
5. Ukrainiee: positive
6. Czech Republic: neutral
7: Hungary: positive
8. Lithania: negative
9: Slovaka: netural
10. France: neutral/negative
11. Italy: positive/netural
Comment by Michal — December 1, 2012 @ 6:28 pm
I’m Irish living in the UK, think its unreasonable to say that the Spanish are loved everywhere, certainly know that the droves of loud disrespectful teenage English language students that arrive to both Ireland and the UK are not very well loved. Each summer large cities are overrun by these shouting teens. They should be taught not just English, but also the acceptable volume at which to hold their conversations so as not to alienate the locals.
Comment by cake lady — December 20, 2012 @ 5:48 am
Im German and as i read all this comments, i really have to laugh, because these articles are all some kind of true, but not for general. My opinion to the…
french: (i really like france because of their nice culture,language,land and they have gorgeous women!) but they dont like us, but we like them
…dutch: I like dutch, we make a lot of jokes about them and i think they like us (but i just have been there for a few weeks and i just know they are kind and friendly)
…british: Both sides think pretty neutral about each other compared to all the other european countries
…italian: the stereotypes of us are pretty the opposite, they are open, friendly, lazy and dont care about punctuality and come very late, in contrast to the german stereotypes, we are not open, very punctual, and work a lot. But actually both sides (as far as i know italians what they think about us) like each other.
But i really love Europe, because of our difficulties unlike the Asians,Americans, South Americans or Arab(the culture and the people are actually same, or not that different than we Europeans are) Instead of lookin up to America or something like that, we should look up to our lovely neighbors. All this statements i said are just my opinion and how i see that in my view, just take it easy.
Comment by Benjamin — December 24, 2012 @ 6:55 am
I hate Europeans
I hate Scandinavians, especially Swedes
I hate Muslims
I hate Asians
I hate russians
I hate Negroes
I hate school
I hate people
I hate christmas & new year
I hate pop-music, techno & rap
I hate animal abusers
I hate your stupid world with stupid boundaries.
I`m so fed up with you
Life ain`t worth living & you`re all worthless
DailyCandor: You ARE Russian. Do you hate yourself, too?
Comment by Cadaveria — December 25, 2012 @ 3:18 pm
As for the comment of Michal (715) on the shouting spanish teens that overrun the peaceful British Isles every summer, I can only empathize with him and acknowledge that the young language students should be aware when going abroad that they have to respect local culture and habits. Volume of conversation is a cultural trait that possibly differenciates some mediterraneans from non mediterranean europeans, and we spaniards should take that into account in order to avoid disturbing everybody else.
Having said that, I beg the same sympathy for those spaniards who have to bear the brunt of taking up with droves of young adults from the British Isles in summer time, who disrupt local life in Spain by getting drunk and singing drunk songs aloud in the small hours. No offense please, I am just trying to say that tourism brings sometimes about some side effects that we all regretfully suffer in Spain as well anywhere else.
Now some comments about countries.
Ireland: one of most loved countries in Spain. For historical reasons we shared a common enemy in the past, (sorry UK). Enjoy their traditional music, their sense of humour and find striking similarities in many aspects between northern Spain and Ireland.
UK: in spite of the strong differences between english, scots and other nacionalities, we usually call them all english, which I guess drive them crazy. Cities and towns very tidy, prestigious old universities, being London one of the most atractive cities in Europe. Food have a bad reputation, which I think does not deserve it.
Portugal: Our brothers that kept themselves busy in the past building fortresses to prevent us from taking Lisbon. Language and people very similar to us. I think some older spaniards still look down deeming them as backward, while on the contrary is a very beautiful country which keeps a traditional flavor regretfully lost to globalization in most Europe.
France: beautiful women, good food, tidy lanscapes, a perfect combination between mediterranean and nordic Europe with upsides from both. Regretfully they did not cause a good impression when Napoleon paid us a visit two centuries ago.
Italy: close brothers, but they are richer in the northern part and we are less mafiossi in the south. Similar atachment to the “mamma”.
Greeks: amazingly, greek language sounds the same as spanish regarding accents and pronunciation. But if you get closer to the speaker, you just catch a few words as paradigma or sintagma. We share, especially in the south, a similar landscape, way of living and lately the same economic slump.
Northern central Europe: north European countries lose before spanish eyes their differences. We deem them all as cold, boring and efficient countries.
Central-Eastern Europe: neither much known distinction , though we have had the opportunity in the last decade to get familiar with many rumanian inmigrants. Very hard working and honest, with good reputation regretfully tarnished by some thugs who came along with the hard workers hidden inside the trunk of their cars.
And finally let me confirm that, as already commented, funnily In the USA many assume that the spanish speaking world is homogeneus and affiliate it all to Mexican stereotypes, regardless you are a american indian alpaca herder from the Andes, a aragonese peasant from Spanish Pyrinees, an african-cuban fishermen from the Caribe or a german mennonite settler in Paraguay.
Comment by Toño — December 26, 2012 @ 12:12 pm
Admin, don`t insult me. Your eyes might have betrayed you 😉
DailyCandor: Your IP address seems to have betrayed you. 🙂
Comment by Cadaveria — December 29, 2012 @ 1:12 pm
IP address means nothing.
By the way I`m not russian… hmmm, I wonder why people are interested in such crappy things as nationalities (sigh)
Yeah, I hate myself & do all my best to die the sooner the better.
DailyCandor: Wouldn’t you be an example of a person who’s interested in nationalities? I guess you’ve just insulted yourself again. But, please, you can drop the cynical shtick – I won’t tell anyone.
Comment by Cadaveria — December 31, 2012 @ 2:09 pm
You have not guessed (sigh) I`m interested in Evil & nothing except Evil (Black Metal, horror films, vampires & so on)
Farewell.
Comment by Cadaveria — January 7, 2013 @ 8:59 am
The Dutch are racist bigots ! However,they will never admit it ! Remember: “EUROPEAN-ONLY TOILETS” during apartheid in South Africa,set up by the Dutch Boer Afrikaaners ? OH YES…although Dismantled,the white settlers there did not want the races to mix-in any way,shape or form ! What did they think…white asses didn’t stink…only black ones ? One Afrikaaner told me they believed the blacks in South Afrika were not fully human.They were a pre-evolved missing link of sorts (fully 33% gorilla),and thus,could never be considered equal with whites from Europe.They were perceived as dirty,ugly and dumb.With a vile odor,similar to a zoo beast.The old signs on beaches once posted: “NET BLANKES IND DE STRAND EEN ZEE” [“WHITES ONLY ON THE BEACH AND IN THE SEA”] Imagine….telling people they can’t go in the ocean if they are not white ! A wicked and evil policy !
Comment by Marko — January 15, 2013 @ 8:55 am
Well, I am born to an Italian father and Slovak mother in the UK. Some important viewpoints from me:
– France. Once you get past the arrogance and accept that they do have some things to be admired, they can be interesting and enjoyable companions. Personally, I find French women to be some of the most attractive in Europe and for a West Europe country they are not masculine or feminist like in the UK. The North Africans have ruined many in the young generation though as they have encouraged the ridiculous fake ghetto culture, which you can now even see in old, wealthy and beautiful cities like Dijon.
– Germany. It’s a good country and they will not lie to you. A bit smug maybe. but all young Germans I meet are decent people with a good heart. I think they should embrace their germanic side more though, it is embarassing when you see them try to declare a European identity and try to kiss and be loud like Southern Europeans.
