Don't know much, but here goes:
-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
Correct
Independence was in 1990. And no more hostility between us, maybe
in some parts of Croatia and Serbia, but for my generation and younger, I believe that's surpassed. Some people and parts of the country struck in war are still healing and it's hard to forget... :(
It's ok, I understand it can be hard to figure out Slavic languages, I too have dificulties with some, its not a shameful thing
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
it's interesting, cause you can understand different languages, while i have problems understanding people from vorarlberg or tyrol - even though they come from my country. haha..
ALF! That's priceless! I'd say that looks more like a kid from the Scottish countryside visiting or something. Outsiders tend to be a little behind on American trends. Everywhere I've traveled, which includes South and Central America, Western and Central Europe, and the Caribbean, the kids who wear American style clothes always seem to be behind the trends anywhere from 5-20 years.
it's interesting, cause you can understand different languages, while i have problems understanding people from vorarlberg or tyrol - even though they come from my country. haha..
Yeah, languages are pretty interesting and amazing.
So are dialects, it's so fascinating and I know what you mean, haha.
We got dialects too, and it happens here aswell, but we try to stick to plain ole Croatian when people speak different dialects
I totally agree with your post above about Americans and their culture on travelling. Its a big country, pretty vast, and they need to travel a lot if the wanna see it, by plane, road trips anything.
In Europe everything is much smaller and closer...
Correct
Independence was in 1990. And no more hostility between us, maybe
in some parts of Croatia and Serbia, but for my generation and younger, I believe that's surpassed. Some people and parts of the country struck in war are still healing and it's hard to forget... :(
Yeah, I remember being young when Croatia got it's independence (would have been 6 or 7 at the time). That's good to know that the hostility is lessening and is starting to go away. Was it the break up of Yugoslavia and the formation of Croatia and Serbia that helped ease the tensions? I would imagine that each group of people having their own nation to take pride in and live would help, but I really do not know.
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
Obviously, you don't know much about foreign countries- you've just stereotyped americans as being UNBELIEVABLY stupid. I've never met ANYONE who thinks Austria=Australia. The irony of your post is hilarious- blaming people for being ignorant of other places and cultures and being completely ignorant yourself. Nice.
And I, an american, know a lot about Oestereich, actually, since I took an Austrian history class, auf Deutsch, in college.
Yeah, I remember being young when Croatia got it's independence (would have been 6 or 7 at the time). That's good to know that the hostility is lessening and is starting to go away. Was it the break up of Yugoslavia and the formation of Croatia and Serbia that helped ease the tensions? I would imagine that each group of people having their own nation to take pride in and live would help, but I really do not know.
The break up of Yugoslavia caused the war.
Time and I guess people forgetting and forgiving and just being open minded
helped to ease the tensions, imo. This is just my point of view, tho, I'm sure someone else would tell you different, maybe not so friendly as me.
It's really hard to say from my perspective what a general consensus is, but what I listed and explained in the previous post about this issue, I believe that's what it is. I hope this makes sense to you...
Oh, I was actually a kid, too, when all this took place in the early 90's and don't remember much, but the country and people in those parts suffered a lot. I was lucky enough, my part (west) wasn't struck during the war, but we had lots of refugees from the east and elsewhere coming over, lived in hotels and wherever they could put them for years.
The east is recovering, but Vukovar, the city that was completely gone, totally demolished, wiped out, whatever you wanna call it, during the war is suffering nowadays. People can't get jobs and even if they do, they don't get payed a lot.
On the other hand, politicians and the city mayor gets payed what an average worker earns in one year! :eek:
It's all so sad and hypocritical, but it's like that pretty much everywhere here, just Vukovar is the worst now. I watched a report about it on tv, and it was so sad and frustrating.
Obviously, you don't know much about foreign countries- you've just stereotyped americans as being UNBELIEVABLY stupid. I've never met ANYONE who thinks Austria=Australia. The irony of your post is hilarious- blaming people for being ignorant of other places and cultures and being completely ignorant yourself. Nice.
