The British... Abroad!

[Nebelstern]

Well...ah...yes! What do you think? British people abroad are said to not respect the cultures of foreign countries.
Par exemple - Spain. We basically abuse it. Hooligans, drunks, (druggies?) - you've heard it all on the news. I hope.
So, this being my first topic, I just wondered what people think. 3nodding
Ehh...hi-jack as you wish...*circles hand*
Not as if I can stop it from happening anyway.  

[Gaulia]

Brits abroad are very much like the americans in America. Lazy, messy, and disruptive - yay for stereotyping.

But I've been away a few times and have seen British people shouting at foreigners. Telling them to speak english, in their country. Aside from finding that utterly disgraceful, it made me realise that the Brit abroad is also a philistine.

I lvoe that word. biggrin DD  

[Invictus_88]

I've never really been a Brit abroad. They have usually just been surrogate homes.

France is in my family and my family in it, Channel Islands have my family there too. Went to Spain once when I was in the first year, horrible looking girls and grotty streets. I have no memory of the Swiss visit either because I was a wrapped-up 18month baby. An injustice if ever there was one..

stare  

[Zoutout]

If i go to a country where I don't know the language, then it's a shame to butcher it by trying to learn from a phrase book.

If they've been taught English in school, it's an offense to their educational system to butcher their language rather than speaking in one which they are taught professionally.  

[Nebelstern]

I suppose if you take a phrase book then it at least shows that you have tried to appreciate their language. But then again, it is far better to have learnt their language to a basic standard before you go in my opinion. I have only been to France and Belgium; I have been fortunate enough to study french at school so I felt less guilty in going there 'illiterate' to them.  

[Ph_ish]

I've never been further abroad than Ireland.
Where everyone speaks English anyway.
So I don't really have any experience on which to base opinion on this matter.
sad
But yeah, Brits should be allowed in other countries without some sort of cultural-exeptance test.  

[Nebelstern]

Ph_ish

I've never been further abroad than Ireland.
Where everyone speaks English anyway.
So I don't really have any experience on which to base opinion on this matter.
sad
But yeah, Brits should be allowed in other countries without some sort of cultural-exeptance test.

That's alright Phishy m'dear. I prefer Scotland to France and Belgium anyway...

Belgium was soooooo flat! Lots of cows if my memory serves...  

[Days of Empire]

Ok, at the time of writing, I've been to...

America - (Disney pervades my every memory of the place, but then it was Florida)

Holland - Very pretty country, excellent cheese. But we rounded off the trip with a few nights in Amsterdam, which is one of my least favourite places in the world. It's a festering hole of human excess. By day it's not so bad, picturesque canals and such. By night...

France - I do quite like France. The most recent time I went we'd just invaded Iraq, so there was a fair bit of tension though. Lots of yoghurt, and for all their reputation with wines, they don't drink much.

Portugal - Don't remember much, I was fairly small. Hot. There were chickens. And rooster symbols everywhere.

Poland - A great country. I was there for a month teaching English in a school in Biecz, before touring round Warsaw and Krakow. The beer is cheap, the girls pretty. Lots of history there, too, from the Templar knights to the German occupation. I saw the Jewish ghettos in Warsaw, and the memorials to the people who died fightingin the Warsaw Uprising. I went to Auschwitz too... Everyone should go there. I never want to go again. Ever. But I'm glad I went.

Finland - A strange place. In the summer it doesn't get dark. The sun sets at 3am, there's two hours of light twilight, then it rises again. I had some terrible nightmares there, which I can only attribute to the constant light. Obsessed with saunas. One of the places I stayed was a one bedroom apartment... with a sauna. But one of my most treasured memories was in Finland - sitting out at 3am, surrounded by candles, watching the sun set in the distance, and listening to the wolves howl in the woods around us. That was after a day of jumping between a sauna and the lake. (It was a traditional wood fired sauna, it reached 83 centigrade!)

Austria - A skiing holiday - I was quite small then. I remember skiing into a building though!

Greece - Hot. Delicious olives. A touch boring though. Didn't do much there.

Canary Islands - Volcanoes, cactuses and SALTWATER SWIMMING POOLS scream scream

Macau - A nice enough place. I went there on a couple of daytrips from Hong Kong. Some nice architecture. Technically part of Portugal.

Hong Kong - I lived there for a couple of years. An amazing country... it was a British colony at the time. Hot, and subject to typhoons. Fantastic food, almost unbelievable cultural diversity, and worryingly busy. It's been said that it makes the city that never sleeps look like a sloth. It actually does never stop.

Philippines - The more rural areas are the very image of tropical perfection. An amazing place. We hired a little trimaran and sailed out to an unoccupied island, where we sat eating cheese and wine. Perfect sands, crystal clear water, clear blue skies, and jungle. While we were on the island, another boat arrived, bearing American tourists. They got off, walked down the beach (while we groaned to ourselves that our little peaceful haven was ruined) said "There isn't even a shower!" and left. I ask you.

Not bad, for a 19 year old!

For periods varying from two weeks to two years. (I've passed through other countries, particularly Dubai, Belgium and Germany, but I've not stayed long enough for them to count. Dubai was changing planes, in Belgium we only stopped to use a motorway service station, and the same could be said of Germany, except I also went there for a couple of hours for a picnic while we were staying in Holland)

And as for how the British behave abroad... well, it varies. In places like Poland, we're drunkards. There are very few of us in the Philippines because it's so far away - the only Brits we saw were ourselves.

The habit of talking loudly and slowly at someone who doesn't understand you is universal. I've been talked at loudly and slowly in cantonese by an elderly chinese lady. When I eventually found someone to interpret, it emerged she wanted to give me food so that I could be fat like the rest of the Americans. ( stare )  

[and_solo_said]

I have only been to Scotland an Wales for anything other than a school trip....But I think we should just give up going abroad, the UK is much nicer, especially in the mountains  

[Zoutout]

We're listing them now?

Okay:

Scotland,
Wales,
Holland,
Denmark,
France,
Germany,
Monte Carlo,
Austria,
Italy,
Vatican City,
Switzerland,

and maybe a couple more that I can't remember.  

[and_solo_said]

Zoutout

We're listing them now?

Okay:

Scotland,
Wales,
Holland,
Denmark,
France,
Germany,
Monte Carlo,
Austria,
Italy,
Vatican City,
Switzerland,

and maybe a couple more that I can't remember.

Scotland is Britain you a**  

[Days of Empire]

You're in a British forum. Call him an arse.  

[Nebelstern]

Erix Griffon

You're in a British forum. Call him an arse.

He COULD have been referring to the animal... rolleyes  

[Ph_ish]

Nebelstern

Ph_ish

I've never been further abroad than Ireland.
Where everyone speaks English anyway.
So I don't really have any experience on which to base opinion on this matter.
sad
But yeah, Brits should be allowed in other countries without some sort of cultural-exeptance test.

That's alright Phishy m'dear. I prefer Scotland to France and Belgium anyway...

Belgium was soooooo flat! Lots of cows if my memory serves...

You don't say. There were a lot of cows in ireland too.  

[and_solo_said]

Nebelstern

Erix Griffon

You're in a British forum. Call him an arse.

He COULD have been referring to the animal... rolleyes

I WAS referring to the animal, the term arse Is a crudity i attempt to avoid.