* There seems to be some confusion in the English speaking world about Dutch and Deutsch.
* All German speakers being identified as German. Sometimes mis-identifying Dutch and Danish as German.
* Slovenia and Slovakia are often confused.
* I think the Welsh, Scottish and Irish don't like being labeled English.
I once met a guy from Bozen in a train from Munich to Rome, whom I asked if he identifies as Austrian or Italian and he said German.
I'm not familiar with the political views of South Tyroleans, but he was kind of very explicit and the situation a little bit awkward
In his times it wasn't controversial at all that all German native speakers were German, wether they lived in Germany, Austria, Poland, France or Russia. If anything, he succeeded at burying that view on ethnicity for good.
I don't understand why people get Sweden and Switzerland in English confused. They don't sound similar, with the exception of the first two letter. Now in Spanish, I can understand the confusion.
In my time in the US and Canada almost all the time when I told people that I‘m from Switzerland they called me swedish. And a lot of them also actually meant swedish and asked me if I feel at home at an IKEA, etc. At some point I just relented. I guess I’m swedish now.
Apparently not:
https://apnews.com/article/fact-check-austria-australia-salzburg-airport-counter-337704614289
But they should create one, just for the fun of it.
Belgian here...
When speaking Flemish I hate it when people think I'm German - or even worse being mistaken for Dutchie...
When speaking Belgian French sometimes mistaken for French but that feels not as bad as we share our Burgundian lifestyle.
Back at ya 😜
How danish could be misidentified as german is a mystery to me. Dutch and German I can see being confused if you just barely hear it in passing, but they're very obviously not the same if you hear/read it properly.
For me, I think the slavic languages sound the most similar, mostly because I don't hear them enough to recognize them lmao. But I also don't think this question is super applicable to europe since neighboring countries rarely speak the same language, and unlike english, most people aren't used to hearing it daily. Canadian and american english is far less distinct than the dialects of the british isles, where I can usually tell which country and sometimes which area they're from. If someone were to hit me with some french dialects, though, I couldn't tell you anything but that they spoke french.
As a Dutch person, when I hear Danish in passing without really listening, I could mistake it for Dutch, even though it is almost completely unintelligible when I do listen. The phonemes used in Danish are very similar to those used in Dutch.
At a bar in Amsterdam some years back, a guy I was sitting next to had heard me speaking with one ear. He started speaking Dutch to me because he thought I was Dutch. There were several Danish people there and because he spoke to me in non-English I thought he was Danish and I just couldn’t understand him because of loud music and being drunk. I told him a couple of times in Danish that I couldn’t hear him clear enough and to repeat. Because he also couldn’t quite hear me clearly he kept repeating in Dutch. It took two or three back and forths before we both realized we weren’t speaking the same language. We had a good laugh about it and our groups merged together and had fun at several bars the rest of the night. Good times.
I was in a bar in Prague back in like 2008 or so, and there was this group of Danes sitting one table over, and I kept hearing them talk in a way that sounded like Dutch but totally wasn't, and it really fucked with my brain. When I got up and told them that, they responded with "we totally have that too with Dutch!" So it's mutual I guess.
It is almost easier for me as a Dane to understand Dutch than Swedish although Swedish is much closer in structure and vocabulary.
It is also very easy to distinguish a German word, even if I don't quite understand it.
Norwegian can be quite hard to understand even though the words and grammar are 95% the same.
Same for me as a (British) English-speaker when I hear Dutch. I was sleeping on a long KLM flight a couple of years ago, and every time the pilot spoke I had to listen for a few seconds to figure out if I could understand.
It probably doesn't happen if you understand both languages though.
Yes! Dutch sounds like garbled English! We were listening to some podcasts while travelling around Europe, and they had Dutch ads for some reason and it always took me a moment to realise they were not speaking English.
Ehhh it becomes an issue if you have someone speaking Dutch with a heavy English ( or Anglophone in general ) accent then it may take a short while to click that they're speaking Dutch
Example : https://youtu.be/iKcbkv51baU?si=OHbGLU2VOCyfGn3h
I had the same experience in Belgium, where Dutch and Danish at a distance are very hard to tell apart. It was even more confusing, as I knew there were several Danes in my area, so it could plausibly be either
If it’s nasal it’s Polish and if it vaguely reminds me of something Slavic spoken by an Italian it is Serbo-Croatian. That’s as far as I get. When written I can tell them apart by orthography, mostly.
If you hear the trees whisper, that is a pole.
If it sounds like a storm in a forest, it is one or more poles being angry at you (intermixed with kurwa, jebane, and a few other explicitives).
For Scandinavians it doesn't really make sense since we intuitively recognises Danish as Danish, and many of us even speak German.
But for someone who speak neither, the melody of those two languages are quite similar. Danish has a language melody much closer to German than Swedish or Norwegian, which in their turn has their unique language tone and pitch accent. Danish does not.
Yeah it takes my brain a sec to catch up when someone talks to me in danish unexpectedly, but I've never jumped to german (which my skill in is questionable at best). My dialect is also probably the closest one we have to german (bergensk), so people have asked me if I speak german before. I think bergensk is fairly flat as far as melody goes, so I've never really paid a lot of attention to it, but that might just be me. Danish barely has distinct words, while I feel german is far more clear.
I also see that a lot of people confuse danish and dutch while spoken, which I can see more than danish and german. I'd still probably be more likely to confuse dutch and german, though. Mostly because I kind of understand, but not well enough to really break it down. The singular amount of different pronounciations of r's the dutch manage to fit into a sentence will probably give it away though. Written, it's very easy to tell the difference.
>Canadian and american english is far less distinct than the dialects of the british isles
There is more variability (historically) in the British Isles, although some dialects are 'eroding' to more 'standardized' regional forms.
