Since stereotypes exist for every country, we'll be focusing on Europe.
First of all, I'd like to ask you if you believe in stereotypes and how truthful you think they are. Then, you're free to write about any country and people living there.
Of course, you can express your opinion or if you met a foreigner, even better-share with us your experience with them.
Stereotypes are undoubtedly a part of our everyday life. Prejudice affects everyone, and I believe everyone would agree that there was that one time (or more) when they thought they have estimated a person or a group just right, but the better they got to know them, the more they could see they were wrong. This leads to a conclusion that 'the first impression' can often mislead us.
As for the countries and stereotypes I have about them, I've often heard that:
1. The Greek love dancing;
2. The Finnish drink a lot;
3. The German are emotionless and phlegmatic;
4. Americans are overweight;
5. In China they eat cats, dogs and almost everything they can bring into their kitchen;
6. The Russian have Vodka for breakfast, lunch and dinner;
7. Turkish men don't know how to smile;
8. Indian people are English wannabes.
I won't go on, because the list would simply be too long. :)
You're absolutely right about prejudices. I think it's because people believe what is said, so when they meet some strangers they are shocked because they found out it was all a lie. Although I don't believe in stereotypes, I'll add to your list things I heard.
The French are good lovers.
The Serbians are good hosts.(I think is true) :)
The Montenegrins hate working.
The Scots like drinking a lot. etc :)
Great illustration of the topic, Miljana.
I have a story to share with you. Back when I just started working as an English teacher, I had an Englishman for a mentor. He told me so many amazing stories about his culture, but the one that strike me the most was about the British people travelling abroad. Namely, they believed that anybody can understand English as long as they spoke loud and slow. So, it was easy spotting British tourists in Europe, they are the ones yelling at people in the street, at restaurants, hotels, etc. That was very royal and colonial of them.
I have a recommendation for reading on the topic of European national stereotypes, a book called Neither here nor there by Bill Bryson. Bryson is an American comedy author and in this book he describes his first encounters of the Europeans and notes all the cultural differences he comes across.
Here's an audio excerpt from this book.
If any of you is interested in reading the book, I have a PDF version to offer. You can download it here.
Well, they seem to be arrogant. I read a lot of things about the British- they are often described like organized, tolerate, open-minded but lazy and ugly.
I've searched some videos and found this short one. It's about British people, England mostly :)
I'd like to hear comments of everyone about this . Please, join us :)
P.s. I think is quite a good book by Bill Bryson. It seems interesting and I'd be happy to read it. ;)
I don't actually believe in stereotypes, but when I read them I find them funny and interesting :)
I don't believe in stereotypes in any sense, not only for national. I believe that if you don't know somebody personal, you can't know how he or she is. But there are so many stereotypes that are only interesting and funny for me, for example:
The Chinese are very smart and creative, they can make everything they want.
The Irish people are very traditional.
Americans love to eat fast food very much.
The Swiss make the best chocolate.
The Scots drink too much whiskey.
The Germans drink too much beer.
I know a lot of them, but you already mention them all. :)
I heard of them all :)
I must remind you that there is no place for American and Chinese people here because of the subject :)
Anyway, yesterday I spoke with a woman who travelled around the world and met a lot of people. I asked her what do strangers think of us and are there any national stereotypes about Serbian people. She told me that they do have a lot of prejudices about us. Some of them think that we are still at war(shocking!) and that we are uncivilized people spending our time quarreling with others. Because of our history we are also known as people "who kill the rulers" and narrow-minded persons. They all heard of Novak Djokovic and our basketball players but they are surprised how do they come from Serbia. But, once they visit our country the prejudices are gone.
Then they say we celebrate a lot, our women are gorgeous, we are good hosts, also brave, proud etc. They almost always mention our food because they adore it.
Are you surprised? Because I am.
I don't believe in stereotypes , every culture is diffrent and beautifull in her own way ,I also heard the things that most of you said , and there are very funny for me too.
I agree with you and I also don't believe in stereotypes. Here are some interesting examples:
1. Americans like to eat fast food.
2. Brazilians like to dance and party.
3.Chinese incredibly bad drivers.
4. English like drinking tea.
5. Irish like drinking beer and fighting. etc.
When creating stereotypes people are usually grouped by ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender, or under any other category.As a consequence, there is a false image that often exists about a particular person or group.They can introduce people pretty poorly, superficially, on the basis of their gender, nationality, sexual orientation, handicap or some physical disability.Every country has its own culture that is different from others,and that makes it unique.
I don't believe in stereotypes. Sometimes there is some general opinion about country or nation,but it is very funny reading about stereotypes.