Cultural stereotypes

Ana Grigalashvili
• A stereotype is a popular belief about specific types of individuals. I can
share 10 national stereotypes that turn out to be true.
 1 Germans Drink A Lot Of Beer

drinking beer. They love it. They invented Oktoberfest. There are more than 1300 breweries in
the country. Even their churches brew beer.
 2 Americans Are Loud

It’s a total cliché, but still, Americans, particularly the tourists, are really loud. They’re loud in cafes, they’re loud in
bars, and they’re loud pretty much everywhere else as well. That accent just seems to cut through a crowd, to ensure
that you will always know when there’s an American in the room.
 3 Italians Are, Um, Passionate

Italians love an argument, mostly because they take things extremely seriously. What things?
All of the things. They take football seriously, they take fashion seriously, they take family
seriously, they take religion seriously, and they take food maybe the most seriously of all. Mess
with any of these things and you can expect a hand-waving, voice-raising argument to
immediately ensue.
 4 English People Love Talking About The
Weather

“Looks like we’ll get some rain today.” “Lovely out, isn’t it?” “S’posed to be sunny later.” And on
and on it goes. I have a theory about this: maybe it’s because the weather in England changes so
often. Maybe that actually makes it something worth talking about. Whatever the reason, English
people love a bit of weather chat.
 5 Russians Are Scary

Go to Russia and smile at someone. See what happens. They’ll glare back at you, at best. Or
they’ll probably just ignore you. Russians are tough nuts to crack. These are a people who
consider that walking around smiling at strangers is something crazy people do. They mostly have
good hearts, the Russians, but it will take you a while to get past those icy first greetings.
 6 Canadians Are Polite

Canadians have a worldwide reputation for being extremely nice, and it’s warranted. They talk
to strangers on public transport. They apologize even if they’ve done nothing wrong. They’ll
help you out the minute you look lost or confused.
 7 Argentinians Love Steak. And Diego
Maradona

Steak – the cooking and the eating – is a national obsession in Argentina. And it’s extremely good.
Maradona, meanwhile, is an icon who is above all criticism and should only be praised if you want
to make any Argentinean friends, particularly in the “La Boca” area of Buenos Aires.
 8 Jamaicans Like To Smoke Pot

They like it so much, in fact, that it actually is a religion. Or at least part of a religion. Even for non-
Rastafarians though, the happy herb is a popular one in Jamaica. You’ve probably seen the clichéd
photos of dread-locked guys standing around puffing on joints the size of baseball bats.
 9 Swedish People Are Hot

There’s no two ways about it. The girls are hot, and the guys are hot. They’re all blonde-haired,
high-cheek-boned, slim, immaculately dressed and staggeringly attractive.
 10 Australians Like To Drink

They will do anything to get their hands on one sip of sweet, cold beer. And when you travel with other
Australians for a while you pretty quickly realise that it’s totally true. australians do like to drink. They do
it to celebrate, and they do it to commiserate. They do it out of habit. They also do it for fun, which makes
most groups of Australian travellers pretty good people to be around.
Thank you for listening!