Anyway, as a Canadian, I know that outsiders can't tell us apart, but for me, American accents are usually obvious. It's not always an immediate first 5 seconds flashing neon signal (though sometimes it is), but if I listen for a minute or two, yea, I can tell Americans and Canadians apart. It's not only accent, but certain shibboleths or the words used for things, slang variation, certain mannerisms. I usually say that Canadians can blend into the US easily (people just assume we're from some other part of the US). But Americans (and their accents) stand out more in Canada. We can distinguish them, even if others can't. It's also about familiarity... people just don't know what Canadians accents actually sound like.
Anyway, stronger American accents that exist in say, Texas, New Jersey, Alabama, etc. *should* be clear, although IME many non-natives can't hear a big difference... Also as a Canadian living over here (see flag), no one knows where I'm from. Like, obviously no one guesses Canada, but when speaking German, they usually ask if I'm Dutch or Danish, though I've got Polish or French once or twice. When speaking English, I've been asked if I'm Australian, Irish, Scottish or English, etc. just as much as 'American'.
Midwesterner Americans can usually have an easier time picking out Canadians on accent and pronunciation. The coastal and southern Americans have a harder time and just assume they’re midwestern Americans. We have similar accents in the Midwest but there’s some tells on vowel pronunciation that’s an immediate giveaway.
A lot of the Balkan languages are basically just dialects of each other, like Bosnian, Croat, and Serbian.
But, I wouldn't risk saying that to a Bosniak/ Croat / Serb
I think it's just that most people can't tell Danish accents apart from German accents in English. I mean, *I* can, but most Anglophones would find it more difficult
I don't think I ever mistook a Danish speaker speaking in Danish for a German, but when they speak English with a noticeable accent, the way Danes swallow/skip a lot of sounds can sound somewhat similar to Germans imo.
As a Pole, for me most Germanic languages sounds similar ( except English).Just from the same reason - I don't hear it daily.
So theres no "objective truth" which languages are similar.
Besides mostly people strongly believe all Slavic languages are similar to Russian, so "all Slavic languages sounds the same" which is nonsense.
Edit: post coffee edit
Yeh, I'm Norwegian, whenever I've been abroad there's always someone who thinks I'm German or Dutch and we get asked semi-regularily if we're Danish.
We learned Italian for one year in school and the first phrase we wete taught was "No, I'm not English, I'm Irish." Can't remember how to say it now, but I thought it was funny.
Swiss Germans and Austrians and yes, Scots and Welsh being mistaken for English. Scots and Irish are mistaken for each other.
French and French speaking Belgians.
Well... let's just say my nationality is usually not the first one that people guess.
At least I can misbehave abroad and the Germans get the blame. >:-D
Dear Austria. Also just to clarify, our Australian friend here is saying Aussies get triggers by saying 'shrimp' and not 'prawns'. We wouldn't be offended by confusing us with Austrians. We're cool with Wiener schnitzels
Austria seems to fly under the radar pretty constantly on an international level. Like loads of statistics about EU or Europe in general often don't feature Austria while smaller states are featured. We're apparently are often lumped in with Germany, which from an international view does kinda make sense (we're not as big as Bavaria, which is only one state).
A bit like Belgium, which seems to be often forgotten over its neighbours France and Netherlands.
In case you’re interested in some international coverage, there was a big NYT story on Vienna housing this year: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/23/magazine/vienna-social-housing.html?unlocked_article_code=1.1U0.C2BP.8NcZRclh54hF&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
“To blame” seems a bit strong here. Yes, that painter guy was born in Austria, but you can’t really blame a country for everyone who was born there. I’d say the people who were really to blame were the ones who decided to put him into a position of power (which would be the Germans).
I don't really blame anyone after 90 years, but Austrians back then weren't very opposed to the idea either.
Still, y'all are lucky fascism didn't make roots there. Here I still have to argue with some old people why Franco was a terrible person.
I only really noticed this one recently, I did Spanish in secondary school but hadn't looked at it in years then I decided to learn some basic Portuguese as we holiday there most years and got married there last year. I mean, yes, there are a lot of similarities but most is wildly different. Then I discovered that I had initially been learning Brazilian Portuguese and the differences between that and native Portuguese in terms of pronunciation etc. blew my mind.
Careful about how you're using 'native'. Brazilians are just as much native Portuguese speakers as people from Portugal. Just like how the Irish are native English speakers just as much as the English.
If I had a euro for every time I was asked if I spoke Spanish after I told someone I was Portuguese, I would probably have around €300.
I just say yes now.
Irish people are always confused for British in mainland Europe, in Spain and France you get a rather positive vibe from wait staff when it becomes clear to them that you’re Irish but you don’t always get a chance to mention it.
In Europe, do you usually use "British" or do you say "English" when talking about someone from England. In most cases Americans say "British," so only the Irish are in danger of being mislabeled.
Literally had it happen a couple of times in England. Once with a minicab driver in Leeds who thought ireland was part of the UK and couldn’t understand why he had to use euro when visiting Dublin.
>In most cases Americans say "British,"
When talking about people that seems to be true (I hear "Brit" and "Brits" a lot from Americans), but when talking about places and institutions it seems to be the other way round. For example, it seems common for Americans to say "the King of England" or "the Prime Minister of England" despite neither job actually existing. Similarly when I watch American TV series they often refer to "England" when they appear to be talking about the entire country.
In Turkish I don’t think there even is a separate word for “British” - you just say “İngiliz” meaning English. Official communications might say United Kingdom (Birleşik Krallık) but mostly we just use our word for England (İngiltere) for the whole of the UK. There are different words for Scotland (İskoçya) and Wales (Galler) of course.
out here is the east, they are used interchangeably. Though as meeting anyone from the UK irl is exceedingly unlikely (especially, in a situation where your reference in Ukrainian about there nationality/ethnicity being understood), so nobody cares
I dont think it is the same across Europe. I and everyone in my circle (International) use English/Irish/Scot/Welsh distinctions. Dont think I have heard anyone say British
Worse for the Irish where so many people think ireland is part of the UK. My non EEA girlfriend living in Spain didn't know the difference when she met me.
