What Europeans think of each other
This is a basic backgrounder for Americans, primarily, who might think Europeans do nothing all day but bitch about Americans. Don’t get me wrong—they do love bitching about Americans. But they also like bitching about each other, as well. Bordering countries, especially, have complex caricatures of each other, even when an outsider might think they’re more or less the same. The following is based on my numerous interactions with Europeans, having lived there for 4 years. Here’s a run down:
The French — Disliked by some Spanish (particularly the Catalonians), for being arrogant. One woman from Barcelona told me, “Come on, who really likes the French? Nobody!” The Swiss don’t like the fact that they have contempt for authority and are lazy. The Brits, of course, have the most mixed feelings about the French, though. One half the country hates them, the other half loves them. Those that hate the French tend to like the Americans, and vice versa. In the UK, they’re considered stinky, rude (they never line/queue up like decent people), and a bit yellow, based on their tendency to not fend off invaders like the Nazis.The French, in turn, dislike the British, look down on Belgians for being stupid, and don’t have much to say, in my experience, about Spaniards or Germans (oddly).
The Italians — Most of the stereotypes are positive, but mostly because of the food. Northern Europeans consider them lazy and flaky, and maybe incapable of managing anything right (mostly because of the 50+ governments they’ve had since WW2). One Dutch professor I had dismissed another Italian one, saying, “All the Italians care about are pasta and mamma.”Italians, in turn, don’t have strong feelings about other Europeans, but within Italy, the north-south divide is pretty strong. Northern Italians continuously complain that Southerners are lazy and unproductive, while Southerners complain that Northerners are devoid of culture or joie de vivre.
The Germans — Germans are considered industrious but uptight and humorless, by just about all the other Europeans. They know WW2 is a sore spot for them, so other Europeans will often mercilessly tease them about it. As much as Germany is considered an economic powerhouse, the vast majority of Europeans don’t really want to learn German or study there (or send their kids there to study). The food is considered uninspired, too, and only Berlin has some cachet among younger Europeans for its vibrant underground club scene. The most anti-German sentiments are among the Dutch and Danish, who just hate them from invading their countries too often. When German ask for directions in Holland, they’re usually given directions to the shortest way out of the country, or told “Give us back our bikes!”, a reference to the fact that Germans confiscated Dutch bicycles during WW2.Danes hate it when you pronounce their capital as “ko-pen-HAH-gen”, because this is the German pronunciation. Either pronounce it the English way (with “HAY” instead), or the Danish way, which is literally impossible to put down here.Germans tend to like their Western neighbors far more than they are liked by them, but they look down on their Eastern neighbors, particularly Poles. They, oddly, have some mixed respect for the Czechs, who have resisted German aggression.
The Scandinavians — Widely respected by most other Europeans, because of their high standard of living …and blond hair and blue eyes. However, within Scandinavia there are some persistent stereotypes. The Norwegians, Danes and Finns all think the Swedes are stupid and uptight. Norwegians are considered racist. Danes are considered more blunt than the others, maybe a bit more cranky, and the Finns are oddly introverted, even by Scandinavian standards. Except for the Danes really disliking Germans, and Finns really disliking Russians, they don’t really have anything against other Europeans.
The Belgians — Considered idiots by both the Dutch and the French. Belgians, in turn, consider the Dutch to be a bunch of cranky assholes, and French stuck-up.
The Dutch — The Dutch, like the Scandinavians, have an enviable economy and social order that’s admired by southern European countries. However, they do have a reputation of being self-righteous “know-it-alls” and very similar to their German cousins in terms of their rigidity. But they do not like any comparisons to Germans, and if you remind them that the Dutch national anthem makes a reference to the Dutch being “van Duitse bloed” (from German blood), you might quickly get the silent treatment. The Dutch are also disliked for being the biggest misers in Europe, and because of this they incur the wrath of the tourist industry wherever they travel. The Dutch have been known to stock up on water before they take their campers down to the south of France.The Dutch, in turn, kind of look down on just about everyone. Yes, there’s a bit of a reason for the “know-it-all” smart-ass reputation they have.
The Swiss — Considered extremely rigid, even by the Germans. Blunt to the point of being rude, the Swiss probably have the least likely reputation for being characterized as “friendly” or “warm”. Note that there is a big cultural divide between French-speaking Swiss, and the German-speaking Swiss. The former are almost exactly like the French, except having a blander cuisine and more respect for authority, the latter being more like the Germans except even more stiff, rigid and cranky. However, everyone knows Switzerland “works” so the fact that foreigners comprise 20% of the population (mostly from EU member states) should make this clear.Note that the German-speaking Swiss also speak their own variant of German, which sounds very strange if you’ve only been exposed to standard “hoch-Deutsch”.
The Spaniards — Honestly, very little antagonism against the Spanish or by the Spanish. No one really seems to dislike them, and they don’t seem to really dislike anyone else. (Yes, some Spaniards near the border to France don’t like the French very much) Not entirely sure why. However, God forbid you speak Spanish with a Latin American accent — there is still a lot of snobbery among Spaniards towards Latin Americans. Spaniards consider themselves white and European, and would be deeply insulted if you suggested they were Latin American of any kind.
The Greeks — Only nominally considered European by other Europeans, but the Greeks fiercely identify as European. Naturally, this is a huge irritant to Greeks.