– Serbia. My favourite country in Europe. Don’t believe the media, this is full of the warmest, intelligent (but not fake intellectual) and original people in the world. The girls are stunning, the food is incredible and you can find both modern and sexy Belgrade as well as trdaitional villages where the life didnt change much in many years. A country of great pride, tradition and bravery I will love it forever. I really hope it does not join the EU and lose its balls.
UK – I don’t know what to think about ‘my’ country. Sometimes you can feel really a part of it and proud of a British identity. Sometimes you think that there is nothing really to be proud of. Most males of my generation (20) are quite emasculated and many girls totally without charm or something that makes you want to spend more than 2 days with them. I don’t like the history of backstabbing other countries but for sure UK has done some glorious things. We will see, better to ask me in 50 years.
Comment by ciccio — January 16, 2013 @ 4:23 pm
I loved this. Most of it is probably true. And really funny.
Now, I was rather surprised that you included Austria, but since you did, I might as well tell you that you left out one really important thing (you couldn’t possibly know, unless you’ve lived in Austria):
Austrians don’t like Germany. At all. Now, Germany actually really likes Austria, and Germans usually aren’t aware that Austrians don’t like their country, but Austria really doen’t like Germany, and it has nothing to do with the Second World War.
It’s only because foreigners keep saying “Austria? Oh, this little country next to Germany…” or “So, how do you celebrate Christmas in Germany? Yes, I know you’re from Austria, but isn’t Austria the same as Germany?” And Austrians have some national pride. We’ve got the feeling that the Germans are replacing us in the minds of people (which they are), so we feel really resentful towards then and have a huge amount of rather evil jokes about them. It’s quite mean actually.
Comment by Casutama — February 2, 2013 @ 8:49 am
This article is very funny .
I`am a romanian :
-We hate hungarians and the hungarian minority because of Transilvania ( we have many jokes about them)
-With bulgarians we are mixed ,a little more negative.
-We like the serbs maybe because the ortodox church and good ties in comunist era.
-The russians and ukranians are very bad seen .
-And a mixed opinion about the other countries(europe) .
Recently we started to hate the british and the dutch because of they opinion about our country in E.U .
Comment by Django — February 4, 2013 @ 12:34 pm
As a Spaniard myself and inhabitant of the Canary Islands I must say I totally agree with this article. 90% of spaniards feel utterly insulted if you dare to compare them or confuse them for a South American
Comment by Torres — February 13, 2013 @ 1:20 am
The Azores are part of Portugal.
Comment by Carlota — February 18, 2013 @ 9:46 am
Hello from Bavaria,Germany. You have to know that the most of them are sneaky people. The dirty sort of this kind of people. In the real life they play the normal people, but in the Internet they show their real face. I even found a classmate in the Internet. I thought that she was very nice, until i read a comment, how to solve the immigrant problems. The answer was deporting and castration. They often try to make other nations bad and when you start to defend your country, you are an Anti-German. This arrogant “hard working” people work as much as the foreigners in their country. (expect the people who misuse the system, but are not afflicted from insults, which real hard working non-Germans hear often.) They are rude people. Even their woman dont like them. The top of their fascism, they reach in football cups. When their flags are waving everywhere, they are the biggest fascists on earth. If you are foreigner, you have to cheer for the “German” (Where are the Germans?) team. And beware of a mass of them. If you are alone as a foreigner in a mass of Germans, they will try to bash you and your country. They are not better than the other foreigners, who can be seen in their TV as subhumans. Their media is full of lies about every country. Trust me, they are not Nazis anymore, but their hidden fascism is in every aspect of their life. If you want to come to Germany for work, forget it! Go to Scandinavia, Canada, USA, Australia or New Zealand! The good Germans are everywhere, but not in Germany. I knew some of them. They left Germany. This country had no perspectives for them. Most of them settle to Scandinavia or to the South Pacific. To me: Im a Student in beginning. I have not many German friends, because, how i said, the most of them are sneaky people. I was often the target of many fascist teachers here. (Its not uncommon in the upper school) My mother cries every 2nd week because of insults. (Because she is the only foreign woman there.)
But, not all of them are how i described the Germans. Some of them are like a shining pearl in the darkness. One of my best friends was an old man. A nice, poor, but very! intelligent man, who lived alone. The Germans dont care for their grandparents, like in many parts of Europe. Sadly he died, when my final exams started. Tip for jobless people who want to come to Germany: If you are well educated, go to Australia or Canada.
To the Germans who will read this, I have to say that I will leave your country. I am sorry, that I grew/grow up here and wasted your time. You know self that this is the truth.God bless their good individuals. Now you can start with your bashing
Comment by FascistGermany — February 18, 2013 @ 11:23 am
As an American, I think it’s cute in the way Europeans each cling to their national identities.It’s too bad for you people that globalization and multiculturalism will eventually destroy any individuality you now enjoy. There are lots of anti American sentiments here, but it’s totally understandable, as all countries in Europe are just small, insignificant players in the world and cannot compare with the strength and might of America. All you have is your history and you cling to your nationalism like a baby clinging to it’s mother’s teat, it’s your lifeline. What happens when your populations are eventually over run by immigrants such as France and Sweden with it’s growing Muslim populations, your countries and identities will be forever changed, then what will you have? Nada, nothing.
DailyCandor: Do you think it’s cute the way Americans cling to their national identity? Especially embittered, right-wing Teabaggers?
Comment by Vee in Maine — February 19, 2013 @ 5:45 pm
OK I admit being a little angry. I think that’s cute. P
Comment by Vee in Maine — February 19, 2013 @ 6:33 pm
The japanese in general have respect for European countries, and we learned from them a lot in past. We also like to think that Europe is a very interesting continent with lots of enchanting cultures and places. From the northern tip of Norway to the southern tip if Italy, the western tip of Ireland to the east in Russia all are very special to us. Each of the country have very special things that we japanese simply admire, and we tried to emulate all the good aspects of each culture as a appreciation.
But in general, japanese feel closer to UK more than any other European countries. Because we and the british have similar society structure, both of us also share the “island mentality” of being polite and thoughtful. This is vey meaningful to us, as we have a very deep respect towards the British for so long time. Just like the way we have a begrudging respect towards China (even if we don’t want to admit it), because we learned a lot from China too.
I do understand that people in the Europe continent like to appreciate our culture, and I think it is good. So, people can understand Japanese and Japan much better as much as we tried to understand you. We Japanese are really grateful that you enjoyed our culture, because we Japanese are very proud of it. I just hope that us Japanese and Europeans can communicate more to understand each other, creating a much better relationship. Thanks for the time everyone, sayonara.
Comment by Shirou — February 20, 2013 @ 7:57 am
I’m a fucking idiot that knows nothing about different nations!!!!!
Comment by Dave — February 24, 2013 @ 4:06 pm
Even though nobody is inferior because of their race, in a way, there is an inferior approach to life based on results when efficient thinking is not used. Some people are pessimistic and some are optimistic.
What I think of other Europeans has a lot to do with that. I, myself as a Frenchman from France, prefers people from the British isles, Scandinavia and German-speaking countries and countries like Holland, etc. because they are more optimistic.
In the Economist magazine, a survey taken among Europeans was discussed to show that the difference of opinions on one particular subject also reflects the attitude toward economic life, etc. The survey wanted to know who believed that when you work hard you should be successul in life. The British, Germans and people of similar thinking feel that when you work hard you can be successful in life. They are the positive people of Europe and the pillar without which everything would come crumbling down. The (inferior) French, Italian, Greek and people from countries with similar attitudes felt that you cannot be successful even though you work hard.
