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
My family is Romanian and I have been there many times. What I’ve learned is that they don’t really have a strong hate for anybody. They do dislike the following though;
1) Russians – for turning them communist
2) Hungarians – only the ones that live in Romania and think they own the place. Apparently they are very stubborn and mean.
3) Gypsies – Ok they definitely hate them. Most I’ve talked to say that the gypsies travel around Europe stealing and committing crimes pretending to be Romanian. They believe they are given a bad name because of this group of people. They all feel like the government should get rid of them.
Comment by DJ — July 15, 2009 @ 6:22 pm
I’m Hungarian and I don’t know about my parents hating any European countries, but have heard about some others disliking Slovakians and vice versa. Don’t really know why. I have some Slovakian friends and they are really nice. Slovakian people come to Hungary a lot also to shop or on holiday.
I’ve been to Transsylvania some years ago, and the people there were overwhelmingly hospitable.
About the aggressive Hungarian drivers: Hungarian drivers are aggressive only in Budapest, our capital city which is chaotic and terrible to drive through. I’ve had no problems driving in other towns of the country.
Comment by progger — August 5, 2009 @ 2:49 pm
Duh!!!!!!!!!!!!
please don’t tell me my post is LOST??????
I wrote a really long one too!!
Comment by Bij Lobith komt de Rijn Ons Land — August 7, 2009 @ 11:16 am
Wow, I guess Americans are pretty ignorant.I had no idea so many countries hated us(especially the ones that would be speaking german now if it wasn’t for us).I will not go back to Britian(once was enough anyway).Half hate us??The only places that seem welcoming are Spain,Italy and Greece.
Comment by bgc — August 12, 2009 @ 1:39 pm
Duh. Spaniards hate Americans the most because they know that the CIA killed many people in South America.
Italians like Americans, maybe, but looking at their president, who resembles bush-cheney so strongly, that’s no wonder.
And only Americans and English believe in this utter Disney fantasy world where they fought WW2 for purely selfless reasons. It was a power struggle, for world domination, pure and simple.
The Americans won it. Should we kiss their ass for all eternity? Methinks not. We boosted the US economy quite a bit. do we get thanks for that? Equally not.
Comment by Bij Lobith komt de Rijn Ons Land — August 23, 2009 @ 4:52 am
Ok,listen ,the United States were isolationists at the time. We wanted no part of the war or we would have entered it years earlier(as we should have).If you really think that the United States wanted to rule the world then Japan and Germany wouldn’t be the great democracies they are today.
Helped save England
Freed France
Rebulit Germany
Maybe not for for eternity but I don’t think 60 years is long enough
PEACE
Comment by bgc — August 29, 2009 @ 1:48 pm
About the Germans being rude I have to say that it is in a more honest way. My experience is that if you’re getting a German as a friend, he’s a true friend.
I hate this fake all-over-the-face smile from Americans as they meet you, telling you how WONDERFUL and what not everything is and saying “what an idiot” behind your back. Phony. If Germans don’t like you, they just don’t want to have anything to do with you. If they think the joke you just told them is not funny, they won’t laugh. You may find that rude but at least you know what they really think of you.
Comment by Steve — September 7, 2009 @ 8:29 am
Bij Lobith komt de Rijn Ons Land- My goodness you are a bitter mis informed whore! We don’t care about you. We don’t want you to kiss our ass, we want you to go away. We only kill people who need killing. All of the most henious genocide was brought about by Europeans, Slavs and Asians. Fuck off and leave us alone.
Comment by Max — September 16, 2009 @ 4:24 pm
Regarding Czech resistance to Germany – Czechoslovakia officially capitulated, but had very strong resistance among people, guerilla and outland troops.
Comment by zet — October 5, 2009 @ 1:08 am
OMG !
It was a lol for a long time
just not of what you wrote but the idea that you seem to think it is true
based on sch stereotypes and urban legends and self centered self love
i love the americans
i am so dumb it is actually so funny
Comment by jenny — October 7, 2009 @ 4:20 am
You’re TOTALLY wrong about Poles! \you never, ever hear jokes about Germans in Poland.\ are you kidding me? 90% of jokes in Poland is about Germans…
\Germany and Poland is similar to that of the United States and Mexico\ – really \old-fashioned\. It used to be like that 20 yeras ago…now Germans buy cars in Poland cuz they’re cheaper ;/
I could tell something about EVERY piece of word in this piece of crap! This are Stereotypes! Not what we think about each other!