The Poles — Not much seems to register about Poland and the Poles except that they’re quiet. They are a relatively big country (40 million people) so the supposed scare of being overrun by Eastern Europeans when a bunch of Eastern European countries joined the EU in 2005 focused in on the Poles. The Germans really don’t like Poles, and among Germany’s 9 neighbors, are disliked the most. Poland is considered a country of car thieves by the Germans. Really, the relationship between Germany and Poland is similar to that of the United States and Mexico, and often for many of the same reasons (differences in income, history of war, different languages, etc.).Poles really shore up their hatred for their eastern & southern neighbors, primarily Russia and Ukraine, although they don’t like Czechs, Slovaks or Lithuanians either. Oddly, they don’t really mind the Germans, and probably still fear them a bit — you never, ever hear jokes about Germans in Poland.
The Czechs — Considered a relatively bright spot of Eastern Europe by Western Europeans, but I think primarily because Prague is such a gorgeous city and a popular tourist destination. Czechs are a bit like Germans, though — a bit rude, blunt, and cold. Poles don’t have much good to say about them.
The Austrians — Considered a mix of the best & worst aspects of Germany and the Balkans, Austrians are considered laid-back but very nationalistic and racist. They’re said to be the birthplace of Hitler, but never came around to being fully apologetic about the Holocaust (unlike Germany). Neutral feelings from most ofWestern Europe, negative feelings from Germans (who consider them backwards, and not always the representing the best image of German-speaking people) and admired by Eastern Europeans (a throwback to the Hapsburgs).
The British – About half of the British would be really angry at being called European, so that should provide an apt starting point. The main beef with the Brits is that they’re considered the lapdog of the U.S., and are anti-European because the U.S. tells them to be so. They are considered polite, but maybe a bit two-faced (hence “Janus Britain”) and snobby. The Scots and Welsh are tolerated and liked, inasmuch as that no one really knows too much about them outside the UK, but the English are those that bear the brunt of negative sentiments among other Europeans. After all, London is in England.
The English also have a poor reputation in tourist traps, such as Amsterdam and Ibiza, for being loud-mouthed, obnoxious drunks.
The English, in turn, really seem to hate everyone. This is because it’s pretty hard to find an Englishman that has even, at best, neutral opinions about other Europeans (or Americans, or other nationalities). Europe is full of English expats, and the longer they live abroad, the more they seem to hate their host country. And yet they never seem to want to move home.
The Irish — A very small country, despite its exaggerated importance in Americans’ minds (just over 4.6 million in the Republic of Ireland) but considered polite and humble. They nominally dislike the English, but I have yet to meet an Irishman who really loathes the English. The sentiments towards the Irish and by the Irish seem to be positive, overall.
I personally don’t know much about how the Portuguese, Hungarians, Romanians, Bulgarians, and others are perceived, or how they perceive others, but if you have something to add, please do so in the comments below.
I’ll leave you with this poster I saw in an Italian office years ago, that helps sum it up in some ways:
In Heaven…
- the mechanics are German
- the chefs are French
- the police are British
- the lovers are Italian
- and everything is organized by the Swiss.
In Hell…
- the mechanics are French
- the police are German
- the chefs are British
- the lovers are Swiss
- and everything is organized by the Italians.
Update: Here’s my follow-up after this post got an avalanche of traffic and comments.
Another update: Here’s a related post on what Americans think about Europeans.
And another: 20 ways to slice up Europe.
- Excited
- Fascinated
- Amused
- Bored
- Sad
- Angry
Hi! 🙂
I’m Portuguese and I would just like to sort some things out here.
Yes, we do have a long story of competiton with the spanish dating back to the discovery times and lots of portuguese dislike the spanish. But not everyone thinks like this. Lots of people think of them as “nuestros hermanos” (our brothers) and like them.
The only thing that bugs us is that even though our languages are much alike, when a portuguese is in Spain he will always do whatever is possible to be understood by them, but when in Portugal, the spanish always refuse to try and understand our language. Either we speak spanish or they won’t understand what we say. (even if they do, they will say they don’t)
PS: I know not eveyone is like this and there are exceptions, but my experience tells me that this is what happens.
Comment by Luísa — October 26, 2008 @ 3:19 pm
Here’s my take on what Croatians generally think of other Europeans….
Serbians – hated by the extreme nationalists (who perceive them as genocidal tribal illiterate primitive brutes). Surprisingly, admired by many (mostly urban/leftists) who marvel at their lack of “inferiority complex” and a very, very relaxed attitude about their “balkan mentality” (unlike croatians, they haven’t been brainwashed into thinking they’re part of the civilized, clean, cultured “Mitteleuropa” and that all things balkan are basically filth). Serbian literature, movies and (especially) music are extremely popular and generally considered to be vastly superior to croatian home-grown, ahem…culture.
Slovenians – viewed as cold, stuck-up, arrogant (not even remotely true, in my experience). Probably even more unpopular than the Serbs these days – Slovenia-bashing seems to be the growing trend. It’s mostly jealousy (they’re miles ahead of us in terms of economy, social order, etc) with a bit of blind nationalism and propaganda thrown in.
Bosnians – backward, primitive, daft (by far the most popular joke-materials) .
Macedonians – their existence is mostly ignored, but the few people who have actually been there said that they’re the nicest folks in the world 🙂
Hungarians – even though we shared many centuries of common history with our northern neighbour, nobody seems to have anything to say about Hungary these days. The language barrier is too strong, probably. Oh, a lot of people have said nice things about Budapest (amazing city) and Hungarian women (hot and…..easy? apparently)
Germans and Austrians are generally perceived as “our friends”, for various reasons : our inferiority complex, Austro-Hungarian empire, hundreds of thousands of Croatian guest-workers (gastarbeiten) making a living in Germany in the 80s, both countries being among the first who recognized our independence. I dunno, it’s weird, they’re generally respected and thought of being on “our side” (I’m sure they couldn’t care less), but anyone who’s been there or lived there always points out how cold, unfriendly and individualistic they are.
