Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I hear the phrase "they don't like Americans" repeated many times when I mention traveling overseas. I have been to Europe, Central and South America, and while in Europe spent a day in Morocco and not once have I had someone specifically ask if I was American and I have never been forced to identify my nationality. While some people have found out I was American by asking where I was from, not once did they take issue with it. Out of curiosity, has anyone here ever had Any negative reactions if they said they were American? Or is my theory that a lot of Americans need to stop being so paranoid true?
I'd say the French Canadian's aren't all that fond of people from the US as a general rule of thumb.
I've had mixed encounters in France--some people were just lovely while others were dismissive at best--even when I spoke to them in my admittedly bad French.
The Greeks and Croats love us, the Italians and Germans don't care one way or another, the Brits think of us as a favorite cousin who picks on them now and then.
I think the only people who specifically asked if we were Americans were Greeks and Croatians and when we told them yes, we were their new best friends. They wanted to practice their English, asked about US television shows, asked about different bands. One older Greek woman kept extolling her love for Tony Bennett.
By the way, the Greeks seemed to seethe over the Germans, and don't seem to have any love for the Italians, either.
I hear the phrase "they don't like Americans" repeated many times when I mention traveling overseas. I have been to Europe, Central and South America, and while in Europe spent a day in Morocco and not once have I had someone specifically ask if I was American and I have never been forced to identify my nationality. While some people have found out I was American by asking where I was from, not once did they take issue with it. Out of curiosity, has anyone here ever had Any negative reactions if they said they were American? Or is my theory that a lot of Americans need to stop being so paranoid true?
No, have never had that reaction.
I think many Americans use this a kind of negative badge of honor: We are so wonderful that nobody likes us.
I haven't had any bad experiences so far based on my nationality. The only less than friendly encounters I have experienced, I think were more to do with gender and possibly race than anything, But for the most part I have found people to be very friendly.
I think that for the most part we are told that "others" don't like us and some Americans use it as a reason a reason not to travel, I think that social media has helped to combat many of the misconceptions people have about international traveling and once people see the types of unconventional experiences that others are having they may start traveling themselves.
The average overseas person cant tell the difference between Canadian and American, so relax.
Many years ago used to travel to a place in more rural Japan where there was bad feelings between the locals and a US air base. We all became Canadians when out and about.
Other than that I found Americans were well liked in most places. Used to fight with the Dutch...but that was internal politics...loved staying there.
I've traveled to UK, Australia, Fiji, and New Zealand. All encounters except for one in Australia were positive. The one negative experience we had wasn't directed personally against us, but there was an extremely irate cab driver who did not understand why the US would not rush in to aid Australia when Indonesia invaded East Timor in 1999. Otherwise, people seemed interested in us and our perspectives.
I'd say the French Canadian's aren't all that fond of people from the US as a general rule of thumb.
Yeah, I was told that too, particularly about Quebec City before the first time I went there. But, that wasn't my experience. We wandered all over, and even though my French is pretty terrible, most people were extremely helpful and friendly, and practically bent over backward to talk with us even though they spoke less English than I did French. I only ran into ONE rude individual, and I think he was just a [censored] to *everybody*. Most everyone has been decent on all of my trips to various places in Canada...even the Customs girl who found my spring-clip knife I'd forgotten was under the seat of my car, she just wanted me to show her how it worked, and gave it back (though my M-I-L was petrified that we were going to get busted for an illegal weapon and go to jail, LOL).
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