Comment by frompoland! — October 12, 2009 @ 8:43 am
Mieszkalem w Polsce przez 2 lata; znam duzo Polakow, slyszalem tysiecy zartow. NIGDY nie slyszalem ani jednego zartu o Niemcach oprocz takich bezpiecznych, nieszklodliwych dowcipow dla dzieci.
Comment by JM — October 12, 2009 @ 1:56 pm
RE Q #30 by Michael McGrath on November 3rd, 2009 – 6:09 pm
We all have to face ferocious cuts and cold reality here in Ireland now.
And let’s face it, during the Celtic Tiger years , and even now in our huge economic crisis, we are being more than generous to the Polish people here in Ireland, something that Ireland cannot so obviously afford now.
With an Immigrant population, a veritable Army, of 400,000 here while we face economic Armageddon and the real possibility of the IMF being called in, the Irish people face total disaster.
The immigrants, the Poles in particular, can just up and out when disaster strikes – Poland is booming, there is no fear of the IMF being called in there, as there is now in the case of Ireland.
Therefore all Dole to immigrants will now have to be abolished , especially with a Billion of Irish taxpayers money being sent home to Poland to buttress the already booming Polish economy.
The Irish Government must now urgently apply to the E.U. for derogations from the E.U. Protocol governing payment of Dole and other Assistance to incoming immigrants, no matter where they originate from.
However, immigrants from EU countries coming to Ireland to work with a specific job secured here, cannot and should not be stopped – this massive problem must not be allowed to feed and fuel racism, which could easily happen as we see from comments from justly outraged Irish people who are the victims of Welfare Tourism, their own benefits now being cut, over the next three years, perhaps more, as a result.
No country in the world should be expected to put up with what Ireland is putting up with – having to pay out two billions a year to immigrants who are still streaming in here while the Irish are forced to emigrate in the midst of the greatest depression that Ireland has ever experienced in modern times.
There are of course the real leeches who contribute nothing to anybody, neither Polish nor Irish – Western Union who transmit that Billion of Irish peoples and Irish Government money out of Ireland annually, and profit by massive charges thereon , they should be surcharged 50 % on every Euro they send out of reland, that would put a stop to their gallop !
And if the present Irish Government shirks its duty in dealing with this present crisis, then let the Irish people throw them out in the next General Election never to return to office, never , ever, to be voted in again.
The Polish immigrants themselves here could help as well to defuse the situation by not being so transparently grasping and greedy, the Irish could help by calming down .
Comment by Irish Journalist Ireland — November 3, 2009 @ 11:15 am
Its a bit weird that Europeans just nominally think of Greeks as Europeans, I mean Western civilization is largely based on the ancient Greek civilization. Even the word \Europe\ is Greek.
Comment by Jim2x — November 5, 2009 @ 5:40 am
Kind of sad to have to say this, but I am sure that Czechs have never ever resisted anybody – not Nazist, not anybody else. I am Czech, you can trust me. Honestly, I have always thought, that Czechs have bad reputation for being a little cowardly and never fighting anybody – we just give up everytime when someone comes and seizes our land. We just make jokes about all the invaders and they leave after some time anyway 🙂
Poles have always fought – I was at workcamp with one polish girl and we got agreed that Czech cities are old, untouched and historical, while polish ones have been destroyed, newly built and now they are full of war memorials 🙂
Comment by stachys — November 6, 2009 @ 12:46 pm
and something to add to JM: I CAN understand you, but I do not think that anybody else can, too; maybe it would be more useful to use english when all the other people on the disscusion probably can speak it, but very little of them speak polish, wouldn´t it?
JM: Yes, but that message was directed to all the hypersensitive Poles who ALWAYS reject any sort of characterization of them. “You don’t know the first thing about us!” is the first thing they always say…even if you’ve lived there!
Comment by stachys — November 6, 2009 @ 12:49 pm
And one more czech observation: I completely HATE when I am speaking with some other person from slavic country (mostly Poland or Russia ), I try to speak partly czech and partly their language and they don´t understand or they pretend not to understand! It drives me mad, because I CAN understand them but they just don´t understand me. It is so… frustrating!
