what do you know about foreign countries? stereotypes vs. reality
brainofme
Posts: 231
I’d like to know what people from all over the world think about foreign countries. What is the language spoken there? Where is the country? Famous people? Stereotypes?
With all you people from all over the world, I think this could be interesting. We get to know some things about different countries and cultures and can tell the world a little bit about our country.
So to get this thing started: .....what do you know about Austria?
The funny thing about being from Austria is that a lot of people - mainly from America ;-) -think Austria is Australia, and that we have kangaroos…well, this is so not true
With all you people from all over the world, I think this could be interesting. We get to know some things about different countries and cultures and can tell the world a little bit about our country.
So to get this thing started: .....what do you know about Austria?
The funny thing about being from Austria is that a lot of people - mainly from America ;-) -think Austria is Australia, and that we have kangaroos…well, this is so not true
Vienna, Austria 2006
Munich, Germany 2007
Munich, Germany 2007
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Dear, God. Not much but I know it's not Australia. Do people really think that? I immagine evryone to have a nice accent.
Mozart! he's from Austria isn't he?
though I don't think it was called Austria back then.. same place though.
EDIT: oh and nice thread!
Verona??? it's all surmountable
Dublin 23.08.06 "The beauty of Ireland, right there!"
Wembley? We all believe!
Copenhagen?? your light made us stars
Chicago 07? And love
What a different life
Had I not found this love with you
I know that you have lots of beutiful trees and wooden houses, and that it looks quite pretty in the winter. I also know that lots of Nazis took refuge there after the war, and that every year a bunch of S.S get together in a secret hideaway in Austria for a bit of back-slapping and talk of the 'glory days' e.t.c.
Hmm, other than that, I know that Vienna is famous for it's architecture and classical music.
What do you think Korea is like?
I remember what I thought it was going to be like before coming here. And it turned out to be nothing like how I'd imagined it.
I'd say really really friendly and hyper... and HOT!
Verona??? it's all surmountable
Dublin 23.08.06 "The beauty of Ireland, right there!"
Wembley? We all believe!
Copenhagen?? your light made us stars
Chicago 07? And love
What a different life
Had I not found this love with you
Strauss family is also Austrian, lots of other composers too.
I've been to Vienna on several occasions, I love the city, but I'm sorry, the people there are just so uptight...I don't really like them
I enjoyed my time in Salzburg area, people are much more relaxed and fun. It's close to Bayern so I guess thats the case
I love Inspektor Rex, the tv show
And Falco too. Another great artist, late unfortunately, but
had some pretty good hits in his time.
Thats from top of my head, I got more on Austria, I'm sure
Oh oh, when I was in Salzburg, we went to see the original Silent Night Chapel, where the song was
written and all. Wow, it was pretty cool to see where that famous song was created.
I mean, lots of people, tourists especially
and I know one lonely PJ fan there looking for other PJ fans, like you.
Asian countries are a mystery to me, I'd love to visit to see for myself so
I don't have to guess what they're like.
But I guess that's pretty much the case with every country one has never been to...
So, what do people know/think/would like to know about Croatia/Croatians?
Hmm, I remember getting dragged to the cinema by a girl to see 'memoirs of a Geisha' not long before I came here, and I thought that Korea would be something like that - white faced damsels floating across the bridges of pretty 'Japanese style' rock gardens e.t.c.
I also remember receiving an e-mail from the girl I used to work with who came here first, and who gave me the idea to come here too, and when she described her job, e.t.c, for some reason I imagined that she lived in a wooden hut on a mountain side.
I'm a bit of a dumbass ya know?
ooh! It's Austrian? I love the show too!!
What struck me more than anything else when I got here - and it may seem like a trivial point - was the climate felt just like England. I mean, when you get off a plane in America, or even Spain, the first thing that hits you is the heat. Wheras here I kind of felt at home straight away.
Austrians have a different accent than Germans, I guess if you don't know the language, you can't really figure it out, but there is an accent...Accents actually, but I'm not THAT good distingusing different types of accents according to regions, haha.
"Austria."
"Austria! Well, then. G'day mate! Let's put another shrimp on the barbie!"
"Let's not..."
oh how cool.
I wish they'd start airing the show again here!!
I love that dog.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=lhpaT2EZv04
yeah, i've actually heard, that the mail is sometimes shipped to australia instead of europe. back in school we had an american teacher for a couple of month, and he told as that a lot of americans don't know about austria, so we bought him a t-shirt "we don't have kangaroos in austria".
a friend of mine was in california for a year, and she told me that a lot of people think that we still drive in coaches and wear "Dirndls" and "Lederhosen" all year round.
yeah, Mozart is from Austria, actually from Salzburg (pj played there in 2000). he's one of our famous classical composers. so if you come to austria you can find Mozart-Kugeln (chocolate balls with marzipan) and other Mozart-souvenirs everywhere (as well as "Sissy"-souvenirs - the former empress of austria)
our beer is good, that's true!
arnold schwarzenegger is from austria: true as well. it was very strange when he got the governor of california. i always had seen him as the terminator and muscle-man. hehe..
well yeah, that fucking bastard with the black moustache actually comes from austria. worst part of our history.
true, there are actually a lot of - mainly asian - tourists all year round in vienna and salzburg who come and see our nice architecture and because of the music.
"Falco", the only austrian musician that ever got no. 1 in the american charts (with "rock me amadeus"). we are actually still proud of him. hey, even mike mccready knows of him. ;-)
I didn’t know that “Rex” is known outside of the german speaking countries. That’s cool. haha..
