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.

Comments (1,018)

1,018 Comments »

[…] die Vorurteile. Es existieren viele davon, vor Allem unter uns europäischen Völkern, wie momentan hier nachzulesen ist. Anscheinend hassen Dänen Deutsche. Anscheinend hassen Spanier Franzosen. […]

Pingback by Von der Kunst des Akzeptierens | Nachdenk-Blog — July 23, 2013 @ 4:12 am
Umm you added the greeks and did not mention anything about Macedonia ? what the fuck man.. Serbia and Croatia ? Bosnia and Serbia ? Turkey and Greece?

there is a lot of stuff missing

DailyCandor: Nothing…NOTHING…pisses off smaller countries’ citizens more than not being lumped in with the big guys. Read my followup post…the link is above.

Comment by a — August 6, 2013 @ 9:28 pm
Hehe, everyone is butthurt about Germany.

Looks like our superiority has caused some controvesry 😀

DailyCandor: Americans are used to saying/thinking that. Often about German butthurt. 😉

Comment by Bernd — August 9, 2013 @ 10:16 am
Germans are very disliked…wonder why? . . . .

Comment by WilliamNielsen — August 17, 2013 @ 3:29 pm
As a Dutchman this is what I think of the other European countries:

Belgians: Perceived as friendly neighbors with a weird sense of humor. We joke about them being stupid and they joke about us being stingy. I would call it spending your money wiseley. Look where it got us! I admit that their beer beats the Dutch ones but we make better fries! How can you like dip your fries in sour mayonnaise? Please keep in mind that I am talking about the Flemish people, not the Wallonians who refuse to speak any other language than French.

Germans: We like them nowadays (It used to be diffrent after the war because we kind of got backstabbed by our friend). I mean even our King has German blood so we are intertwined more or less. They are more strict than us and they think that Dutch is a weird form of German. Hah! Haha!

Great Britain: We used to be competitors historically. Even though we lost like 50% of our colonies to them we do not hold any grudge against ’em. I even adore those guys. They are certainly the most loved english-speaking country in the world.

Denmark: The Netherlands and Denmark are very much alike and how can’t you love that? Denmark is like the Netherlands (or the other way around ofcourse) but a bit farther north. I wish more people of our countries could see that. Danes, just like the other Scandinavians and the Dutch can produce some high-quality English. Maybe it’s because our languages look like eachother and English, I don’t really know.

Sweden: Just like Denmark and the other Scandinavian countries really, I very much like them. The people are really friendly and the nature is just enviable. I wish we had such great friendships with other countries like the Scandinavians have with eachother. Admittedly I think that the Scandinavian “languages” are pretty much dialects. I’m sure that there are “dialects” in the Netherlands that are more diffrent from Dutch than the Scandinavian “languages” are from eachother. Great country nonetheless.

Norway: Love ’em. It’s unfortunate that we don’t hear much from Norway and Denmark because Sweden is pretty much taking the stage. They are like the most entitled to be called “first world”. The prisons are like hotels over there. Historically Norwegians used work on our trading ships and because of that that quite a few Dutchmen have Norwegian ancestors.

France: Lovely country, except for the people. I think that it’s pretty well-known that they are the worst tourists ever. Well, after the Russians maybe. By the way, learn some English!

Spain: I used to go on holiday to spain when I was little. I can’t really get the picture of Mexicans out of my head when I think of Spain, it’s undeserved but it’s true.

Poland: Kind of a mixed bag. The Poles who come to the Netherlands to work really work their asses off (even my old mathematics teacher was Polish, she spoke Dutch with a funny accent even though she lived here for over 20 years at the time) , but I also hear quite some less positive things about them. For instance around 3 months ago there was a frickin’ shooting in our neighbourhood between a couple of Poles.

Romania: I dislike those guys. I keep hearing bad news with them in it. For example there was a big heist where many million euros worth of paintings were stolen (like Picassos) and because of their incompetence and them unable to controll their nerves they ended up BURNING the paintings! I mean what the hell, how can you be that stupid? I get the feeling that they are born as thieves because not only they steal paintings, but they also master the “art” of pickpocketing. They aren’t just terrorizing the Netherlands but also Great Britain and many other European countries. To be honest I dislike many eastern European countries.

Italy: I like how they treat their families. Italy has some kind of homey atmosphere and a lovely weather. Much better than the cold rainy windy weather the Netherlands has.

Greece: What the hell, guys. Stop retiring at the age of frickin’ 45 and pay your taxes already! I am more than sure that if you just grew up and act like the rest of (north-western) Europe you wouldn’t be in this mess you are in right now. *sigh* …

That’s all, folks.

Comment by Ruben — August 26, 2013 @ 5:35 pm
Oh crap I forgot Finland.

Finland: I see them as the quet little brother of Scandinavia. I find it funny to read that you guys are forced to learn Swedish and hate to do so. I like Fins and I would love to meet some in person.

Comment by Ruben — August 26, 2013 @ 5:43 pm
“France: Lovely country, except for the people. I think that it’s pretty well-known that they are the worst tourists ever. Well, after the Russians maybe. By the way, learn some English! ”

LOL, do you want to see how your fellow countrymen behave in the South of France ? BTW, why are you guys focusing on the French while our opinion is neutral towards the Netherlands ?

Comment by Alexandre — August 27, 2013 @ 1:24 pm
I am from Bulgaria.

Russia – Thank them and soldiers from Romania, Poland, Finland and other nationalities from Russian Empirefor our Independance.
UK – I hate Chirchil and Dissraely due to their actions against us but I really love English culture, movies and sence of humor.
Germany – the most positive opinion. All my relatives and friends, that have lived during the WWII have only positive experience with the Germans, unlike the Russians. The Germans always were on our side, unlike Russia.
Romanians – we have mixed opinion about them. They are not selfconfident but have a big potential. In fact, they are verry beautiful race.
Serbians – We are enemies for 1000 years but we like them, their movies, food and respect their stubborn pride.
Macedonians – they would be ashamed to call themselves Bulgarians.
Greecks – Enemies for 1350 years. Limited minded. They will always try to assimilate us but we are a little warlike for their taste. I love their food and beatuful towns next to the sea. We have cultural and linguistic influence from them due to the chritianity, not due to the superiority of the culture. At least our culture is more anciant and developed.
Turkey – 500 years under yoke. Many attrocities. In fact we are positive to them despite the yoke. They have many positive sides and we feel them more friends than foe.
The Nederlands – Incredible country.
Sweeden – Same like the Nederlands.
Portugal – I like them verry much. The best food i have eaten abroad. Great culture and history.
Poland – Big brothers, like Russia, but they have the chance to develop their economy and to be a factor in Europe.
Hungary – we like them. We hade a common history about 1500 years ago.
Armenians – we like them even they are a little trikky.
Italy – Great culture, industry and design. Not very relyable but nice people.
Spain – We like them. Great history and culture.
France – Great influence to our culture and mostly positive attitude. I like Sarckozy.
Slovakia – Nice people.
Slovenia – Contrary to Slovakia.
Ukraine – stubborn like the Slavs do. Great potential but may be their polititians have to be more united.
Belarus – I have no info about them – sorry.
Czech Republic – The opinion in Bulgaria about them is realy strange. Some of us say they are Germans among the Slavs, most of us say they are Jews among the Slavs. Anyway they are well organied and relatively rich people. They have verry good industry and beautiful women. Nice Beer.
Northern Europe – Positive opinion.

We, Bulgarians, are simply the fastest disapearing nation in the world for last two decades.

Comment by Peter — September 4, 2013 @ 10:34 am
I’m French, here is my take :

UK : mixed feelings on this one. In one hand, people like the cliché of upper-class Englishmen drinking tea and making tongue-in-cheek remarks. On the other hand, most Englishmen are seen as rude, beer-drinking hooligans on the verge of alcoholism. The English are seen as treacherous for historic reasons (“La Perfide Albion”) and annoying for their lack of solidarity towards Europe and their unconditional alliance with the US. But most of all, their weather and their food scare the hell out of us.

Belgium : the bottom of many jokes but we actually like them and revere their beers.

Germany : hard-working and efficient people, a bit stiff but it’s OK. Our local media tend to see Germany as a model of industrial development and our natural ally in Europe. The nazi-related stigma is pretty much gone. Their food is awful though – sausages, potatoes and beer, that’s what it looks like to us.

Switzerland : a very well organized tax haven with great scenery. Not messy enough for our taste though.

Italy : a bunch of smooth-talking, lazy loverboys who talk with their hands. The Southern part has a reputation for pickpockets. Other than that we generally admire their culture, weather and food.

Spain : party animals, they now have a slightly lazy image because of the financial crisis. They come off a bit like the Italians, but not as dishonest.

Portugal : hairy people who eat cod and work in construction in France.

Russia : the women are seemingly all goddesses while the men are alcoholic, blunt, and full of dirty money.

Greece : lazybones and homosexuals. Great food and beaches though.

Eastern Europe : it’s a bit fuzzy to us since it’s so far away from our borders, most people couldn’t tell, say Hungary and Romania apart. Their main contribution to French society are prostitutes and gypsies so you can guess their popularity.

Oh, and I was shocked to read so many times the French couldn’t speak any English to save their lives. It’s getting better and better and most young people have a decent enough grasp. But a warning message to you all tourists in Paris : asking someone in the street in a foreign language for directions without as much as a “Excusez-moi” won’t get you anywhere. Learn to say “Excusez-moi” and “Bonjour” and notice the difference.

Comment by Leroux — September 15, 2013 @ 8:42 am
As a proud polish person I can say fuck germans I hate you ugly motherfuckers!!

Comment by Fuck germans — February 19, 2014 @ 6:59 pm
I strongly disagree with your opinion that the Poles dislike Czechs and Slovaks – it’s quite opposite actually. As for Lithuanians, despite some intergovernmental tensions the view of them is mostly positive. Attitude towards the Germans is ambivalent, whereas the northern, Scandinavian neighbours are generally liked. Ukrainians and Belorussians are looked down upon and the Russians are hated, despised and feared.

Comment by A Polish man from Warsaw — March 3, 2014 @ 12:16 am
I’m greek and I’m really upset about all the negative comments written by some people especially from the northern part of europe but also some of our neighbouring countries. I don’t agree about the lazy part of course you get lazy people all over europe. Our supposedly 8 hours shift are never 8 hours always more like 10 or even 12 and never get paid overtime. We like to live our lives to the full during the summer months. Greeks live in Greece for over 3500 years howcome we’re not considered europeans?? The summer is hot and burns the skin so of course we are darker during the summer but in winter the skin turns white again. Half the greeks are fair haired with green or blue eyes and in northern part of Greece the people even have red hair. Anyway I don’t hate anyone I love all people and accept them as they are respecting their religion, customs and cultures.

DailyCandor: Since when did fair complexions mean European? The criticism among Europeans against Greece has to do with your finances and the burden it’s put on the EU’s coffers, not the color of your eyes, skin or hair.