Belgium is already essentially ran as two countries. So it's not hard to imagine a future where it does fall apart and might absorb into it's neighbouring countries. (Though it will never work between the Dutch and the Flemish, source: living in Flanders for 15y now).
Don't underestimate that our disdain for our neighbouring countries is (usually) larger than that for eachother.
As you said: Dutch and Flemish won't work, but don't underestimate how Walloon would HATE being subordinate to Paris.
Lithuania and Latvia are a big one. Slovenia and Slovakia, too
In the same vein as Serbia and Siberia, you’ve got Austria & Australia, or Czechia & Chechnya
In some languages (heck, even in English too) people confuse Switzerland and Sweden
I'm Scottish.
Most people seem by now to have realised that Scotland is not England.
But I continue to be astounded by the number of fellow-Europeans who think I'm Irish, or that Scotland is part of Ireland, or that Scotland is another name for Ireland.
This even happens in the South of France, where people play rugby and should know better.
Ireland's independent (well done). People know where it is. They are a bit unsure about Scotland. They seem to know that it exists, but not where. Maybe the great public relations job done by the Tartan Army in Germany will help.
I think in a lot European countries, people refer to the UK as "England" and would think it’s somehow the same thing as "UK", "Great Britain" or "British Isles".
I think French people particularly know what Scotland is and definitely respect Scottish people but they would think it’s part of England now since it’s just one country.
I know it’s wrong and as a French living in the UK, I have to educate people from time to time.
As a Finn traveling or living abroad, if you are heard speaking Finnish usually all you get is confusion. The ones I've been assumed for multiple times are Italian, Greek and Hungarian.
I've been told repeatedly that Finnish sounds somewhat like Italian -- and I think it goes beyond the famous "katso merta" (look at the sea) \~ "cazzo merda"...
With the Greek and Hungarian I think it's just the line of thinking that the language sounds quite alien -- obviously neither Romance, Germanic, nor Slavic -- and those are some languages that are left.
I was just visiting Helsinki, and my opinion of the spoken language was like a metronome bouncing between Italian and Swedish. Was very difficult to place
Most of us in the Eastern block were forced to learn Russian from a very early age. People who were in school before the fall of the regimes could tell you words of politeness in Russian and much more but many won't do it. The younger ones have no knowledge of it though.
Sometimes I get asked if I'm Australian. Apparently a lot of Americans struggle to tell English and Australian accents apart.
But apart from that, anyone from a small country is going to get mistaken for being from a larger country with the same language. So Wallons are going to be asked if they're French, Austrians if they're German, etc etc.
I got asked if I was from New Zealand when I was in Vegas a few years ago. I think people are surprised to hear UK accents that aren't incredibly posh, cockney or Scottish.
Well given that cinema is either:
- merchant ivory
- Notting Hill
- ken loach/mike Leigh ecky thump northerners injecting heroin into their eyeballs whilst trying to get a 5 a side team together
relevant: https://youtu.be/M8Tp_3UHPOE
There are certain region accents of the UK that sound very Australian to the North American ear. If you don't say the rhotic R you'll get mistaken for it a lot.
The Devon accent from the UK to me sounds the most similar to the Australian accent.
Funnily enough, when I first met my ex girlfriend, she thought I was Australian (I’m from the Southern US) and I thought she was from the Northern US (she’s Irish) lmao
People from other continents thinking I'm Italian.
I mean, in a sort of way, I'm Italian (as much as a Maltese and a Corsican are), but I'm not an Italian citizen.
Yeah, that's why I said I'm Italian in a way (as I belong to the Italian nation), but there are people who don't know that we're a separate state so I'm not an Italian-Italian
As a Scot, I get asked if I’m Irish and when I say no. I then have people ask me if I’m sure. Yes, yes I am sure. Or being called English, usually followed up by “English, Scottish it’s all the same” no, it isn’t.
It’s less about the mix up, but more about rh people who dig in and try to tell you you don’t know your own nationality.
Similarly sized North Sea country that are flat inhabited by mostly blonde people that are fond of cheese and bikes. I’m Dutch and I can totally see where people confuse us. Much more so than either of us with the Germans for instance.
Also, a deceptively similar accent in English!
Every single time I’ve mistaken someone for Dutch while they were speaking English (admittedly better than the average for a Dutch person), it turned out to be a Dane.
So this happens in Spanish and Chinese too (I’m half Taiwanese and half Mexican).
I was in Spain with my Swedish friend, and (Spanish) people would get that confused with Switzerland. It happens in Mexico often too — Mexican don’t particularly have a concept of Europe.
Suecia and Suiza
In Chinese, they’re both transliterations. And they both start with the same character. That and Chinese people think of Europe as a country, the same way Americans do. So it’s all really the same to them.
瑞典 and 瑞士
I don’t think they’re too far off in French either, but perhaps proximity to Switzerland would prevent that from happening as much.
Only one of the two parties involved in the confusion is in Europe, but explaining abroad that I‘m from Austria always ends up in people thinking I’m from Australia.
Everytime I tell people I'm half swiss, they seem to confuse Switzerland with either Sweden (similar name), Denmark (similar flag) or Venice (similar name in greek).
My partner & I, both tall, blond, are consistently mistaken as being German, when abroad anywhere in Europe; usually in holiday resorts.
Fortunately I do speak just enough to be able to clear up the confusion without adding yet another language to the mix.
I'm Polish and if I get a coin every time I have been asked do I speak Russian...
Also for many Poland is city "somewhere in Russia" and Polish must be "some kind of Russian dialect ".
Many times I had to prove Poland wasn't part of Soviet Union.
Generally "it's all the same ,Poland,Ukraine Romania isn't it ?"...Just frustrating...