There is a story about it: I was buying a train ticket at the Krakow ticket office and the woman at the cash desk couldn´t speak english, so I tried my very basic polish (cca 50 words 🙂 )combined with czech. She was sitting there, not even trying to understand and just saying over and over again “I really don´t understand you, you are bunch of stupid tourists” (of course in polish) and I said “But I can understand YOU!” (of course in czech) She didn´t understand…
JM: That’s because some of them are truly stupid and can’t understand any variation of what they speak. Others resent Czechs. But it’s always funny to me that the ignorant and/or monolingual are always staffed at international ticket booths at train stations!
(I also spoke Croatian when I first moved to Poland, and I could usually understand the gist of what they were saying, but they just thought I was an idiot who spoke broken Polish and they wouldn’t even try to understand.)
Comment by stachys — November 6, 2009 @ 12:59 pm
but, still, I really like Poland… I was there just for two weeks, during the summer, but I ´d love to come back again…sometimes… Everything looked a little similar to the czech republic, different, but still similar somehow… I was in the country at the easternmost part and it reminded me the Czech republic 15 year ago, when I was a little more than a small child 🙂
Comment by stachys — November 7, 2009 @ 2:06 pm
Hello,
I’m Mexican-American, and I find this article to be very interesting. We obviously know that Americans \hate\Mexicans; I always that the perception that Europe was a united continent. Guess not! I really love being American because we think to the future, and not the past. I love all these stereotypes about Europeans. Next time, another American calls me a wetback, I’ll know what to respond. 🙂
Comment by Rogelio — November 20, 2009 @ 12:33 am
Hey guys, I’m Portuguese and here are my views on this subject: The Portuguese feel superior to Braziians (I know they’re not European but they were brought up in an earlier post) due to the majority of them being of mixed race and from a third world country (which the Portuguese founded). This attitude on the part of the Portuguese results in Brazilians reacting with jokes about Portuguese as a way to even things out. The Spaniards are seen sometimes as a bunch of gypsies with the whole flamenco and bullfighting thing and the Portuguese know that Spaniards are thought of by Americans as just another set of latinos who may or may not come from Mexico. There was an interviewer once who said to Penelope Cruz upon hearing she was from Spain : Oh so you’re a Mexican from Europe. The Italians are thought of as cousins in Portugal even more than the Spanish sometimes because we look similar and have similar culture. The English are seen as superior beings and have always unfortunately bowed down to them as if they were Gods. This is now changing but has unfortunately been true for many centuries. There is a saying in Portuguese that goes something like: Para Ingles ver (For English to see) in other words let’s try and impress the English like an offspring would try to impress a parent.
Comment by Frank Bettencourt — November 21, 2009 @ 6:59 am
To continue with the Portuguese view: Greeks are seen as very similar in looks and culture as well and are neither liked nor disliked. There is very little difference between a bunch of Portuguese old men sitting in a cafe drinking coffee and chatting and a bunch of old Greeks doing the same. The French have traditionallly been seen as superior in culture and race but with the advent massive arab and black immigration to France this view is rapidly changing as many Portuguese are now seeing the country as just another multicultural area of Europe. Also there are so many Portuguese living in France (around a million) that it is often seen as part of Portugal. The Portuguese like the Ukrainians who consitute the second largest immigrant population in Portugal because they are white and European and learn Portuguese very fast. They’re not crazy about all the Eastern Euro gangs springing up in Portugal though. The Continental Portuguese have traditionally looked down on Portuguese islanders like the Azoreans and the Madeirans for being isolated out in the middle of the ocean but the Azoreans actually feel superior racially since they have maintained their European roots (for the most part) while places like Lisbon have become inundated with Africans, Asians and latinos. Often the Azores feel more like Europe than parts of the mainland.
Comment by Frank Bettencourt — November 21, 2009 @ 7:12 am
This made my week. It’s human nature to dislike and begrudge others.
And so it is on the aggregate international scale.
The Irish dislike the English, obviously, for oppressing them for 600 years and inducing a famine that killed millions. Some English people feel a little guilty about that and others hate the Irish and see them, as someone said above, as a symbol of lost power (older generation) Naturally the lower class (sorry not being snobbish but English society is ultra classist) are complete ignorant in their lack of education and so would naturally hate the Irish who ‘took their jobs’ in the 70s and 80s and only say so having heard it from their just as uneducated parents. The Irish are just as economically well-positioned as the British and performed better during the last 20 years (apart from the obvious current recessionary glitch). The Scottish also dislike the British and the Welsh are as they have always been ignored to an extent.