And I, an american, know a lot about Oestereich, actually, since I took an Austrian history class, auf Deutsch, in college.
Let's face it, there are a lot of ignorant Americans. When it comes to world geography, I'd bet Americans would probably be the most ignorant, as a nation. I have little nieces in Peru that know more about the world than many college grads here. Seriously. Of course that's not to say all Americans are stupid. I take offense to that also. I think we just tend to take less interest in other cultures, for a variety of reasons, including arrogance. I'm sure you and your friends are very intelligent, but you know the deal.
Obviously, you don't know much about foreign countries- you've just stereotyped americans as being UNBELIEVABLY stupid. I've never met ANYONE who thinks Austria=Australia. The irony of your post is hilarious- blaming people for being ignorant of other places and cultures and being completely ignorant yourself. Nice.
And I, an american, know a lot about Oestereich, actually, since I took an Austrian history class, auf Deutsch, in college.
good for you, that you know about other countries. i never said that i know a lot about different countries. the intention of this thread was to get to know other countries and cultures better, and get a new persepctive. and it's even called "stereotypes vs. reality", so i don't know why you have to be so harsh.
and the statement about americans thinking australia is austria came actually from an american, as i stated before. and i don't think austria is such an important country, so that all people of the whole world have to know about it. it's pretty small, you know.
and that's what stereotypes are. i come from austria, does that make me a fucking nazi? no, no, no!!!!
The break up of Yugoslavia caused the war.
Time and I guess people forgetting and forgiving and just being open minded
helped to ease the tensions, imo. This is just my point of view, tho, I'm sure someone else would tell you different, maybe not so friendly as me.
It's really hard to say from my perspective what a general consensus is, but what I listed and explained in the previous post about this issue, I believe that's what it is. I hope this makes sense to you...
That does make sense. I thought that it was a war within Yugoslavia that caused it's eventual break up. I guess I learned it backwards because I didn't realize the break up caused the war. Anyways, it is good to know that places there are getting better and starting to recover. Thanks for sharing that
Let's face it, there are a lot of ignorant Americans. When it comes to world geography, I'd bet Americans would probably be the most ignorant, as a nation. I have little nieces in Peru that know more about the world than many college grads here. Seriously. Of course that's not to say all Americans are stupid. I take offense to that also. I think we just tend to take less interest in other cultures, for a variety of reasons, including arrogance. I'm sure you and your friends are very intelligent, but you know the deal.
there are a lot of ignorant other people too! and I don't know, I'm pretty sure that maybe some people in the tanzania or malawi who don't have access books might be a little worse off on geography than americans.
Sure there are a lot of ignorant americans, as there are ignorant people from plenty of other places, but we have 2 huge coast lines and plenty of big cities where the people love to travel, love foreign languages, and are very interested in culture. I'm not very good at learning languages, but it was CONVENTION for me to learn two, here in america.
If you walk on the streets of Vienna or Salzburg, you can see all sorts of t-shirts and accessories on this subject: Austria and Australia.
I didn't really think it came from Americans, I just thought it was a general mispell or something and that's how people in general got mistaken Australia and Austria...
But it's funny to see all those shirts and signs: Welcome to Austria, No Kangaroos Here and all types of Aussie-like thingies, haha.
it's interesting, cause you can understand different languages, while i have problems understanding people from vorarlberg or tyrol - even though they come from my country. haha..
Now I know why Austrian movies get subtitles in German theatres when even Austrians have troubles
There was a story in Kurier (2nd largest daily paper in Austria) last weekend about priests from Africa and Asia coming to work in Austria and one of them said in the beginning he was totally confused why people in Floridsdorf (Vienna's 21st district) spoke a different language than those in his parish in Meidling (12th district).