Comment by Anna — April 4, 2014 @ 10:29 am
I’m from Russia and I’d like to write my point of view about other countries. I think it will be more about cultural heritage and just how I feel about them because I’m not good in politics or history.
UK: love them for music. For me almost all good music comes from UK. Love for Harry Potter. But consider English men as arrogant, snobbish and boring. The country of fogs, tea and rain.They don’t like France.
France: the capital of fashion, Eiffel tower, the country of love, wine and wonderful language. I think almost every Russian girl want to speak French or somebody whispered her in French – the language of love. They don’t like Britain. I love their old comedies with Pier Rishar, “Taxi” movie, Luc Besson with his wonderful movies and my favourite book of childhood – “Arthur and the Minimoys.” Really good impression about this country.
Spain: I learn Spanish in university and I’m really confused with this language and I don’t share enthusiasm of my friends about it. But I love works of Salvador Dali and I’m glad his and Picasso wives were Russian. But for me Spaniards and their language are too emotional.
Netherlands: the weed, drugs, red-light district, Within Temptation, bikes, tulips, mills.
Germany: hmmm… I don’t hate them but I don’t like them. I have heard or read too much unpleasant stories about them. And it’s matter of history. I like to listen to Lafee but I associate their language with Nazi movies. I understand that it is the past and for me Germany is country with good economics, beer and wurst. I would like to go to Germany some day to look at castles.
Italy: Pasta!!! (I’m just Hetalia fan XD) Emotional and cheerful people with very emotional gesticulation. Good old Italian songs which were popular in USSR.
Poland: I’ve just recently learnt that Poles don’t like Russia. I always have good relation to Poland. I love their language the fact that it’ s so similar to Russian and I can understand Polish comments on YouTubeXD, I love Polish dubbing of Disney songs it’s always sounds so nice, I love the Witcher books, earlier I often watched Viva Polska channel. And I just love the fact that Poland is Slavic country.
Serbia: One of the best Eurovision winner songs for me – Molitva. And as I can see they like/love Russia I love them.
Greece: I don’ t know why but I associate Greece with something warm and wonderful. May be it’s about childhood memories: “The myths of Ancient Greece” was one of the first books I read. Or we have the same religion. But I love Greece.
Finland: Nokia, the wonderful rock-music (Rasmus, Nightwish, HIM, Poets of the Fall), boring capital without sightseeings, sauna, funny competitions:)
Sweden: Polyamory (just because we call it Swedish familyXD), IKEA, Saint Lucia’s day.
Denmark: hahah really strange country without borders. The counry of Anderson, his fairytales are beautiful and sad. I become really interested in this country after SATW comics so I can not tell about stereotypes but just fact. I associate Denmark with something strange, furious but beautiful.
Norway – “Nemi” comics – the most favourire non-Japanese comics. The Vikings. I love his character in Hetalia.
Iceland – the country which I really love. They have beautiful but complicated language, one day I want to master it. I’m proud I can pronounce EyjafjallajökullXD The calm counrtry without conflicts, for me, who live in Russia – it’s a dream. And Sigur Rós – the music of my love.

Comment by Babochka — April 14, 2014 @ 9:05 am
i am spanish and i hate been called SPANIARD. than sounds horrendous.. it’s like i said englard or frenchard or whatever… Spain admires Germany and the scandinavians too… we don’t feel pretty good about eastheners cuz we find them too different to us and somehow when they come to live her, they don’t seem like willing to learn our language and culture.. they pretend to keep speaking their tongue trying to make us do the work to understand them…. we feel the portuguese, the french and the italinas just as siblings but somehow they are certain things in which portugal and spain just don’t get along pretty well… the english are like so whatever to us.. they are always complainning about our culture but the love moving in here and going to our beaches during hollydays; so we don’t even pay attention to them cuz to us their a like too simpleton… in general we like all the europeans.. we it comes to southamericans it is offensive to us to be called such us just because we are not them… it’s like you call a british= south african just cuz they speak the same language or call a french = haitian cuz of the language too.. that’s what we don’t like. nothing against the southamericans… the USA is well appreciated here but sometines some americans behave so ameriCUNTS that we just cannot stand it.

Comment by Jd333 — May 14, 2014 @ 9:29 am
btw… Russia for us i like they weren’t europeans.. the language, attitude.. i don’t know.. they are so not alike to the rest of europeans.

Comment by Jd333 — May 14, 2014 @ 10:00 am
Hello! As a Spaniard, I have to say that it is not insulting at all for Spanish people to be considered Latin American, in fact, we prefer us to be considered Latin American than German for example. They speak spanish sometimes better than the Spaniards themselves. Latin American are brothers to us, but northern Europeans are very different from us, and we considered ourselves white Mediterranean, not white as Nordic.
And generally we have a good relationship with all European people, but we are in love with Italy and Portugal.

Comment by Juan From Madrid — June 1, 2014 @ 8:48 am
The poster you saw is a song from the Anime “Hetalia” which is all the countries personified as people. 🙂

Comment by Emma — June 3, 2014 @ 6:23 pm
Hey, from Greece here- first I’d like to apologize for the posts of some ignorant nationalists from my country since your average Greek is not like that. Please be understanding, hateful people exist everywhere.
Also, those are just stereotypes-fun remarks. Not to be trusted or used as guidance, ok? People now don’t judge based on nationality, but the personality of the individual and that’s how it should be.

Turkey- I start with our neighbors. In general I would say that we have a love-hate relationship 😛 We have been at war many times, so there’s mutual dislike and the Greeks hold a grudge. We also were close to war in the 90′, so some people at the borders are still scared of invasion and fear/hate the country/government. On the other side, when a Turk visits Greece he is instantly a friend! We like the Turkish people(which is a paradox). They are good people, respectful, family oriented like us and like to have fun. We are watching closely about the politic conflicts in Turkey and hope for a better result and democracy for them.
Personally so far I like every Turkish person I’ve met. They used to make fun of Greece saying ”oh poor Greece, we conquered you!” and me and other greeks would say other things about turkey, and we would all laugh and chase each other, saying harsh words but with love 😛

France- in general French people are liked, they are considered ”classy” and elegant and many greeks learn their language. On the other side, it is a common truth that they want people to learn french when visiting France, something that greeks don’t like or understand. Greece is a country based a lot on tourism, yet we would think it crazy for people to speak greek just because they came here.
Personally I did encounter the ”language thing”, but I found the french very cute about it 😀 We would talk about languages and countries, and they seemed offended that I hadn’t bothered to learn French, while at the same time trying to hide it. They offered to help me with learning, which was a big plus for my views on them. 🙂

English/British- hm.. ok, awful traditional food, with superiority complex, the lapdog of the US, kind of cold but their black humor is loved by some 😀 . They are mostly disliked for their imperialistic time and because they always liked to mingle themselves in the business of other countries in the past.. Also, the greeks don’t undertstand their love for the monarchy and also laugh at them/frown upon them because of it- this is because the greeks had a forced monarchy and abolished it, and don’t consider anyone superior, especially by birthright. Also people dislike them for what they did to native Americans, Indians, and other folk they conquered and especially for being proud about it- why are you proud of mass murder? On the other side, we love their cities and architecture and consider them puctual, polite people, who are harsh and cold on the outside but loving on the inside. They are good people, but hard to approach and make friendships with… Lastly their tourists give them a bad name: they come in greek islands, get wasted and run naked on the streets while singing and doing orgies.. Naturally the locals get mad 😛

Sotts- we like them a lot for their revolutionary spirit, and think that their are more fun and open than the rest of the british.

Irish- the are considered the ”meditarranean people of northern europe”. Friendly, open, happy. Wear a lot of green, have orange hair and freckles. They have their own language, but nobody speaks it, sadly.

Italy & Spain- we like them a lot, they are a lot like us. We feel bad for them that they are in a similar economical position with us, but like them more for it(more sympathetic I guess. we also see an ally, since most northeners tend to have very negative views on southern europeans..) They like to sleep during the afternoon, like us and are considered out going and friendly people that you can easily befriend. – (also to clear this out: yes, the southern europeans sleep during the afternoon hours. However that is because afternoons here are very hot,the sun is burning and making you dizzy,the dry air and the sea making you want to go to bed… 😛 Also, at least in greece it is common for people to eat a lot at afternoon and less at night, which makes them sleepy)
When I was in germany for an international event where we were supposed to make friends and learn about other cultures, the best friends i made were 5 spanish girls, 1 italian and 1 portuguese. Talk about southern power…:P

Germany- phew, normally that would be a long one.. In general, they are percieved as people-machines, they dont have fun, are very strict and cold but organised and run a good state, which we admire. Most greeks think that they hate us(probably because of the media) and so hate them back, and still hold a grudge for WW2(greece suffered a lot during german occupation.). However when they see a german, they dont treat him badly of course, they’re friendly and eventually realize they are not bad people and nazis 😛 On the other side, there are people that like them a lot, but regognise that their mentality is not like the greek one, both in good things(organised) and the bad(are not that open and friendly). They eat mainly a lot of potaoes, snhitzel and sausage. (which is true!) Good beer.
Personally I have been in west germany for a month and I had the greatest experience. The people were the politest and nicest I had ever met, helpful and pretty normal. Apart for a random kind of rude remark to a non-greek friend of mine, I did not experience any kind of racism(which was a pleasant surprise. at first I was even afraid to say I was greek, haha). MOst people seemed to want to disguss the economical crisis-topic with me, but stopped the conversation after mentioning it looking at me with puppy eyes to see if I was offended, which I found adorably nice xP (in greece people would just be blunt and ask you, no matter how rude it might seem). – i like germans a lot, and while from some they are disliked, they have a lot of admirers:P I defend them when ignorant nationalists start ranting.

Austria- like germans, but without the ”hate”. Great musicians, nice landscape. Heidi(or was she german?)

Scandinavia- tall, blond people with blue eyes, very beautiful, family oriented, well behaved when they come as tourists, but kind of distant and cold.- we probably lack the means to approach them. They open up when they drink 😀 (thank god not like the english)

Finns- like the scandinavians, but more depressed and even colder. Kind of unlikeable, but maybe their language just sounds this way.

Dutch- stingy,, cold, blame us for every little evil in the world. i have friends who were stopped on the road in Holland and asked about their origin. When they said greek they started accusing them of stealing money… I mean come on people. We have no problem about disgussing economics and politics, but not with someone hateful and ignorant.. For those that have ties with them or know more about them they are considered worse than germans on the matter.
However I have some friends from the netherlands that are truly nice and warm people. This does them true injustice.

The rest of northern europe is pretty much the same for us 🙂

Serbs-generally liked, have helped each other in war and still have close ties. Serbian people are very nice, those that I have met. they are concidered proud people that dont back down or succumb to foreign bigger powers(ottoman empire+3rd reich), and we respect and like them for it. the greeks were very against the bombing and refused to participate. still to this day they are very sympathetic to serbians because of it.

Croats/slovenians/bosnians/other ex-yugoslavs– no information there, just that in general the yugoslavians dont like each other and did bad things to each other during war.. croats are seen with a bit of suspicion because they collaborated with hitler but nothing more than that.

albanians- the albanians of greece that have been to school and grown up here are liked and not dicriminated(only by idiots), but albanias of Albania are considered mean, primitive, uncultured and violent (sorry guys:( ) they are said to treat the greek minority there very badly, so there’s mutual dislike

fyromians/macedonians/skopians/whatever- they are pretty mcu ignored now, only the occationa mention about the name. the name dispute has made greek people dislike them a lot and know nothing about them. we think tha they dont have history of their own and make a false claim on others..
Personally I think the name is stupid- i dont mind the name macedonia, but I’d rather it was ”Slavic Macedonia” or ”Northern Macedonia” so that it could be distingueshed from the greek . Most greeks would disagree with me though. In any way, it’s a shame for us to be fighting like that…

Russians- are harsh people, love to drink, have a looot of snow in winter and live in constant cold, have very good athletes. Many people have Lenin as an idol (there are many leftists here 😛 ) and in the past there was a civil war because a great portion of people wanted to jion the USSR- obviously they lost the war. they are liked and respected. a lot of people prefer them because they are anti-american. But I say that we have never been in communism state- if we had been, we would probably be licking america’s boots by now.

