Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[Annalisa]

When I went to Australia, last year, I met my cousins for the first time. And they tought amazing things about italian people...

They tought we are all MAFIOSI, we have ten children or more, we are stupid, we spend our time eating pasta or singing Puccini... and we are all brown haired people.

Obviously any of these things are right! Well.. there is Mafia, but only in the south (sicilia, sardegna, campania..).
We don't have ten children... each family has two-three children! we aren't in the fifities...
obviously we eat pasta, but not because we are obsessed of it!
singing puccini... italian people loves rap, hip-hop, children wear buggy-trousers and everybody seem to forget italian lyric.
there are lots of brown-haired people, but not everybody have brown hair!

Do you think these stereotypes about italy? Do you think other stereotypes? i'm curious!

But above all... What foreign people think about your country?

I've learned to don't judge foreign people. I tought that american people were all fat... i've learned that it dipends on areas you go.

sorry for the mistakes...

[mukemmale]

Well, in Turkey there is a common belief that all Italian girls are beautiful and all Italian males are handsome Hence, I've been learning Italian for more than a year now in order to find a beautiful Italian girl

I know there are a lot of prejudices about my country. Some believe we are Arabs, some believe we are an undeveloped Middle-Eastern country where a continous war is going on, some believe we are ruled by Kuran and that all women dress up accordingly and so on...none of these are true of course.

A friend of mine went to the U.S. in back in high school and he told me that he was shown a picture of a plane by American students and was asked "Do you know what this is, have you ever seen it before? This is a plane. People fly long distances with it. Do you have planes in Turkey?"
He replied in amusement "Well of course I know what this is, I came here by a plane, how can we not have planes back in Turkey?!?"

That's how ignorant people can get of other countries you see. It is wrong to be prejudiced against any country and its people.
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born to lose, losing to live, living to die...

[garfield_jesse]

"Do you know what this is, have you ever seen it before? This is a plane. People fly long distances with it. Do you have planes in Turkey?"
..........So stupid question. I think she(he) maybe only stay at home, she(he) is so lazy to update the news outside his(her) house.
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I'm smart, that's why i'm single...haha(^_^)

[fugitiva5]

haha maybe The grandfather Or another mafious movies are guiltys of those Italian stereotypes..anyway you're so lucky eating spaguetti everyday!



and to The Turkey's boy: it is so sad for real , I'm from Mexico and a couple of months ago in a movie teather a guy asked me something similar: have you ever been on a movie teather..Are there movie teathers like this in your Mexico?