English : arrogant bullish snobs. Some people, e.g. my father, seem to hold the English solely responsible for all the “tragedies” of Croatian nation throughout history. Doesn’t matter what it is, there’s always an English connection.
British sitcoms/comedies are extremely popular though, especially Allo Allo and Mr. Bean.
Italians : 2 opposite stereotypes : 1) warm, handsome, pretty, good looking, cute, beautiful language, blah blah blah (this is a more common opinion) 2) dirty, smelly Gypsies /racist Nazis (bizarre, I know, but this is what some people actually think. In my experience, they’re very similar to us, especially the South)
Comment by StidljivaLjubicica — October 27, 2008 @ 11:48 am
Romanians love everybody on the account of taking all the gipsies 😀
( well… not all of them … yet! they’re still rolling )
Romanians hate the Hungarians because they didn’t get enough gipsies … apparently they have more than enough of their own.
Comment by Cosmin L. Neagu — October 28, 2008 @ 2:11 am
There are extremists both in Hungary and Romania who hate the others, but it’s not a “feature”. Most of the population (in both countries) doesn’t have anything against the other people.
However Romanians have something against the Russians for 50 years of communism… That’s not easy to forget.
Romanians also doubt the cerebral activity of those who label Romanians as Gypsies.
Comment by Xan — October 29, 2008 @ 7:24 am
This is great read, I’m from Belgium and mostly evrything is spot on! one thing was forgotten though, in Belgium we believe that every other country has horrible beer. many belgians who are proud of their beer would say “I’d rather drink water from a toilet boil then drink (insert foreign beer brand)”
Comment by Yan — October 29, 2008 @ 10:46 am
I’m Bulgarian. We are quite perky people able to be part in any given society in the western Europe, and the western world for that matter. Gypsies are quite a problem in Bulgaria as they are a developing minority often associated with small time scams and thievery. However there are a lot of decent people amongst Bulgarian gypsies.
Regarding the Romanians, I’ve been there. They are are developing better than us in some fields and their infrastructure is better around the capital. International roads nearby Danube are low maintained and when you enter Romania from Hungary and try to pass the Carpathians you will have to watch out about your car as the road is in a very poor state. At 3 a.m. in the morning it is common to see people walking between villages, sometimes even young women with their children. However I’m left with the impression that young people are more likely to find good jobs there.
Not much is said about out neighbors – the Macedonians. I went there a while ago. It felt like Narnia – people playing a game of “Country”. All they need is a talking lion. They still believe that they are the remains of the once strong Macedonian Empire. In modern times when even wars waged not more than 60 years ago are now not a reason for two nations not to cooperate for mutual benefit, it is just simply immature to beat yourself in the chest and argue with the world that everything they have they owe to you. Young Macedonians don’t think that way. I had the pleasure to be in their company .
We just try to be a part of the world.
Comment by Svetoslav — October 30, 2008 @ 9:49 am
Some historical adjustments
1) Hitler WAS born in Austria (like it or not) – Braunau
Ey, where did Haider come from again? Finally he got the right curve…
2) The Roma (or better “Sinti”) AREN´t Romanians, this is a popular but wrong misunderstanding. They have a long history in Europe, coming from far east (India?), centuries ago, and are a separate people group. They were hunted and humiliated almost like the jewish over lng time in history. Historically, they life from artcraft, music, show, and, yes, begging. They had a strong line into France, and one of th biggest populations today lives in Germany (~60k). They have – very unique – no country, but their own legislation, culture, language, etc.
And yet, there are some very poor Romanians begging in western Europe.
Comment by History — October 31, 2008 @ 8:20 am
Its funny because I’m from Nothern Ireland. When I’m on holiday no-one really acknowledges that I’m Northern Irish. We may be part of the UK but we are our own country, we even have our own fry if that counts for anything. We’re either English or Irish so I just pretend I’m Irish because everyone loves the Irish. If you say you’re English they tend to think you’re just a drunk and should be wearing a football top of some kind.
Comment by Shana — November 3, 2008 @ 11:04 am
Cant Believe there is so much disliking present in the days of globalization…..come on ppl …
Comment by game — November 3, 2008 @ 8:48 pm
Funny !
disagree with most of it, but still… should just be read for fun
Comment by funroyal — November 4, 2008 @ 8:42 am
I’m Belgian, and I don’t hate Dutch people, but the can act stupid. I noticed in Amsterdam they began to speak English immediately, when I spoke to them in Dutch, maybe because we have a slight accent. The strange thing is, we both speak Dutch, but still we don’t know a lot about eachother. The Dutch are ignorant for what’s happening in Belgium, I guess.
Belgians are proud for surviving the World War’s, certainly the first WW is considered as a heroic and brave war, while our influence was not that large.
Comment by desed — November 4, 2008 @ 10:17 am
As a Swede, I’m getting FUCKING tired of all the hate from Finland. They always mock us and make fun of us – for no apperent reason.
The Norwegians are seen as another part of Sweden, we can communicate well with eachother. We are a little jelous of them because they have their stupid oil.
The danes are loved but their language seems like a joke, and therefore we joke about it alot.
Germany is seen as a great country, Europe’s “super-power” with incredible industrial strength.
Finns are ridiculed for their language which sounds NOTHING like the other nordic countries. Otherwise they’re seen as our brothers, or even closer, seeing sa it was another part of seden for 637 years.