I just can see the impact that such difference has on the Euro and the European Union. I think there should be two European Union. The People who feel like the British and Germans should join the Union of Positive Peoples and the peoples like the inferior French, Italian and Greeks should join the Union for Peoples with Negative thinking. And then when they see the results of their thinking they will see who got it right. And maybe some of these peoples with negative thinking may learn the better way if they have it in themselves to see the light.
Comment by Bertrand Feuvray — March 18, 2013 @ 11:44 pm
Greetings, everyone. As an American living in a rather shabby, down-at-the-heels part of (western) Germany, I have had the opportunity to meet quite a different variety of European than what I usually encountered back in my native USA. What strikes me most forcefully about Germans is that deep down they hate themselves, presumably because of the war and its associated horrors. From my perspective, people here have it pretty good: health care, sanitation, food, cost of living in relation to take-home wages, short work hours, public transportation, etc., are all, pound for pound, more optimal than where I come from. Despite all the griping about taxes and “Gebühren” (fees), the fact remains that it is much easier to get by here on a modest income than in many parts of the US. Yet everyone walks around with a glum mien, acting as if the world is coming to an end…never in my life have I heard so much whining and griping about petty annoyances or nothing at all. Put another way, everything is really nice here, but many Germans make it hell for themselves by acting so grouchily and dissatisfied all the time. At first I attributed this to a passion for hard work and high standards, but after several months working in an all-German environment, I am having second thoughts. In America, due to the preponderance of war films, we have gradually acquired an image of Germans as strong, powerful, efficient, stoic and hard-working. At my office, they whine constantly, especially about the cold (I come from a warm climate and I never find it uncomfortable in the office), call in sick (“krank schreiben”) for the most trifling ailment, and between the chitchat and the long breaks, I rather doubt that anyone puts in more than six hours of real work a day. One employee has had two weeks of vacation and three weeks of sick leave just since New Year’s. On top of all that, they bad-mouth the boss openly! Even stranger–bear with me here–it seems to me that many of the characteristics that Jew-haters attribute to Jews are exactly what other Europeans assert about Germans. Various “Ausländer” here have informed me that Germans are greedy, selfish, money-obsessed, hoarding misers who exploit and squeeze the less fortunate (such as the southern European countries), that the women are all whores who cheat on their emasculated, henpecked menfolk, that they’re clannish and regard themselves as superior to everyone else, that although they’re intelligent and capable it is put to malevolent use, etc. Personally, I don’t hate the Germans, and I don’t find the language THAT difficult, but I will concede that they can be “ein schwieriges Volk” — difficult people at times. Like anywhere, though, you have to take social strata and class differences into account…despite the vaunted egalitarianism of the “social market economy,” there is a sharp cleavage among social classes and education levels. Generally, the wealthier and better educated a German is, the better he will speak English, understand the vantage points of others, and, perhaps most importantly, not be as defensive or petty. But you can say that about the wealthy or better off in most other countries…go to California and talk to rich Mexicans (yes, there are quite a few of them), and you will not believe that they come from the same country as their poor countrymen.
Comment by Trueblood — March 23, 2013 @ 4:22 am
Dont u think poles hate russians?
ok, evryone hates russians -.-
Comment by Filip Langdalen — April 6, 2013 @ 11:44 am
Hello! Since I am Greek I would like to make an intervention. At all posts I’ve seen greeks to be described as lazy. Have you ever wondered about the facts? Have you ever actually met any Greek who didn’t work? The most common fact here in Greece is people working in two jobs instead of one and in most jobs here 8 hour shifts do not exist, it’s 12 hour shifts at least. What you view is people that even though working so hard always find the time and the mood to have fun or relax. You hear all kinds of propaganda saying that Greeks find ways to get payed without working but think of it please. Is it true? There were some phenomena that were promoted by media and you are all victims of those. Even Greeks blame each other under this propaganda but ask even them: do they actually know many people who don’t work here in Greece? It’s obvious that I’m referring to post crisis period. The only people we know of not working properly are workers having posts coming out from government favors. This is actually to blame not an entire nation. Are there many Greeks that you know of going abroad for work that are lazy? What happens when a Greek goes abroad? Does he change character? Greeks are hard working people who like to enjoy life. This could hardly recommend a lazy feature. Most people here had their jobs and unfairly lost them and now they struggle to make a living. Oh and if you don’t consider us as Europeans then you are hardly worthy of your civilization because you deny of its origin.
Comment by at — April 17, 2013 @ 2:04 am
And what Greeks think of foreigners : Cyprus=Greeks
Italians=twins,
Turks=potential enemy, when a Greek visits their country they are extremely friendly and polite but you get a Sense of acting policy
Serbs=respect due to common struggles
FYROM=exploits of a name and propagandists
Bulgarian, Slavs, Albanians=enemies,hostiles, prostitutes
French=admiration of their country and culture. Some of us think for French they are snob some of us don’t. Personally I have the best opinion for French people because I encountered the most friendly and warm people. Same for Belgium.
Germany=Nazi people. This is the general opinion and actually what I received from Berlin with 2 or 3 exceptions. But when I went to Munich..people were wonderful and welcoming.
British=polite and punctual. Most of them don’t care about your origin but some of them are quite obnoxious.
Spanish=party people and warm hearted.
Netherlands=obnoxious
Danish=friendly and kind.
Switzerland=strict, unwelcoming and obnoxious even in tourist jobs.
Comment by at — April 17, 2013 @ 2:34 am
And here is a comment to be made by a Turkish Guy:
People of Turkey: Well, for years Turkish people admired European Union as the member countries were highly integrated with open borders, united currency & high gdp per capita. After 2002, Turkey started to grow with high percentages in GDP. Today, looking at the economy Turkish people realize that the EU is not the only option with new markets in Middle East, Asia and Africa on rise. Watching the economic problems in Europe (Especially southern europe), people feel that the European integration is not even necessary anymore… We may, hopefully, structure a new union with western asian and middle eastern countries as Germany did back in 60s. At the end, Europe today is becoming more and more German Europe…
Kurdish People: Brothers in the Country. Had always been together in the history, Inshallah we will never be divided.
Azeri & Turkmen/Uzbek/Kazak/Kyrgyz People: Brothers in lineage.
Arab World: Brothers in Religion. As-salamun Aleykum ya anta habibi!
Bosnia/Albania: Brothers in history/Culture
Georgians: Cousins in culture, we need to get even closer for possible treats.
Greece: Common culture, people had been together on this land for years during Roman, Byzatium and Ottoman Era. Past had seen good and bad scenes but we should find common grounds for better tomorrows.
Bulgarians/Romanians/Ukrainians: Common culture, nice people, good friends.
Italians/Spanish/Portugese: Common mediterranean characteristics, you know what I mean 🙂
Belgium: To me, Brussels is the best city in the Central Europe. Was very much like ?stanbul, New and Old is together. People are very much on the streets 24/7. It is small but diverse! Favourite in Central Europe.
Germans: Mechanic mind; subnormal heart. conscience? disliking the Nazi people there. People were not bad when I visited the country, were almost friendly. They can show a little more sympathy.
UK: Cannot really generalize, are very diverse in London. Reasonable people though…
France: This is a country that is very hard to comment. I think everyone (except for maybe French) may understand what I meant…
Netherlands: Nice people when I visited, reasonable, friendly, biking is a great idea. Only problem is that there is just too much freedom that it is almost anarchy there. (Sorry, I am not a guy that enjoys drinking,gambling or prostitution; I am muslim you know… 🙂 ) People are nice though, hope that we will not see protectionism increasing there due to the people like Mr. Wilders.
Scandinavia: What can we say, good integration, good education, high incomes, high diversity,good health system, good people. We are sorry for the A. Breivik situation. Hope that nazism wont increase there. It is just that people should know there hearts better. People should feel little more sympathy for surronding people and others.
