Question for Europeans: What do you think about Americans? What's your impression about them as the people?

Answer 1

Hi there :) I have been to the USA for 4 months during the summer . As a whole i think they are extremely polite and helpful, they are always positive. What i really don't like is that they have a kind of artificial behavior. They are always smiling and when u say something their answer is "oh really" or "cool"

Answer 2

I'm German and I've only been to NYC. The the Americans I've met there were not noticeably different to Europeans. In fact, I'd say that American culture is far more similar to German culture, than, say Greek culture.

I find some of the "typical" Americans I see on TV, from places like small towns in Texas, very scary because of their backwardness and fundamentalist views. But I must admit I've never met Americans like that in real life. And if you visit remote villages in Germany you also tend to meet some really weird and crazy people.

What I don't understand about a lot of Americans is that they think their country is somehow "unique", when from what I could see, it's much the same as western Europe these days. The effects of globalisation I guess...

Answer 3

I am a European citizen (Spain) and have been living in the US for almost 5 years now (grad student).
I do not particularly dislike Americans. They tend to be honest, hard-working, easy-going people.
Once said that, I have to admit I find American society very annoying in a couple of areas:
1.- Many Americans honestly believe they live in the best of possible societies. They act as if freedom of speech, democracy and western values are only to be found and enjoyed here. Well, that not only is incorrect (those values are also cherised in many, many countries all over the world) but also inherently false. Europe and Canada (and probably some other countries I am not too familiar with) have far better democratic systems than the US. The bi-partisan political system is a joke. The level of participation in elections is a joke. The health system (where more than 40 million American citizens, I am not even counting the illigal immigrants, do not have health care) is a joke. The deficit of this country and its obsession with militarism is the biggest joke of them all. I still can not believe the way this country has mismanaged the great tragedy in New Orleans. Unf...believable!
2.- For a country with such racial diversity as the US, I find it a very conservative, very bigot society. The number of interracial marriages is another joke. You only need to spend 30 minutes in a University campus to realize that races do not mix. Whites go with whites, blacks go with blacks, asians stick with asians and so forth...There is no racial integration whatsoever, there is a bunch of people from a bunch of different parts of the world co-existing in the same place.
Other than that, I'm fine with Americans as people. I do not like the country that much, but people are fine.

Answer 4

I think in general we regard Americans pretty much as we regard ourselves. Some of our opinions are based on media presentations however. For instance, we tend to think of those in the South as being dumb bible bashers, and those from places like New York as being brash and arrogant.
My own personal opinion ( based on the half dozen or so Americans that I know) is that the Americans are no different to us Europeans, but are not as cynical as us, IE they seem to trust those in power and the rich too much.
I think that a lot of this attitude stems from the fifties when almost everything out of the ordinary was considered "unamerican".
Having said that, I think the Americans can teach us ( the British ) that being patriotic is not necessarily the freehold of the right wing.

Answer 5

No offence, but many Americans are ignorant and can't spell their own language correctly :P LOL