Sorru for not writing some! takes too long…
I’m aware that Turkey is not in the EU. however it belongs a bit in the european continent, and we share such realationships that I could not leave them out 🙂

Also, to the one who posted this article and wrote: ”DailyCandor: Since when did fair complexions mean European? The criticism among Europeans against Greece has to do with your finances and the burden it’s put on the EU’s coffers, not the color of your eyes, skin or hair.”

Europe is not a country, it’s a continent. Being accepted in the EU and being accepted as part of Europe are different things. It ‘s true that in the EU we are not liked (although they keep us, otherwise their economies will crumble too) ,but we are definitely a part of Europe, European both by appearance, state, culture, education etc. Maybe worse than the others, but still nothing combared to neighboring Africa and Middle East 🙂
we can definitely not be classified among those.. so we are european, except if they make a category just for us, which is unlikey and unreasonable. the EU is a generaly new project- people were called europeans long before it existed and we were among them. It’s not a synonym for ”rich” or ‘with nice economy”.
Greetings and bye !:)

Comment by Feylep — June 12, 2014 @ 4:44 pm
HI, I’m from Hungary. Most important hungarian feeling is that we are alone in this world. We have no language or ethnic relatives or just very distant relative. Sometimes we can be paranoid, but this tendency is based on history experiences because everybody wanted to destroy us countinously (mongols, turkish, austrians/Habsburgs, russians, romanians, slovakiens, serbians ect..). But we also dont like West Europians/Americans so much, who are just dumm, ignorant and know nothing about history, not just about Central/East Europe’s but not even about their own history, and who at critical moments always betrayed us during the history (they always forgot to send the promised help during the wars against mongols, turkish, and reds in 1956), while we sacrificed ourselves to be able to stop these bastards and our population lost its third part at least three times in the history (and some change) because we had to stop mongols, turkish so west europe did not suck it. But they are still educating us about democracy and human rights…I think we already forgave mongols and turkish but who we hate the most are the neighbors: romanian, slovakian, serbs, ukrainien. So after these blood losses we had to let bastards and thieves like svabish germans, romanians (aka gipsies), slovakians (I had a T-shirt which said „My nephew is older than Slovakia” ), serbians, jews etc coming to our country and mix with them to be able to repopulate the land. But these gipsys populated the area faster than we did, so finally after the WW1 they could steal 2/3 of our country with millions of hungarians who are treated very poorly in these ridicolous artificial countrys which call themselves Romania, Slovakia, Serbia…
Austrians: dual emotions. One hand stuck up snobs who always looked down every nations lived east from them, and who basically laid the fall of Austrian-Hungarian Empire with the “divide at impera” tactic among hungarians and other ethnic groups in Hungary. On the other hand we always envied their standard of living and admire them for it, especially at communist time in hungary, where there was a big nostalgie after them. I dont really know how austrians feel for hungarians, I am sure until the dual empire1867 they hated us because always the hungarians rebelled against them, but after that the golden age started until 1918. There was an old saying that “there are two group of Habsburgs: one who hated us, and the second group (way much smaller group) who got obsession with Hungary and hungarians (like Sissy, crown prince Rudolf, Otto von Habsburg – I really liked him, he would have made a good king but thats just our luck). The last 20-25 years since we can buy Gorenje refrigerator in Hungary, too we had not much feelings or anything to do with them. But still we dont click with beer bottles or glasses. Oh, one more thing: Habsburgs were very ugly. And we are very beautiful and handsome. ?
Germans: After hard beginnig (imidietly after statehood, in the 10. Century they attacked us and wanted to conquer but they were not successfull) later they had bigger and bigger influence on us. It is hard to separate austrian and german influence but generally speaking about german language (it was wildly spoken) , cultur, economy..etc had a big impact on hungary. still Germany is our biggest economic partner. Even though we always sucked big time when we allied with them (both WW) still they are respected in hungary. The german machines are the best, they were at least clean while russian are dirty like pigs when we were occupied in the WW2 etc…
Turkish: Also dual emotions. One hand we dont like them because of the 150 years long occupation when the population of middle partof Hungary basically died out (30% of the population) and repelled . And after they left hungary (1686 ) we had to let more and more of the above mentioned bastards (you know, the romanians, slovakians, serbians etc) come into the country, and since that time hungarians became minority in their own country which led to Trianon (1920) when we lost 2/3 of our country. On the other hand we mixed and assimiliated different nomadian Central Asian turk tribes (like obolgár, kazár, kabar,kun, jász etc…) during wandering from Asia to the Karpathian Base, and basically by the time magyar tribes arrived the Karpathian Base ethnically and culturally we were more or at least as turks as ugors. Even the language got a strong turk impact. I think modern turkish people love us, they think we are brothers, although our feelings for them have been undulating in time. Since only a small modern turkish minority live in Hungary and there is no problem with them we have no problems with them either.
Mongols: Also dual feelings. One hand they almost totally destroyed our country in 1242 (population 20-50% killed, settlement, villages 50-80% destroyed). West europe countinously delayed to send the promised help . On the other hand mongols love us and also envy us nowadays. They see us as their western brothers (although we are not relatives). And they are envy for our hun-magyar brotherhood legend (Hunor and Magor) because there is no hun-mongol legend.. Both nation claimed in history themselves as heir of huns but actually none of them are really direct descendant of huns although some mixing could have happen.
Romanians, slovakians, serbs, ukranians: in one world: Land thieves. The most hated ones. Basically all of them have an inferiority complex toward Hungarians and simple envy our history, culture, language etc. They try to compensate this complex with agressive hungarophobia. And also they are scared countinously that one day hungary want those lands back. well, I think they can stop worrying about it because now just simple too many of these bastard live in those land oppressed the hungarian minority, and we dont let them come one more time in our country. Of course it changes time by time which of these bastards we hated the most, but I think it’s usually the romanians. 🙂 eventhough in the last 20 years the serbs (both verbally and phisically) and slovakians (mostly verbally) were more aggressive with hungarian minorities than romanians. Oh well, what can I say? it’s just a pure love forever between hungarians and romanians. It think its just because romanians are the most primitiv among them. Even their language is very primitiv. Ours is uniqe, sexy and complex. Oh, and they are also ugly. ?
croatians: Mostly positive feelings, the symbiosis worked with them most of the times better in the history then the other neibourghs even though we had some fight. During the ’80s we alwasy went there to buy coffe, brandys and LPs. In the 90s they came to buy butter and meat. And when they had the war against the serbs in the 90’s we started to like them more because we hate serbs. 🙂 I think we even sold weapons to them despite the weapon embergo. And we love their see coast.
Polish: I have seen some polish comments about the “Hungarian, polish two good freinds who fight and drink wine together”. that’s true, there are some historical reasons. We never had (land) claims against each other (which is very rare in east europe hehe), had the same king in XIV. century when both country developed well and together. More thousand of Polish people fight in hungarian revolution 1848-1849 against habsburgs. Jozsef Bem was one of the most famous general of the revolution, his hungarian nickname was Bem apo which means Bem Papa because he was loved and well respected. Eventhough in the WW2 we fought on different sides and germany put a big pressure onto the hungarian government to attack Poland together with Germany, we not just refused this but let 100.000 polish refugees come to our country. They could organize their life freely and some of them didnt even go home after the war whose descendant stil live in Hungary. During ’56 revolution Polish was the only people in a communist country who started to do sympathy rally for Hungarian revolution. Also the polish and the hungarian mentality is similar, at least in that point that both of us like to think about themselves that we suffered the most in the world. Its kinda a competition. 🙂
Russian: never had good relationship with them, they always tried to conquer us and they were in a close relationship with slavian countries and backed them up against us, especially with serbs who we hate and are hated. Russians put down two hungarian revolution 1848-1849. after we won agains austrians, the habsburgs called the russian tzar. And also the reds in 1956. And in the WW2 when they occupied Hungary they raped half of the country. And took the other half for a ’malenkij robot’ to Siberia. primitiv tatars.
France: We hate them. See, they may not know about it, but we hate them as hell. Trianon. Hungary was german sphere of interst but these french fagotts always thought more about themselves than how much they were and wanted to set up their own sphere of interest in East Europe to counterweight Germany. So after the WW1 the allies leaded by France cut Hungary for pieces and give big pieces to these above mentioned thieves, and these newborn countries were always defended by french until nowadays, when french start to be familiar with the romanian olah gipsies and their lifestyle in their own country. 🙂 I think their beautiful freindship has just ended, especially that france don’t want to let romanians come inside the schengen borders. 🙂 Well, as we, hungarians says: ‘ God does not beat you with a stick.’ hehe
Jews: That is a very (maybe most) controversial relationship. good times, useful cooperation, golden age, bad times, worst times, nightmares. During our history there were more waves of jewish immigrations to Hungary. First jews came together with the hungarian tribes to the carpathian base from the Kazár Empire. This khazarian tribe name was kabar. But as far as we know they were jewish only by religion, not ethnic jews. origin (Khazar Empire used jewish religion only the show their indipendancy from Islamic arabics and the christian Bryzantium. IX.century) Also possible that the third king of Hungary Aba Samuel (XI. century) was kabar. The first big wave started in the XIII. century from Bryzantium. And after that basically countinously because at that time they could live more safely in Hungary than in West Europe. Second big wave was in XVIII. mostly richer askenazis from German and Moravian area. Third wave from 1830 from east europe, mostly poorer jews. Fourth wave around 1880. By this time 4-5% of the population was jews. The hungarian population was around 48%, the rest were the above mentioned thieves. So Jews were told that if they learn hungarian and claim themselves hungarian ethnic (they could practise fully their religion) they would get the total eqality with hungarians. They did, so hungarians (+jews) could keep hungarian majority by statistic above 50% so above the other ethnics. At that time Jews had the total eqality only in Hungary in Europe and because of the hungarian language knowlegde they were assimilated the most in hungary comparing to other europian countries. During that time big economy and cultural progression were made.This golden age held until end of the WW1 until Trianon. When Hungary lost 2/3 of its land 1/3 of the hungarian population, and all the other etnic groups (OK, this one was not a great loss hehe) and all natural resources. So Hungary became ethnically homogen, only hungarians. The situation got even worse when commies got the power for 3-4 months during this turbulent time (1919). Most of these commie leaders were jews. Jews mostly lived in Budapest (called Judapest) and the separated lands. By this time most of them were hungarian speakers with hungarian izr. identity so they came to small hungary from the separated lands. But on one hand they were not needed anymore as the balance of the scale between hungarians and the other ethnics, on the other hand the country became too small. There were simple not enough jobs (especially intellectual jobs), or university places for students, so after Trianon (1920) and after the fall of the first commie government (1919) the first antisemita laws were born, and this basically lead to the holocaust in hungary in 1944, even though until the german occupation (1944) the jews still relative lived safely compering to west Europe what already was occupied by Germans. But after that it happaned in Hungary, too. Only the jews in budapest were not taken because the governor Horthy stopped it. He was the only Axis leader who was not brougt to court as a war criminal after the war. He was let escape from Hungary and lived and died later in Portugal. He lost his wealth, but he got some money from an Izraeli foundation as a gratitude for stoping taking the jews from budapest to Auschwitz. In the WW2 Hungary lost 10% of its population 850 000 people (600 jews+250 hungarians). After the WW2 all east europe was sold (did not matter lost or win in the war) out to the red bastards by West-Europe and USA, and a lot of the jews in Hungary (well, in Budapest) became commies. (The non-commie survived jews emigrated mostly to the US or Izrael. ) During the hardest and most brutal communist time in the 50s, the jews rate among the commie political leaders and especially in the dreaded and brutal secret police (80%) were extremely high in Hungary, and who wanted revenge. And they had it.
There is still high tension between (mostly leftist) jews and (mostly rightist) hungarians, arguing about who was the bigger motherfucker and traitor.
Oh, yes, and USA sold us again to the reds in 1956 because the Suez crisis was just much more important.
rest of the europians are not so important historically for us, but let’s see:
Swedish: brainwashed coward faggotts, who can not raise their voice against their delirius, opinion fasist libro, socialist elite, who just lost their common sense. They fell down the other side of their horse.
Dutch: kinda same like swedish maybe they are a little bit better than them, havent felt down yet but just about it. But seems to be at least awaken from a bad dream.
Finnish: distant language relative, we were never interested in them. Basically absolutely neutral. We call them „the fishy relatives”. Although I can see some similarities in mentality. Both of us are kinda introvert people with tendency of predisposition to depression and suicide. Donno anything else about them. Oh, and our language way much nicer than theirs.
Baltic states: absolutely nothing, I can not even remember which is which, tough theoratically I feel for them because of their hard past with those red bastard russians.
British: Historically not much connection with them, personally I dont like them because they seem to me who are still living in their glorious colonial time in their head. And they are always motherfucker drunk and jerks in other countries as tourist.
Southern countries (Span, Italy, Greece): lazy asses, but we still like them, and go to their beaches.
Portugal: C.Ronaldo. Otherwise it’s a little green spot on the map next to Spain.
South Balkan countries (Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania, Kosovo): Mountain goatf.cker
Bulgarians: Likeable. Eventhough they are slavian, we do not hate them as much as other slavians. First of all originally they were o-bolgars (turk) nomadian horse riders, close brothers, who sometimes we fight with in the 9-10. centuries, but still respected them. After the settled down in Bulgaria they were not strong enough to assimilate the slavians but they assimilated to them, so nowadays bulgarians are just slavians. But not neighbours so we have never had land claim from each other, and during communism era we loved their see. Nowadays not much connection with them, so neutral or little positive.
Czech: At the time they were Czechoslovakia I hated them because of the Benes decree (they expelled and killed a lot of hungarians and german civilians after te war, even though they basically did not suffer at all. Coward people, always was. Just like French. . After separation from Slovakia i think our hate is just left towards Slovakians, so Czech became neutral. They always were more intelligent and developed than slovaks.
By the way the hungarian world for slavians are coming from servant. 🙂