Russia: We like the no visa regulation. Seeing more russians in TR which is good. But, the extreme right in Moscow is not a good thing for tomorrow.
DailyCandor: Well, since you’re counting Turkey as Europe, then maybe you should also count Armenia. Pray tell, what is the Turkish view of Armenians?
Comment by Turkish Guy — April 19, 2013 @ 12:00 am
The Portuguese perceive themselves as not being overly liked in any other country, with the exception of Brasil, Mocambique and Angola, the former colonies. Partially because most people that immigrated from Portugal to other foreign countries usually departed looking for jobs in the construction industry, often being the poorest in the country.
The Portuguese people, in general, have a very strong empathy for anyone from their former colonies and racism is very very poorly perceived or tolerated. Historically, the Portuguese have married and had children with the inhabitants of their colonies. Only extreme right wing neo-nazis tend to advocate hatred over the black people. The common people find the Nazis and extreme-right as being trash not worth listening to.
Moreover, the Portuguese are highly tolerant concerning foreigners from other nationalities (Ukraine and Poland, for example).
The Portuguese have ambivalent feelings towards the Spanish, and tend to consider them relatively dumb as a result of the fact that a Portuguese shall understand 80% of what the Spanish says without ever learning their language, but the Spanish will understand 5% or less.
Germans, in particular, are also not very well liked.
The Germans are perceived as being the Nation Reponsabile for two world wars, the mass murdering of Jews and being, still today, a very racist country with a superiority complex and a selective short memory.
Because the Portuguese have little to no tolerance in regards of racism, the Japanese are also considered with some ambivalence due to their actions in the WWII towards the asian people of China and the fact that they never apologised for their actions.
Germans are also considered to have over exploited the lack of ethics of the Portuguese politians when Portugal entered the euro, having traded money with strings attached on compromises for ruining most of the indusrty and aggriculture that existed in the country. The consequence of it being that the country started using most of that money to import the products manufactured by the German enterpries.
The Portuguese consider that entering the Euro, and the subsequent defense of the National interest by their Politicians is the equivalent to the, “Instead of teaching me how to fish, just serve me diner” and more and more pro leaving the currency and looking for tarde Partners in South America as well as with the Former Colonies.
The Portuguese love the sea and beaches.
And of course, they are well aware of how much corruption seems to poison their Political system.
The Portuguese are very traditional and have deep love for family. Boys are always very attached to their mothers.
Women are hard to get and normally do an excellent job replacing momma.
Comment by Whatever — April 21, 2013 @ 3:44 am
I’m Korean and this is what I think about Europeans and in general, I have been to several European countries and here is my impression about them. Sorry if there are any offenssive words / sentences here, that you for the time:
Dutch: Tall, I mean extremelly tall people with friendly attitudes and they speak amazing English. They like their bicycles so much, and they like to eat everything with cheese ( just like the way us Koreans like to eat everything with Kimchi). The Dutch are also quite extreme people, they have legal prostitution, legal weeds, and even legal alcohol too. Dutch people are very laid back people with great sense with friendship, they make great friends. They are not very racist, very welcoming towards other people other than their own kind unlike some Americans. But on the negative side, the Dutch can be cranky and stubborn on a lot of things as they think they are always right. The Dutch always think that whatever they know everything, and sometimes they have the “I am better than you” atittudes. Their dairy products are amazing especially the cheese, I like Edam and Gouda cheese the most. I like their tulips and windmills by the way, those are cool.
French: Koreans always relate French people with romance or un amour as the impression. They have great fashions and great cuisine, their cuisine is much better than our kimchi I must admit. French cosmetic products also have great reputation among Korean women, especially Lancome and Estee Laudeer. Wine is great too, the champange is even better I like Champage very much. But on the not so good aspect, they can be arrogant and chauvinsitic compared to other Europeans. think they are superior in everything. French people can fussy and demanding on a lot of things, as they never get satisfied with everything surrounds them. Pompous too, always pretentious and can be very vain on many situations. The women are sophisticated and men are very trim, their temperaments are similar to the Swan. French men are romatic and cool, I like them and they also know how to groomed themselves very well. French women dont get fat and are very sophisticalted, with great sense of fashion along with great atittudes. Their pastries and cakes are tasty, when I ate the cake at a Brassiere in Paris I simply tempted with them mmm….yum.
Italians: Amazing food and fashion (French people come in close second in these areas), I like their clothings and pizza. Koreans like to drool over pizza when they think about Italy, and I like spaghetti and lasagna too. Great culture, laid back living lifestyles with great emphasize on family unity. But too bad, there are too many mafioso in the South as I have been there and most of the cities there are quite dirty and unorderly. Loud people, they like to eat a lot of garlics as much as us Koreans and French people as well. They have the same temperaments like the Koreans, as they never know how cool themselves down (unlike British people). Italians are unorganized and very clumsy people, they never do everything carefully always in trouble. Sometimes, they can be spoiled to as they have the Mama’s boy attittude and always depending on other people to do things properly.Their wine is also great, as they like to eat while they sip their wines like the French do.
Germans: A lot Europeans called them Nazi due to their WW2 crimes, but it is over now they have already learned their lessons. Germans in general make great cars and products, Koreans think Mercedes is cool (just as cool as our KIA cars) and I like their technology too. But their food is bland and boring, I mean seriously sausage and cabbage oh please! What else do you guys have? At least we Koreans have much varied food than yours. Despite that, their beer is great and their cakes are good too ( Baumkuchen and Black Forest are my favourites). Hard working people, always rigid in their standards as they always expect the best in doing everything (pretty much like the Japs). I also think the German language is quite fascinating too (unlike what the others used to think). Germans also like to drink beer a lot, especially during the Oktoberfest in Bavaria.
British: Pale people with great sense of humor and mild manners, at the first place they may appear stiff and rigid. But after you know them , they are amazing and hilarious. Koreans like to go to UK for study in the university, because UK has the most great universities like Cambridge, Oxford, etc. (USA has equally great universities too). British have the best literature like Harry Potter, Sherlock Holmes, etc. and Koreans appreaciate the British for that. Like to drink tea a lot, while eating their favorite “Crumpets” in the evening time LOL. Too bad, their cuisine is too balnd and almost crappy (worse than Germans) except for the Fish and Chips (though its greasy). Fish with Chips, Full Breakfast, and Roast beef are my only favourite British dishes. They have weird obssession over curry, they eat so much curry for every meal like addictited with it. They have great musics like The Beatles, The Rolling Stone, John Lennon, Cat Steven, John elton, etc. which I admire them. To me, the best British singer is Elton John, I like his song a lot especially Candle in the Wind. They have great commedians too, like Rowan Atkinson as the Mr.Bean, and Koreans think that Mr. Bean is the funniest guy ever.
Swiss: Watch, banks, snow, chocolates, mountains, cheese, and watches are the first things that Koreans think about the Swiss. Swiss people speak very slow and steady, unlike Koreans who like speak very fast with no speed limits. There is a one expat guy from Switzerland who can speak Korean and English very fluent, and when he speaks Korean he sounds very slow. Until I laughed at him the way he speaks Korean, he is increably slow like turtle. Other than that, Swiss people are usually very well mannered and calm, they never rushed over things in contrast to the Koreans. Great watches and chocolates, Koreans like Toblerone and Tag Heuer watches the most as well as other chocolate and watch brands too. Swiss people have the highest living standard and the cleanest environment ever, thats amazing. When I visisted Switzerland, I was amazed by how clean the environment there, much cleaner than the other European countries that I have visisted. The water was clear and drinkable, the air was fresh, and the streets were extremely spotless. The Swiss are just like the Germans too, very hardworking and always do their the best in everything. Very rich people, they have lots of money, they always bring Swiss knives and waer watches everywhere they go. They like cheese too, and I also think their cheese is very good and tasty.