The French are arrogant and obnoxious (and racist) but that’s nearly identical to the English so yet another reason that they don’t get along (coupled with the last thousand years of history)
The Germans are straight up, say what they think and do what they say. Humour would be preferrable though!
The Italians tend to live in their own little world (they do like the Greeks though) but are quite warm and friendly.
The Swedish are very polite and friendly and like the Irish seem to love silly idle conversation and talk of the weather.
Americans tend to adore the Italians and the Irish, dislike the French, and have the British as their new lapdog (yes they do, although the British hate them)
Eastern Europeans are incredibly hard and blunt (not in the saem way as the Germans) but personally I think their Iron Curtain history has had an impression here.
Just personal opinions. The idiots who are going off on a ranted tantrum about this should develop a sense of humour and a respect for other people’s OPINIONS
Comment by MegaLOL — November 26, 2009 @ 6:07 pm
to the one that said the germans should be speaking russian because they lost the war. Read your history and remember their were 3 other major powers fighting germany as well, along with a few other smaller nations. I don’t believe Russia would have succeeded without them .
Anwyay, its funny you say that since so many russians now also speak german as a second language.
Comment by me — December 13, 2009 @ 11:18 am
As a native born American of 100% Estonian descent (both parents born there during the inter-war period), I’d like to add my thoughts from the point of view of this small Baltic country.
Estonians detest being labeled “Eastern European”, considering themselves Nordic. This is to be expected as Estonians are culturally and linguistically almost identical to the Finns, and have historically been influenced by (i.e. dominated by) Danes, Swedes, and Germans. And only more recently by the Russians, whom are the only people the Estonians truly dislike. Russians think Estonians are all racist and Nazis, and ungrateful for the Soviet “liberation” of Estonia from the Germans. As a previous poster noted regarding the Czechs, there is dark subconscious pride among some Estonians that Hitler considered them part of the Nordic brethren.
Most other countries probably don’t even give Estonia a second thought, except as maybe a quaint little country where they can spend a weekend and get drunk for really cheap.
Being always grouped together with the Latvians and Lithuanians is somewhat bothersome to Estonians, as they see themselves as better than their neighbors to the south. Indeed the Latvian and Lithuanian languages evolved from the same proto-slavic language root as most of Eastern Europe, whereas the insanely bizarre Estonian language is closely related only to Finnish (and distantly to Hungarian)
Comment by Sven — December 13, 2009 @ 8:28 pm
I’m American and here’s my two cents on Europeans.
British – bad food and they drink too much but the people are nice. I love British humor. The people are very proud of their history.
French – a bit stuck up but hey, it’s France. They have a beautiful language and fantastic cuisine. Too many immigrants are ruining this wonderful country. What I most admire about the French is their medical system. Vive la France!
Italy – what can I say?? History, architecture, food, scenery etc. etc. Italian men are the most beautiful in all of Europe.
Germany – hard working and efficient.
Sweden – Ikea. I like their Swedish meatballs.
Russia – very cold country but full of Russian billionaires who profited from the fall of communism. However, the Russian mafia is worse than Italian mafia.
Romania – Transylvania is part of this country, birthplace of Dracula aka Vlad Tepes. The most famous gymnast of all time came from here: Nadia Comaneci.
Spain – a misunderstood country by many Americans. They think Spain = Mexico. It’s totally false. Spanish culture and cuisine is totally different.
Ireland – Americans like the Irish since many Americans trace their ancestry back to the Emerald Isle. Friendly people.
In this 21st century, it’s the developing nations that will benefit the most. Developed Euro nations and the U.S. will continue to struggle. It’s cheaper to hire a Eastern European than a Western European.
Comment by Meg — December 16, 2009 @ 8:07 am
Hi all, I’m spaniard.
I just want to say that everyone here telling spaniards hate portugueses are either ignorants or portugueses trying to justify their own hate towards Spain. Portugal is a country built over an irrational spanish-phobia but portugueses are too diplomatic (or ashamed) to admit it.
Spain doesn’t care about Portugal and it’s not arrogance, it’s pretty much like the guy who wrote this article about stereotypes: He didn’t took Portugal into account because Portugal doesn’t use to stand out. And if Portugal doesn’t use to stand up as much as Spain (which is what truthly irritates portugueses), it’s not Spain’s fault.
Greetings.