DailyCandor: Thank you for sharing the Jobbik view of the world (explains why Hungary started off irrelevant and makes itself more irrelevant every day).

Comment by Almos vagyok — June 15, 2014 @ 1:47 am
That poor Hungarian kid tries to sound superior but you can see huge inferior complex in every single sentence. Well it is not easy for poor Hungarians, their country these days is most famous for sluty girls with HIV.

Comment by brch — July 1, 2014 @ 1:02 am
Fascinating what you Europeans think of each other. If you can’t tell I’m British! Lol

Starting with the UK+Ireland:

Ireland: Extremely friendly people who like to drink, but are well mannered. Some unpleasantness among them though, with the Northern Ireland issue and IRA attacks in Britain. Still very positive for the most part. Nice people. Oh and we love that accent.

Northern Ireland: Same as Republic of Ireland but Protestant (well mainly). And Belfast is a bit of a ugly compared to Dublin.

Scotland: Same as Ireland but not well mannered. Although they think we are the rude ones. Often seen as drunkards

Wales: A lot of them hate us. We are not sure why. They like sheep.

Western Europe:
France: It’s complicated. Our historical rival over centuries. We laugh at them for surrendering during the war. They laugh at us for still having a monarchy. Often seen as rude and obnoxious. To me that is just a stereotype though. There is a grudging respect though deep down, for French culture even if no-one admits it.

Germany: We hold on to the war because we know they overtaken us at everything ever since. Technology, infrastructure, football, everything. Extremely efficient and we admire them for it.

Austria: Beautiful landscape although the politics is a bit 1930’s Germany.

Belgium: Bravely fought against Germany in WW1. Only issue with Belgium is it being the ‘capital of the EU’.

Holland: Culturally very similar to Britain. Unfortunately the first thing that will come into someone’s head after the colour orange is brothels and drugs.

Switzerland: In the middle( of powerful Western European neighbours). Quite literally- neutral. Banks and watches

Portugal: Nice country. Popular tourist destination. Historical ally.

Spain: Same again, although sometimes regarded as lazy. Attractive women.

Italy: Similar again. Can be quite rude. Their food is excellent though.

Scandinavia
Norway: Nice people. Weather is even colder than ours though.

Sweden: Stereotypical, blonde haired blue eyed Aryans.

Denmark: Again nice people. Bacon.

Finland: Scandinavian country we know least about. Dislike of Russians though so its all good.

Eastern Europe:
Estonia/Latvia/Lithiania: Baltic triplets. Which one is which? Anyone?

Russia: Get the feeling Cold War 2 is here. Thus not depicted in a great light. They also like vodka.

Ukraine: Sympathised with over the current Ukrainian/Russian stand-off

Poland: A lot of Polish immigrants but are looked on favourably more than others. Very hard working. Sympathetic to them constantly being carved up by Germany and Russia.

Czech Republic: Prague is very well regarded as a city. Could have done more for them in 1938.

Slovakia: Been there, still know nothing about the place. Stunning women though.

Hungary; Not much to say other than it was once part of a powerful empire. Now we know hardly anything about the country.

Romania: Bad reputation unfortunately because of Roma peoples.

Bulgaria: Bad reputation of pickpockets.

Greece: Popular holiday destination. Sunny.

Cyprus: Popular again with tourists. Feel sorry for them for having to cope with Turkish expansionism.

Balkans
Slovenia: The ‘good Balkan child’ We rarely here about this place. So we assume they must be more like their northern neighbours than their troublesome southern ones.

Serbia: Not good. Regarded as extremely xenophobic even to this day. Extremely violent past which paints them as the perpetrator.

Croatia: Serbia North. Different religion, language etc. but still played a part of perpetrator (and victim) and still seen as very right wing.

Bosnia: Regarded as the biggest victim in the Balkan mess. A lot feel we should have intervened earlier to prevent the genocide that occurred.

Albania: We associate them with crime.

Montenegro: Black Mountain?

Macedonia: Are they Greek? Are they Serbian? Are they just Macedonian? Wasn’t Alexander the Great born here?

*Disclaimer. I hope no-one feels offended. Just my observations of what people think.

Comment by Leviathan — July 16, 2014 @ 1:06 pm
I’m from Sweden and so as my parents, but I will talk as a Portuguese because we live in Portugal since I was 3
These are some stereotypes some portuguese people have, but don’t take it too serious, its just a joke.
Spain: Nothing against, like a love-hate relationship, some portuguese don’t like spanish because spanish people tend to ignore and say bad things about Portugal, but nothing too serious.
France: It is where our poor workers go to try to earn money to sustent their families, but despite that, Portuguese know it for the capital, eifel tower, beautiful culture etc etc.
England: It’s funny because we actually like them really much, they come on vacations to south Portugal and It is always a pleasure to conect with them, they are really funny, we call them ”come-on’s” because they are always saying that and we call some english women ”bifas” because they want to get so tanned that they end up looking like beefs or lobsters, but we really really like them, they are our old allies.
Germany: We kind of admire them, but I can say portuguese poeple sometimes feel a bit entimidated by them, because of the language that is really different, and some of us have this idea that they are always angry while having a conversation, but nothing agaist, really beautiful people, they are just fine, organized, hardworkers, beer lovers, we like them.
Finland:Gorgeous women, really rich but too cold, same for sweden and norway.
Austria: Opera, mountains …We kind of like them a bit more than the germans, there is a dish in portugal called bife panado that looks a lot like their schnitzel, and we like Vienna and their culture, but we don’t know much, they don’t really come to Portugal.
Italy: we find Italians to be a lot like us, although they do not feel the same, great country, great food, art etc, we really like them.
Ireland:We really find them funny, good people, nice to hang aroud with, they love south portugal for vacations.
Greece: great country when it comes to culture, huge history importance, but fucked up economy like Portugal.
Czech Republic: Nice people, bridges.
Luxemburg: Rich and where some portuguese come to work.
Dinmark: Great country
Russia: a bit weird for us because it is so big and we are so small, fell like it is like a cold desert.
Turkey: Great spices, outstanding monuments, but how the hell can they walk around with those clothes with 40º degrees.
Switzerland: Nice chocolate, mountains, great economy, has a lot of Portuguese imigrants as well.

That’s pretty much it, I didn’t mention other countries because I don’t really have an idea.
Greetings from Portugal

Comment by heidi — July 16, 2014 @ 2:53 pm
I don’t like generalizations and dont believe in them. There are simplytoo many good French mechanics and good german lovers (believe me I know).It seems to me you make some summarization of things when you lived in Europe and going around asking people what they tought other people think but I dont think you got to the bottom of it. Fe you say Dutch hate Germans but they actually dont. They openly will seems it this way and making silly jokes but tbelieve me Dutch respect and like Germans also because both societies and people are very similar. As I said I dont believe in generalisations TO SHOW my personal view as a Dutch living in a univercity city near the German border (and having a lot of contact with Germans) some of my perceptions about other countries ( I hope people wont be offended is my own personal opinion):

– Dutch: rude, loud, irritating thinking everything spins in and around Holland/Amsterdam but efficient innovative and succesfull
– Germans: honest, perfectionists, friendly, very respectfull and winner mentality like the Dutch
– Belgiums friendly but somewhat to relaxed (bourgondian)
– French not many experiences most very friendly but bourgondians like the Belgiums
– Luxemburg: to small
– Spain: warm but not efficient like the Germans/Dutch altrough beautifull woman but not as beautifull as Italian
– Italy: like Spain but more culture and a very beautiful languages in a beautiful land with beautiful people (;)
– Denmark out of my personal experiences: somewhat rigid/cold but superficial friendly somewhat mre primitive more than Dutch who are real innovaters
– Norway/Sweden not familiar cold wouldn live there to far away from the heart of europe but stil Germanics like us
– Swiss: bureaucrats cold maffioso like Blatter rigid cold no identity
– Austrian; racist, ugly persons and personality very nationalistic and traditional
– Russia: currupt somewhat evil and violent but the best Anthem in the world I must confess
– Poland: friendly (my personal experience) altrough poor and somewhat primitive
– Chechelowakia: between Poles and Germans altough more germans still to many Slavics.
– Greece: europeans but only living on their rich cultural past, corrupt

There is more to it: there is a lot of difference in people between the north and south of Germany and the east and west of the Netherlands and maybe more similarities between people living next to eachother which I hear a lot near the borders but only in a different country. I realize this was posted 7 years ago but maybe next time you live 4 years in one country and get to the bottem and get their real feelings and opinions about some other country.

