Becoming Foreign

A few common stereotypes about Americans are that we’re very loud, rude, patriotic, don’t travel, obese, love guns, and love corporate businesses. I think a lot of these stereotypes are perpetuated by the media (which is where I initially learned about most of them), which can sometimes be the only interactions people have with Americans. […]

A few stereotypes about Americans include being loud, stupid, and eating a lot of junk food. These are all learned behaviors and a product of a wide variety of circumstances. Take the junk food as an example. Fast food came around as a quick alternative to sit-in dining or cooking your own meals. The people […]

What do you think are some of the stereotypes of U.S. Americans? 1. How did you acquire them? 2. How do they influence communication between U.S. Americans and people from other countries? According to the article, stereotypes are “widely held beliefs about some group [of people],” whether positive or negative. Most stereotypes are acquired through […]

The United States is an enormous country with diverse communities and regions. It’s difficult to speak about the stereotypes of the entire country when I’ve only seen a small community with a very distinct culture. I’m from central Massachusetts, so I don’t live too far from Smith. Some of the stereotypes of this region, in […]

I have been surrounded by stereotypes throughout my life, with regard to my ethnicity, along with the area in which I grew up. To me, a stereotype is a generalized message designed to classify individuals. The fear of the unknown establishes stereotypes; those with intolerant mindsets walk through society with trepidation, for fear of discovering […]

Before coming to the US I heard a lot of different stereotypes such as Americans being loud and big, loving fast food, and talks about sports and politics. Most of these were coming from TV shows and American movies and news. As a Russian, I also encountered a lot of stereotypes about these two countries […]

Some of the stereotypes that come to mind when of think of americans is that people are loud, obnoxious, entitled  and that everyone in the south owns a gun. Also before I came to america I thought all americans were very rich, owned their own lands, and that america is the land of golden opportunity, […]

Before my time abroad, I spent a good deal of time imagining how I would be stereotyped as an American in Denmark. I had been told by friends and family members more well-traveled than me that Americans are often poorly received in the countries that we visit. We are understood as obnoxious, entitled, and ignorant. […]

Similar to what happened to Jennie in Denmark, I found out that a common stereotype of Americans among Russians is that Americans are too friendly to the point of being fake. On our first day in Russian class last year, our professor told us to not casually ask “How are you” (Как дела) to a […]

While in Denmark, I learned that people abroad view Americans as being “fake friendly” and too self-conceited. Hearing these stereotypes for the first time surprised me because I hadn’t at all thought about them before. If anything, I assumed Americans were seen as rude. The “fake friendliness” seems to come largely from language. They found […]