We really do have a lot of dialects that sometimes border on entirely different languages. My grandmother didn't speak German at all, she spoke the old Viennese which is a dead language by now. Not counting my parents and sister, I only know one person who still can speak/understand that one.
Also when at meetings in Germany, we found that when we were talking in our natural dialects, the German collegues didn't have any idea what we were talking about. They didn't understand the Swiss guys either. That came in very handy if we had to form alliances sometimes
For the Kommissar Rex fans: if you understand German and like theatre, Alexander Pschill plays quite a lot in the Theater in der Josefstadt and the Kammerspiele. He was great in 'Elling' last year.
As for the languages spoken in the countries around us, I don't get why they are still not properly taught in Austrian schools (I had 9 years of French and 5 English). We started a petition to get teachers for Hungarian and Czech when I was still in school, but they couldn't get the funds. My parents moved close to the Czech border and everytime I cross it to go shopping (or at trips to Prague) I'm embarrassed that I don't speak more than maybe 10 words Czech :(
GreenTea: I have to defend Julia here. She didn't mention the difference between Austria and Australia out of ignorance. You have no idea how many times US companies shipped stuff for me to Australia even though I clearly wrote Austria on the order or people on message boards asking me about the state of Aboriginal affairs...
You can tell a man from what he has to say - Neil & Tim Finn
They love you so badly for sharing their sorrow, so pick up that guitar and go break a heart - Kris Kristofferson
If you walk on the streets of Vienna or Salzburg, you can see all sorts of t-shirts and accessories on this subject: Austria and Australia.
I didn't really think it came from Americans, I just thought it was a general mispell or something and that's how people in general got mistaken Australia and Austria...
But it's funny to see all those shirts and signs: Welcome to Austria, No Kangaroos Here and all types of Aussie-like thingies, haha.
Those are getting old now though. I like the ones that look like Puma shirts but the puma is replaced by a jumping cow
You can tell a man from what he has to say - Neil & Tim Finn
They love you so badly for sharing their sorrow, so pick up that guitar and go break a heart - Kris Kristofferson
Yes, the show is Austrian and filmed in Vienna mostly.
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.
it's interesting, cause you can understand different languages, while i have problems understanding people from vorarlberg or tyrol - even though they come from my country. haha..
I so had to think of something similar to the second quote when reading the first one, and I'm laughing so hard at the moment
We up in the mountains are not THAT bad
Kids! Bringing about Armageddon can be dangerous. Do not attempt it in your own home.
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)
woo!
yeah, I got two of those Mozart-Kugelns as a part of my Secret Santa pressie. yummy.
I've heard of Sissy too actually. I think I've seen a film/documentary or something about her. pretty interesting, not that I can remember much about it.
btw. when you people have got time, feel free to display your stereotypes/knowledge about Finland.
"Don't be faint-hearted, I have a solution! We shall go and commandeer some small craft, then drift at leisure until we happen upon another ideal place for our waterside supper with riparian entertainments."
GreenTea: I have to defend Julia here. She didn't mention the difference between Austria and Australia out of ignorance. You have no idea how many times US companies shipped stuff for me to Australia even though I clearly wrote Austria on the order or people on message boards asking me about the state of Aboriginal affairs...
thanks sonja, that was was i was talking about.
you see, this happens for real, it's not something i made up in my ignorant little mind...
i think this topic is finished now. if anybody felt insulted by what i wrote, i'm sorry, but i would never say all people from.....(insert country name here) are like this or like that. if i would believe in stereotypes than i wouldn't have started the thread. i'm interested in different cultures.