Comment by babidiboopi — November 6, 2008 @ 10:34 am
Despite bitching about the swiss being stuck-up, I know more very kind and charming people from Switzerland than many other countries.
I’ve been to many different european countries, and have met a lot of different people there. In the time I went travelling across Switzerland, I met a whole bunch of different types of people. While in central Switzerland the stereotype does match a lot of times, in the other parts, like Basel, Lausanne, Ticino or Chur, the people were very friendly and charming!
I think of all stereotypes brought in this article (which is great btw!) the one about the swiss being stiff and rude does match the least.
I’ll bet a lot of people have experienced this.
Comment by Vdt — November 11, 2008 @ 4:17 pm
Que giro, favelados a dizerem que os Portugueses têm inveja do Brasil… só mesmo para rir. Alguma vez temos inveja de uma cambada de favelados que nem sabem que são os pais? (pergunta retórica, escusam de responder.)
The portugueses, doesn’t hate the spanish, just some atitudes. For example when we are in Spain and we try to speak with the spanish they say “No comprendo!” (despite the fact that they do understand us), while the portuguese try to understand them. The portuguese have to answer to them by gestures because they never understand portuguese, portunhol (spanish with portuguese) or even english.
Best regards.
Comment by anti-favelado — November 14, 2008 @ 6:07 pm
Having lived in Germany for over 20 years, I can only say that luckily the majority of people here don’t bother to spend that much time hating everybody else. There are a lot of harmless jokes, obviously, but I rarely met anybody who took them seriously, even though after reading the comments, you can only draw the conclusion that Europe is full of people who resent each other for various stupid reasons (which get weirder the further you read).
Still, it was funny seeing all these guys pop up, claiming they speak for an entire country and providing all those obscure explanations for stereotypes most people probably have never even heard of. But of course something always seems to fit, like with a horoscope. And it always fun to explain the intricacies of your culture and country to a foreigner, even if you’re just making it all up on the spot, right?
Also, kind of sad that most posters could only come up with negative stereotypes.
Oh, sure, X hates Y because they’re all stuck-up. Also, Y thinks of Z as backwards. Z doesn’t bother to learn foreign languages and also has a healthy dislike for X. Probably because of THE WAR. And don’t you ever dare calling X an Y, except you’re ready for a fight until death. Europe really is serious business.
Comment by Richard — November 20, 2008 @ 4:24 am
Portuguese people don´t hate the Spanish. If they are arrogant with us, we are ironical with them. We tend to be more introspective and melancholic. Fado expresses that quite well.
Comment by Miguel — December 5, 2008 @ 7:52 pm
First off, this seems very ignorant and American.
The Poles love jokes about the Germans.
Also the British and Spanish both dislike each other. So do the Brits and the Greeks.
Comment by Ian, UK — December 30, 2008 @ 8:50 am
Ian: Thank you for proving my point about the Brits (you hate Americans, and just about everyone else)
As for the bit about Poles and German jokes: have you lived in Poland? Are the Poles you’re talking about actually Polish, or are they Brits of Polish extraction? I lived in Poland for a couple of years, befriended countless Poles, and never heard a single German joke (heard plenty about other nationalities, though).
Comment by JM — December 30, 2008 @ 5:06 pm
As a German who has been living “abroad” in the Czech Republic for some years, I’ve got a few things to share.
Prague is almost an entirely different country when compared to the rest of CZ. Those from Prague are widely regarded as rude, crazy drivers, snobs, and they have silly accents. (The difference between a Czech who has lived in Prague and one who hasn’t is enormous!)
Not to mention Czechs have a horrible habit of being passive-aggressive, and will blatantly lie to you about almost anything. Though I’ve got to say, they’ve got great beer, and a friend will near always share a bit of their “garden” with you. 😉
Comment by rados — January 4, 2009 @ 10:46 am
I love this forum, I roll on the floor gasping for air with laughter at some of the entries lol 🙂
Anyway this below is in Finland the common conception of the Swedish male :
Comment by Freathinker2308 — January 9, 2009 @ 7:50 pm
[QUOTE ContorlsFreak, on September 6th, 2008 at 6:24 am Said:] On the Scandanavian/Nordic issue: thanks for educating us “New Worlders”. The ignorance on this issue is due to our education, we are taught that Finland is a Scandanavian country, and memorize it as such. [/QUOTE]
I wouldn´t worry too much about that if I were you lol 😉
What you have been taught is not too off the truth. On this forum we obviously have a lot of hobbyroom geographers and ethnologists who let their personal emotions cloud the issue. Here is how Wikipedia describes Scandinavia:
Scandinavia is a historical and geographical region in northern Europe that includes the Scandinavian Peninsula. It consists of the kingdoms of Norway, Sweden, and Denmark;some authorities also include the nations of Finland and some might even include Iceland.
Regardless of how the term Scandinavia is used outside the region, the terms Nordic countries and Nordic region are used officially and unambiguously to identify the nations of Norway, Finland, Sweden, Iceland, Denmark, the Danish territory of the Faroe Islands, and the Finnish territory of Åland as politically and culturally similar entities. “Scandinavia” is a common reference to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, but also includes Finland, Iceland, and the Faroe Islands.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scandinavia
The Encyclopedia Britannica views it like this:
part of northern Europe, generally held to consist of the two countries of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Norway and Sweden, with the addition of Denmark. Some authorities argue for the inclusion of Finland on geologic and economic grounds and of Iceland and the Faroe Islands on the grounds that their inhabitants speak North Germanic (or Scandinavian) languages related to those of Norway and Sweden.