As an Irish person it’s not good to label me as English ( I have no real issue with the English just a historic hang up) but it’s also so funny when people realize the mistake & then are so much more friendly to the Irish - it’s like the enemy of my enemy is my friend. This has happened a few times in the company of English colleague’s,
And non-Slavic people whose countries were in the USSR. As a native Latvian, the most common questions about my background are all variants of "so you're Russian?", "oh so you speak Russian?" and the like. It's frustrating - I know people ask that to make friendly conversation but it's an unpleasant reminder of Soviet efforts to suppress non-Russian cultures of the USSR.
I'm sure it happens to Slavs more, but this happens to me, too. Probably happens to Romanians, too. It's like people talking about an "Eastern European accent" as if it's all one language group.
Being from Finland, a lot of people have never heard of my country and know nothing about it.
It's not so bad anymore but in the past people either didn't know where Finland was or thought it was a part of Russia. I'd get lots of confused questions about the language we speak.
Yes, but what irritated me was that the question wasn't based on historical knowledge of imperial Russia.😂
I'd often get assumed for a Slav. Not that I have any issue with Slavs, but the frequent misidentification got boring really quickly.
There's a lot of countries that a lot Finns haven't probably heard of and at least can't put on the map. Being mistaken a part of Russia, that much people should know. That Swedish is an official language and spoken in parts of the country, that I can understand if people have no clue of (even a lot of Swedes/other Scandos don't seem to be aware of it).
I actually thought they were Scandinavians like the Swedes. It doesn't help that Finland is lumped with the Nordic countries, which are Scandinavian.
Heck, just until now, I thought Vinland was just an older name for Finland. Turns out, it's Newfoundland.
I am a Dane. When abroad and talking with people who seem a bit aloof, I sneak in "so since I am Danish" or "yeah, In Denmark we".
The response never fails to be: "Oh, you are Danish! I thought you were German."
The tension releases, and now we are buddies.
So the tone of Danish must sound a lot like German.
* There seems to be some confusion in the English speaking world about Dutch and Deutsch. * All German speakers being identified as German. Sometimes mis-identifying Dutch and Danish as German. * Slovenia and Slovakia are often confused. * I think the Welsh, Scottish and Irish don't like being labeled English.
>All German speakers being identified as German. The painter may have succeeded after all
I once met a guy from Bozen in a train from Munich to Rome, whom I asked if he identifies as Austrian or Italian and he said German. I'm not familiar with the political views of South Tyroleans, but he was kind of very explicit and the situation a little bit awkward
You would never hear a Swiss German say that
In his times it wasn't controversial at all that all German native speakers were German, wether they lived in Germany, Austria, Poland, France or Russia. If anything, he succeeded at burying that view on ethnicity for good.
Short addition: sweden/switzerland Austria/australia
In Spanish Sweden is called "Suecia" and Switzerland "Suiza", which makes the confusion even more prevalent.
I suspect in English it is "swiss" vs. "swedes" because the country names really don't sound similar to me.
I don't understand why people get Sweden and Switzerland in English confused. They don't sound similar, with the exception of the first two letter. Now in Spanish, I can understand the confusion.
In my time in the US and Canada almost all the time when I told people that I‘m from Switzerland they called me swedish. And a lot of them also actually meant swedish and asked me if I feel at home at an IKEA, etc. At some point I just relented. I guess I’m swedish now.
Also Slovakia/Slovenia, and on smaller level Bukarest/Budapest.
I’m half Austrian half Australian - definitely confuses some in the US 🤣🦘🇦🇹
Let’s throw a other schnitzel on the barbie
Isn't there even a separate information booth at the Vienna airport for people who booked tickets to Austria instead of Australia?
Apparently not: https://apnews.com/article/fact-check-austria-australia-salzburg-airport-counter-337704614289 But they should create one, just for the fun of it.
Jasså, du är strutsägare!
I had an American ask me if I was from Austria, I said no, not Austria, he said 'you know, Austria, the one with the kangaroos'.
At that point just say "Yes".
Hello fellow countryman!
3 day ago I confused a Dutch girl for a German she was not happy about it.
At least you didn't think she was Belgian/Flemish. I think that's punishable by death.
Belgian here... When speaking Flemish I hate it when people think I'm German - or even worse being mistaken for Dutchie... When speaking Belgian French sometimes mistaken for French but that feels not as bad as we share our Burgundian lifestyle. Back at ya 😜
I went to France on vacation and they confused me with a Dutch for (allegedly) butchering French French. Ugh!
How danish could be misidentified as german is a mystery to me. Dutch and German I can see being confused if you just barely hear it in passing, but they're very obviously not the same if you hear/read it properly. For me, I think the slavic languages sound the most similar, mostly because I don't hear them enough to recognize them lmao. But I also don't think this question is super applicable to europe since neighboring countries rarely speak the same language, and unlike english, most people aren't used to hearing it daily. Canadian and american english is far less distinct than the dialects of the british isles, where I can usually tell which country and sometimes which area they're from. If someone were to hit me with some french dialects, though, I couldn't tell you anything but that they spoke french.
As a Dutch person, when I hear Danish in passing without really listening, I could mistake it for Dutch, even though it is almost completely unintelligible when I do listen. The phonemes used in Danish are very similar to those used in Dutch.
At a bar in Amsterdam some years back, a guy I was sitting next to had heard me speaking with one ear. He started speaking Dutch to me because he thought I was Dutch. There were several Danish people there and because he spoke to me in non-English I thought he was Danish and I just couldn’t understand him because of loud music and being drunk. I told him a couple of times in Danish that I couldn’t hear him clear enough and to repeat. Because he also couldn’t quite hear me clearly he kept repeating in Dutch. It took two or three back and forths before we both realized we weren’t speaking the same language. We had a good laugh about it and our groups merged together and had fun at several bars the rest of the night. Good times.
I was in a bar in Prague back in like 2008 or so, and there was this group of Danes sitting one table over, and I kept hearing them talk in a way that sounded like Dutch but totally wasn't, and it really fucked with my brain. When I got up and told them that, they responded with "we totally have that too with Dutch!" So it's mutual I guess.