I so had to think of something similar to the second quote when reading the first one, and I'm laughing so hard at the moment
We up in the mountains are not THAT bad
nobody said you're bad, just difficult to understand :-)
btw. when you people have got time, feel free to display your stereotypes/knowledge about Finland.
well, you have a lot of lakes, a pretty country and some well-known formula 1 racers (mika häkkinen, kimi raikkonen - spelling?), and your always one of the top countries at the "pisa-test".
thanks sonja, that was was i was talking about.
you see, this happens for real, it's not something i made up in my ignorant little mind...
i think this topic is finished now. if anybody felt insulted by what i wrote, i'm sorry, but i would never say all people from.....(insert country name here) are like this or like that. if i would believe in stereotypes than i wouldn't have started the thread. i'm interested in different cultures.
nobody said you're bad, just difficult to understand :-)
well, you have a lot of lakes, a pretty country and some well-known formula 1 racers (mika häkkinen, kimi raikkonen - spelling?), and your always one of the top countries at the "pisa-test".
And Saku Koivu, and Teemu Selanne, and Jari Kurri....
GreenTea: I have to defend Julia here. She didn't mention the difference between Austria and Australia out of ignorance. You have no idea how many times US companies shipped stuff for me to Australia even though I clearly wrote Austria on the order or people on message boards asking me about the state of Aboriginal affairs...
It doesn't help that you have Neil and Tim Finn in your signature
... and the will to show I will always be better than before.
have you guys seen the Flight of the Conchords episode, where this middle eastern guy won't sell Brett fruit because he doesn't serve "his kind." and then this whole race war ensues and the guy is leaving notes on his door that say "Kiwi go home!" And then finally they confront the guy and he explains that he has no tolerance for "convicts that were bred from monkeys" or something like that and Brett goes "no, that's australians, we're from new zealand" and the guy is like "oh my god, I didn't realize I'm so sorry" and then they band together and start a race war on the australians. it's hilarious.
It doesn't help that you have Neil and Tim Finn in your signature
You want the Kiwis to come after you for saying the Finn brothers are Australian now?
As for Finland, I think one of the biggest stereotype would be the liberal consumption of Vodka I only heard good things about Helsinki from friends who have been there, must be a beautiful town.
And you guys won the Eurovision song contest (2006?) with a performance that I found hilarious and long overdue in that stuffed up competition.
You can tell a man from what he has to say - Neil & Tim Finn
They love you so badly for sharing their sorrow, so pick up that guitar and go break a heart - Kris Kristofferson
You want the Kiwis to come after you for saying the Finn brothers are Australian now?
As for Finland, I think one of the biggest stereotype would be the liberal consumption of Vodka I only heard good things about Helsinki from friends who have been there, must be a beautiful town.
And you guys won the Eurovision song contest (2006?) with a performance that I found hilarious and long overdue in that stuffed up competition.
crap, I forgot about Helsinki. another place to add to the list.
have you guys seen the Flight of the Conchords episode, where this middle eastern guy won't sell Brett fruit because he doesn't serve "his kind." and then this whole race war ensues and the guy is leaving notes on his door that say "Kiwi go home!" And then finally they confront the guy and he explains that he has no tolerance for "convicts that were bred from monkeys" or something like that and Brett goes "no, that's australians, we're from new zealand" and the guy is like "oh my god, I didn't realize I'm so sorry" and then they band together and start a race war on the australians. it's hilarious.
I had never heard about this show, but it sounds funny. According to my computer, I will be able to see it in about 3 days though
You can tell a man from what he has to say - Neil & Tim Finn
They love you so badly for sharing their sorrow, so pick up that guitar and go break a heart - Kris Kristofferson
Well i know on Austrias national Holiday. Bush sent Aussie PM Howard flowers
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Comments
Independence was in 1990. And no more hostility between us, maybe
in some parts of Croatia and Serbia, but for my generation and younger, I believe that's surpassed. Some people and parts of the country struck in war are still healing and it's hard to forget... :(
it's interesting, cause you can understand different languages, while i have problems understanding people from vorarlberg or tyrol - even though they come from my country. haha..
Munich, Germany 2007
Yes yes, that's the typical American kid.