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/526461/Scandinavia
Even though Finnish is not a Scandinavian language, culturally and historically it has very close ties to Sweden, Norway and Denmark making it notably Scandinavian.
Comment by Freathinker2308 — January 10, 2009 @ 11:18 am
hi i am from berlin germany but both my parents are irish. i agree with you in some ways and it saddens me. for most other europeans view ireland is just a small isolated country, maby as you said humble people.
the thing is irish did move to mainland europe but they integrated much more like irish in mexico and argentina.
a good proportion will know at least something to do with the problems in the north-for example massive protest was held in paris when bobby sands died in 1981.
many teenage spaniards visit ireland each year and have done since the 1970’s seeing as spanish parents would rather send their children to catholic ireland rather than protestant britian to learn english.
i don’t know really, i would prefer if europeans would have better understanding of each other.
Comment by conor — January 14, 2009 @ 5:27 pm
I think you are all nuts! All genetically the same but culturally think you are better than the next. Think of yourselves as all equally fucked up people who dislike others because they thing you suck in return. As for what divides countries war and other bullshit, wars never end they just move around and evolve. So today the large countries fight economically/politically etc. and the small weak ones get blown up. By the way the same ass holes who cause the shit in the world wars ect still here fuck ups!!!!
Get along kids!
Comment by Peter — January 24, 2009 @ 11:05 pm
Just wanted to say to that pathetic piece of shit bob (which he thinks he is Greek but he actually is a stupid lazy never-showered gipsy) to shut the fuck up.
Comment by Albanian — February 4, 2009 @ 1:43 am
I’m Polish American teen (though I’m also Irish German Scottish Polish by heritage-wise) and just wanted to give a bit of insight on the Polish views. I have visited Poland several times, most recent being last month. I personally dislike Germans, and find the Czechs annoying; the Russians for me is a hate/love relationship especially because of past with Soviet Union (dislike); however there is a strange closeness with the country via of language and culture (kinship).
From what I observed from Polish friends and family, Polish people tend to now (due to E.U.) go to Ireland and U.K. and find it very charming. Many Polaks (thats right, we are not offended by the term whatsoever) prefer the British Isles than the countries surrounding them. they also seem to fond of France and it’s chicness. It used to all about Germany, but now a days Germany it treated as oblivious. A Polish woman I know, whose used to live in Germany for a couple of years, found the Germans to be quite dull and devoid of any vigor really. She frankly told me that she was so happy to living back in Poland where everybody is so much more cheerful and outgoing. Another Polish man told me that German cuisine is quite awful, and that Germans actually prefer eating Polish cooking when compared to their own. But lastly I want to state that there is a split view towards Germany and Poland. Polish people thoroughly distaste Germany’s past (WWII) but for some reason don’t show much animosity towards the post WWII Germany (indifference). I find that strange since I’m a bit prejudice myself against Germany and its culture.
Also Polish people tend to be very proud and cheerful of their country. They’re in no way introvert. They are very ambitious, and with the country becoming part of the European Union, Polish people are ready to go explore and experience other cultures.
By the way: I am in no way saying that the ANY of the countries I mentioned are any better than anyone others. This is just from what I see, hear, and know and are not intended to disrespect anyone. And I find it really insulting that some other posters out there think they’re hot shit when frankly they’re assholes with an overinflated ego. This was meant to show and explore how others see each other, and if you keep portraying yourself like a complete douchebag, you are only hurting your own image and your own heritage/nationality. You really REPRESENTING yourself poorly.
Comment by Ala — February 4, 2009 @ 12:56 pm
Search Entropa by David Czerny. Probably it can give a few more stereotypes on how Europeans think of each other…in the Czech point-of-view.
Comment by Alberto — February 10, 2009 @ 6:14 am
if you dont like the english dont speak english and that includes the irish who hate us because of the famine
Comment by jw — February 10, 2009 @ 4:34 pm
what abt romania? or isnt romania in europe? and hungary too… 😀
Comment by romania — February 13, 2009 @ 4:51 am
I’ve visited Netherlands, Belguim, France, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Austria, and Hungary.
I agree that the poles are incredibly inert, self contained and don’t exhibit any of the snob nonsense observed in the UK (Which by the way has an average IQ score well below that of their european counterparts including Poland).
Polish food is healthy, limited and tasty, czech food similarly is german in character with a few beverages typical of the czechslovak past.
Hungarian food surprisingly is much varied, mostly western by standards. French food is tempting if a little over the pricey side. And netherland have some of the cuisines typical of german sausage but advertised as dutch with influences from belguim and france. Sweet food might I also add in belguim/netherlands is also influenced in the UK. Sausage and cheese less so and not a popular import from both sides.
The UK is a small, lousy smelly country which is influenced by the capital in which all towns and cities are routed towards.
No real culture, appaling manners, popular crime resort, a mass of immigrants who arrive and instantly gain UK citizenship, lousy southern snobbish behaviour characterised by those that have little to show. I’m unsure of the motive behind what is driving the UK. Sadly the capital is all that the UK has to show, an overly populated area dense in pollution with little character and high living costs.
Indeed an appalling country to be apart of, and would instantly work longer hours and less pay in another country with decent people.