Comment by byteme — December 16, 2009 @ 7:32 pm
funny read, good to know.
but, one thing i get to seek:
how eu be united anyway?
Comment by Peace Hecz — December 23, 2009 @ 7:41 am
Europeans in general like each other country, even with all these stupid stereotypes. Sorry, but only ignorant persons believe in stereotypes.
I believe in persons, and we are all different.
Comment by Esther — January 2, 2010 @ 6:33 am
I just want to understand why Portugal was not considered in this article?
It’s not up to me to say this country is more important than the other but if you are going to write about the Europeans, like you said, i think you need to write about all of them and dont leave behind some of the countries. If you wanted to make an article on the countries you visited, while you were in Europe ,you should have mentioned that, now pretending to write something about all Europe and forget this or that country i think is very lazy or ignorant decision by you.
Just my two cents…
Comment by Myjas — January 2, 2010 @ 8:26 am
Wow this is a funny article! Nice stereotypes everyone.
Now adding my 2 cents:
I myself am portuguese and I did grow up thinking the spanish were quite limited in many ways (notouriously their lack of language skills and quite short work days). That being said I believe the whole spanish-portuguese thing is quickly dying out as both countries are now seeing that they have much more in common than in difference (most of the spanish stereotypes are applicable here). Being to both countries on very numerous occasions I can say there aren’t really that many differences between us. I just think most of the world is too lazy to actually say spanish and portuguese so they just say spanish (would it be hard to just say Iberians?). We’re practically the same to a foreigner’s eyes I believe, that’s why we don’t stand out as much I think (the fact that american’s have a ton of mexican immigrants and have thus shaped the media doesn’t help either).
That being said we do have have some key differences, I consider the portuguese much less verbal(in general), a much more quiet version of the spanish – but still quite social by northern europpeans standarts. Most of us, contrary to the spanish, also like to know 2 or 3 languages and everything about every culture – portuguese tend to be quite adaptable and view the ideia of moving into another europpean country positively (also why most of us like to travel a lot).
Most of the portuguese stereotypes out there are born out of the generation that grew up in the dictatorship and represent portuguese people today lesser and lesser.
The one thing I will say thou is that we’re always 10min LATE minimum. It’s really a cultural thing when you say 8:00 sharp, we hear 8:00ish.
Comment by Pe6r0 — January 5, 2010 @ 10:04 am
I totally agree with Pe6ro and I’m portuguese myself too. It’s true that we grow with the idea that all that comes from Spain is bad and to be spanish is a real nighmare… We associate spain to noise, gypsies or just bad things what it’s not fair for sure. Our history books end always talking about the spanish as they were evil people and change some facts to put them in low ranks or give more importance to their fails.
In other hand the spanish represent a really egocentric culture too and arrogant like byteme showed in his words. They really feel superior not only to their close neighbour but to their own past colonies too (like us i admit) and they have a higher difficulty to understand other cultures or to get informed about them. Half of the spanish people for example with my age (26) when asked don’t know even what’s the capital of Portugal for my personal experience, more surprinsing is that people are higly educated and not from isolated sites. Probably some are just lazy to say or ironical as i’m portuguese myself… but then it’s normal that we think they don’t really know the world outside. In portugal who doesn’t know that Madrid is the capital of Spain is considered some kind of retarded as the same for a much far country as Belgium.
Spanish are really proud to be part of Europe too(I think) probably because they’re complex is to be a southern country and then “less europeans” as they suffer more steriotypical associations than Portugal, italy or greece. Naturally steriotyps spread by the northern countries fear of their great power across history, they always tried to push them back. So they really hate to get confused with non-europeans like mexicans. And so they have tendencie to look east and north geographically (europe direction) and forget the small neighbour in the west. Portugal in opposite are not so connected to Europe and have a much stronger look across atlantic.
If the spanish don’t know us at all, we don’t know Spain so well as we think too to be fair, we put all the regions in the same bag but in reality they’re pretty different from each other and in our minds the tipical spanish is a guy in Andaluzia dancing flamenco which in catalunya that don’t really feets. And yes we hate to be confused with Spain although we know few differences exist. Although our population is quiet or cold minded for a latin country, we only notice a spanish between us if he speaks or by his style in extreme cases and after that moment they’re right to complain for some bad reactions which are stupid for sure.
Comment by Luis — January 6, 2010 @ 10:09 pm
It’s not arrogance my dear Luis, it’s just INDIFFERENCE.