ALF! That's priceless! I'd say that looks more like a kid from the Scottish countryside visiting or something. Outsiders tend to be a little behind on American trends. Everywhere I've traveled, which includes South and Central America, Western and Central Europe, and the Caribbean, the kids who wear American style clothes always seem to be behind the trends anywhere from 5-20 years.
So are dialects, it's so fascinating and I know what you mean, haha.
We got dialects too, and it happens here aswell, but we try to stick to plain ole Croatian when people speak different dialects
I totally agree with your post above about Americans and their culture on travelling. Its a big country, pretty vast, and they need to travel a lot if the wanna see it, by plane, road trips anything.
In Europe everything is much smaller and closer...
Where do you live in Austria?
Obviously, you don't know much about foreign countries- you've just stereotyped americans as being UNBELIEVABLY stupid. I've never met ANYONE who thinks Austria=Australia. The irony of your post is hilarious- blaming people for being ignorant of other places and cultures and being completely ignorant yourself. Nice.
And I, an american, know a lot about Oestereich, actually, since I took an Austrian history class, auf Deutsch, in college.
Time and I guess people forgetting and forgiving and just being open minded
helped to ease the tensions, imo. This is just my point of view, tho, I'm sure someone else would tell you different, maybe not so friendly as me.
It's really hard to say from my perspective what a general consensus is, but what I listed and explained in the previous post about this issue, I believe that's what it is. I hope this makes sense to you...
Oh, I was actually a kid, too, when all this took place in the early 90's and don't remember much, but the country and people in those parts suffered a lot. I was lucky enough, my part (west) wasn't struck during the war, but we had lots of refugees from the east and elsewhere coming over, lived in hotels and wherever they could put them for years.
The east is recovering, but Vukovar, the city that was completely gone, totally demolished, wiped out, whatever you wanna call it, during the war is suffering nowadays. People can't get jobs and even if they do, they don't get payed a lot.
On the other hand, politicians and the city mayor gets payed what an average worker earns in one year! :eek:
It's all so sad and hypocritical, but it's like that pretty much everywhere here, just Vukovar is the worst now. I watched a report about it on tv, and it was so sad and frustrating.
Let's face it, there are a lot of ignorant Americans. When it comes to world geography, I'd bet Americans would probably be the most ignorant, as a nation. I have little nieces in Peru that know more about the world than many college grads here. Seriously. Of course that's not to say all Americans are stupid. I take offense to that also. I think we just tend to take less interest in other cultures, for a variety of reasons, including arrogance. I'm sure you and your friends are very intelligent, but you know the deal.
good for you, that you know about other countries. i never said that i know a lot about different countries. the intention of this thread was to get to know other countries and cultures better, and get a new persepctive. and it's even called "stereotypes vs. reality", so i don't know why you have to be so harsh.
and the statement about americans thinking australia is austria came actually from an american, as i stated before. and i don't think austria is such an important country, so that all people of the whole world have to know about it. it's pretty small, you know.
and that's what stereotypes are. i come from austria, does that make me a fucking nazi? no, no, no!!!!
Munich, Germany 2007
but YOU stereotyped americans!!!
there are a lot of ignorant other people too! and I don't know, I'm pretty sure that maybe some people in the tanzania or malawi who don't have access books might be a little worse off on geography than americans.
Sure there are a lot of ignorant americans, as there are ignorant people from plenty of other places, but we have 2 huge coast lines and plenty of big cities where the people love to travel, love foreign languages, and are very interested in culture. I'm not very good at learning languages, but it was CONVENTION for me to learn two, here in america.
well have you actually read the whole post?
it's good for you that you are an educated, intelligent american, and it's good for me that i am an austrian who is not a nazi.
so what exactly makes you so mad about my post. the australia-austria thing or what? and once again: that came from an american himself.
Munich, Germany 2007
I didn't really think it came from Americans, I just thought it was a general mispell or something and that's how people in general got mistaken Australia and Austria...