Comment by James — February 13, 2009 @ 9:27 am
To Romania! 🙂 The only experience I ever had with someone from Romania is the woman who used to cut my hair. She was very professional and nice and have to say gutsy too as she hardly even spoke the local tongue, yet had the courage to start her own saloon. Furthermore she didn’t succumb to threats from local competition, not even after someone one night trashed her shop. A very remarkable woman. I don’t have that much to say about Hungarians either, the few I have met here in Sweden and abroad have been good friendly people. Swedes are a timid people that rarely openly admit disliking anyone, however, due to failed immigration policies, the country has received half a million Muslims and the misconduct of many of them evokes anger and disgust. Studies show that Arabs and people of the Islamic faith in general, with the Romany (Gypsy) are the most undesired groups of people in the country. The differences expressed by the Swedes, Finns, Danes and Norwegians is nothing more than brotherly bickering.
Comment by Tux 08 — February 21, 2009 @ 9:39 am
By the way, thanks for the interesting article! I read it with a smile as I did the replies from various other readers. 😉
Comment by Tux 08 — February 21, 2009 @ 9:58 am
well, as a turk, i don’t have the slightest feeling of belonging Europe and this EU relations piece of crap. but relations with Europe are unavoidable due historical reasons. Now put the “Europe” beside, we only hate England( England is a part of europe here for us) for being the reason of every evil all around the world and contrary to the general perceptions, using americans for their issues. to french people, we just share the common feelings with every other nations against them. and French people should not worry for their peasants because we are not joining EU. Germans, we like them after all because they are honest people and absolutely not “more” racists than other countries (i know how they feel about my people). we feel nothing about scandinawians, they dont seem to have feelings after all. South Europe? es geht. they are lively. we do Not hate greeks or Armenians, simply we do not care about them. (this is plausible, because we used to be a main historical figure in the last thousand years and had sovereignty over them, they may have the reason to hate us, we don’t). Balkan countries, same with greeks. now, we respect russians when they are sober. America is not wellcomed in any single corner in this country, obvious reasons no need to explain.
Comment by mha — February 25, 2009 @ 2:07 pm
lol.. oh, i’m Greek allright.. but i would rather be a stupid lazy never-showered gipsy than a drug dealer-child molestor- albanian scumbag!!
Go ask the French-Italians-Germans or anyone who had the “pleasure” of having you albanians lowlifes in their countries.. they’ll tell you the same thing…
Now shut your pie hole and get back to work.. those ATM’s won’t rob themselves!
Comment by bob — February 26, 2009 @ 9:49 pm
Very good post, close to the mark and it is funny to hear an \outsiders\ opinion…
Comment by r10t3r — March 10, 2009 @ 7:53 am
This has been a wonderful read.
It is particularly amusing to hear how incredibly “American” this piece is by a few posts, then have its conclusions completely confirmed by the next 12 posts.
Comment by Rodolfo — March 19, 2009 @ 9:51 am
This is what swedes tend to think about other europeans.
Germany: “Haben flaben deutcschen sterben, hitler hitler hitler”
Very strict and disciplinarian in a more effective way then the sometimes selfloathing swedes. Terrible tourists, just like us.
Norwegian: Something like ike in south park, our retarded little brother that can´t speak properly. we also think they are lazy ex-heathens who just happened to luck out on the oil that made them rich. In turn they resent us for our actions during WWWII, and us forcing a union between sweden and norway.
Denmark: Slightly older brother that speaks a form of gibberish that vaguely resembles Swedish. We also think they´re racist, hate us more then we hate them and have red noses. This in turn is attributed to their perceived constant drunkenness.
Finns: Friends and enemy´s. We have closer ties with them then with either norwegians or danes, and despite the fact our languages arent even slighlty related we are genetically the closest to them. some resentment due to historical occupations, although numerous swedes fought in the Finnish-Russian war.
Russia: Pretty much the same view as americans, cold, grey, vodka, stalin, communism. Historical enemy´s.
Poles: Poor, but hard workers although a bit sketchy.
Considered pale, and thin.
The chzech republic, hungary, austria, slovakia, romania, bulgaria, etc: little or no data.
Balkans: No man´´s land, although since the immigration of ex-yugoslavian refugees we´´re pretty sure who hates who by now. Serbs hate everybody, everybody hates Serbs, and Albanians pretty much just love themselves
Greece: Good food, good weather and hairy, beach prowling casanovas. Sometimes considered inferior although they found what much or most of our civilization is based on.
Italia: same as the greece, with the addition of wine. Also, scooters and mother issues.
Spain: Lazy and funloving, love football. Not much else register.
Comment by J — March 21, 2009 @ 6:14 pm
I didn’t see many americans posting so i thought i might add a little American perspective. This is what America knows about Europe.
Germany: BMW, David Hasslehoff, Hitler. The end.
Russia: Communism and Karl Marx, not huge on smiling, but plenty of snow and sexy bitches
Franch: sounds like ranch.
Greece: Socrates, 300(?), they have big, fat weddings.
Italy: my best friend is this big fat italian bitch and i’m not even gonna go into what i know about italy cause its probably a pack of filthy lies.
but also, the mob and delicious food.
Norway: possibly like Sweden.
Spain: they get to sleep in the middle of the day and i heard they drink a lot which makes them o.k. fine by me.
Poland: invaded by David Hasslehoff in 1945, possibly also like sweden.
Czech Republic: supposedly, there is a great mexican restaurant run by a dude from San Diego somewhere in Prague, probably worth a visit.
Denmark: ? dams? maybe the netherlands? no holland is the netherlands…
Netherlands: sounds like a name for a crotch, legal weed and shrooms, possibly best place in Europe.