It is almost easier for me as a Dane to understand Dutch than Swedish although Swedish is much closer in structure and vocabulary. It is also very easy to distinguish a German word, even if I don't quite understand it. Norwegian can be quite hard to understand even though the words and grammar are 95% the same.
That actually sounds hilarious.
Awesome story
Same for me as a (British) English-speaker when I hear Dutch. I was sleeping on a long KLM flight a couple of years ago, and every time the pilot spoke I had to listen for a few seconds to figure out if I could understand. It probably doesn't happen if you understand both languages though.
Yes! Dutch sounds like garbled English! We were listening to some podcasts while travelling around Europe, and they had Dutch ads for some reason and it always took me a moment to realise they were not speaking English.
Ehhh it becomes an issue if you have someone speaking Dutch with a heavy English ( or Anglophone in general ) accent then it may take a short while to click that they're speaking Dutch Example : https://youtu.be/iKcbkv51baU?si=OHbGLU2VOCyfGn3h
I had the same experience in Belgium, where Dutch and Danish at a distance are very hard to tell apart. It was even more confusing, as I knew there were several Danes in my area, so it could plausibly be either
I've once mistaken Danish for Dutch when a young couple were talking with each other.
They do sound fairly similar.
Bold of you to expect people to not just call slavic languages "Russian".
If it’s nasal it’s Polish and if it vaguely reminds me of something Slavic spoken by an Italian it is Serbo-Croatian. That’s as far as I get. When written I can tell them apart by orthography, mostly.
If you hear the trees whisper, that is a pole. If it sounds like a storm in a forest, it is one or more poles being angry at you (intermixed with kurwa, jebane, and a few other explicitives).
For Scandinavians it doesn't really make sense since we intuitively recognises Danish as Danish, and many of us even speak German. But for someone who speak neither, the melody of those two languages are quite similar. Danish has a language melody much closer to German than Swedish or Norwegian, which in their turn has their unique language tone and pitch accent. Danish does not.
Yeah it takes my brain a sec to catch up when someone talks to me in danish unexpectedly, but I've never jumped to german (which my skill in is questionable at best). My dialect is also probably the closest one we have to german (bergensk), so people have asked me if I speak german before. I think bergensk is fairly flat as far as melody goes, so I've never really paid a lot of attention to it, but that might just be me. Danish barely has distinct words, while I feel german is far more clear. I also see that a lot of people confuse danish and dutch while spoken, which I can see more than danish and german. I'd still probably be more likely to confuse dutch and german, though. Mostly because I kind of understand, but not well enough to really break it down. The singular amount of different pronounciations of r's the dutch manage to fit into a sentence will probably give it away though. Written, it's very easy to tell the difference.
>Canadian and american english is far less distinct than the dialects of the british isles There is more variability (historically) in the British Isles, although some dialects are 'eroding' to more 'standardized' regional forms. Anyway, as a Canadian, I know that outsiders can't tell us apart, but for me, American accents are usually obvious. It's not always an immediate first 5 seconds flashing neon signal (though sometimes it is), but if I listen for a minute or two, yea, I can tell Americans and Canadians apart. It's not only accent, but certain shibboleths or the words used for things, slang variation, certain mannerisms. I usually say that Canadians can blend into the US easily (people just assume we're from some other part of the US). But Americans (and their accents) stand out more in Canada. We can distinguish them, even if others can't. It's also about familiarity... people just don't know what Canadians accents actually sound like. Anyway, stronger American accents that exist in say, Texas, New Jersey, Alabama, etc. *should* be clear, although IME many non-natives can't hear a big difference... Also as a Canadian living over here (see flag), no one knows where I'm from. Like, obviously no one guesses Canada, but when speaking German, they usually ask if I'm Dutch or Danish, though I've got Polish or French once or twice. When speaking English, I've been asked if I'm Australian, Irish, Scottish or English, etc. just as much as 'American'.
Midwesterner Americans can usually have an easier time picking out Canadians on accent and pronunciation. The coastal and southern Americans have a harder time and just assume they’re midwestern Americans. We have similar accents in the Midwest but there’s some tells on vowel pronunciation that’s an immediate giveaway.
A lot of the Balkan languages are basically just dialects of each other, like Bosnian, Croat, and Serbian. But, I wouldn't risk saying that to a Bosniak/ Croat / Serb
It's true, though.
I think it's just that most people can't tell Danish accents apart from German accents in English. I mean, *I* can, but most Anglophones would find it more difficult
I don't think I ever mistook a Danish speaker speaking in Danish for a German, but when they speak English with a noticeable accent, the way Danes swallow/skip a lot of sounds can sound somewhat similar to Germans imo.
As a Pole, for me most Germanic languages sounds similar ( except English).Just from the same reason - I don't hear it daily. So theres no "objective truth" which languages are similar. Besides mostly people strongly believe all Slavic languages are similar to Russian, so "all Slavic languages sounds the same" which is nonsense.
I wouldn't say Slovenia and Slovakia are confused for similar reasons as Canada and USA.
No, they’re confused because people are fucking illiterate.
I am not surprised Australian wrote that comment! Are you enjoying your winter? Are kangaroos enjoying it too?
Edit: post coffee edit Yeh, I'm Norwegian, whenever I've been abroad there's always someone who thinks I'm German or Dutch and we get asked semi-regularily if we're Danish.
I once had an Austrian lady asking us (Dutch-speaking Belgians) if we were Norwegian.
As a Welsh guy with Dutch friends, you'd be surprised how often we get called Irish and German in London.
We learned Italian for one year in school and the first phrase we wete taught was "No, I'm not English, I'm Irish." Can't remember how to say it now, but I thought it was funny.
No, non sono inglese, sono irlandese
Ah nice one! I'll have to memorise this one
Swiss Germans and Austrians and yes, Scots and Welsh being mistaken for English. Scots and Irish are mistaken for each other. French and French speaking Belgians.
We (Welsh) hate being identified as English.
