RomyNL

I live in The Netherlands and before I spent many years also in other European countries, so some things in the behaviour of Europeans seem normal to me.<BR>But now more often I hear from Americans visiting Europe (including Amsterdam where I live) that Europeans became hostile to North Americans, especially people from US. They mentioned that they hear lots of in-your-face jokes about "dummy Americans", the service is not friendly sometimes at hotels and restaurants if compared to European tourists. In travel program on BBC I even heard interview of American tourists saying sometimes they pretend they are from Canada to get a friendlier response. <BR>Is that all true? Did you notice any particular changes in attitudes of Europeans towards Americans? Please share your experiences.<BR><BR>PS: I react quite negatively to such forms of nationalism, but in a way I can understand where the roots of it are coming from. Example: in Amsterdam I was never even asked by American tourists on the streets if I spoke English...they just start speaking straight ahead in their own language.

Gerry K

RomyNL,<BR><BR>A part of the reason why Americans assume everyone speaks English is because we're not accustomed to hearing such a diversity of languages as Europeans are. Never do I hear another language spoken in my home town.<BR><BR>Gerry K

xxx

Romy, maybe they've been to the Netherlands before and know that almost everyone there speaks flawless English. <BR>I'm an American living in Europe and travel a lot, and I NEVER feel like I'm descriminated against for being American.

nnnn

Romy, how do you know they were American? I'm always reluctant to tell anyone I'm from the U.S. and I try to hide my American accent when travelling in Europe. I also try to dress European. I think this makes a difference in the way I'm treated. I always attempt to ask the person in their own language if they speak English.

loveamericantourists

When American people start in their own language, we naturellement accept this. You can not expect they talk to you in Dutch,no? But...German mostly also do this in a neigbourcounty like France. This is not very sympathetic, I find.

Noproblems

nnnn is correct. Most places as long as you make an effort to converse in their language, etc. you will experience no problems. I have encountered only 1 problem in my travels to Europe (ever) & it was a rude waiter in Paris. I think the expectations of Americans traveling to Europe is part of the problem (especially in regards to the service industry) restaurants, hotels, etc. A lot of times Americans ask for it due to their behaviour. By the way, yes, I am an American. I encourage ALL travelers to do a little reading & research before they hop on a plane for holiday. It may make their trip MUCH more enjoyable.

Jane

I've visited Europe at least once a year for the past three years. This year alone I will have made three trips to Europe. <BR><BR>I have never encountered anything but kindness and graciousness from Europeans (okay, there was one condescending cab driver in Paris).<BR><BR>I think part of the discomfort some Americans might experience may come from the Ugly American stories that some of remember from the early- to mid-sixties and so we've sort of grown up assuming we're disliked.

Amy

I think it's really all in our expectations. I also think it's a matter of you get what you give, in terms of respect and personal relations. On my first trip to Europe, I traveled with someone who got upset that the stamps she brought with her from US to Ireland "weren't good enough" to mail postcards home. She was not very accepting of different vernacular, customs, etc, and the stamp issue was just the tip of the iceburg. I always travel open-mindedly, realizing that "my way" of doing things at home is not the way things are done everywhere, and I enjoy learning different customs, experiencing the culture and hearing things said different ways. But I've also seen my share of Americans yelling at waiters who don't speak English, because they think that yelling at them in English will get them to understand it better. So it does happen.<BR><BR>That said, I always take stories like "rude waitstaff", "bad manners" etc. with a grain of salt because in my experience (going to 6 countries in Europe 14 times in 9 years) it is usually the person complaining that had the problem. I have never, ever had a negative experience with people in Europe. In fact I get treated worse in downtown Boston than I ever have abroad.

EuropeTraveler

We generally adopt the "when in Rome" attitude, and good manners in general, and have never experienced any "ugly American" behavior. In fact, our tablemates recently at a restaurant in Germany were surprised to learn we were American because we 1) offered to share our table; and 2) were eating very local dishes. The European experience is what you make of it.

xxx

Why are you so ashamed of being an American? People such as NNNN need to get over their self-pity.<BR><BR>The same poll that stated the British were the worse tourist also stated that Americans were the most polite!