But it's funny to see all those shirts and signs: Welcome to Austria, No Kangaroos Here
There was a story in Kurier (2nd largest daily paper in Austria) last weekend about priests from Africa and Asia coming to work in Austria and one of them said in the beginning he was totally confused why people in Floridsdorf (Vienna's 21st district) spoke a different language than those in his parish in Meidling (12th district).
We really do have a lot of dialects that sometimes border on entirely different languages. My grandmother didn't speak German at all, she spoke the old Viennese which is a dead language by now. Not counting my parents and sister, I only know one person who still can speak/understand that one.
Also when at meetings in Germany, we found that when we were talking in our natural dialects, the German collegues didn't have any idea what we were talking about. They didn't understand the Swiss guys either. That came in very handy if we had to form alliances sometimes
For the Kommissar Rex fans: if you understand German and like theatre, Alexander Pschill plays quite a lot in the Theater in der Josefstadt and the Kammerspiele. He was great in 'Elling' last year.
As for the languages spoken in the countries around us, I don't get why they are still not properly taught in Austrian schools (I had 9 years of French and 5 English). We started a petition to get teachers for Hungarian and Czech when I was still in school, but they couldn't get the funds. My parents moved close to the Czech border and everytime I cross it to go shopping (or at trips to Prague) I'm embarrassed that I don't speak more than maybe 10 words Czech :(
GreenTea: I have to defend Julia here. She didn't mention the difference between Austria and Australia out of ignorance. You have no idea how many times US companies shipped stuff for me to Australia even though I clearly wrote Austria on the order or people on message boards asking me about the state of Aboriginal affairs...
They love you so badly for sharing their sorrow, so pick up that guitar and go break a heart - Kris Kristofferson
Those are getting old now though. I like the ones that look like Puma shirts but the puma is replaced by a jumping cow
They love you so badly for sharing their sorrow, so pick up that guitar and go break a heart - Kris Kristofferson
I so had to think of something similar to the second quote when reading the first one, and I'm laughing so hard at the moment
We up in the mountains are not THAT bad
woo!
yeah, I got two of those Mozart-Kugelns as a part of my Secret Santa pressie. yummy.
I've heard of Sissy too actually. I think I've seen a film/documentary or something about her. pretty interesting, not that I can remember much about it.
btw. when you people have got time, feel free to display your stereotypes/knowledge about Finland.
thanks sonja, that was was i was talking about.
you see, this happens for real, it's not something i made up in my ignorant little mind...
i think this topic is finished now. if anybody felt insulted by what i wrote, i'm sorry, but i would never say all people from.....(insert country name here) are like this or like that. if i would believe in stereotypes than i wouldn't have started the thread. i'm interested in different cultures.
nobody said you're bad, just difficult to understand :-)
well, you have a lot of lakes, a pretty country and some well-known formula 1 racers (mika häkkinen, kimi raikkonen - spelling?), and your always one of the top countries at the "pisa-test".
Munich, Germany 2007
never heard about them.
Munich, Germany 2007
Saku!
Teemu!
Jari!
Iceman!
It doesn't help that you have Neil and Tim Finn in your signature
LOL
Munich, Germany 2007
You want the Kiwis to come after you for saying the Finn brothers are Australian now?
As for Finland, I think one of the biggest stereotype would be the liberal consumption of Vodka
And you guys won the Eurovision song contest (2006?) with a performance that I found hilarious and long overdue in that stuffed up competition.
They love you so badly for sharing their sorrow, so pick up that guitar and go break a heart - Kris Kristofferson
crap, I forgot about Helsinki. another place to add to the list.
I had never heard about this show, but it sounds funny. According to my computer, I will be able to see it in about 3 days though
They love you so badly for sharing their sorrow, so pick up that guitar and go break a heart - Kris Kristofferson
Sydney 14/02/2003
Sydney 07/11/2006
Sydney 18/11/2006
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EV Sydney 18/03/2011
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Melbourne 24/01/2014
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EV Sydney 13/02/2014