Swedes: Attractive, blonde haired people with amazing smiles and mild manners. The people of Sweden are some of the most attractive that I have ever seen. They have slim bodies, refined facial features, tall stature (but not too tall like the Dutch), bright blue eyes, and beautiful flowing blonde hair (some have brown hair as well). Koreans are actually very envy with the Swedish, because they are just naturally gorgeous and Koreans strive to be just as gorgeous as them. They have great iving standards and trendy looking cities, Stockholm and Malmo are some of the coolest cities that I have ever been to. IKEA and ABBA are the things that I know about Sweden, I like ABBA songs especially Mama Mia song. Kottbular and Smorgasbord are my favorite Swedish dishes that I ever ate when I was at Sweden.
Russians: Koreans find Russian women are extremely attractive and mysterious, they often have stunning face and great bodies. Those are the features that Koreans simply envy for, especially when they are talking about the Russian top super models. Great Vodkas too, Koreans think Russia is the paradise for Vodka and cold acoholic drinks and they know it. Russian men on the other hand, are very aggressive and expressive as they like to speak in the animated ways like most Koreans. Russian women sounds very sexy when they speak English with their Russian accent, I got thrilled with that. Russians like to drink a lot of Vodka, I always see Russians bring their Vodkas to everywhere they go (like the Koreans bring their Kimchis to everywhere they go). I like Moscow, it is the most beautiful city that I have been to (second after Paris in comparison) but its too cold especially in the winters.
Spaniards: Spaniards are actually very laid back people who never worried about tomorrow, but some of them can be extremely racist. I once ever got racist remarks by a one guy when I visited Barcelona, but I just didn’t care him much. They got nice lifestyle, amazing cuisine (especially Tapas and the Seafoods), good lifestyle, and great wine (just like the French). But Spaniards are extremelly lazy, as they like to do fiesta for every hours in the evening. Spaniards never work hard and do their best, unlike the Germans on the comparison. On the bright side, the Spaniards are actually artisitc, passionate, and tasteful people with laid back manners. Thay are pretty cool people once I get along with them, though I must say they are quite loud. And I also find Spanish men to be the hottest men that I have seen during my trips in Europe. And they also have the most amazing soccer team ever, Fernando Torres is my personal favorite soccer player from spain.
Irish: Pretty much the same like Koreans in many ways, loud, drunk, temperamental, and passionate. Irish people and Koreans also share the same history as the both of us got invaded by the neighbouring Island nations. And both of our nations are got separated too, due to the foreign powers who tried to separate us until now. Irish people like to drink a lot alcohols as much as Koreans too, and they are drunktards. I find irish people to be welcoming and warm hearted, I know this very well when I visited ireland durong my trip. Their music is amazing, pretty much like the British especially from the Westlife band. A lot people think that us Koreans are the Irish of the east, which I think is quite true especially in history backgrounds, drunkness,and temperaments part.
Norwegians: Pretty much the same like Swedish, but more traditional minded and modest. They like simple life and beautiful nature the most (pretty much like Swiss people), and they are suprisingly intelligent as well. Norwegians speak very good English, well mannered, humble, and modest compared to the other Scandinavians. I like their fjords, natures, and clean environment the most those they are amazing. Norwegians are rich and have high living standards, but compared to the Swedish they are very shy and less approcable. I like their salmon and seafood dishes, except for Lutefisk which I think it is the most disgusting food that I have ever eaten. I also heard that Norway is rich due to the oil from the North Sea, is that true?
Danes: The most laid back and happy go lucky people in the whole Scandinavia, they like drinking beers like the Germans. I also notice that the Danes and the Dutch have the same mannerism and sense of liberty. But they also somewhat rigid and cold like their neighboring Germans. The Danes like to eat a lot pork (like the Chinese), bacons, cheese, and butters as they have so many of these things in their meals. Smorrebrod or Danish sandwich is my favorite meal, and I also like their roast pork (as what the Danes called “flaeskesteg”). Danes sometimes can be racist as well, as I have heard about the racism in Denmark and the whole Jylland Posten carricature thing. Then, I think the Danes are some of the friendliest and some of the most attractive people that I have ever known. The Danes are often very good looking with refined features, slim bodies, bright blue eyes, and attractive smiles. Though I think that Danish women can be masculine sometimes, they still look pretty otherwise. Originators of the Legos, Koreans think that Danes are the masters of Lego making. I like the Lego park when I visited Denmark, it is very unique with full of Lego made attractions.
Belgians: When Koreans think about Belgians, the first thing that popped in their mind is chocolate, fries, and beer. Belgians make very good chocolate, and they are they make very good rivals for the Swiss on this one. Their beer is good too, but German and Danish beers are equally good. They make much better beers than the British or the Swedish, and they like to drink it a lot. Oddly enough, people always think that fries was invented by the French when actually it was the Belgians who invented it. Laid back and friendly people with great sense of humor, unlike the cranky Dutch and the pompous French. Belgians like to eat everything with fries (to Belgians, fries is equal to the Kimchi in Korea), but it tastes good especailly with mayonnaise or tomato ketchup. Belgians are very hillarious too, they have very wicked sense of humor like the British and they make great playmates. Despite of the political instability that they faced now, I just think they are just a adorable bunch.
Greeks: Koreans do understand that the Greeks have too much hard time due to the economic crisis. Despite that, Koreans think that Greeks have amazing history, culture, and lifestyle with very welcoming attitude. I’ve personally been to Greece and I think that Greeks are welcoming warm hearted people, with amazing history. The whole Greek civilization, Pathernon, and Athens stunned the Koreans a lot. They along with the Chinese, Egyptian, Indians, and Arabs are some of the people with the most incredible history.Athens is the most ancient city that I have been to, I like Pathernons which has the most ancient feel in it. The beaches are also amazing especially at the Mykonos, which has the most spectacular view in the Europe. Greeks also have the strong sense of family unity like the Italians, they love their family so much and always together with them. I should admit that I have my first impression about the Greeks from the Games and the My Big Fat Greek Wedding movie.
Finns: Cold, introverted, melancholic, intelligent, and mild mannered people from the far North of Europe. But once I know them, they are friendly and calm people actually though they can be weird at times. The Finns make great cellphones like Nokia (though our LG and Samsung cellphones are equally good as well), tech savvy too like the Japanese. When I went Finland, I notice that Japanese and Finns have similar temperamentals, though the Japanese are not depressive like the Finns. And I also known that The Finns have the best education in the world, as I read on the OECD news (though my country South Korea come in close second). Finns like to drink a lot Vodka like the Russians, which can explain why the Finns like to get depressed. Have amazing lakes and sceneries, I must admit that Finland (along with Norway and Switzerland) have the most spectacular natures in the Europe.
Poles: Although Koreans don’t think much about them, I think that Poles are quite friendly people. They are much friendlier compared to the Russians in my opinion, and somewhat a bit introverted. Poles have quite good cuisine, very healthy with lots of vegetables. And I think that Warsaw is quite a nice city, though it is somewhat backwards compared to other European cities. Poles also like to drink a lot Vodka, like Russians or other East Slavic people which I think maybe it is their habits or tradiotns or something like that. Their Vodkas are nice, even though is cheaper than the Russian ones. But too bad, they have bad reputation in the Europe as the illegal immigrants which I think it can be annoying at times. On the bright side though, I have heard that Europeans said that they are hardworking people. I have visisted Poland, I know this quite well.