In Spain we don’t care about Portugal, just like France, England, Germany, Italy, USA etc. doesn’t care about Portugal. Do you think that all these countries are arrogant just for the fact that they don’t care about your country? Is the author of this article an arrogant because he didn’t take Portugal into account in the first place?
Let’s face it, you can’t stand the fact that the world completely ignore your country after being an Empire. Portugueses are always talking about their “glorious” past and how they traveled all along the world… they haven’t still faced their reality (5 millions of emigrants around the world, i.e. 1/3 of their population). Now that’s arrogance.
Fortunately, we (spaniards) left our past behind along time ago, we concentrate in our future and ourselves. The spanish children can learn about the Spanish Empire in school.
And we don’t make a fool of ourselves by whining or calling “arrogant” to everyone who doesn’t paid attention to us. I recommend you to do the same.
Comment by byteme — January 7, 2010 @ 3:49 pm
Myjas, some will tell you that the author of this article is an arrogant spaniard for sure. LOL.
Comment by byteme — January 7, 2010 @ 3:59 pm
It’s not arrogance Luis, it’s just indifference.
In Spain we care about Portugal as much as France, England, Germany, Italy, USA etc can care about Portugal. Do you think that all these countries are arrogant just by the fact that they don’t care enough (according to you) about your country? Is the author of this article an arrogant because he didn’t take Portugal into account in the first place?
Let’s face it, you can’t stand the indifference toward your country after being an Empire and all that. Portugueses are always talking about their “glorious” past and how they traveled all along the world… they haven’t still faced their reality (5 millions of emigrants around the world, i.e. 1/3 of their population). Now that’s arrogance.
Fortunately, we (spaniards) left our past behind along time ago, we concentrate in our future and ourselves. Spanish children can always learn about the Spanish Empire in school.
And we don’t go around whining or calling “arrogant” to everyone who doesn’t paid attention to us, that’s childish and pathetic.
Greetings.
Comment by byteme — January 7, 2010 @ 7:25 pm
Myjas, don’t worry. I’m sure the author of this article is an arrogant spaniard who dismissed Portugal on purpose. [/sarcasm off]
Comment by byteme — January 7, 2010 @ 8:15 pm
Well i think i hurt you saying that you’re like a common spanish:p
first point you should not to be proud to \be indiferent\ to something. It’s not a advantage for anyone i think neither to one population, but you seem proud that’s why i think it’s arrogance and not ignorance which is worse.
second point, you seem to forgot (intencionally or not) the actual size of Portugal in the world and the proximity it have to your own country. We are 5 times smaller than Spain!! if you want to compare us go find countries with the same size and go compare the level of \greatness\ such as Hungary, greece, austria or bulgaria… And compare yourself to France, England or Italy, (ok they have a little advantage in pop.). If you really feel that you know the portuguese as the english know than is just ridiculous for you and not for me because english know better ireland than you do for sure as US for other reasons, just an example…
US, Germany or England are not obligated to know us as well that’s my point… We are just a small point in the world but… you should know something.. we have some rivers in common at least lol Maybe you like more France as a neighbour but unfortunelly you have more in common with this stupid country:D
Other point is i didn’t mencioned our history, but i think it’s more a stereotype because i heard so many times complains without saying nothing… I start thinking that irritates you more (spanish people) than we really talk about that. But in fact you should be able to admit that was a hell of a job taking in count that a 1 million pop. country in sec 15 built the first world empire. Well.. it’s better than nothing!! But this discussion have no end because you’ll say you’re country is the best and me the opposite and in conclusion we’ll have the same positions.
To our emigrants, you should know the countries who have more emigrants, Ireland, england, Germany, Italy… What’s your point? Its obvious that it’s caused by economical problems… That’s shows the weak country we are?? We had a dictatorship until 1974 with colonial wars running for years… and a lot of emigrants were from that date already in third generation now. Although they were very very poor, with any education, at least their are not known for criminality but for being hard workers, I think that’s enough for me…
Finally how could you talk about portuguese if you are indifferent for that? You don’t know neither half what’s going on here if so… You’re history books gives you’re version our books gives our version… that’s how it works… At least i can say i’m not ashamed of my country, i’ll stay here until the rest of my days if depends me, it’s a nice place to live believe me and we don’t think that we are a great power in the world let that idea out… and although you’re still a egocentrical spaniard bastard, personally you’re very welcome to be here if you want! 🙂
Comment by Luis — January 8, 2010 @ 5:37 pm
Hi, Great Article!
