living in europe

Following up to chancellor of the duchy of besses o' th' barn and
prestwich tesco 24h offy

To keep a low profile, speak softly, eat everything without making a face
and NOT start every sentence with "In America...".

That's a stereotype, maybe, but not reality. You should have met my ex-
the quietest-spoken American (or any nationality) in the world!

I'll put up any Spaniard against any American for speaking
loudly, I don't think Americans speak that loud, they get that
reputation from (a) compared to Englishmen and (b) making
"howlers" at the wrong time, which *seems* loud and of course
with other nationalities, goes uncomprehended.
--
Mike Reid
Walk-eat-UK "http://www.fellwalk.co.uk" -- you can email us@ this site
Walk-eat-Spain "http://www.fell-walker.co.uk" -- dontuse@ all, it's a spamtrap
Photos of both "http://www.lawn-mower-man.co.uk"

Following up to Gregory Morrow

I see plenty of foreign tourists here in the States. Except for their
language, they are absolutely indistinguishable from Americans...

I reckon you have a fair chance of distinguishing an Italian from
a Brit on dress.
--
Mike Reid
Walk-eat-UK "http://www.fellwalk.co.uk" -- you can email us@ this site
Walk-eat-Spain "http://www.fell-walker.co.uk" -- dontuse@ all, it's a spamtrap
Photos of both "http://www.lawn-mower-man.co.uk"

Following up to EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)

One of my favorites is the backpackers note not to wear jeans in europe sinde
you will be identified as an American. On my last few trips to europe it
seemed everyone was wearing jeans!

I've certainly seen "designer" jeans on plenty of young
people in Paris and Vienna and Brussels! (Jusging from the
variety of languages I overheard them speaking, they were
definitely NOT Americans.)

Jeans have been popular for at least 30 years, how do these myths
carry on so long? I didn't even realise they were supposed to be
American when I was young.
--
Mike Reid
Walk-eat-UK "http://www.fellwalk.co.uk" -- you can email us@ this site
Walk-eat-Spain "http://www.fell-walker.co.uk" -- dontuse@ all, it's a spamtrap
Photos of both "http://www.lawn-mower-man.co.uk"

Following up to Gregory Morrow

Well these days I figure with everyone in the world clambering to learn
English why on *earth* would I ever even bother with wanting to learn some
difficult and eventually fairly useless foreign tongue?

Well, (for Spanish) because once you get off the beaten track of
the tourist bus, you find out its a myth that everyone speaks
English now. Police, shop assistants, taxi drivers, mechanics,
even waiters in places where there are no tourists, don't speak
English. If English does become universal, it wont be in my
lifetime.
I like this thread, its increasing my motivation to learn more
Spanish.
--
Mike Reid
Walk-eat-UK "http://www.fellwalk.co.uk" -- you can email us@ this site
Walk-eat-Spain "http://www.fell-walker.co.uk" -- dontuse@ all, it's a spamtrap
Photos of both "http://www.lawn-mower-man.co.uk"

"Magda" schrieb:
...
... Europeans don't generally judge Americans monolithically though.

They do - but never to the face of an individual.


The usual construct is "everyone, with the exception of everyone I know
personally." G


inge

The Reids a =E9crit :

Following up to The Rev Gaston

In our local bar on Saturday, a drunk was gesticulating at us and
making remarks about George Bush. He was quite amiable, but quite
deluded, snce our table consisted of two Italians, a Greek, and a Brit.

I assume he was deluded about you, not Bush?

One or the other. I don't think he was drunk enough to think that Bush
is Italian :-)

G;

The Reids wrote:

Following up to chancellor of the duchy of besses o' th' barn and
prestwich tesco 24h offy

But if someone is going to hate you for making language mistakes, they
won't hate you any less because you're an American. IOW, it will be
probably be obvious you're not a native speaker. If you can speak the
language "pretty good" why would you worry about someone hating you for
a few mistakes? I really wouldn't waste your time worrying about making
an impression on that kind of person anyway- there are few on the
ground.

Plus I think I am very different from what people expect from an American.

What do people in Europe expect from an American?

I think we expect Americans to be poorly informed on non US
issues,

They probably are, but I don't know that Europeans are always well
versed on international issues either.

in a rush to see major sites rather than holiday, be rich
and be conservative on food, wanting steaks all the time.

On my recent holiday in various central European countries, I saw plenty
of European tour groups rushing around to see major sites! Lots of
Spanish tourists in particular. I doubt that Americans are any more
conservative on food than anyone else. They have plenty of variety of
food in the US!

We
expect them to have had a lot of dental work and have big toothy
smiles.

There is truth in that stereotype, IME.

Oh, and right wing in politics of course.

Yes, again, that's true. The US Democratic Party would strike most
Europeans as being right of centre, never mind the Republicans.

We are
surprised by those who speak Spanish.

Ah, you haven't been to the US then! I don't know what the statistics
are, but when I meet an American who does speak another language, it's
often Spanish.

--
David Horne- http://www.davidhorne.net
usenet (at) davidhorne (dot) co (dot) uk
photos at http://homepage.mac.com/davidhornecomposer

"Juliana L Holm" wrote in message
...
Magda wrote:
... On Mon, 19 Sep 2005 20:09:01 +0200, Mxsmanic
... wrote:
...
... Age is not an impediment to the acquisition of additional
languages.
...
... Yes it is. Younger people learn much more readily than older
people.

No, it is not.

If you really buy this urban legend, I pity you - in a few years you'll
think you are "too
old" for many things.

I'm 49 and headed to Germany for two months of language training. A
couple
months ago there was a report in the Washington Post about older folks
learning
language.

It is true that we learn language differently than children do, but not at
all
true that we don't learn as well.

indeed, learning throughtout life seems to be the most reliable way to
decrease
your chance of getting Alzheimers!


Apparently nicotine is a better way.

"The Reids" wrote in message
...
Following up to EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)

One of my favorites is the backpackers note not to wear jeans in europe
sinde
you will be identified as an American. On my last few trips to europe
it
seemed everyone was wearing jeans!

I've certainly seen "designer" jeans on plenty of young
people in Paris and Vienna and Brussels! (Jusging from the
variety of languages I overheard them speaking, they were
definitely NOT Americans.)

Jeans have been popular for at least 30 years, how do these myths
carry on so long? I didn't even realise they were supposed to be
American when I was young.

Where do you think the word denim came from ? :-)

Ingeborg Denner a =E9crit :

"Magda" schrieb:
...
... Europeans don't generally judge Americans monolithically though.

They do - but never to the face of an individual.


The usual construct is "everyone, with the exception of everyone I know
personally." G

Don't you mean "construe" :-)

G;