Comment by Rolf — July 25, 2014 @ 1:15 pm
Oh dear I forgot some countries:

-England; very friendly people good manners (expecially compared to Dutch/Germans) sensitive positive but dont always say what they think very good humor like here
– Some Eastern european countries poor violent people friendly but very corrupt still little more European than monstrious Russia.
– Ireland: very strange and mysterious people think they derive from the Celts but very good music and beer drinkers
-Scotland ugly people drinking to much whiskey
– to all I forgot: I think you made no real good impresion to me

Comment by Rolf — July 25, 2014 @ 1:29 pm
Look at this:

http://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2013/05/what-europeans-think-each-other

The Greeks voted themselves as most thrustworty and all other countries Germany. Greece is a very corrupt sick hypocryte country like I read hear blaming Germany and Holland for the problems in their land while those countries contribute at the most to their lazy corrupt politicians.

Comment by John — July 25, 2014 @ 4:50 pm
i am nominaly european.Good.

Comment by tragos — August 21, 2014 @ 2:45 pm
Firstly congratulations for originating this conversation – I’ve been reading the comments all day and found them thought provoking, insightful and entertaining. As a Canadian with strong EUropean roots there is much to admire in European history particularly the creation of the EU and the re-unification of Germany.
I can only comment on countries I know well and have visited;
Slovak REpublic – a beautiful pastoral country with a rich history, yet appearing somewhat insecure and unsure of itself. LArge GErmanic influences, devoutly religious, trying to catch up to their big Czech brothers, rapidly losing their innocence.
Germany – the north is very different from the south. More austere, Protestant and humourless. My family originated there, although primarily Catholic and rarely if ever marrying outsiders since at least 1608

As a proud Canuck I am cognizant of my European roots and traditions and value the achievents of the British and Germanic peoples in particular and the progress and developments they have shared for the betterment of the world.
God bless Germany and God save the Queen!

Comment by Paul — August 31, 2014 @ 10:27 pm
You missed the Scotland v England rivalry hate. Which has risen to new levels recently as Scotland attempts to divorce itself from the hated British State, while the English insist we are too stupid to rule ourselves. We Scots dislike the Germans (because of the war), but if Germany and England are playing football, the Scots will support Germany, because we hate the English more. We Scots like the French and most other Europeans, and they appear to like us – and we get lots of European tourists. But no one in Europe likes the English, because they are stuck up arrogant snobs and it’s true they are Lapdogs of the USA. Most are unfriendly except in the North, Southerners are pariticularly loathsome, they are racist, and on holiday they act like loud mouthed thugs.

We Scots love our Celtic brothers the most – Ireland, Wales, the Manx, the Cornish, and not forgetting the Bretons. None of the Celtic nations like the English who we know are really Germans anyway – even their Queen is really a German. Although we do feel sorry for the poor Northern English, since London seems to have forgotten they exist

Comment by Hamish — September 12, 2014 @ 12:05 pm
Great article, very funny and pretty much spot on. I’m British.

Comment by Tim Woods — September 20, 2014 @ 2:37 pm
i will add some observations as a foreigner .. non-European who has lived and traveled in just about every European nation.. these is some really strong regional dislikes or weird unspoken dislikes between countries..

ill add americna comparisons in as well as seems there is love and hate american countries in europe and then nutral countries..

mostly czech and slovak had the same views .. but seems everything slovaks though is always more extreme…
czech vs slovak.

.. czech consider slovaks as their crazy little brother.. stuck 100 years in the past.. to political too religious to old fashoned to extreme ..a more manic version of a czech. ive never met a czech who disliked slovaks.. or a slovak who disliked czechs..
but most czechs will tell you.. who supported hitler in ww2 who supported austro-hungarian in ww2 who did this or that..

while czechs are seen as inactive and passive and neutral buy slovaks and czech feel this about the selves too preferring not to hate anyone or any thing to much or like them to much.

czechs dislike poles a little ..and consider them unhappy grumpy rude and paranoid, but id not say they hate them..

czechs have a strong mistrust of germans but admire their following of rules and disapline. and dont specifically hate them. czech were good with austrians and hungarians.

the feeling between czech and slovak is only held between them..

nobody else considers slovaks to be crazy versions of czechs..
czechs felt working class english were rude uncultured arrogant drunkards.. (because thats the tourists who visit czech)
czech feel russians are crazy thuggush brutal criminals and would prefer to keep a distance from them.

czech people liked french culture..
they felt souh europeans were lazyer

czech people were antagonistic to the u.s.a. and felt superior to americans.. many czech say amerians are “shaven russians” referring to their external politics and arrogant attitude of many americans when discussing smaller nations.
id say Czech feeling about english and americans is very different… czech and slovaks did nto hwoever hate americans either. just looked down on them.

czechs viewed the balkans as murderous and crazy and viewed the serbains and Albanians as the worst. but didnt hate them..

poles i found hated everybody.. but respect the germans..
they all ALL hate russians with a passion and ukranians and anything else form that direction for them russians are rapists murderer robbers criminals worts kind of things on this planet.. totally mad super villans..
russians and polish have lots in common.. but that dosnt stop polish from hating them so much its like its in their DNA..
many older poles do not even consider russians to be european in race..

poles respect germans and their orderly nature..
i got the very strong idea poland would like poland to be just like germany .. but speaking polish instead 🙂

polish did not like the english very much because of ww2….

polish liked french on a national level .. but disliked them personally as they were almost as arrogant as the poles…

polish love americans.. although younger generations ive noticed less so..
polish disliked the serbians and view that area as crazy and murderous.

people from the baltic states kind fo feel the same about every thing that the polish do on the russians….. but not as strongly as the polish do! they dont consider russians as european people.
the baltic peoples like hungarians and finnish though
the like germans also.. and older peopled really are.. “pro-german” thinking germans like some fantastic guys who do everything good and are very cultured folk.

they like american.
they like england but less.
they like france. but less again..

germans

dont like russians..
germans are scared of russians and dont want them near them..
german men though russian women were sluts or prostitutue and very attractive.
german women though russian women were cunning “femme fatals” and gold diggers and slinky.
german men .. and women though russian men were bullies thugs and aggressive and violent.

germans did not like serbaisn and viewed them as little russians and criminals.

germans viewed people form south east europe- bulgarian and romania as criminal and dirty and underhand and pushy.

germans love America but viewed them as less educated than americans and eating unhealthy food.. they viewed americans as forthright and frank and friendly and tasteless ..

germans liked english .. but viewed them as sneering and two faced and smirking.. sarcastic.. and also though they had “bad food” although they were not sure what it was english ate. as there is no english food in germany..
also germans view the english as a classes society and didnt like their lower class peoples.. they viewed them as lout rude and aggressive and uncultured… also germans think the “forest” is important and i heard many germans commonet things like england is just a small island with no trees (so true!)

germans wholly disliked albanians and many german women viewed them as potential rapists and petty criminals and violent.. but they were not feared as a nation the russians.. germans are really happy poland is between them

french , germans dont eat french food at all!! and dont buymany french products.. its like french dont exsist.. not many germans even travel to france for holidays.. many germans feel french dont like them.
germans respected french skills in art and french desing..
they viewed french arrogant and rude..
they though french had good food :(that most germans never eat unless you live in saarland )
they respected french about fashion.
they though french were messy and ran heir country poorly and were selfish workers with a poor work ethic..
older germans though french were dirty.. didnt bath enough.. smoked to much didnt eat healthy meals.. used perfume instead of washing.. and threw rubbish in the street and didnt look after their towns and nature…
germans didnt like or hate french..

germans dont like dutch.. but just dislike them not hate them..
they view them and rude unprofessional arrogant abrupt greedy and misers
they also resent dutch for making money form nothing.. controling the import of many products into germany. :D… fruit vegetabls,,, cars… flowers.. ect… and this makes dutch rich..
also they viewed the dutch as crazy about doing weird things.. .
they though dutch food was very bad and that “dutch have bad bread”
and that in holland when your order a meal you never know what you get…

they didnt like serbians and though they were “murderers”

they were ok with Italians but though they were lazy poor workers and emotional undisciplined and flaky but friendly. they liked their food.

they liked spanish and liked their food they though spanish were lively and social and happy. they also though they were disorganized and unreliable and poor workers.. . same with portugal

up untill recently they liked greece 😀
germans like irish alot for some off reason…
they were ok with czech people..

they though swiss were very weird! rigid cliquish robots! sort of ruch watch making hillbillies.. and never felt fully welcome in their country even i you live for 20 years.. they still call you a german… in return they didnt not think swiss were germans.
they were ok with swiss but felt they were odd..

other germans think bavarians are more fun loving and lively but also more religious and odd.

west germans think east germans are more ruthless and cold harted and power and money hungry and will do everythign to get a premotion they also think they have “less morals” or “unchristian morals”
east germans though west germans were not respectful to them and looked down on them and felt they were not treating them as “equal germans”

germans liked all the scandinavians and danish…..

they liked french speaking belgians

french.. ive found french only love france!!!..
french dodnt really want to admit they liked another country. kind of like the polish..
they didnt hate the russians like other europeans though.

they did resent the english and though they were better at them while knowing full well england beats them at everything.
sort of bi-polar. view :S… they also said english had crappy food even though they nevr had tasted it.. many woudl also say stuff liked theyed never want to waist a holiday going to england even though about 1 million french live there …an many of them had or would take a holiday there just after saying they wouldnt..

they though south europeans were lazy and “arrogant about their cultures” haha and that germans were robotic and “Soulless” and had “uncreative food”
seemed common concepts..
mostly they didnt like americans or the usa “souless” “bad food” “dont speak french” “bad fashion” “crude” ect.

young french are a lot different.. but its still in their mentality..

english felt irish and welsh were very nice and friendly simple but uncultured and less educated.. like britsh country folk..
they seemed to like scottish general stereotype was they have a short temper and a foul mouth..
they either loved france and french or hated them!!! black and white..

they either love the u.s.a. or distrusted them with some dislike..

they were ok with germans and felt they were hard working and disciplined and better workers than english

they were ok with dutch but felt they were a bunch or crazy perverts..

they were ok with belgians..

they liked spain and the food but many disliked the people.. others loved em.. sort of 70% not so fond and 30% big fans..
they felt Spanish were backward and lazy and poor workers..

they liked italians food but viewed them italians as cowards because of ww2.. undisciplined and mumma loving garlic and past mummy’s boys. bad workers talkative petulant superficial and unreliable.. but in the u.k. they are kind of viewed like spanish some like them many hate them.

the enlgish either hating the french with a passion or loving them..
they either viewed the as rude smelly arrogant. not washing every day. cowards.. egotists.. farting cream buns and perfume, effeminate sissys.. and lazy selfish workers with ideas of grandeur .

or classy sophisticated. fine eating cultured classy fashion conscious people with a more egalitarian culture to the british “class system”

english disliked russians .. boardering on hating them.. they were viewed as “communists” criminals.. rude thuggush… dangerous. russina products were considered crap and rubbish and everything russias was automatically bad or tainted some how.. never heard somethign good about russian from english..

scottish like france france likes scottish , same with irish..

many urban scottish dont have a great love of irish catholics..

english lumped all eastern europeans into one groups along with the balkans.. and job stealing crminals.. or strange criminal and weird..