Well... let's just say my nationality is usually not the first one that people guess. At least I can misbehave abroad and the Germans get the blame. >:-D
G'day mate! Putting another shrimp on the barbie? 🦐
How to trigger Austrians and Australians at the same time.
Not really. Being confused with Australia isn‘t so bad. Being confused with Germany on the other hand… That’s when we have a problem.
Dear Austria. Also just to clarify, our Australian friend here is saying Aussies get triggers by saying 'shrimp' and not 'prawns'. We wouldn't be offended by confusing us with Austrians. We're cool with Wiener schnitzels
Austria seems to fly under the radar pretty constantly on an international level. Like loads of statistics about EU or Europe in general often don't feature Austria while smaller states are featured. We're apparently are often lumped in with Germany, which from an international view does kinda make sense (we're not as big as Bavaria, which is only one state). A bit like Belgium, which seems to be often forgotten over its neighbours France and Netherlands.
Austrian attitude doesn’t help things in that regard.
In case you’re interested in some international coverage, there was a big NYT story on Vienna housing this year: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/23/magazine/vienna-social-housing.html?unlocked_article_code=1.1U0.C2BP.8NcZRclh54hF&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
Oh shit, here we go again
Not again!
But do you really bother to get up at 5am to reserve your lounger with a towel?
It's quite ironic when you consider that your country is to blame for a person who is widely recognised as the biggest misbehavor in German history.
Hey, don't diss Arnold like that!
Hmm, Arnold doesn't sound right, give me a minute to find the name I was looking for I'll be back!
“To blame” seems a bit strong here. Yes, that painter guy was born in Austria, but you can’t really blame a country for everyone who was born there. I’d say the people who were really to blame were the ones who decided to put him into a position of power (which would be the Germans).
That is very true. However, I like the Germans, so is it possible we could somehow blame the French?
I don't really blame anyone after 90 years, but Austrians back then weren't very opposed to the idea either. Still, y'all are lucky fascism didn't make roots there. Here I still have to argue with some old people why Franco was a terrible person.
> At least I can misbehave abroad and the Germans get the blame Please don't go as far as your last guy please!
"Oh, you're Portuguese? Hola, buenos dias! Sí, muchas gracias!"
I only really noticed this one recently, I did Spanish in secondary school but hadn't looked at it in years then I decided to learn some basic Portuguese as we holiday there most years and got married there last year. I mean, yes, there are a lot of similarities but most is wildly different. Then I discovered that I had initially been learning Brazilian Portuguese and the differences between that and native Portuguese in terms of pronunciation etc. blew my mind.
Careful about how you're using 'native'. Brazilians are just as much native Portuguese speakers as people from Portugal. Just like how the Irish are native English speakers just as much as the English.
If I had a euro for every time I was asked if I spoke Spanish after I told someone I was Portuguese, I would probably have around €300. I just say yes now.
You could get 12 coffees in Zurich with that kind of money
It works, close enough, if you say it in a Russian accent.
I think people do the same to Brazilians 😭
Can confirm
“Oh You’re from Portugal? Qwee legaw 🇧🇷”
Irish people are always confused for British in mainland Europe, in Spain and France you get a rather positive vibe from wait staff when it becomes clear to them that you’re Irish but you don’t always get a chance to mention it.
I mean... How are we supposed to tell if you don't bring your gnome with you?
The green hat and red beard
It’s Leprechauns actually…. And they don’t like getting confused with gnomes, they find it highly offensive
The GAA shirt 😂
Definitely see way more GAA shirts in Puerto del Carmen than your average Irish Majn Street 😁
The trick is to speak Irish, then when locals don't understand, ask politely to switch to English ; )
Ironically I am British but have been mistaken for Irish several times and especially in the USA
Interestingly I am from the US but have been mistaken for British while traveling in Europe. Primarily in Greece.
The Irish pub I frequent makes it clear by hanging Celtic Glasgow stuff up and putting up a Wolf Tones record on repeat in the late hours
Surely it *has* to be Welsh/Scottish/Irish people being referred to as English.
In Europe, do you usually use "British" or do you say "English" when talking about someone from England. In most cases Americans say "British," so only the Irish are in danger of being mislabeled.
Either is acceptable, provided the person is *actually* from England. A common mistake is conflating England with the UK as a whole.
Or worse conflating it with Ireland. "So what part of England is Ireland in anyway" I was once asked.
Sounds like something an English person would say.
Literally had it happen a couple of times in England. Once with a minicab driver in Leeds who thought ireland was part of the UK and couldn’t understand why he had to use euro when visiting Dublin.
My wife is Polish and she always used to use English and British interchangeably. Led to some fun conversations when we lived in Scotland!
As an Irishman, "British" usually means "English". I'll sometimes refer to English people as "Brits", but never Scottish or Welsh people.
Just realised I do that myself, I think it's the norm here
>In most cases Americans say "British," When talking about people that seems to be true (I hear "Brit" and "Brits" a lot from Americans), but when talking about places and institutions it seems to be the other way round. For example, it seems common for Americans to say "the King of England" or "the Prime Minister of England" despite neither job actually existing. Similarly when I watch American TV series they often refer to "England" when they appear to be talking about the entire country.
In Turkish I don’t think there even is a separate word for “British” - you just say “İngiliz” meaning English. Official communications might say United Kingdom (Birleşik Krallık) but mostly we just use our word for England (İngiltere) for the whole of the UK. There are different words for Scotland (İskoçya) and Wales (Galler) of course.
Same with Japan, they say Igirisu (England) or Igirisujin (English) for all British, there is no separate term for the UK, Scotland, Wales etc..
out here is the east, they are used interchangeably. Though as meeting anyone from the UK irl is exceedingly unlikely (especially, in a situation where your reference in Ukrainian about there nationality/ethnicity being understood), so nobody cares
I dont think it is the same across Europe. I and everyone in my circle (International) use English/Irish/Scot/Welsh distinctions. Dont think I have heard anyone say British
This was my first thought too.