Belgium: waffles
Romania: near Transylvania
Austria: Arnold Schwarzenegger
Switzerland: neutral, chocolate, makers of K-Swiss
Britain: not a part of Europe
To those who equate ignorance and American-ness. Should i point out the irony of generalizing a group of people as ignorant?
Comment by Theo — March 28, 2009 @ 6:15 pm
the greeks and the italians have very high regard for each other. when a greek meets an italian (or vice versa) the common greeting is \una fazza una razza\, or \one face, one race\, meaning that the greeks and the italians are one of a kind–that they share ancestry and history. they’re VERY friendly toward one another.
Comment by nicole — April 7, 2009 @ 4:20 pm
Ukranians and Russians think Italians are greasy, lying, cheating, short and nasty type, predominately the males.
Comment by tats — April 16, 2009 @ 11:52 pm
TO THEO
Ohhh, wow, I am American, and how to stupefy the Americans 101 by Theo. You are a bit harsh, but also wrong, Transilvania is a town in Romania not next to. Making it seem like Americans are that ignorant is harsh.
Comment by tats — April 16, 2009 @ 11:59 pm
Portuguese point of view here as some asked
Ourselves: We consider us as pessimistic, tragic dramas, melancholic, smarter than the others in the way to solve things by imaginative and impressing last minute methods (not the most technical one), (a little like the Russians space stations thing…), to cheat is not bad in the moral point of view it’s sometimes a compliment.
The Spanish: We hate them, even who says no is just denying to irritate another Portuguese, usual considered as unclassed persons, loudly, rude and uglier (that is funny because we are physically identical, but every man will try to hide they had a Spanish girlfriend because it will score negative points in the sexual reputation). Oh, and we feel more intelligent as we speak 4 languages and them just 1, but in other hand I think they think it’s a sign of weakness of our mother tongue. Special exception: Galicia, the region is considered by us (not by them) half Portuguese so many look to it with sympathy.
The English: Special relation here, we have a kind of adoration/hate. It seems important for us their recognition. Their approval seems when a father watches a show of his son. We have a legendary sentence “build to the English look!”. In the other hand we consider them a bunch of hooligans for the men and easy going (in bad sense), and unclassy for the women.
The Italians: Welcome home! If there is a country the Portuguese indentify themselves and like to be compared with, is Italy. We think they have a way of life similar to us with the difference that they are happier. If we find an Italian outside of country we tend to look at him as he was from the same country sometimes.
The Germans: We dislike Germans and no reason at all for that, our history never had a special contact. But we have the image they are all psychopaths racists.
The French: Neutral. As all around we have an image of arrogance from there but we admire their culture. Some of their costumes were copied here.
Americans: Neutral in feelings but Naif, stupid, and dozens of negative adjectives. A common Portuguese have an idea that it’s impossible to argue with them because they don’t understand “things”.
Brazilians: Someone said we feel inferior to them (I don’t believe you went already to Portugal), that is the opposite and maybe the worse part of the Portuguese spirit. We feel the superiority of colonial era and racial too (90% of Brazilians don’t share our genes), they live in high number in Portugal and there are the general opinion that they are less capable or less intelligent. Many say they only know to Samba and to play football, the rest it’s better to leave for the others. We know that their jokes are about us too in Brazil but that is viewed how we were very important for them. But my opinion: They are simply cool, probably the happiest population on earth, they’re contagious.
Stereotypes have at the end no sense at all. Exist all kind of persons in every country in the world that’s what I know:)
Comment by Ricardo M. — April 27, 2009 @ 3:55 am
“Or the Danish way, which is literally impossible to put down here”
When I was in København, my hosts said the easiest way to was to think “coo-ben-haven”.
I may be too forward, and my Danish hosts too polite, but that pronunciation seems to have worked well in my travels.
Take care
Comment by Joseph — May 1, 2009 @ 12:11 pm
Italians (northerners and southerners) are united in their hate of Romanians and all things related to Romania. It is a commonly held belief among Italians that Romanians are responsible for everything that is wrong in Italy–crime, unemployment, illegal immigration, and the likes. My grandparents are 100% Italian and 100% hate Romania and Romanians.
Comment by Carmine — June 2, 2009 @ 3:04 am
Honestly, I’m very surprised that this post hasn’t ended in a massive flame war… shock horror could it be that Europeans generally get along quite well together. I think in the last 20 years a lot has changed in europe and the stuff in this article is a bit out of date. It is still a funny read.
As an English person I think we definitely have an ingrained ‘dislike’ of the french but its not like we take it in a serious or bitter way its just a bit of banter with a country that we have been involved in a huge amount of wars with (even wars by proxy around the world back before America was ‘born’). Of course knowing the French they probably take it far more seriously haha.
I think English people respect the germans and dutch mostly because we are more similar than people from outside of europe would imagine. The German’s are seen as efficient and yes we do like to make jokes about the war. I think we are perceived as arrogant with a drunken violent sub culture because of holiday makers and the whole empire thing
Comment by Colm — June 7, 2009 @ 6:01 am
I’m French and i must admit you are spot on, but these are more some underlying stereotypes than real antagonism.
A quick rule of thumb about us, french people, our respect for a nation seems to be unconsciously tied to the quality of their food. (surprise).
For the countries with which we share a border, its more complicated than that.
We love Belgians , we are tremendous friends, but we like to joke about and with them (same goes for Quebec by the way).
Italians are tricky, we like the culture but we look down on them as being lazy effeminate show offs who are in love with their mama (which is a-ok, we are in love with their mama too, and the sisters, daughters… you catch my drift, hard feelings are located elsewhere towards Italian women *wink* *wink*).
