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Most Infuriating Myth about your Country?

  Tags: Stereotypes
 Language Learning Forum : Cultural Experiences in Foreign Languages (Topic Closed Topic Closed) Post Reply
177 messages over 23 pages: 1 2 3 4 57 ... 6 ... 22 23 Next >>
Jar-ptitsa
Triglot
Senior Member
Belgium
Joined 5898 days ago

980 posts - 1006 votes 
Speaks: French*, Dutch, German

 
 Message 41 of 177
23 June 2009 at 1:08pm | IP Logged 
Stereotypes of belgians :

(1) stupid (in Dutch and french jokes: the Belgain's always the idiot haha!!)

(2) boring

(3) not any famous ones excepted Poirot and Tintin, but they're in a book or cartoon LOL!!

(4) Only eat chips (fries), chocolate, waffles and beer.

(5) sit on a chair or bench in front of the house
1 person has voted this message useful



Katie
Diglot
Senior Member
Australia
Joined 6718 days ago

495 posts - 599 votes 
Speaks: English*, Hungarian
Studies: French, German

 
 Message 42 of 177
23 June 2009 at 1:22pm | IP Logged 
Bao wrote:
Those drop down from the top of your roadtrain truck thingies, don't they? :D :D


No no, they are up in the trees just waiting to pounce. If you don't pay attention, you'll be in trouble - they'll drop from a good height right on top of you. I'm yet to work out how they get you... do they wrap their four paws around you, or do they jump head first with their mouths open in order to eat you in one gulp...?? I'm not sure! :P

So remember rule #1 if you come to Australia - You always have to look up before walking under a gum tree!
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cordelia0507
Senior Member
United Kingdom
Joined 5838 days ago

1473 posts - 2176 votes 
Speaks: Swedish*
Studies: German, Russian

 
 Message 43 of 177
23 June 2009 at 2:02pm | IP Logged 
A recent one about Sweden online:

-Everybody is a software pirate... (thanks to Pirate Bay and Pirate Party)

-Everybody speaks great English (not true outside the Internet, particularly not in some rural areas in the North. Also not true about older people).



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anytram
Bilingual Tetraglot
Groupie
France
Joined 5669 days ago

85 posts - 89 votes 
Speaks: German*, Polish*, French, English
Studies: Japanese

 
 Message 44 of 177
23 June 2009 at 2:11pm | IP Logged 
cordelia0507 wrote:
A recent one about Sweden online:
-Everybody is a software pirate... (thanks to Pirate Bay and Pirate Party)

The Pirate Party -if it is the one from the EU voting- has also been present in other countries. It's not so much about pirating software, but wants to change the way copyrights are handled.
An example for extreme copyrighting and the colour "Magenta": Magenta copyrighted by...
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Sennin
Senior Member
Bulgaria
Joined 6034 days ago

1457 posts - 1759 votes 
5 sounds

 
 Message 45 of 177
23 June 2009 at 2:55pm | IP Logged 
paparaciii wrote:
Stereotypes from Western Europe:

1) Cheap beer.
2) Easy girls.
3) Poor people.
4) Our monument of freedom is a public toilet.
5) We like drunk, agressive British tourists because they are SOOO beneficial for our stick-in-the-mud economy.


Assuming you mean "form" Western Europe, directed towards Eastern Europe, I will have to disagree with "easy girls". I've never heard this myth. Maybe you mean, "pretty girls", that's a common one.

I'm afraid, the rest of your list consists of facts not myths.


Edited by Sennin on 23 June 2009 at 3:01pm

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Le dacquois
Diglot
Groupie
France
Joined 5647 days ago

54 posts - 69 votes 
Speaks: English*, French
Studies: Spanish, German

 
 Message 46 of 177
23 June 2009 at 6:09pm | IP Logged 
Rhian wrote:
I hate it when people think Scotland is the same as England or is somehow part of England...they are two
different countries people!! Oooh and people who think the UK is England and England is the UK - four countries
make up the UK and England is only one of them! If anyone is confused I will quite happily clarify!
On my gap year Indian immigration even phoned my hosts to ask if Scotland was in the UK and in India there were
loads of cars that had a Union Jack sticker with big block letters underneath that read 'England". And as for those
Americans who think Scotland is a city in England...
I wonder if Wales or NI have the same problem? I imagine so but I'm not totally sure.