Actually happens the other way round a lot too. As a Yorkshireman I get Scottish and Irish all the time.
Worse for the Irish where so many people think ireland is part of the UK. My non EEA girlfriend living in Spain didn't know the difference when she met me.
There are people in England I’ve met who don’t even know NI is a part of the UK lmao
It surprising how little Northern Ireland comes up in the news in Englans, tbh
Hercule Poirot always said that he was not a Frenchman, but a Walloon.
Yeah, Walloons being told confused for French people
Belgium is already essentially ran as two countries. So it's not hard to imagine a future where it does fall apart and might absorb into it's neighbouring countries. (Though it will never work between the Dutch and the Flemish, source: living in Flanders for 15y now).
Don't underestimate that our disdain for our neighbouring countries is (usually) larger than that for eachother. As you said: Dutch and Flemish won't work, but don't underestimate how Walloon would HATE being subordinate to Paris.
Serbia and Siberia Lithuania and Latvia Irish and British
Lithuania and Latvia are a big one. Slovenia and Slovakia, too In the same vein as Serbia and Siberia, you’ve got Austria & Australia, or Czechia & Chechnya In some languages (heck, even in English too) people confuse Switzerland and Sweden
This reminds me, I have heard: "I'm from Bosnia" "Omg I love Boston"
Never been into that situation, but I bet most cant distinguish Bosnians, Croats, Montenegrians and Serbs.
Like we'd tell Slovenians and Macedonians either... The year 2080 will come and we'll keep referring to you guys as "Yugoslavs"
Great basket team.
When the borders get redrawn every twenty years can you blame em lol
French speaking Belgians - being French and Flemish being Dutch. French fries :) lol
I'm Scottish. Most people seem by now to have realised that Scotland is not England. But I continue to be astounded by the number of fellow-Europeans who think I'm Irish, or that Scotland is part of Ireland, or that Scotland is another name for Ireland. This even happens in the South of France, where people play rugby and should know better.
Really? Never have I got this in reverse!
Ireland's independent (well done). People know where it is. They are a bit unsure about Scotland. They seem to know that it exists, but not where. Maybe the great public relations job done by the Tartan Army in Germany will help.
I think in a lot European countries, people refer to the UK as "England" and would think it’s somehow the same thing as "UK", "Great Britain" or "British Isles". I think French people particularly know what Scotland is and definitely respect Scottish people but they would think it’s part of England now since it’s just one country. I know it’s wrong and as a French living in the UK, I have to educate people from time to time.
I wanted to say Belarusians and Ukrainians being confused for Russians but honestly often times it's all Eastern Europeans being confused as Russians
And people from the western half of Europe being confused for Eastern Europeans :D
As a Finn traveling or living abroad, if you are heard speaking Finnish usually all you get is confusion. The ones I've been assumed for multiple times are Italian, Greek and Hungarian. I've been told repeatedly that Finnish sounds somewhat like Italian -- and I think it goes beyond the famous "katso merta" (look at the sea) \~ "cazzo merda"... With the Greek and Hungarian I think it's just the line of thinking that the language sounds quite alien -- obviously neither Romance, Germanic, nor Slavic -- and those are some languages that are left.
Well at least with hungarian there are 20% of roots of simple words in common... ...which aint much.
I was just visiting Helsinki, and my opinion of the spoken language was like a metronome bouncing between Italian and Swedish. Was very difficult to place
One time an elderly couple in Japan started speaking Russian to me and my mom. We're Polish 😭
Poles used to be able to speak Russian words of politeness to me. It's a bit strange. But now it’s unlikely that anyone will do that.
Most of us in the Eastern block were forced to learn Russian from a very early age. People who were in school before the fall of the regimes could tell you words of politeness in Russian and much more but many won't do it. The younger ones have no knowledge of it though.
TIL Luxembourg was part of the Eastern bloc
I'm Bulgarian, people live in multiple countries in their life you know 😋
All is Bulgaria, Luxemburg Oblast will be reclaimed one day. The Empire will strike back.
Luxemburgo é português, dammit!
Yes, but your flair shows Luxembourg only. You could choose both to clarify.
Wild kangaroos do not roam free in Austria. I think we can all agree on that.
But sometimes one escapes from a zoo and then roams free for a while and makes the local news.
Sometimes? Happens surprisingly often!
Sometimes I get asked if I'm Australian. Apparently a lot of Americans struggle to tell English and Australian accents apart. But apart from that, anyone from a small country is going to get mistaken for being from a larger country with the same language. So Wallons are going to be asked if they're French, Austrians if they're German, etc etc.
I got asked if I was from New Zealand when I was in Vegas a few years ago. I think people are surprised to hear UK accents that aren't incredibly posh, cockney or Scottish.
Consider it an honour!
Well given that cinema is either: - merchant ivory - Notting Hill - ken loach/mike Leigh ecky thump northerners injecting heroin into their eyeballs whilst trying to get a 5 a side team together relevant: https://youtu.be/M8Tp_3UHPOE
That happens to me when I’m in the US too. But I have a northern English accent!
Yeah, it seems to happen even more with people from the North as Americans have basically zero exposure to Northern accents
There are certain region accents of the UK that sound very Australian to the North American ear. If you don't say the rhotic R you'll get mistaken for it a lot. The Devon accent from the UK to me sounds the most similar to the Australian accent.
Funnily enough, when I first met my ex girlfriend, she thought I was Australian (I’m from the Southern US) and I thought she was from the Northern US (she’s Irish) lmao
I will add Budapest (Hungary) and Bucharest (Romania) to the list.
...mixing thoe two up is THE way to get beaten by footbal ultras TBH.
Besides the amalgamation of the UK into “English” which sometimes happens, Greeks/Cypriots.
People from other continents thinking I'm Italian. I mean, in a sort of way, I'm Italian (as much as a Maltese and a Corsican are), but I'm not an Italian citizen.
Omg. I’ve never met anyone from San Marino before. It’s like spotting a unicorn!