But… in reference to the Spanish I have to say…
Are u sure they are not hated by everyone? Its too much of a general comment because as I can see it even within Spain there is a lot of hatred. I guess they are mainly loved for their tourist spots but other than that nothing special!
I am from Gibraltar [British Colony in the Southern Iberian Coast] and.. even though my nationality is British I consider myself solely Gibraltarian as we all do here.. and may I say we have ALOT to say about them.. I am not going to criticize however there is MUCH about Spain ppl don’t know about or refuse to accept just because they have nice beaches …anyhow that’s just my opinion and I am being nice 🙂
Comment by Lianne — January 10, 2010 @ 3:48 pm
I am a German-italian, and i believe European usually tend to like our european peers (few exceptions).
Anyway, when taken as individuals, most european know that these are stereotypes. What can i say Europe is great.
—-
Greetings from Germany for all European brothers.
Comment by Lukas — January 14, 2010 @ 6:51 pm
@ byteme & luis: flame war? Everyone behaved nicely this far, let’s not ruin it.
Seriously:
byteme, no point in calling us invisible (little rude dont’a think?). We’re ,contrary to your belief, quite visible (depends of where your looking), you just need actually be listening and take context into consideration.. Read my previous comment and you might get another point of view.
luis, were you really expecting not to antagonize spaniards with your first reply? xD
As a side note: I love being europpean. It’s great. I just hope we keep walking towards a more united europe -one who sees how diferent and special and precious we all are.
Comment by Pe6r0 — January 14, 2010 @ 9:36 pm
@ Lianne: All the spaniards I’ve spoken too speak often of people from gibraltar don’t ever want to be considered spanish but part of the UK. I wonder, Gibraltar has seen spanish sovereignty much longer than a british one, why do you think gibraltans should want to be british?
Comment by Pe6r0 — January 14, 2010 @ 9:40 pm
Haha, I enjoyed this. I’ve lived in Europe and Asia all my life and have to say this is prety accurate. I don’t know so much about the Eastern European countries but what is said about the French is prety true.
Comment by Fish — January 24, 2010 @ 2:16 am
OMG ALL THESE STEREOTYPES ARE IN THE SHOW HETALIA. THIS PROVES IT. XD
Comment by HetaliaWatcher — January 25, 2010 @ 5:22 am
HetaliaWatcher >> Hush you XD Don’t want too much attention on Hetalia, else another North Korea-rage will come out of it.
I think it’s a positive thing to have European countries so comfortable with their ‘stereotypes’. This goes to show that actually they’re pretty united. Maybe it’s the common shared landmass (with some exceptions) that’s keeping them together.
Here in SouthEast asia, we’re separated by channels and seas, so we’re more indifferent to each other than anything, which is sad. You Europeans should be lucky!
Comment by Zazaza — January 29, 2010 @ 10:18 am
@ Pe6r0:
You got your facts all wrong about Gibraltar… it’s been under Arab sovereignty the longer than either Spain or Britain’s (funny that!).
As to the Spanish – I think most of Europe resent them mainly due to their behaviour whilst abroad and the lack of respect to the local cultures. I personally however have had great experiences in Spain and most of the people there are friendly and welcoming.
Comment by AB — January 30, 2010 @ 4:33 pm
@ Pe6r0: Emmm if you check our history Gibraltar was under Spanish rule ~100 years – Gibraltar has actually been under Arab rule much longer than that even before both Spanish and British Rule.. We celebrated our 300 year British Sovereignty a few years back. I did not mean to offend – just stating the facts. 🙂
Comment by Lianne — January 31, 2010 @ 5:27 pm
I think I know the situation with Romanians: first of all they hate the hungarians and vice versa, they are very likely to bring up Trianon, and call them huns, and hungarians call them gypsies (even though they ethnically are not at least most of them) They also don’t really like Russians, or any slavs for that matter, out of Latin pride, they have a sort of tension with moldova, though they are both Romanian countries, probably for political reasons, as for Europe, I only know that Ireland despises them and France loves them, probably because the immigrant workers in ireland, and a kind of latin patronage respectively It’s probably fashionable to like the adorable realtively unheard of latin country in eastern europe, who knows, I know the other latin countries feel superior to romania and aren’t as well connected with them for obvious reasons which is both good and bad I guess
all of this was learned from comments on youtube by the way so yeah, I have learned valuable things from youtube
Comment by George — February 5, 2010 @ 6:34 pm
Quote of LM –
“any true scot would have a heart attack by being included here as British. They hate the english. And it is a different country (like Ireland).”