russians.. i recall..
liked french for their culture..
liked italians for fashion and food..
didnt care much either way about spain..
were neutral on Britain.. feeling british as their historical international opponent but also admiring many british things.. like polite manners and their literature. (even the craziest old drunk in russia had read one sherlock holmes book)

they though bulgarians were like a little brother..
they though serbs were like a little borther and really hard to find anyone who didnt like serbia
they had a love hate thing with ukrain.. on the one had they woudl make jokes about ukraninas not wahing every night or being smelly or things like that,, but one the other had just about every russia would have aukraninan ansestor or family member.. and really theyre is no difference and they both know it:)

they really respected germans austrians and swiss and hitler was very respecte din russia and a brital sucessful tyrant.. superior to soviet leaders in many way..
many older russians saw german in ww2 and were amazed how much ahead germany was..
russians viewed germans – austrians and swiss as being high tech ntions that russians could learn.. get or steal something from.. 😀

many russians viewed danish and dutch as perverts , sexual deviants ect.. becaus eod illegal porn during communisim cam from these two countries..

russians thought scandianvians were “soft” from their good living ..and that they were boring and didnt know how to have fun..

russians felt that their womenand women from ukraine belarus ect were superior to the rest of the world and that they were something to be envied and they other nations had mannish rude unfeminine women..
they felt that their women were genuinly coverted by the rest of the world and were most pleased with this .. without being asked they would bring the topic up constantly,, many russians knew or were under the impression english, australians and germans were some of the worst women ..

russians didnt care about poland viewing is as a small hunk of land they used to possess..

my feeling was that the
the french superiorty comprex was just to excessive and about 220 years to late as their time had passed a long time ago as the big dog….

that italians were living in some alternative universe where they were powerful built atlantian gods with a flawless recordod of success siting at the pivot of the universe.. instead a multiethnic country less than 200 years old with large under developed and poverty stricken barckward regions.. being very unstable and uninfluencial in recent european history.. and infact for the most part being made up of colonies of other nations (austrian and spanish .. Sardinia, french… in the past further the normans arabs and turks, Byzantine.. ect. :O) and losing all the war they entered into unless their opponent was very weak and was unprepared and then theyed still get totally thrashed and just come through in the end.. .
then when they have good things or chances to improve they are not willing to work for them.. and just leave or watch them fall apart.. willing to talk but not fight..

i heard somebody call it the Mussolini complex

i think all south europe sufferes form this complex “yes yes were white .. were europeans i telly you even though some of use look just like dark skinned arabic people.. :D… . what turks what 700 year arab occupation :P… we dont rememebr.. were the “real europeans” those guys in the north are to cold and have bad food bla bla bla the romans/greeks/ el cid…whoever else.. were the inventors of this or that..:P we must be the same as them… there is a big thing in the south of these countries to be accepted as white europeans secretly in their own minds probaly comming out of the reconquest days and the inqusitions in these areas… .. and forget all the semtitic cultural habits food and customs they have instead of just accepting where these came from.. .. mussolini complex

these is definitely huge inferiority complex in the south europeans minds that the northern Europeans dont really think about, id say the closet to be wise to it are the engish..

polish just hating everybody around them… and hating others for “not helping them”
like a kid with no other friends in school but a big bad bully (russians) who wants to get them but because they hate everybody else nobody will help..

and the dutch being egomaniacs (dutch invented EVERYTHING… holland is good fair , nice kind.. polite good food fuck!!)
with bad humor and just plain rude haha many germans fear when holland sinks under water the dutch will come with their caravans and potatoes chese and coffee and take over germany and push them out of all the camping grounds.. hahah

on the english “hate everybody… or more correctly “point out something bad about every other nation”.. this transfers over to their colonies.. australia.. and 50 or 60 years ago it was much stronger.. feeling of superiority.. with just cause being a wealthy big island with no porblems.. .
. but the australians out did it a bit and really resisted picking up something from other people words food ect and really insisted on havign somethign they didnt like from each group… goldie locks syndrome..

they clear things up even more in australia all south europeans and middle easterners are “wogs” or back in the 1930s 40s.. (niggers!! was also the common term used.. )
rules to be a wog..
garlic mumma irrational religous superstition. and endogamous marriage customs, try not to learn any english after living there 75 years.. dont travel , put quarts rock cactuses or weird ornaments in your yard. try to cheat people when you do business with them be rude greedy pushy .. ignorant.. . and pic up one or two english parrot phases like “yoo bad boi” “aie no spek ingris” “where you mamma” “you no good bloke” this is a set kids will mimic……. people there i noticed hate them.. sooo much but the government has enforced its rules of “multiculturalism” otherwise they be like the polish ! these days its more known but not said..

older australians really hate french too.. and would sneak of nasty comments to them about ww2.. yellow bastards or frog eaters or some things. still french a viewed as cowards their by the australian population. old view pre ww2 was perverts.. sex crazed loving prostitution inappropriately touching women ect.. perfume farting..

british views of eastern europeans are the smell of cabbage steal small things rude paranoied. same in australia but even more general ..

and the dislike to the americans for some reaosn is much stronger in asutralia than england….
why australians would hate or not hate but insult americans im not sure.. but it takes just one comment to get a whole group of them saying various bad things.. yanks are.. rude dumb idiots.. full of shit .. their “ryming slang name for americans is “seppo” which is septic tank ryming with yank.. with is not at all a nice name for a nation…………

DailyCandor: Thank you for your long, insightful comment! My experiences, while not as vast and deep as yours with certain nationals, still mirror your experiences. I would argue that Polish arrogance and Australian anti-Americanism both stem from strong feelings of insecurity…

Comment by jonny be good — October 17, 2014 @ 10:48 am
While this is an amusing read, I hope we’re all aware that it’s mostly in jest (it is, isn’t it?).
.
I’m a German, and I hate neither the Poles nor the Brits nor anyone else just because they happen to be Poles or Brits, etc, and I would hope that people from other countries extend the same courtesy to me. I’m pretty sure that most (or at least many) people feel the same.
This is the friggin’ 21st century, and it’s high time we get over all these pointless, completely artificial divides, most of which are fueled by outdated clichés and silly generalizations anyway. If you’re going to hate someone, it’d better be because they acted like assholes, not because of which country they’re from … otherwise you’re just a plain bigot.

DailyCandor: You’re right. Unfortunately, not everyone is yet on the same page (think of all your countrymen – and there are plenty – who insist all Americans are stupid, fat and violent, just for one example).

Comment by antred — October 31, 2014 @ 5:44 am
Hungarians:
They stronlgy believe whay they do not rule the world because they are the best.
In the hungarian way of thinking there are two ways of doing things: bad or in the hungarian way.

Hungarians are not honest, they make tricks when they can, they are rude, they are not handsome ( even though they have a very high concept as the most graceful citizens of Europe)

Comment by Miniyo — November 5, 2014 @ 7:56 am
hey Europeans.
Im Greek and i live in Norway just 1 year. It’s a “little” joke,,kidding. comlexism for Greeks.. i dont know how can i say it.. for the @DailyCondor’s opinion of my country… im sure you are ignorant of history ..and projecting yourself. The name of EUROPE is greek word .. i dont say myself BUT all over the world: books, people, history, internet..SOURCE from Wikipedia: In ancient Greek mythology, Europa was a Phoenician princess whom Zeus abducted after assuming the form of a dazzling white bull. He took her to the island of Crete where she gave birth to Minos, Rhadamanthus, and Sarpedon. For Homer, Europe (Ancient Greek: ??????, Eur?p?; see also List of Greek place names) was a mythological queen of Crete, not a geographical designation.The etymology of Europe is uncertain.[25] One theory suggests that it is derived from the Greek ????? (eurus), meaning “wide, broad”[26] and ??/??-/???- (?ps/?p-/opt-), meaning “eye, face, countenance”,[27] hence Eur?p?, “wide-gazing”, “broad of aspect” (compare with glauk?pis (????????? ‘grey-eyed’) Athena or bo?pis (?????? ‘ox-eyed’) Hera). So.. Modern Greece traces its roots to the civilization of Ancient Greece, which began with the Aegean Civilizations of the Bronze Age. Considered the cradle of all Western civilization, Greece is the birthplace of democracy, Western philosophy, the Olympic Games, Western literature and historiography, political science, major scientific and mathematical principles and Western drama including both tragedy and comedy.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greece. The cultural and technological achievements of Greece greatly influenced the world, with many aspects of Greek civilization being imparted to the East through Alexander the Great’s campaigns, and to the West through its incorporation into the Roman Empire. This rich legacy is partly reflected by the 17 UNESCO World Heritage Sites located in Greece, ranking it 6th in Europe and 13th in the world.[10] The modern Greek state, which comprises most of the historical core of Greek civilization, was established in 1830 following the war of independence from the Ottoman Empire.
Greece is a democratic developed country with an advanced high-income economy, a high quality of life and a very high Human Development Index. Greece is a founding member of the United Nations, was the 10th member to join the EEC (European Economic Community) as EU was called in 1981 (and the eurozone since 2001) and is also a member of numerous other international institutions, including the Council of Europe, NATO[a], OECD, OSCE and the WTO. Greece’s economy is also the largest in the Balkans, where Greece is an important regional investor. We consider European?? First of all we are European and after other Europe dear..evidenced by the history.. Greeks work in 2960 hours/ year and they are working hard.. German. andother nations how many hours working? For the economicals problems its not fault from the greek citizens but from political system. and this change in 2014 Source: Greece achieved a primary government budget surplus in 2013. In April 2014, Greece returned to the global bond market as it successfully sold €3 billion worth of five-year government bonds at a yield of 4.95%. According to the IMF, Greece will have real GDP growth of 0.6% in 2014 after 5 years of decline. Germans owe in european union citizens and others people of europe more euros. from. 2nd world War. in summer our beaches are full from you ..Germans, Netherlanden, Swedish, Austrian, France, England.. thats ok
i live in Norway and im pround to be Greek.. Norwegian people are the smartest from all over europe for me.. and are respecting more Greeks for the history because we have historical connection (vikings and vyzantine empire) and im happy where i live in Norway. Thanks you and Respect in Norway.

Comment by paulos@ — November 9, 2014 @ 6:07 pm
Hey, Swede here. Just wanted to point out that you got some things about the Scandinavians wrong, at least the internal bits.

I don’t know if what you’ve listed might’ve been the stereotypes some time ago, but never have I ever heard that Swedes are “stupid”. Uptight, yes, and overwhelmingly often we’re described as arrogant by the others. Which isn’t wrong, of course, Swedes do tend to be arrogant, mostly due to our history with the other Nordics.

Finland, by the way, is not a part of Scandinavia. They’re Nordic of course, and we don’t think of them as outsiders in any form (save for their language, although Swedish is also an official language in Finland).

Some more modern stereotypes about Swedes though, are sort of mixed. The Finns tend to stereotype us, as a joke or otherwise, as effeminate, sometimes cowardly because of how we lost Finland to Russia in the Napoleonic Wars, and how we never officially declared our support of Finland and/or declared war on the Soviet Union in World War II, something that many Swedes do regret today.

The Norwegians have a saying called “partysvensker” which is something that’s surfaced somewhat recently as a result of the oil they found in the Norwegian sea. With their now high salaries attracting a lot of Swedes, particularily younger ones, working in Norway while still living in Sweden avoids Norway’s higher cost of living while still including their higher average salaries.
I guess they jokingly refer to us as the Mexicans of Scandinavia sometimes. Other than that, “partysvensker” refers to laziness and just wanting to party. (Which is somewhat ironic, given that some of the more arduous jobs are often taken by Swedes.)