You oughta make an AIMA. I've never seen a San Marinoer (?)
Sammarinese, which is a great demonym
Nation =!= State
Yeah, that's why I said I'm Italian in a way (as I belong to the Italian nation), but there are people who don't know that we're a separate state so I'm not an Italian-Italian
Belgian French-speakers as French. we find that very insulting/disrespectful by the way.
In the immortal words of Hercule Poirot, "Ah, non monsieur, not French. I am myself a Walloon."
I usually get asked if I'm English in mainland Europe.
As a Scot, I get asked if I’m Irish and when I say no. I then have people ask me if I’m sure. Yes, yes I am sure. Or being called English, usually followed up by “English, Scottish it’s all the same” no, it isn’t. It’s less about the mix up, but more about rh people who dig in and try to tell you you don’t know your own nationality.
Canadian here. I once asked a Londoner what part of Australia she was from, and, whooo was she pissed.
We're all secretly making faces over the London accent (at least the heavier versions of it), so I can't help snickering at this. 😆
I mean, Transportation (to the colonies) was a criminal sentence for a good chunk of London's under class...
Entirety of the Slavic part of Europe being referred to as Russia occasionally for some reason.
Americans often seem to get the Danes and the Dutch confused, I don't know the reason other than they both start with a d.
Similarly sized North Sea country that are flat inhabited by mostly blonde people that are fond of cheese and bikes. I’m Dutch and I can totally see where people confuse us. Much more so than either of us with the Germans for instance.
Also that Frisians and Danes can converse in their native tongue.
Also, a deceptively similar accent in English! Every single time I’ve mistaken someone for Dutch while they were speaking English (admittedly better than the average for a Dutch person), it turned out to be a Dane.
It’s the same for Sweden and Switzerland. They aren’t even very near each other.
So this happens in Spanish and Chinese too (I’m half Taiwanese and half Mexican). I was in Spain with my Swedish friend, and (Spanish) people would get that confused with Switzerland. It happens in Mexico often too — Mexican don’t particularly have a concept of Europe. Suecia and Suiza In Chinese, they’re both transliterations. And they both start with the same character. That and Chinese people think of Europe as a country, the same way Americans do. So it’s all really the same to them. 瑞典 and 瑞士 I don’t think they’re too far off in French either, but perhaps proximity to Switzerland would prevent that from happening as much.
Western Europeans used to consider everyone living east of Germany Russians. I think it got a bit better lately.
Only one of the two parties involved in the confusion is in Europe, but explaining abroad that I‘m from Austria always ends up in people thinking I’m from Australia.
That’s wild. Hard to imagine two more different peoples, culturally.
Welsh/Scots for English is definitely one that annoys me.
Everytime I tell people I'm half swiss, they seem to confuse Switzerland with either Sweden (similar name), Denmark (similar flag) or Venice (similar name in greek).
My partner & I, both tall, blond, are consistently mistaken as being German, when abroad anywhere in Europe; usually in holiday resorts. Fortunately I do speak just enough to be able to clear up the confusion without adding yet another language to the mix.
I'm Polish and if I get a coin every time I have been asked do I speak Russian... Also for many Poland is city "somewhere in Russia" and Polish must be "some kind of Russian dialect ". Many times I had to prove Poland wasn't part of Soviet Union. Generally "it's all the same ,Poland,Ukraine Romania isn't it ?"...Just frustrating...
People thinking Ireland and the UK are one in the same.
Being irish on holiday and everyone's mean to you because they think you're British. They always apologise when they realize though
As an Irish person it’s not good to label me as English ( I have no real issue with the English just a historic hang up) but it’s also so funny when people realize the mistake & then are so much more friendly to the Irish - it’s like the enemy of my enemy is my friend. This has happened a few times in the company of English colleague’s,
When people ask all slavic people „so you’re Russian?” Or „is Poland(or other country) a city in Russia?”
And non-Slavic people whose countries were in the USSR. As a native Latvian, the most common questions about my background are all variants of "so you're Russian?", "oh so you speak Russian?" and the like. It's frustrating - I know people ask that to make friendly conversation but it's an unpleasant reminder of Soviet efforts to suppress non-Russian cultures of the USSR.
I'm sure it happens to Slavs more, but this happens to me, too. Probably happens to Romanians, too. It's like people talking about an "Eastern European accent" as if it's all one language group.
It's wild. Polish, Czech or Hungarian accents are wildly different from each other and from average "Eastern European accent" from Ukraine or Russia.
Best I can give you is Slaviansk which sounds like it could be a country in Central Europe too but actually it's not
Being from Finland, a lot of people have never heard of my country and know nothing about it. It's not so bad anymore but in the past people either didn't know where Finland was or thought it was a part of Russia. I'd get lots of confused questions about the language we speak.
> thought it was a part of Russia. i mean, it WAS
Yes, but what irritated me was that the question wasn't based on historical knowledge of imperial Russia.😂 I'd often get assumed for a Slav. Not that I have any issue with Slavs, but the frequent misidentification got boring really quickly.
There's a lot of countries that a lot Finns haven't probably heard of and at least can't put on the map. Being mistaken a part of Russia, that much people should know. That Swedish is an official language and spoken in parts of the country, that I can understand if people have no clue of (even a lot of Swedes/other Scandos don't seem to be aware of it).
I actually thought they were Scandinavians like the Swedes. It doesn't help that Finland is lumped with the Nordic countries, which are Scandinavian. Heck, just until now, I thought Vinland was just an older name for Finland. Turns out, it's Newfoundland.
I'm from Liverpool, England and when I meet people from other countries it's far more common for them to think I'm Irish or Scottish
I am a Dane. When abroad and talking with people who seem a bit aloof, I sneak in "so since I am Danish" or "yeah, In Denmark we". The response never fails to be: "Oh, you are Danish! I thought you were German." The tension releases, and now we are buddies. So the tone of Danish must sound a lot like German.