Czech: Amazing people with amazing beers too, their beer is just as good as the Germans, the Danes, and the Belgians. Though they make it cheaper than their German counterparts, pretty much like Belgian beers in price. Czech women are also attractive and stunning like their Russian counterparts, but more open minded. They have the most amazing capital, the Prague especially during the night. I have been to Prague, I like the city a lot and its night view is very spectacular (pretty much like Paris or London at night).
Portuguese: Laid back and warm hearted people, much more welcoming as compared to the Spaniards. But compared to the Spaniards, the Portuguese are usually more introverted and calm. They love beaches the most, pretty much like Spaniards too especially during the summertime. Unfortunately, Portuguese people are lazy and never think about tomorrow they like to spend their money too much, and never safe their money. Their cusine is fine, though is not as elaborate as their Spanish counterparts and the wine is quite nice as well. According to my touring experience, Portugal has some of the most beautiful beaches, along with Greece and Spain.
Austrians: Just the laid back version of the Germans, they are friendlier compared to Germans and more lax in their mannerism. The Austrians are also hardworking like the Germans, but they are not as uptight as their German counterparts or Swiss for that matter. I like their cuisine like Wienner Schnitzel and Apfelstrudel, the beer is also amazing like the German ones. Austrians are also humorous like British, and more numorous than their German counterparts who have no sense of humor at all! Vienna is also amazing, I like it especially the Vienna Hapsburg palace which is as grand as the Versailles in France. In my eyes, austrians are just the more laid back, friendlier, warm hearted, and humorous brother of the Germans.
That’s all the words I give you, thank you and bye…..
Comment by Seong Un — April 27, 2013 @ 2:51 am
As a Korean, I will also give my opinion about my East Asian neighbours. As I have been to China and Japan for a couple of times:
Chinese: Koreans think they are poor, rude, unhygieneic, and oppressed by their communist regimes. Koreans don’t really the CCP and the support towards the North Korea brutal regime. Despite that, Koreans think Chinese culture and history are quite amazing and China is a nice country for vacation. Some Koreans also like to come to China for studying Chinese culture and enjoy the cheap living standard there. Chinese cuisine is great as well, I like Cantonese and Sichuan food the most even though Koreans think they like to eat the weird stuffs. Chinese people also have a long history of conquering us Koreans, but we have no problem with it it just history anyway. Some Chinese are also quite welcoming and friendly people with laid back atittudes, especially those in Hainan island, Shandong, and Sichuan. Business minded people too, they like to talk so much things about business. Chinese in general are also quite humble and hardworking bunch of people. I have quite a number of Chinese friends from mainland China and I am fine with them. They also like to talked to me a lot and are very curious with everything. But I just think they need to groom and clean themselves next time, so they might look better.
Japanese: Koreans in general still have grudge against the Japanese due to history and disputes. Koreans now still have disputes with Japanese over the Dokdo (or Takeshima in Japanese), which still pisses us quite a lot. Koreans think Japanese people are somewhat hypocritical and distant in their mannerism. But on the positive side, Koreans think that Japanese people are well-mannered, orderly, calm, intelligent, and hardworking. Japanese culture is also very rich and amazing, they preserve their culture much better than we do. Unfortunately, Japanese people are overwhemingly small and short even their guys are so small. I just think it is fine, Japanese people are cute anyways (no pun intented) they just look fine to me. Koreans think that Japanese fashion is somewhat too cute for Korean taste (as Koreans prefer natural and mature look instead). And I also think that J pop is quite amazing.
Comment by Seong Un — April 27, 2013 @ 3:31 am
Japanese here, I am from Kyoto by the way. I think this is kind of interesting, there are so many different point of views from different people. Now I will give you mine:
French: Japanese think they are romantic, stuck-up, classy, vain, full of themselves, tasteful, artistic, cool, and passionate. Japanese like French cuisine and think that French fashions/trends tend to be simple but classic. But I think that French people are kind of lazy and warm hearted, well groomed and trim. French fashion, literature, culture, and pastries are very popular in Japan lots of Japanese are fascinated with it. Good wines and champagne, Japanese people like French wines and champagne they always come in good quality.
Dutch: They are very tall (Japanese people look like dwarfs next to them, because we Japanese are so short and tiny!), love bicycles, love cheese, have wicked sense of humor, speak better English than most Japanese, polite, don’t like to rush over anything, friendly, welcoming. But they can be crazy at many times, I mean seriously?!!!!Legal prostitution, gambling, and weeds!!!!Those are totally out of mind, Japanes people could never imagine that. Otherwise, Dutch people are cool and laid back, they know how to enjoy themselves and go with the flow. Tulips, clogs, and windmills are the things that Japanese used to refered when they talk about Netherlands.
British: Japanese have the most close sense with them, they generally share the same common ground with the Japanese. They love tea like us, put emphasize on formalism like us, eat curry as much as we do, love uniforms as much as we do, and they generally very warm hearted. But, the British are more open minded and direct minded compared to the Japanese who are usually more reserved and cautious. Japanese people also love Harry Potter and British musicians, especially The Beatles. We also like British cuisine, despite of its crappy reputation abroad but we like it. They got amazing villages too, we Japanese simply envy them.
Germans: Somewhat arrogant, stubborn, stiff upper lip, cautious, but very well organized, smart, tech savvy, cool, civilized, reserved, well planned, trustworthy. Germans make the best beer and cakes, Japanese people like their Baumküchen the most and we like sausages with sauerkraut (just for more experience). German technology and cars are well appreciated by the Japanese, especially in engineering and machinery stuff. Maybe at the first place they seemed to be cold and distant, but after I know them I must say they are pretty cool.
Swedes: They are the hottest Europeans ever! Nothing can be more attractive than a beautiful blonde hair, blue eyes, and pretty face of the Swedes. Swedes are also very welcoming, cool, well mannered, soft spoken, speak good English, well educated, and intelligent. Japanese people salute them for their high living standards, clean environment, social awareness, education level, physical and personality attractiveness. But beneath their cool and reserved manners, I finally found out that Swedes can be cheerful, fun loving, and interesting too. They are amazing, I have my great impression of them after I have spent my time at Sweden.
Swiss: Similar to Germans in many ways, but with funnier accent, modest attitudes, and mild temperaments. Swiss people speak very slow, but Japanese people think they don’t to rush over anything and very soft spoken. They have clean environment, high living standard, beautiful mountains, skiing, chalets, modest life, great trains. I like their chocolates, cheeses, and watches they always make it in a good quality. But I have been told that they have secret banking, is that true? Because someone ever told me that. Some Japanese people also like to come to Switzerland for experiencing the life of Swiss while becoming expats for work reasons.
Spaniards: Ole! Cool, welcoming, warm hearted, loud, frivolous, laid back, fun loving people who speak silly accent of English. Japanese people think that Spaniards have amazing cultures and beaches, much happier in that sense as opposed to ours. But in the down side, they seem to be lazy and demanding while they don’t know how to work hard and determined. Spaniards also tend to spend their money to much while partying themselves off, as opposed to the Japanese who are more tight with their budgets. Other than that, I think they are cool and fun to be around with while I spent my wonderful time at Spain. Their cuisine is good and nutritious especially the seafood soup and paella. Great wines too, pretty good like the French ones. I have good impression about them, though they are lazier and flakier than the average Japanese.