The Danes, with whom we’ve had one of history’s longest running rivalries, which turned into a more friendly form of sibling rivalry in the 19th century, often think we’re too uptight and that we keep our emotions bottled up too much.

Overall the recurring stereotype of Swedes is that we’re tall, pale, blonde & blue-eyed, arrogant, cold and a bit uptight. This is often true of the other Scandinavians as well of course, and to a lesser extent the Icelandics and Finns.
For instance, enter “why are Swedes so” into Google, and auto-fill will give you rude, blonde, tall, cold and happy.
Sometimes, with a more biased view we’re seen as brainwashed and spineless, but this is only a picture painted based on what’s shown in our media, which is itself blatantly biased.

Since we’ve mostly been absolute dicks to the other Scandinavians and Nordics throughout our history, they all have a fondness for jokes about us that can be compared to “blonde” jokes, just with Swedes instead of generic blondes. We have the exact same jokes, but mostly about Norwegians.
And we ourselves do tend to harbour hidden feelings of superiority when viewing the other Nordics, but almost universally it is still accompanied by a genuine brotherly love for the Scandinavians and overall like of the other Nordics.

As for Danes, they’re blunt, sure, but cranky? Absolutely not, they’re seen as light-hearted and pretty much always drunk partyers with an utterly incomprehensible language.

Norwegians are racist? I don’t know about this, some more hardcore leftists might agree with you, but it’s certainly not a stereotype that we attribute to them.

Finns are indeed seen as introverted and shy, and often even colder than the Swedes, with a penchant for alcohol. Their country in itself is respected, however, in no small part because of their excellent educational system.

DailyCandor: I had once roomed with a Finn, a Norwegian and a Dane, and they were always cracking jokes about the supposed stupidity of Swedes. They said they were all in agreement about that. But I’ve also heard about the “stiffness” stereotype from a good (American) friend who lived in Denmark for a while.
BTW I’ve personally been under the impression that it’s resentment by its neighbors for its relative cultural impact success (and maybe because of that, its openness to foreign cultural imports). But I don’t get that it is a deeply antagonistic one.

Comment by Jesper — November 23, 2014 @ 9:39 am
“Oddly, they [polish people] don’t really mind the Germans, and probably still fear them a bit — you never, ever hear jokes about Germans in Poland”

According to the author poles “do not mind” germans but they fear them in the same time. Oddly indeed, is this quite surrealistic description about of real people or is it about characters from polack’s jockes?

Poles like all nation fear countries that are all about military and imperialism. And it is rather Russia not Germany.

DailyCandor: “Don’t mind” means “don’t complain about them” in this instance. And, yes, of course Poles fear Russia more than Germany in 2014. But they bash Russians with an impunity they don’t bash Germans with.

Comment by smentek — November 29, 2014 @ 4:22 pm
Hi all,

I don’t like to generalize, because it’s incorrect and I’m pretty sure not everyone fit in this classification. But in general Western Europe is seen in tow general groups by the rest of the world:
Rich and hardworking (Scandinavians, British, French, Germans).
Poor, lazy and dumb people (Portugueses and Spaniards).

Comment by E.C. — November 29, 2014 @ 11:24 pm
Forgot about Sendai Beach, JP.

Wonderful except for the sand fleas.

Ama said never to go there.

She was right.

Then there was the night soil collections and their application in the spring.

And the charcoal burner autos.

Comment by Richard Patten — December 6, 2014 @ 6:17 am
Sorry Polish people fear Russia and Germany the most, but there are Polish people who feel Germans are somewhat superior because they are an economic power house and it is sad to see Polish people ashamed of their language, culture and traditions and Catholic faith just to be someone like they are not.

There are no other ethnicies or countries in the world that murdered Polish people and invaded the country and killed so many people on Polish land and their lands at the same time. Ukrainians were with Germans in WW2 and then with Russians it is no surprise Bandera’s Army(UPA) killed 150,000 Poles living on what used to be Polish land prior WW2(Now Part of Western Ukraine) all with German and Russian help and influence at one time or another.

There is no reason for Poland to be more friendly to Germany or to be pro Germany or Russia. I believe it is time POLISH PEOPLE FIGHT TO MAKE SURE THE NEXT ELECTIONS AREN’t RIGGED, SUPPORT A STRONG NATIONAL FRONT AND GOVERNMENT THAT’s NOT PRO GERMANY OR PRO RUSSIA LIKE THE CURRENT ONE IS, BUILD ALLIANCES WITH UKRAINE,LITHUANIA, CZECH REPUBLIC, SLOVAKIA, HUNGARY AND THE BALTIC STATES(LATVIA/ESTONIA) ONLY THEN DOES CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE HAVE A CHANCE AGAINST GERMANY AND RUSSIAN IMPERIALISM AND ECONOMIC CONTROL.

POLAND, UKRAINE AND LITHUANIA MADE UP THE POLISH KINGDOM AND ONLY THEN WERE THEY STRONG AGAINST RUSSIA AND GERMANIC INFLUENCES. POLAND WITHSTOOD THE REFORMATION AND KEPT CATHOLICISM BECAUSE OF THIS.

ALSO POLES, COME BACK TO THE CHURCH AND YOUR TRUE VALUES.Re-read HISTORY AND LEARN FROM HISTORY STOP HAVING COMPLEXIVE ISSUES AND PRETENDING TO BE SOMEONE YOUR NOT. STOP PLACING VALUE ON MONEY AND MATERIAL POSSESSIONS AS A MEASURE OF SELF WORTH, RESPECT YOUR BODIES AND FELLOW COUNTRYMAN-Stop the alcoholic/binge drinking, murders/prostitution,smoking, sleeping around,stealing/robbing,stop the mafia and gangsters that are prevalent in Poland today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Do not let Communist and fromer Polish KGB(THE SB) leaders who are still running our fake DEMOCRATIC PARTIES sell us out to Germany and Russia, give PIS- A CHANCE. IF things keep going and you keep doing what your doing there will be no Poland in 100 years. Hitler was a Nationalist, Merkel is a Nationalist and look at where Germany is now an Economic Powerhouse, so why can’t Poles be NATIONALISTS IF GERMANS CAN???

Stop worrying about what other countries think and do what is RIGHT FOR POLAND AND STOP SELLING OUT POLAND TO RUSSIA AND GERMANY. BE PROUD AND DO WHAT IS RIGHT FOR POLAND EVEN IF IT TAKES US LONGER TO BE WEALTHY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!MONEY ISN’t EVERYTHING OUR FAITH CULTURE AND HONOR SHOULD BE MOST IMPORTANT TO POLES.

Comment by Kalina — December 9, 2014 @ 8:21 pm
This stereotypical discrimination educates the narrow minded to further enforce the segregation between cultures. To me, characterising cultures in this holistic fashion shows a lack of humanistic value and insights a counter productive demeanour.
Our genealogical development provides us with prosocial behaviour and I find to constitute unhumanitarian attitudes appalling.

We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.

– Martin Luther King, Jr.

Comment by James — December 17, 2014 @ 6:32 pm
As a Turk ;

-First of all, we are not Arabs ,we are not barbarians,we dont smell kebab,we dont wear black ninja suit some muslim fanatics doe,we are not EU 🙂

My thoughts :

Greece:Lazy as fuk. They hate us but we dont give a sht about them:D Their economy crashed cuz threat of Turk attack (lol)They like to overrate themselves , they think they are spartans , they think greeks are superior race haha
Albania: Who doesnt like Albanians?
Germany:Racist nazis
France: I like french people but their language pretty crappy
UK: Go to hell, imperialist shts also that was a nice try at WW1
Serbia: tough guys
Ukraine: More friendly thn Russians
Russians: Retarded and funny people, hot blonde girls
Bulgaria: I like Bulgars but they are so greedy
Romania: I dont hate em but most of Turks thinks they re thievs and gyspies
Hungary: Arent yo guys Turk?
Italy : Why do u guys be afraid of Turks that much? We are so friendly 😉
Portugal:EU suck their resources , i like them i hope they will get rid of EU leech
Spain: No feelings
Arabs: Traitors
Armenians: Traitors v2 ,You should tell the truth, how did u guys betray us,instead of ur shtty lies like armenian genocide lol!
Poland:They drink a lot, they are good fighters also i like them and polak girls are hot!
Scandinavia: Cool people
Netherlands:Tulips are ours ! 🙂
Others: love u guys
And Turks: Most patriotic race, helpfull,friendly.”still water to his friends, a storm to his enemies”.

DailyCandor: Interesting. Had no idea Turks were so incredibly paranoid. Thank you for the insight.

Comment by Barbarian Turk — December 22, 2014 @ 11:39 pm
@ jonny be good
I’m Italian (from Milan).
You write: “that italians were living in some alternative universe where they were powerful built atlantian gods with a flawless recordod of success siting at the pivot of the universe.. instead a multiethnic country less than 200 years old with large under developed and poverty stricken barckward regions.. being very unstable and uninfluencial in recent european history.. and infact for the most part being made up of colonies of other nations (austrian and spanish .. Sardinia, french… in the past further the normans arabs and turks, Byzantine.. ect. :O) and losing all the war they entered into unless their opponent was very weak and was unprepared and then theyed still get totally thrashed and just come through in the end.. . then when they have good things or chances to improve they are not willing to work for them.. and just leave or watch them fall apart.. willing to talk but not fight.. i heard somebody call it the Mussolini complex. these is definitely huge inferiority complex in the south europeans minds that the northern Europeans dont really think about, id say the closet to be wise to it are the engish..”

Well…, sorry to tell you that your “ignorance” has not allowed you to identify the real reason why we Italians are so proud of our DNA.
Only person truly educated, cultured, include the “greatness” of the Italians … use those ignorant stereotypes pizza / mafia / Mom;)

The most influential country in the World with its most important history is by far ITALY. Firstly, Western civilization was born in Italy. Today the influence from the Roman Empire is still here with its religion, laws, architecture, engineering and many important inventions, road system, concrete, aqueducts, Latin language, roman alphabet etc, etc,
Secondly there was the Renaissance where modern science was born, art, music, mathematics. With the inventions of many a musical instruments, violin, piano etc etc. then what came out of Italy and many of Italian ancestry some of the most important inventions that changed the world:
the telephone, the internal combustion engine, nuclear reactor, battery, electric generator, induction motor, spectacles, wireless telegraphy, first motorcar and motorcycle, arguably first photograph ( Leonardo the Vinci ) the Leonardo’s machines, the art urban-planning, modern political science (Machiavelli), opera, ballet, the pentagram, the ambulance, the helicopter, the radio, the telephone, the condom, the bank, the obligation, the written etiquette, the table cloth, the fork, the prospective, the arch, the roots of western cuisine and architecture, christian philosophy, some avant-garde and many others…
I could go on, there are many more inventions, and I’m not surprised considering Italy has the oldest university in the world. One of the most visited countries I the world, sites today Italians produce some of the best made motor cars, aircraft, ships, designer labels, Jewelry, cuisine, I could go on and on. Italians were amongst the best explorers and discoverers that helped countries such as Britain and Spain discover other lands, they include Giovanni Caboto, Christopher Columbus, Amerigo Vespucci (name “America” by Amerigo V.), Marco Polo. Today as with every country Italy has had its past problems and embarrassment but fro it’s history to today, Italy has lead and leads the world in many areas.
The words “Influence” and “History” come from Latin.
Without the Italian culture, the world as we know today would not exist. Italy is culture, including its fabulous gastronomy. Italy is the country with the largest cultural and artistic heritage of the world (60% of the assets of the ‘UNESCO). Finally, the Italian population is the best, is a mixture of avant-garde but also tradition, Italians may be the greatest among scientists, but they also respect their traditions and local cultures. Italy is the queen of style, from the decor to the kitchen and fashion.