Miri

Loveamericantourists - yes, I'd expect a non-Dutch speaker travelling in the Netherlands to speak enough Dutch to at least say hello, goodbye, please, thanks, sorry, and "excuse me, do you speak English"? If you don't know how to pronounce the last, write it down on a piece of paper. <BR><BR>That said, I don't think the tendency to immediately begin speaking one's native langauge to natives one metts abroad is a particularly US phenomenon, but rather one shared by many English speakers.

one

I have to say in our trip to Paris we did encounter many nice people. There also were a few nasty ones. Because we were American? I can't say 100 percent, maybe if we were German or South American they would have been the same (ie we just weren't Parisians). <BR><BR>On a train to Chartres the Americans were very obvious, spoke loud and were bragging about this and that. In a small cafe we saw an American man (with his wife) be what I would consider quite heavy handed with the girl behind the counter.<BR><BR>This topic comes up so often here. I don't know why it seems so horrible to think there are Europeans who may be anti-American, anti-tourist, or just rude. It's true everywhere. Grin and bear it. We had many more positive experiences than bad. It's like some US travelers are overwhelmed by the thought that if they travel out of the States they might not be universally loved. Sheesh.

nnn

Thing is it's not just americans who can be "ugly" tourists, but for some reason people want to focus on the bad habits of some americans. the trick in my eyes is to fight narrow-mindedness in general, not just american narrow-mindedness. i think people would do well to try to adopt the "when in rome" philosophy.

Book Chick

Hi Romy,<BR>I attended school in Italy several years ago & the Italians (and French, for I often went to France for long weekends & school holidays) were always kind & courteous to me.<BR><BR>This past winter I returned to Italy for a couple of weeks, and found the Italians to be even kinder than I remembered. <BR><BR>Every experience you have in life depends on your attitude, approach, and the effort you're willing to put into it. I really love traveling in Europe, and I will return within the next 6 months.<BR><BR>BC

Red

I've been to Europe several times and have never experienced any bit of unfriendly service or unkindness in any way. However, I was yelled at by an Iranian taxi driver in Stockholm for not doing away with Sadam Hussein - like I had anything to do with that.

Mary

We have sewn Canadian flags on our backpacks. It made all the difference.

Marcus

I am an American and my rule about traveling is to simply be polite. I also try to at least learn a number of key phrases in the language of the country.<BR><BR>Despite all efforts, I think it is obvious that I am an American. I guess were fairly indistinguishable from Canadians and, maybe, Aussies, but I've never successfully tricked anyone in Europe - and I am fluent in Italian.<BR><BR>The funny thing I observe about Europe (especially Italy and Spain) is that it is the Germans that tend to get treated worse than Americans. Most Americans have had it drilled in their heads that we are obnoxious tourists so we tend to be on our best behavior overseas and overcompensate for our reputation. <BR><BR>Some Americans clearly aren't as sophisticated as to the European ways as Europeans are, but that's no surprise. I can't imagine an American looks any more like a fish out of water than an American from the deep US South looks in NYC.<BR><BR>I would never pretend that I'm from another country because I can't imagine what impact this would really have on my trips. In the times I have been treated badly overseas, I can't imagine it had too much to do with my nationality; in the isolated instances when it did, I just kinda blew it off and went elsewhere.

tommy

Mary,<BR>Can you give some examples of the difference in treatment before and after you sewed the Canadian patch on your backpack? <BR>No judgement her - just curious to see the difference, for I too never get mistaken for anything other than American.

RomyNL

Thanks for all your posts (please keep sending them, it is quite interesting).<BR><BR>Some people wonder how we Europeans can so easily say if the person is American...<BR>well, here is the list of some distinctive "American" things:<BR><BR>1) American accent, which cannot be hidden, no way (I do not say it is an inferior accent to any other)<BR>2) standard uniform: white baggy t-shirt + blue jeans+ white sport shoes (often accompanied by huge backpacks)<BR>3) Americans wear this sort of khaki-colored mid-length shorts, if you understand what I mean<BR>4) the voice frequencies of Americans speaking English is in a way different from any other people speaking the same language<BR>5) Americans always talk very loudly while in restaurants (here is quite a big cultural difference, as from my experience all Americans I know feel uneasy if it is silent at the table for couple secs, while Europeans consider dining out to be more a gourment experience than "a meeting when you need one-by-one entertain each other").<BR><BR>OK, I can go on and on and on, but maybe other Europeans can help me, certainly without trying to hurt anyone's feelings.

mike

What bothers me about all this hiding your American identity is that if you are a polite and considerate American tourist, you can break sterotypes about us. Now, I in fact have a Canadian flag on my back pack, because I love Canada and want the world to know. But never would I deny that I am from the US. If they don't like me for that, so be it. But I would rather they see me as a nice tourist who engages them in their language, history and culture. If I see a few loud brash Americans a long the way, at least I know that I represent a different breed.