I have to agree that this is mildly infuriating. Not just for Scots. I'm sure the English are just as happy to keep their own identity alive and seperate from Scottish identity. In France I find that few people really understand the difference. They know we have seperate footy teams, but other than that Scotland seems to simply be a region of Angleterre. Even on dubbed TV programmes where the word is clearly "Britain" or "British" the voice-over will be "Angleterre" or "anglais". It's a bit insulting that this stuff isn't taught in school. I can't speak for the Welsh or those from Northern Ireland but I'm guessing they roll their eyes when they hear it too.

When I explained to one old lady here how I'm Scottish, from Scotland and not English from England, but still British, her head visibly twirled on the spot. I told her I was soon to be going for a job interview. She asked me, hypothetically speaking, upon hearing the question "What is your nationality?" what reply would I give? I said "Well, Scottish and British, of course!" She said "Not English? You can't do that. Listen if he says you're English don't argue, you won't get the job!"

I just laughed. Haha.

Those that understand the difference are probably only those who visit this forum :D
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Arti
Diglot
Senior Member
Russian Federation
Joined 7012 days ago

130 posts - 165 votes 
Speaks: Russian*, English
Studies: French, Czech

 
 Message 47 of 177
23 June 2009 at 6:26pm | IP Logged 
Stereotipes about Russia?

-they are always drunken - yes, it's true while some people don't drink, all the rest drink vodka, on the next day they swap over.

-Bears walk around the cities - false, they live in the forest

-it's always cold there - true, in some parts of the country it's sunny even the summer exists there, but on the north it's really cold all the time.

-Russians are poor - only part of them is poor, others are bloody rich.
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Sennin
Senior Member
Bulgaria
Joined 6034 days ago

1457 posts - 1759 votes 
5 sounds

 
 Message 48 of 177
23 June 2009 at 6:36pm | IP Logged 
Le dacquois wrote:
Rhian wrote:
I hate it when people think Scotland is the same as England or is somehow part of England...they are two
different countries people!! Oooh and people who think the UK is England and England is the UK - four countries
make up the UK and England is only one of them! If anyone is confused I will quite happily clarify!
On my gap year Indian immigration even phoned my hosts to ask if Scotland was in the UK and in India there were
loads of cars that had a Union Jack sticker with big block letters underneath that read 'England". And as for those
Americans who think Scotland is a city in England...
I wonder if Wales or NI have the same problem? I imagine so but I'm not totally sure.


I have to agree that this is mildly infuriating. Not just for Scots. I'm sure the English are just as happy to keep their own identity alive and seperate from Scottish identity. In France I find that few people really understand the difference. They know we have seperate footy teams, but other than that Scotland seems to simply be a region of Angleterre. Even on dubbed TV programmes where the word is clearly "Britain" or "British" the voice-over will be "Angleterre" or "anglais". It's a bit insulting that this stuff isn't taught in school. I can't speak for the Welsh or those from Northern Ireland but I'm guessing they roll their eyes when they hear it too.

When I explained to one old lady here how I'm Scottish, from Scotland and not English from England, but still British, her head visibly twirled on the spot. I told her I was soon to be going for a job interview. She asked me, hypothetically speaking, upon hearing the question "What is your nationality?" what reply would I give? I said "Well, Scottish and British, of course!" She said "Not English? You can't do that. Listen if he says you're English don't argue, you won't get the job!"

I just laughed. Haha.

Those that understand the difference are probably only those who visit this forum :D


When I started university in Scotland, I had some major trouble explaining it to my parents. I was like "Nope, it's not England but it is in the UK". They were dazzled.

There seem to be two competing myths:

a) Scotland is part of England;
b) Scotland is a separate country that has nothing to do with the UK.

There also seems to be some confusion about the difference between Scotland and Ireland. Some people think that Scotland is located on an island west of the UK :). However, there is general consensus that Scotland has bagpipes and Ireland, leprechauns.


Edited by Sennin on 23 June 2009 at 7:25pm



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