Italians: Mamma Mia! Japanese people think that they are cool fashionistas and designers, they are famous for that sense. They cook very well food, Pizza and Spaghetti are Japanese people’s favorite Italian cuisine. Italians are very welcoming, loud, frivolous, cheerful, hot tempered, passionate, friendly, cool people with great sense of family unity. Italians are very close to their family, they like to gather around while spending their times together. Great culture and lifestyle, they have the most beautiful country too with amazing scenery. Italians like Japanese people, they even always say “konichiwa” to me when I passed by them and I’m impressed.
Greeks: I know that they are still worry about the economy crisis that hit them in the previous. Otherwise, Japanese people still think that Greeks are amazing people with amazing history and civilization. When I visited Greece, I think that Greek people in general are very laid back and welcoming. They have great cuisine, beautiful cities, great culture, lifestyle, beaches, and climate. I love Myknos the most, Athens is pretty cool as well. Pathernon amazed me a lot, I can feel something ancient yet spectacular about it. Greek people have positive review from the Japanese, despite the fact they know that Greeks are still struggling with the crisis.
Danes: Combination between Swedish, Dutch, and Germans in certain ways. They are very polite, friendly, welcoming, speak good English, smart, cool, and mild tempered. Danes love bacon, cheese, pork, butter, salmon, potato the most which can explain why they are a bit chubby. Liberal minded with lax attitude of handling thing in their ways, love to drink beer as much as Dutch, Germans, and British do. Danes are also very artistic, scinetific, and creative people, which surprised me quite a lot in that sense. I also appreciate their clean environment, toy like cities, high living standards, great society order, and safety.
Norwegians: Humble, modest, reserved, speak good English, traditional minded, cool, well mannered, intelligent, soft spoken people. Japanese people like their salmon and seafood products, Norwegians also like to eat seafood as much as Japanese people do. They have amazing living standards, social order, nature, fjords, traditional costumes, and city scape which Japanese appreciate a lot. Japanese and Norwegians are also very culture oriented people, both of us like the preserve our culture and live modestly as a nation. That is the common thing we both share together, even though we are different.
Finns: Introverted, melancholic, sensitive, well mannered, soft spoken, intelligent, calm, no-nonsense people. To the ears of the Japanese, some Finish words sounds like Japanese which is surprising at the first place. I like their clean environment, beautiful nature, refreshing lake, high living standard, amazing education system (they have the best education system as I know), and great society. Good saunas too, they like public Saunas as much as we Japanese love for Onsen (warm public bath) as the common ground. Vodka lovers too, they like to drink Vodka as much as Russians do but less violent and aggressive. To me, they are similar to Japanese in many ways as well.
Icelanders: Japanese think they are mysterious people, but when I visited Iceland I was surprised by how friendly the people there. They are just like Scandinavians in many ways, even though they are far away from the Europe which amazed me. They have the most beautiful capital Reykjavik and amazing geysers too. Icelanders in general also know how to speak English well, just as good as other Scandinavians or Europeans. They love whaling too, just as much as Japanese people as their common ground with us. Iceland has good impression to me, I would to visit there again next time.
As for other two East Asians, I will give a bit my impression just for addition:
Chinese: They don’t like us and we think they are blinded by their crazy commie regime. Chinese people in Japan don’t have very good impression in general, we precieve them as backwards and uncivilized. Japanese people like to despise them, and some of us also unfairly prejudiced them. We know that they still despise us, due to the historical thing in the past decades which is tragical. And I also hate their government, their government is a total nuts! Even crazier than a Nazi in that sense. Despite that, Japanese people have begrudging respect towards Chinese cultures and history ( even if Chinese don’t know that). Japanese people also love Chinese cuisine, especially Dim Sum and Mapo Tofu. Deep inside in our hearts, we just think that Chinese people in general are just our blinded country cousins and we pity them for that. And I think that they are problems are mostly caused by their communist regime, which is suffering. On the bright side, Chinese people become very friendly towards me when I meet them as a person. I was surprised with that, but I just think that’s because they finally realized that their commie propagandas are totally false! Chinese people owe us and we owe them too. (Sigh) too rough history against each other pretty much wasted our emotions, I believe Chinese also think the same even if they never know. Japanese people deep down also crave to be closer with them like we were used to be in the past. I also believe that there are some Chinese who also think the same with us, even if they don’t even want to admit it. I don’t discriminate them, neither do I like them either but I just tolerate them and accept the way they are. After I have seen Chinese movies like Shaolin Soccer and Crouching tiger, my impression about them is quite improving. Chinese people also like to come to Japan for jobs and holidays, we just welcome them with open hands.
Koreans: Same with Chinese people, they despise us and we also like to sneer at them. Koreans also don’t have great reputation among Japanese people, and we also tend to look down on them. Koreans in general are perceive to be inferior, ill tempered, ill mannered, and backwards. But their images are quite improving nowadays, due to the K-pop and other Korean pop culture boom in Asia. We also think that Koreans have great fashion sense, great cosmetics, and we also like Kimchi but we call it Kimuchi. Koreans also come to Japan for jobs and holidays (same for Chinese people as well), and we just welcome them with open hands. Koreans also finally changed their views about the Japanese, once after they meet me in person which is suprisingly me (same in the case of Chinese people). Too much rough history pretty much wasted our emotion as well, but Koreans owe us a lot and we owe them too. I don’t discriminate them, neither so I like them but I just tolerate them like they way they are. Japanese people deep inside also want to be closer to Koreans and Chinese as the three of us share something in common as the Northeast Asian nations.
Comment by Yukiko — April 29, 2013 @ 7:55 am
To: Bertrand Feuvray
Now that you said all that it is time to get your prescribed medication.
Comment by Demetrius — April 29, 2013 @ 8:11 am
Nice write up… and somewhat accurate.
Your comments on the British being drunken fools abroad are very accurate – and I usually avoid where the British are gathering in large numbers for ill considered sessions of drinking at 1 Euro a pint…
It’s a class thing tho. Too much money.. too little sense.
As for our Euro neighbours most British “just dont care”. Most have historically been allies or foes at one point in our history lessons at school. The days of Empire may be long gone… but it will take centuries for this to work it’s way out of the national conscious.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYiOCctlPR0
I could go on at length… but who reads this crap anyway?
Comment by EnglishEuropean — May 4, 2013 @ 11:48 pm
As a British person (English specifically), I can safely say that the description of the British is more or less spot on (kudos). I am also a quarter Polish, though you seem to know more about them than I do. All in all, well done. Sterling stuff.
Comment by British Teacher — May 21, 2013 @ 3:58 am
these are very dated opinions. they might seem somewhat true to an american tourist, but overall this article is definitely not accurate.
Comment by DG — May 23, 2013 @ 4:01 pm
you also forgot to consider how greatly the opinions countries have of other countries differ depending on which age demographic you ask. that’s a very important variable to consider.