Well, you actually know a lot, that’s cool!
Munich, Germany 2007
Croatia is not that far from you, you know
Oh, I forgot about Mozart kugeln, I ALWAYS get them when I go to Austria, even though you can buy them here too. But hey, thats a real souvenir. That gets eaten right away haha
well, i have to admit i always have problems with the east- and south-east european languages. i can't differ them. if you would speak, i would have no clue if your from croatia, the czech republic or poland. this is actually quite embarassing because these languages are probably very different and a lot of people from east- and south-east europe know how to speak german, but we are uneducated fools...
Munich, Germany 2007
From what my buddies who were stationed there told me, so this is probably a warped view:
Korea
Cold as Hell in the winter, hot as Hell in the summer. I've heard the phrase "Coldrea". You don't notice the cold as much until you're sleeping in a tent for days on end in it. A friend told me he was once digging a foxhole and cried because it was just so miserably cold. Uhh, let's see, it's easy to get messed up on the soju, uhhh, watch out for the pagogi (or kagogi), I was told one is beef and one is dog. Umm, the hookers do crazy tricks that involve spinning from a contraction hanging from the ceiling while mounted on you and if you don't come in like 10 seconds it's free. Let's see, uh, a lot of the students despise the American presence. Oh yeah, and it was still practice (at least like 10 years ago) for parents to sort of sell off their daughters for marriage. Despite all of this debauchery, I would love to visit, and from what I've seen in pictures, the landscape is gorgeous. Seoul would probably be a great place to visit too.
Croatia:
All I know is that they have great beaches, the ecomony is still struggling to develop, and they speak a language (Croatian) similar to Russian. I have some ancestry from there and would love to visit some day. Just jump in a car and tour the country. Actually, Cropdustress, I've seen some of the pictures you've taken of the area you live in the winter and they are breathtaking.
One time my friend from US was visiting, we went out for drinks and some ppl in our company asked him if he was really from the US. And they were in awe and a little suspicious, haha.
He responded: Why? Cause all Americans are fat and dumb?
(He's tall and skinny and intelligent, so doesn't fit in that stereotype, haha)
I just hate those kinds of stereotypes towards Americans especially from people who have never ever met one or even been there...
i know, i know ;-)
and "Manner"-Schnitten. do you know them, i guess so. are they actually known in america as well?
and i forgot: world-famous energy-drink "red bull" is from austria.
Munich, Germany 2007
Croatia is beautiful, yes. YOu gotta see my summer pictures if you liked winter ones
It is a beautiful country, but like you said, the economy is still bad and struggling to develop ever since the war ended, and that was in 1995. Some people think we're still in war :eek: *You're from Croatia? OMG, Are you OK? :rolleyes: Yeah, I'm fine...
And I've had people thinking how we still live in the middle ages or something, not sure they were serious or not, haha.
Anyways, it's hard cause the whole economy, politics and the situation in the country definitely affects on the life style and I pretty much hate it here cause of it. I also think that lots of people are living in denial, thinking how everything is so peachy, roses all around, but in reality, it's not. That bothers me so much and I can't think the same way about the situation here after
all I've been thru, experienced and seen in my life...This is getting to political now and I don't even like politcs, lol
Anyways, visit, come all you tourists, it's pretty cheap for you and a great country to see. I've been told we're very friendly people, like to drink and eat, enjoy life and we're party animals
I mean, its a big country, pretty vast and in New England (and everywhere else)
you need to drive a lot to get somewhere, and it's pretty great cause you see a lot. It takes a while, but that's the beauty of it.
It's no problem getting from like my camp to Boston in 2 hrs, but here we're not like that. It takes about 2 hrs to Zagreb and I normally don't take the car...
it's hard to explain, but it's a different mentality.
In US it's normal to drive everywhere but Europe and Croatia esp is very small and takes about few minutes to get where you wanna go, so it's weird when you go on longer road trips
the chocolate ones are the best.
I had no idea REd Bull was from Austria
Fun facts about Croatia:
A tie, or kravatte, kravat, was invented in Croatia.
Also, thin ball pen.
And a parachute, I believe.
-Capital is Zagreb
-in the Balkan Peninsula and borders the Adriatic Sea to the west
-was a part of Yugoslavia for a long time, but gained independence as it's own nation some 15-20 years ago (I remember it happening, but not the exact year)
-in that region there has been a long standing hostility between Croats and Serbs
That's the classic image of the "sterotype american kid"
Croatian is actually very similar to Polish, more to Polish than Russian, cause our language is mellower, not so harsh as Russian.
I don't know much about the origin of all our Slavic languages, but I believe it depends on the Slavic tribes, south or whatever...:o
I'm a bit clueless on that part.
I find it interesting that all those languages (Croatian, Polish, Czech, Russian...) are very similar but are so different too. One would easily pick up another language if they already spoke one, I believe.
Also, Croatian, Serbian and Bosnian are VERY similar, almost the same, except Serbian has different pronnounciation and grammar. but we understand each other perfectly
Slovenian, on the other hand, is a bit different, a harder to understand. Dialect I speak in my part of Croatia has similarites, but that's another story
well, i've never been to america (would love to go there), but coming from europe i wouldn't say i've seen a lot from europe. i only travelled by plane once. a lot of americans have relatives on like the other part of the us, so if you visit them you have to fly. i can't imagine that. all my close relatives live like under 1 1/2 hours away from me.
but i guess that's the beauty and fascination of america for us europeans. it's just a total different mentality and lifestyle. we over here have nice old buildings, strange languages, and you have the open road.
Munich, Germany 2007