And about Mussolini, that much is denigrated by foreigners (and that has certainly made colossal mistakes, as the racial laws and intervene in the 2nd World War), it is now time to shed light on the historical realities that concern him:
Mussolini has promoted the Italian welfare, social policy, economic and industrial, that has made great Italy abroad. In the “Fascist” period, in fact, that saw with extreme clarity, deep maturation of the Italian company with a radical change of relationships at the base of the work, with employers and workers who take legally and socially reciprocal rights and obligations.
And the policies undertaken by the Mussolini government to facilitate the tendency to “doing business”. All this passing through the promotion of Fascist social policy. How, for example: fix the hours of work, extend the protection for women (these years, the prohibition of dismissal of pregnant women) and children. Fascist law also rules of hygiene and healthiness of the factories, the prohibition of dismissal without good reason or without cause, institutions that provide and regulate not only pension, but also disability insurance, old age and unemployment, ‘introducing checks for workers with large families and the establishment of structures whose purpose is to assist the poor, the disabled and the handicapped.
The welfare state in the Fascist period, therefore, speaks of the achievements that are not taught in school and presented by the media, but they are the greatest achievements that Italy has ever had. ?

Comment by Roberta — December 29, 2014 @ 1:29 pm
http://www.photius.com/rankings/national_iq_scores_country_ranks.html

The intelligence scores came from work carried out earlier this decade by Richard Lynn, a British psychologist, and Tatu Vanhanen, a Finnish political scientist, who analysed IQ studies from 113 countries, and from subsequent work by Jelte Wicherts, a Dutch psychologist.

Countries are ranked highest to lowest national IQ score.

Rank
——– Country
———————– %
————-
1 Singapore 108
2 South Korea 106
3 Japan 105
4 Italy 102
5 Iceland 101
5 Mongolia 101
6 Switzerland 101
7 Austria 100
7 China 100
7 Luxembourg 100
7 Netherlands 100
7 Norway 100
7 United Kingdom 100
8 Belgium 99
8 Canada 99
8 Estonia 99
8 Finland 99
8 Germany 99
8 New Zealand 99
8 Poland 99
8 Sweden 99
9 Andorra 98
9 Australia 98
9 Czech Republic 98
9 Denmark 98
9 France 98
9 Hungary 98
9 Latvia 98
9 Spain 98
9 United States 98
10 Belarus 97
10 Malta 97
10 Russia 97
10 Ukraine 97
11 Moldova 96
11 Slovakia 96
11 Slovenia 96
11 Uruguay 96
12 Israel 95
12 Portugal 95
13 Armenia 94
13 Georgia 94
13 Kazakhstan 94
13 Romania 94
13 Vietnam 94
14 Argentina 93
14 Bulgaria 93
15 Greece 92
15 Ireland 92
15 Malaysia 92
16 Brunei 91
16 Cambodia 91
16 Cyprus 91
16 FYROM 91
16 Lithuania 91
16 Sierra Leone 91
16 Thailand 91
17 Albania 90
17 Bosnia and Herzegovina 90
17 Chile 90
17 Croatia 90
17 Kyrgyzstan 90
17 Turkey 90
18 Cook Islands 89
18 Costa Rica 89
18 Laos 89
18 Mauritius 89
18 Serbia 89
18 Suriname 89
19 Ecuador 88
19 Mexico 88
19 Samoa 88
20 Azerbaijan 87
20 Bolivia 87
20 Brazil 87
20 Guyana 87
20 Indonesia 87
20 Iraq 87
20 Myanmar (Burma) 87
20 Tajikistan 87
20 Turkmenistan 87
20 Uzbekistan 87
21 Kuwait 86
21 Philippines 86
21 Seychelles 86
21 Tonga 86
22 Cuba 85
22 Eritrea 85
22 Fiji 85
22 Kiribati 85
22 Peru 85
22 Trinidad and Tobago 85
22 Yemen 85
23 Afghanistan 84
23 Bahamas, The 84
23 Belize 84
23 Colombia 84
23 Iran 84
23 Jordan 84
23 Marshall Islands 84
23 Micronesia, Federated States of 84
23 Morocco 84
23 Nigeria 84
23 Pakistan 84
23 Panama 84
23 Paraguay 84
23 Saudi Arabia 84
23 Solomon Islands 84
23 Uganda 84
23 United Arab Emirates 84
23 Vanuatu 84
23 Venezuela 84
24 Algeria 83
24 Bahrain 83
24 Libya 83
24 Oman 83
24 Papua New Guinea 83
24 Syria 83
24 Tunisia 83
25 Bangladesh 82
25 Dominican Republic 82
25 India 82
25 Lebanon 82
25 Madagascar 82
25 Zimbabwe 82
26 Egypt 81
26 Honduras 81
26 Maldives 81
26 Nicaragua 81
27 Barbados 80
27 Bhutan 80
27 El Salvador 80
27 Kenya 80
28 Guatemala 79
28 Sri Lanka 79
28 Zambia 79
29 Congo, Democratic Republic of the 78
29 Nepal 78
29 Qatar 78
30 Comoros 77
30 South Africa 77
31 Cape Verde 76
31 Congo, Republic of the 76
31 Mauritania 76
31 Senegal 76
32 Mali 74
32 Namibia 74
33 Ghana 73
34 Tanzania 72
35 Central African Republic 71
35 Grenada 71
35 Jamaica 71
35 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 71
35 Sudan 71
36 Antigua and Barbuda 70
36 Benin 70
36 Botswana 70
36 Rwanda 70
36 Togo 70
37 Burundi 69
37 Cote d’Ivoire 69
37 Ethiopia 69
37 Malawi 69
37 Niger 69
38 Angola 68
38 Burkina Faso 68
38 Chad 68
38 Djibouti 68
38 Somalia 68
38 Swaziland 68
39 Dominica 67
39 Guinea 67
39 Guinea-Bissau 67
39 Haiti 67
39 Lesotho 67
39 Liberia 67
39 Saint Kitts and Nevis 67
39 Sao Tome and Principe 67
40 Gambia, The 66
41 Cameroon 64
41 Gabon 64
41 Mozambique 64
42 Saint Lucia 62
43 Equatorial Guinea 59
North Korea N/A

Comment by Roberta — December 30, 2014 @ 3:34 am
Barbarian Turk –turks are the fleas of a dying Europe. You are the filth in the underbelly of a corrupt system. Friendly and helpful? The number one bestseller in Turkey was a translation of Mein Kampf in Turkish. You jessies dream of swatzikas up your anuses. I’m sure right about now you got a face like a skelped erse. Well you scabby dobber go fuck yourself. You turkeys have never been a part of Europe and never will be.

Comment by Sam the Scot — January 6, 2015 @ 2:42 am
A bad thing about italian (I’m from there), unfortunately, is that some of them are stupid. I dunno the reasons, may be the bad investments in education system or some genetically deficiencies due to the collection of them.

eg. the above girl @Roberta or me.

Anyway I really appreciated this page, sorry not to contribute in a further way 🙂

Comment by Leonardo — January 8, 2015 @ 10:47 pm
@Sam the Scot:

Hi, any translation of Mein Kampf is prohibited in Turkey so please stop pulling lies from your back. We “Turkeys” have owned half of Europe and still have landmass in Europe more than Liechtenstein, Malta and probably the Low Countries as well. So “Sam the Scot”,just continue shining the Englishmen’s parts OK?

Comment by Jim — January 10, 2015 @ 1:05 pm
I enjoyed reading this.. Let me give an African perpective of Europe. My comment would be limited to the following countries England, Germany, French, Holland, Italy and Russia. Please note that this is a South African perspective which i picked up while growing up.

Germans- Efficiency is consistent with Germans, My father once worked for a company down in South Africa with a German link, there were times where he came back from work visibly tired, he used to say the Germans are around its work and no play,,,lol there is a zulu saying which describes a workaholic or generally strong someone, they would say “Itsimbi ayigobi igoba ejalimane” loosely translated to mean you are hard as a iron of Germany…..

Dutch- They are considered to be tempramental and not pretentious people who either gets along with you or not. With this type of atrributes they are preffered by the locals because they dont pretend.. The dutch however im reffering too here is the ones that colonised our country and brought aparthied/ the boers SA RUGBY TEAM….

England- Considered two faced people who pretends alot. Everytime you greet them, you are welcomed are a temporary smile that does not come from the heart. They are offcourse welcoming people but pretends alot. They have a good sense of mannerison which unfortunately at times want to coherce everyone into following as the right way.

Italians- Good Dressers but are said to be very racist people…Banana thrown at the staduim

Russians- Comrades

French- Stubborn people who are always correct. Highly regarded by south africans for having opened their country to assist alot of west Africans.
.
These are some of my observations, i have not travelled to any of these countries, i could be very wrong. If i was offensive to anyone i apologise sincerly.

Comment by Dumisani — January 16, 2015 @ 4:56 am
@Jim I’m Turkish and Mein Kempf is NOT prohibited in Turkey. You are the one who is lying. And we have not owned ‘half of Europe’, and what we did ‘owe’ we ruined by treating the people like slaves (or killed them en masse and pretended we didn’t –you know its true you pislik). Its Turks like you that give us a bad name you moron.
Yes the Scot was rude but after reading this whole thread all kinds of people are being rude to each other–so what? The only one shining anybody’s parts is you you effete idiot. Everyone, please do not think all we Turks are assholes like Jim. There are good people in Turkey too, people who are not so blinded by nationalism that they hate and attack everyone who even hints at saying anything negative about Turkey.

Comment by Bulent — February 1, 2015 @ 12:05 am
@Jim and when you want to lie to protect our homeland do it in a smarter way you moron. Not in a way where you are easily exposed. Mein Kempf is indeed a bestseller:

http://pamelageller.com/2014/01/hitlers-mein-kampf-hits-bestseller-list-la-times-makes-excuses.html/
quote:
““Mein Kampf,” or “My Jihad” in Arabic (“my struggle’ in English), has been a number one bestseller in Muslim countries for years. It’s a bestseller in Turkey and Bangladesh. ”

If you want to defend our country its best to do it without lying. Our country is not perfect. We have a lot of corruption and racism. Poor people are treated like shit and the government hides all kinds of crime. If you care about Turkey then don’t lie about her but try to improve her. The first step is to tell the truth. But people like you, “Jim”, will never do that. And that’s the problem.

Comment by Bulent — February 1, 2015 @ 12:10 am
Why does everybody say the Germans are cranky? I have not been there but want to visit Berlin so I can tour some of the cultural attractions but everytime I do a search on German characteristics its something like they are effiecient and humurles? s or mean spirited or cranky? If they are that bad then I don’t want to visit!

Comment by snowgirl — February 1, 2015 @ 12:29 am
“Jim” you are lying I am Turkish and mein kempf is definitely allowed in our country. If you google it you will see that it indeed was a bestseller and still sells well. You do not defend Turkey by lying.

Comment by Bulent — February 1, 2015 @ 12:32 am

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