The American reputation

Don't think I am bashing America I'm not this is just another vain attempt to enlighten my countrymen. Americans tend to have a reputation of being loud if not obnoxious especially when we travel. It’s only after you spend a significant amount of time overseas that you come to see your own country with new eyes. I was largely unaware of the fact that we are the only country that tells the rest of the world on a nonstop basis that we are the greatest country on Earth, and that quite frankly, it is obnoxious. And I know it’s obnoxious, because if you worked in an office where there was a guy who came in everyday and said, 'I'm the greatest f**ker in here!!! And the rest of you sniveling sh*ts couldn’t do it without me.(ah ha) I can guarantee you by the end of the week you would have killed the S.O.B. ...!

You might not like what I'm saying, but it’s true. I'm American too, so it’s not like I'm xenophobic the majority of American tourists abroad and this means that if there are 10 Americans in a room at least 6 of them do the same thing, for an example talk two to three times louder than the natives of the country they are visiting. I have lived outside the United States for a little over 10 years, and have lived for extended periods of time in many countries in Europe and Asia. On top of that I've visited over 30 countries, so I have a rather intimate knowledge of how Americans act outside the United States, and, obviously, there are Americans who do not talk loudly, but they are rare in my experience.

Usually the ones that are not annoying or ignorant are the ones who have lived outside the United States, or otherwise have a high degree of formal post-secondary education. The thing of it is these Americans who talk loudly aren't doing it on purpose, and are not explicitly attempting to be rude, they talk loud because they just don't know any better. Then again there are a lot of things Americans tend to do that are rude in other countries that are done out of utter ignorance and let’s face it, the average American knows next to nothing about anything outside the continental 48 United States, and speaks only one language (English). A major reason why Americans are so rude is not only because they are speaking loudly, but they are speaking loudly in a foreign language unless you're in Canada, England, Australia, etc.

I can remember quite vividly a restaurant I was eating at in Paris, and a middle-aged American couple came in and started speaking and I’m not exaggerating three times louder than everyone else in the restaurant bordering on yelling. It would have been fine if they wanted to eat in the restaurant and speak to each other in English, but they should have done so in a quite manner, and not drawn so much attention to themselves. That highlights the atypical American attitude that has won us so many fans around the world, regardless of what country we are in we act as if we are the in United States in almost every possible way That is VERY ANNOYING ... For instance; I know most of you fellow Americans couldn't tell me who Norma Mortenson is, unless you could look it up on the internet. And I'd be willing to bet even less could tell me what the capital city of Washington is unless of course you live there.

These might seem like trivial facts to most of you, but they say a great deal about how aware you are. Here are a few of things Americans do in specific countries that, unless they learn local culture/manners, are being rude.

In Scandinavia: it is rude to talk to someone you don't know them when passing by. They will think one of two things; 1 you are mentally unstable, or 2 you are drunk whereas in most places in the United States it is rude to not at least acknowledge a stranger in passing.

In France: It is rude to make eye contact with someone on a train/buss/boat -- to the French this is considered flirtatious behavior, but to an American it is normal to look at people in the eyes while sitting.

In Germany: It is rude to leave a tip for services such as a haircut, or at a restaurant. In most cases the tip is included in your bill, and leaving a tip is considered condescending which is implying they are poor and need the money. In the United States it is rude to not tip for those kinds of services.

In Thailand: It is rude to have the bottom of your foot or feet in a direction of a person it is a very big insult. So keep your feet on the floor.

In the Philippines: looking at someone head to toe is rude. it shows a lack of respect. They think you are looking down on them or telling them you are better than they are.

What Americans have to understand is that the United States is a great country, but it is not the only great country on the planet. And, if you are going to visit another country and you're not planning on speaking the local language, then speak English very discretely when you are in public.

Americans don't like it when people speak a foreign language they don't understand in front of them and even more so when it’s done flagrantly ,why should what they're doing be any different just because they're speaking English if it’s not the native language of the country then it is a foreign language. And another thing most Americans do while they are overseas is talk about how much better everything is in the United States. They will sit there and just talk very loudly in English about how "Well, in the US we do it this way ...," tacitly implying that since that is how America does it should be how everyone does it.

Wouldn't you think it was annoying if you had a guest over at your house and all they could do is comment on how they do everything better than you and everything they have in their house is better than yours? And once again, not all Americans do this, but the majority does.

I don't know how many times I've heard Americans doing this, and the thing of it is they don't even realize how rude they are being to them it is just conversation, or collective criticism. I think if they were to step back and think about how they are acting they wouldn't act that way then again there are some who would just continue acting that way because they're obnoxious and arrogant but you can find obnoxious and arrogant people in any country.