Can someone give me an honest opinion about what Americans think about Spaniards? I know that you like us (the people who participate in MadridMan's web page) but I would like to have a general idea about this. The reason why I ask is because I have heard a lot of things about Spaniards in the States (well, actually only in Jersey, that is the only part of USA that I know) that are wrong (not good or bad, just wrong) and I wonder if it is because we are not a wellknown country or there is other reason.

Hi Nuria,

My sister has the same name

Regarding your question, I was working at a Summer Camp in New Jersey years ago. I had the opportunity to meet hundreds of families, kids, staff, etc.

When they asked me where I was from, I found out that basically there were two possibilities:

a) They did not know were Spain was (many people). Many had a vague idea that it had to be some country somewhere in Latin America or Mexico.

b) They knew it was in Europe, and they regarded you as "European", putting you in teh same basket than the rest (French, German, etc). Before knowing where I was from, identifying my accent as European, they asked if I was French, German, even British!

There were 2 other europeans at the camp, one Dutch, and one British, they treated us all well, I did not notice any difference

That was my first experience, afterwards I returned to the States many times, to study, visit, etc, and my first perception has not changed.

A different matter is if you are Hispanic. Only in the US they have asked me to fill information about " my race" , and they have always filled Caucasian.

At the camp there were people from Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, etc. I had a very good relation with them, as I had it with the rest of the people. I treated everybody in the same way. But I could see very that Hispanic peoiple did not get the same treatment, and advantages, that I was getting.

Florencio

Nuria-
Since it's been a while since you posted your question, I don't know if you'll see this. I really don't think that many Americans have any opinion about Spaniards. As you've discovered, i'm sure, anything"Spanish" is just bunched together to refer to either (mostly) things Mexican or perhaps Puerto Rican. On the East Coast, since I believe most of the Spanish speaking people are from PR, Dominican Republic, etc..when people refer to someone as being "Spanish" they usually mean Puerto Rican, etc. Overall, in the US, when people say Spanish, they mean Spanish speaking, and not the nationality. Also, unfortunately, geography is not the strongest area of expertise, so you will find much ignorance there, as I'm sure you have.
-Jen

Nuria -
most americans have no idea what spaniards are and where they come from.

spanish is either a language or a person from somewhere south of the united states. spanish food is spicy and "they" eat lots of tacos. little do they know that spaniards don't EAT tacos, they SPEAK them!(or wear them on the bottoms of their track or futbol boots)

people that do know about spain have practically nothing bad to say about it, minus the bad things they might hear about terrorism, or the occasional tourist suffering from pickpockets.

americans don't have to know or understand any other cultures. americans have it all right here in a very large country, so they don't need any other languages or need to travel outside of their own country. in the nightly news there is barely enough time to cover just what happens in california, let alone national or international news.

i think it is probably a small percentage of americans that have that "international" savoir faire, or desire, and so are the purposeful liasons for americans around the world... most americans don't travel even outside of their own states very often... i am very surprised at the number of people i have met in LA that have NEVER BEEN OUTSIDE OF CALIFORNIA. oh my gosh! that would drive me crazy! but then again, i grew up in an "international" family... i think this is good.



[This message has been edited by real_megia (edited 08-24-2000).]

"That was a good post, real_megia"! hehee..

Here's what I believe "Americans" think/know of Spaniards: They love bullfights, flamenco, paella, and they sleep a lot. If I had to narrow down what most "Americans" think/know about Spaniards I'd say these were the top things.

As real_megia says, few "Americans" (I always try to type this word in parenthesis becauase the word really means all persons on the American Continent all the way down to the Tierra del Fuego and all the way up to... umm... the northernmost tip of Alaska<??>. Question: Is Iceland part of North America?? Don't answer that -- it's off-topic) travel outside of their own countries because we have SO LITTLE #$%@! time off each year so we really don't know any more about Spain (in general) that what we learn in elementary school about Christopher Columbus and a little about the Spanish Inquisition. I'm not sure if they have a better, more rounded education about Spain in schools now or not. I guess "not".

Saludos, MadridMan

pure hilarity, MadridMan!!

i think what you read above was a frustration i have with "american"(i'll follow suit!) culture. y'know, roman culture was the same in this respect... a big fat empire that only had to be concerned with itself, half of its citizens barely considering themselves "roman."

i love the united states. i love arizona and indiana. california is beautiful, but has a strange dynamic. i love my memories here, but i don't know if i am truly an "american." maybe this is the essence of being "american??"

ps> yeah, MM, too little #(*@!$&# time off from work, and certainly no PUENTE in the USA! ok, let's not let this turn into an "america" bashing, real_megia!! just having some fun here!!

I don't think it's just "Americans" who think of spaniards that way.
I remember when I was single and still living in Spain. We were vacationing in south Spain, and my friends and I met this french guys. It was a weekday, and we were at the beach, so everybody was wearing bathing suits. The problem came on sunday, when we met with them for some tapas, dressed in regular clothes. They were shocked that we weren't wearing our "trajes de faralaes" (flamenco costumes).
They thought spaniards used regular clothes during the week, for practical reasons, but wore their flamenco costumes on sundays. Go figure.

Okay, I get the point.
Some people here have asked me in what part of South America is Spain? If we speak portuguese? If we have microwaves... and I thought that maybe "Americans" should know about Spain because Cristobal Colon (Okay, he was Italian, but he used Spanish money). But I guess it is the same way than is spain where most of the people think American have guns (all of them, specially children), people get killed on the streets everyday, "American" love to go to wars to show their weapons and kill everything that moves... These things happen because we don't know what we are talking about. I just had a conversation with a spanish friend who said bad things about America, and even if I tried to explain him that things are not the way that we think in Spain he didn't want to agree. The best part is that he never have been to America, how the **** can he know if he never been here?
Anyway same thing happens in all countries all aroung the world. Actually I have a funny story about that. When my father was a kid they said that russians were red, with horns and a long tail and they ate children, the funny part is that it wasn't a story to scare children, most of my family (that never left the pueblo) really believed the story. By that tiem they didn't have TV and forget about long trips so they never saw a russian so they believed the story.
Nuria
P.S. If there is any russian there please don't feel offended, those were times when people didn't go to school or wathed TV. They even thought chinesse were yellow and with big teeth. Chinesse people don't feel offended either. I better go or I will have to apologize to all the world.

You should have seen the look on the hardware man's face when I went in there seeking "tacos" He had no idea what I wanted. Apparently in this country they are called "anchors"
Who knew???? I grew up in Spain!!!

Hi Rubia66! Where is "this country"? Where do you live? I just looked up the word "taco" in my Spanish-English dictionary and I don't see the reference to what real_megia said "little do they know that spaniards don't EAT tacos, they SPEAK them!(or wear them on the bottoms of their track or futbol boots)" . It said: Taco: a wad, plug, billiard-cue, pad, bung (??).

Saludos, MadridMan