Comment by DG — May 23, 2013 @ 4:50 pm
Turkey: Simply not European! Probably Europeans wannabe. Keep getting more Islamic and you’ll end up like Saudi Arabia. Just during the last week they prohibited drinking, smoking and kissing(!) in public places!! This is definitely not Europe! Do you even know what human rights protection mean? Not even at the slightest like Greeks ($26,251 per capita, 29th in Human Development Index) let alone Spaniards($31,820, 23rd), Portuguese($22,226, 43rd) and Italians($36,124, 25th). Somebody compared Turkey ($10,524, 90th) with these countries I wanted to laugh. The worst country in Europe is by far better than Turkey. And, finally, please get this: nobody wants you in the EU, so stop dreaming if you haven’t already, cause you can kiss EU accession goodbye! The only ones that want you in the EU are Brits and that’s because they are not really into EU things. It’s not about religion, language or history, please don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against Turks or their country, I just think as other people do that they have no place in the EU. Maybe a close economic relation? Let’s just solve our current problems and stop causing more, huh? 🙂 btw really amusing site! xx
Comment by GJ — May 28, 2013 @ 1:42 pm
@ 748,
you may wanna read comment 738…
There is no prohibition of alcoholic drinks in TR, it is a regulation on sale of it during certain times as this actually exists many places in EU. Smoking is only prohibited indoors. I am just laughing the kissing part. Even if alcohol or smoking was banned, what is bad about it? Do you call it undemocratic when heroin is banned??? NO. Alcohol kills just like heroin does… So it is better to ban it… Turkey may have lower GDP per capita, than many small countries in EU. This is not because it is under developed than many of them. It is like comparing liechtenstein to china and call china less developed than liechtenstein because the GDP per capita is lower. China is way greater than liechtenstein in many aspects. Looking at just GDP per capita is a blind way of comparing…
People of Turkey do know their other options, and the EU is not a must anymore. As you said, we let you solve your problems first, as we keep on advancing with other partners who are not as arrogant…
Comment by commenor on 738 — June 17, 2013 @ 2:58 am
Anyone thinking the Spanish are cuddly just take a view on youtube of their police shooting at some kids on a skijet in Gibraltar Bay.
Comment by Frank Marsden — June 25, 2013 @ 5:40 am
Im Danish and this is what I/we/most of us think of the rest of Europe
Before you get offended, PLEASE NOTICE THAT WE DON’T HATE any European countries in general.
Belgium: They are just Germans, but a smaller country. We love their beer, though.
Denmark (ourselves): We think we are one of the best countries in the world. Don’t tell us we aren’t lol 😀
England: They are considered our friends, mostly because they helped Denmark (the resistance-groups) alot during WW2.
France: We like the French, especially their food. Many Danes travel to Paris or the Mediterranean coast. But we think they are arrogant and not very good at speaking English.
Germany: Sehr Schön. Many people think Danes hate Germans, but it’s a big fat lie. The only people in Denmark who hate Germany is the oldest ones (who somehow ‘suffers’ from the WW2) and the right-wing extremists. Most Danes would
actually prefer Germany winning in sports from most other European countries. 90 % of students here learn German in school.
Greece: Most Danes consider them as lazy, ‘stupid’. We also think that they – and most Southern European countries too – should not be part of the EU, because “they just want to scrounge” (To obtain (something) by begging or borrowing with no intention of reparation, SOURCE: http://www.thefreedictionairy.com) from the ‘rich’ countries – especially Germany.
Holland / Netherlands: We like them very much. Although many Danes find them irritating, noisy or dominating at hotels (at the swimming pools), tourist attractions, etc. – apart from that, the Dutch are very much like us; the people, the language and their society.
Italy: We love Italy! Thousands of Danes go there on vacation every year (they make some good money on us).
Everywhere in Denmark, Italian food is adored.
Norway: Our ‘brothers’. Like Sweden, they are considered as a great ally. Most Danes prefer Norwegians over Swedes, but we love both. We also make jokes about Norwegians being stupid. Example:
Q: Why did the Norwegian crawl on the floor through the supermarket?
A: Because they’re looking for the low prices.
Poland: Most Danes don’t like Poles. Like most of Eastern Europe. Here are 3 main reasons: 1. “they steal our jobs”. 2. Because of the high number of Polish gypsies in Denmark. 3. Their attitude and like the Dutch (but even worse), their behaviour at hotels, tourist attractions etc…..
Russia: No general opinion, but like everyone else, we think that the Russians are crazy.
Spain: Spaniards are considered lazy too. We like their food and the beaches and stuff, all in all, Danes have nothing against Spaniards.
Sweden: We love them, just until they beat us in Football or Handball. Especially the people in Skåne (Scania).
Comment by The great DANE — July 12, 2013 @ 1:58 am
A quick description of how Dutch people (from the Netherlands) perceive other countries/folks:
– Germany: we don’t dislike them as much as we did before — we see Germans as hard working, polite and inventive. We have a friendly rivalry when it comes to soccer. We don’t like German tourists that automatically switch to German while speaking to us, assuming that Dutch is nothing more than a strange dialect. Also, to us Dutchmen, German people are a bit too stiff and formal.
– Belgium: our friendly neighbor. We don’t have negative thoughts about Belgians, we see Flemish people especially as our closest neighbors. Belgians are polite and their cuisine/beer is much better. As for the people from the French-speaking part, we mock them for their inability to speak or understand Dutch despite being a bilingual country.
– UK: it’s a bit of a mixed bag. We love their sense of humor, which we feel is comparable with our sense of humor. We see them as way too polite, although we think we can learn from them in terms of politeness. On the other hand, we also think that British people are pale, fat, often drunk and covered with ugly tattoos. And what’s up with all those teenage pregnancies?
– France: we absolutely love the country, but not the people. French people are arrogant and are not willing to help you or get to know you if you don’t speak French fluently. . But we praise France for their good high speed train network, good wine and cheese, and their ability to do massive strikes or street protests. The only reason why they want to visit our country in return is the marihuana.
– Spain: we love Spaniards! They seem as loud, honest and out-going as Dutch people are. Spaniards always love to party and to eat dinners up til midnight. But they never seem to be on time if you’re having an appointment, which is a no-no in Dutch society. And their English skills are rubbish.
– Portugal: beautiful and cheap country for vacation, the language and the people are puzzling though.
– Italy: we love to take our trailers to this country for summer vacation. The food is great, the people are well dressed but overdramatic and have horrible driving skills. And we still associate Italy with maffia (and bad politicians like Berlusconi).
– Switzerland and Austria: equally loved for their great skiing areas and apfelstrüdel. Switzerland is hella expensive though, and Austria is full of freaks with a weird accent.
– Denmark: very the same like the Netherlands in a lot of ways, but emptier and way more expensive. We totally are convinced that their language is the same as Swedish, but once we’re finding out that the language is completely different, we’re in total shock.
– Sweden: the Dutch love Sweden! IKEA is furniture store #1. Also, people tend to believe that everything is even better in Sweden because of the space, the fresh air, friendly people and the funny language. The only reasons why we don’t want to live there is: 1) it’s too expensive in general, 2) the alcohol prices are insane and 3) it’s even colder than the Netherlands.
– Norway: much like Sweden, but with breathtaking fjords, even colder and too expensive to live.
– Finland: good quality of education, mobile phones, sauna,
– Poland: used to be veeery negative, they were “stealing our jobs”. But we have to admit that Polish people are hard working and try to blend in our society quite well. On the other hand, we still see Poland as gray, cold and too religious.
– Czech Republic: nice beer, Prague is very nice, but unhappy people.
– Slovakia: used to be part of Czech Republic, right?
– Russia: cold, grey, very corrupt and very homophobe. Everybody is alcoholic and loves wodka. They are rude and grumpy.
– Ukraine: a “light” version of Russia.
– Baltic countries: do everything to dislike Russia, despite they are very similar.
– Hungary: country with a weird language, a weird government and goulash. Oh, and Lake Balaton.
– Former Yugoslavia::: Slovenia: no comment. Croatia: beautiful country, grumpy people. Serbia: stupid nationalists who think Kosovo is still theirs, but we’re keeping your criminals in The Hague. Montenegro: former war zone. Bosnia: still a war zone, our Dutch militairs failed to rescue them. Macedonia: wait, is that the country with lake Ohrid?
– Albania: no comment
– Greece: lazy people that have to pay us back. But, they have beautiful islands and the food is great.
– Romania/Bulgaria: best to avoid these people, since they are all corrupt or thieves.
Comment by Erwin — July 22, 2013 @ 4:16 pm