I absolutely detest this ignorance and arrogance! An American, telling us Brits how we should feel about things as though they, simply due to the accident of being born in the US, know more about us than we know of ourselves! Especially when it ultimately turns out they don’t know what they are talking about!
I’m a “true Scot”.
Guess what genius, Scotland is in Britain!! We ARE British! And no, we don’t really hate the English, it’s all friendly bantar and aggressive but good humour!
Many from American seem to believe that Britain = England. WRONG!!! NO NO NO!!! Britain is England, Scotland and Wales! The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the above countries plus, obviously Norn Iron!
Please stop involving yourself in things you have no idea about!
That said, I tend to think that people who keep saying that Brits are “stuck up” are missing something in translation. Brits are the most self depricative people on the planet. They are always making fun of themselves and that is often what they are doing when it appears they are making fun of other people, they are in fact making fun of being a daft Brit.
I could understand the stuck up bit if the only Brits you meet are from the south East, around London way and are upper middle class and upwards but I can honestly say, the most down to Earth and LEAST stuck up people I have ever met are the British every man!
Comment by Kenny — February 13, 2010 @ 8:33 am
I am Northern English (from the Peak District) and we seem to have this enormous inferiority complex against the Southern English, considering ourselves better, stronger, and more socially orientated than the Southern English who we consider weak and conniving and only interested in making money at other peoples’ expense.
Southerners seem to regard Northern English as quaint, a bit backward and that they speak funny using archaic English not heard in the South anymore and having strong dialects and different words for things.
The English as a whole tend to dislike the Welsh who, despite being economically and politically dominated by the English for centuries, still maintain a very seperate culture and language that is impenetrable to the English. The English are much more ambivalent towards the Scots although the Scots probably hate the English more than the Welsh do. The Scots and the Welsh would be likely gang up against the English. The Scots, Welsh and English are completely ambivalent towards the Northern Irish and really hold no opinion, other than the Protestants and Catholics should just stop hating each other.
The British tend to like the Irish, Swiss, Icelandics, Scandinavians, Finns, Dutch, Spanish, Italians and Portuguese (our oldest alliance). Brits tend to dislike the French on the whole (so much shared history, but most comments are not directed personally and are more tongue-in-cheek, typical British style humour). Brits also have an inferiority complex about Germany and never let the War drop, probably because Germany is now so much richer than the UK!!! British tend to think anyone from Eastern Europe is just coming here to take our jobs, but most other Western Europeans are more or less ok.
As an aside I grew up in Andorra and one people from outside Andorra tend to think of it as one big duty and tax free shop. A description that’s pretty apt it has to be said!
Comment by Chris — February 17, 2010 @ 5:55 am
I love the article. It has certainly fulfilled the purpose to amuse.
Actually so have the comments – particularly those which try to correct the views and nuance the feelings between nations.
But hey – you can’t have humour without some ignorance (and the suspense of disbelief), and you certainly cannot have it without crude generalizations.
As for the Ukrainians – as long as I lived there “everyone” either lowed the West and could not wait but to get out of their home country (for obvious reasons), or preached it as the cradle of culture and civilization (dating back to certain Ukrainian kniaz’es at the peak of the Kievan Rus).
“Russian” Ukrainians tend to to pretend that they are European while the West is much more accepting and proud of their nationality.
The love-hate relationship with the Russians is most definitely there, between the East and the West. You either love your rich and industrious neighbour having long signed up to join their union, or you curse at the Russian language, people, oligarchs, and communism who is responsible for the destruction of your land, famine, and the laziness of your neighbours. Russians, in general, are considered to be lazy. You would also passionately argue that Russia is a big fat liar because they claim the Kievan Rus to be the original Russian state, while it clearly belongs to us, at home, in Kiev.
Comment by Viola — February 24, 2010 @ 11:33 pm
Somebody put up a post saying that other Scandinavians think Danish is incomprehensible gibberish… That’s probably because it really is… I’ve been dating a Dane for years, and I am yet unable to speak it….
Comment by Katya — March 2, 2010 @ 11:45 pm