Its strange but we do not have problems with Germans beside the conventional clichés, perhaps because they are not our historical enemies.
Which brings us to Brits… True enemies of France. They are everything we don’t want to be. But they tend to hate us while we only have a mild disrespect for them.
Well, I could go on and on…
Comment by jipi — June 8, 2009 @ 11:05 pm
I am European and I hate 98% of all European, they’re dumbass retrograde, masochistic, small thinking people thinking about their little town or neighbourhood and disergarding anything else. no sense of adventure, would return to the dark ages if they could!!!!
America come and save us!!!!!!!!! You are not perfect (see Bush and followers) but at least you are thinking of the future, and don;t have this “we’re born to suffer” stupid ancestral way of feeling not just of thinking that most europeans have!!! I am disgusted and deeply ashamed to have been born here
Comment by lori — June 28, 2009 @ 8:11 am
I am Swedish so here’s my point of view:
Everyone in Scandinavia hates us, except for maybe Norway. There’s a lot of jokes in Sweden about Norway, and they have a lot of jokes about us, so there’s basically just some sibling teasing between us.
We have this view of Finns as violent, alcoholic brutes who live in the woods and sit in saunas all day, and they see us as effeminate alcoholic pussies. Swedish men aren’t considered to be ‘real’ men.
We see Danes as backwards and racist, and they’re probably still bitter about the fact that we stole a big part of Denmark (Skåne) back in the days, and made it ours. Stockholm (the capital city) doesn’t like Skåne because we think they’re backwards and racist, and we want to give it back to Denmark. People in Skåne generally hates us in return because we make fun of the way they speak. Actually, Stockholm is also hated by most Swedes who don’t live there.
We’re kinda like the British when we go to tourist traps – loud and obnoxious drunks, only we’re not polite when sober either.
We’re also considered pussies because we let the Germans walk right through us during WW2 to occupy Norway (Strangely the Norweigans aren’t bitter at us because of that).
Iceland thinks of themselves as the best country in the world, and the rest of Europe thinks they are exotic, mysterious, beautiful and quirky.
Comment by Linnéa N. — June 29, 2009 @ 3:28 am
Well i am from Sweden and i can really say that as i see noone mentioned the Balkans we are pretty much ignoring Eastern countries of Europe,Serbs and Croats are getting better along and they are very close to join the EU,they hated everyone but lately they are getting along with other countries so i say we should include eastern countries in our system they are very much of europeans,as for the western countries i think everyone knows what do swedish think of them 😉
Comment by Sebastian — July 1, 2009 @ 4:22 am
I will try to describe Czech point of “view”. Take it with fun and benevolence. Generally, we see all other post communist countries in two cathegories: first – younger, less developed, brothers, and second – monkeys. We hate to be called “eastern Europe”, because we were soooo developed before WW2, because we are soooo cultural and because – in fact – we are geographically more werstern than Austria for example.
And now for the countries:
Slovakia – our younger brothers. We love them, but we make fun of them because of their religiosity and nacionalism. We don’t understand why they have left us, why they left so clever and developed older brothers.
Poland – our younger, but bigger brothers. It is only post communist country we have some respect for them, because their country is so large, they are not landlocked and their history is almost so great as ours. Sometimes we say they are fakers, we also make fun of their religiosity, but there is no hate, I think most of Czechs like them.
German – well, I think Germany is the most close country in cultural and historical sense, in good or in bad. We can’t forgive them Munich agreement and WW2, we make fun of their obedience to authorities, we see them rude, but we also respect them because of their great industry, cars and highways with no speed limit. And in our dark subconscious we are proud that Nazi politics considered Czechs applicable for germanisation, not like other Slavic nations.
Austria – we hate them, because their are laughable snobs in leather breeches, they are still post Nazis, most of guards in concentration camps were Austrians, Hitler was Austrian, because they hate us and underrate us, because they are manipulated idiots blocking our borders in anti nuclear energy protest (what is true) and because they throw garbare through our borders (what is also sad, but true).
Hungary – we don’t know them much. We know our Slovakian brother doesn’t like them, but why? We see Hungarians as funny monkeys with moustache and insane language dancing csárdás and eating goulash. They are very undeveloped nation riding their horses via puszta.
Ukraine – cheap workers and poor people. They live in woods and they can’t read. We feel sorry for them but we use them for hard work. We also see them as dangerous potential eastern mafiosos.
Russia – hateful occupants, primitives and monkeys living in ground holes. They can’t read and they steal watches. But we also have some respect because of their cosmic exploration, science and success in WW2.
Slovenia – we have some recpect because of their economy (only post communist economy better than ours!), but their country is so small, boring and uninteresting. Well, does anybody know where Slovenia is? In some pocket?
Croatia – small brown monkeys with similar language living and fighting in Balkan hills. They have beautiful see, we love to go to our holidays there, but we know they are cheaters and they want to steal from us.
Bosnia – muslim monkeys living and fighting in Balkan hills. We feel sorry for their suffering in civil war.
Serbia – they slaughter other monkeys in Balkan hills.
Romania – they are cool, they have Dracula. But they are soooo primitive. They have nice mountains, where some Czech minority lives. We like to make time travel to see them living in 19th century.
Bulgaria – small brown monkeys, but they have cheap see.
Comment by Eset — July 7, 2009 @ 11:48 am
[…] What Europeans think of each other By petexner Leave a Comment Categories: awesomesness and culture Tags: europe, fun, stereotypes source – dailycandor.com […]
Pingback by What Europeans think of each other « awesomesness — July 13, 2009 @ 6:32 am