They are baack

[Goofyernmost]

Believe it or not, now that the whole world can afford visits Europe (or did, prior to COVID), Americans in Europe have mostly faded into the background. We don't tend to visit with large tour groups nearly as much as the Chinese, Arabs or Indians, so we barely even get noticed anymore. Pretty much everyone dresses similarly these days on vacation (minus some cultural-specific clothing for some Muslim and Indian women), so you can't even really spot us by our clothing.

The one sure-fire way to identify a US or Canadian citizen in Europe, though, is if they're carrying the tell-tale Rick Steves guidebook. No tourists from other countries use this series.

Yea, I was half kidding to get a point about the instant evaluation of anyone speaking "Portuguese". I'm not even sure if it can be distinguished from Spanish by the majority of those that identify it as such. But, that said I went to Europe about 5 years ago, I wasn't with a tour, just my sister and myself and we ran into some of the biggest Jacka$$ Americans I have ever seen and I am American, born, raised with ancestry back to at least the 1680 from England. Not the Mayflower, just common folks.

When on a cruise we did a shore excursion to Pisa, Florence and Tuscany. There was a screw up with the tour company and the driver never showed up for work. It was a small group of about 8 people and they called in another driver/tour guide to cover on his day off. This lady wouldn't shut up about how irresponsible it was for them to be late getting us on the road. She harassed him the whole day and bit**ed about the poor service. I felt embarrassed as did the others in the group.

We had a lunch/wine tasting stop to a small vineyard in Tuscany. Bear in mind that previous to this the only wine tasting I ever did was on random Friday nights with a couple of bottles of Boones Farm Apple and/or Strawberry Fields. This same lady went on and on as if she had invented wine hardly letting the lady whose family had run that vineyard for 200 years talk. I was an interested bystander mostly because the only thing about wine bottling I knew was that some of the best wines used corks instead of screw tops.

Anyway, at one point the woman that was explaining a little about every wine before samples were given mention that the next one was a young wine just produced recently. When the samples were given the American woman exclaimed at glass shattering decibels after sniffing the wine that "Yes, it did indeed smell like a young wine" causing a ripple (action not wine) of giggles to go through the group. I had all I could do to refrain from screaming at her to shut up. Granted for all I know it might well be something that can happen, I don't know, but it was the fact that it was said so pretentiously that really hit all of us.

When we got back to the ship the owner of the tour company was there to greet us and apologize plus give us a break for the delay in starting the tour and it was his turn to listen to the mouth that roared spiel off again. The rest of us kind of huddled and combined our tips and I went up to the driver with an additional tip of $200 Euro and told him how much we appreciated the fact that he gave up his day off to listen to her crap and stay calm all day.

 

[ppete1975]

WDW several years ago hired Brazilian super greeters which were part of the International CP program for this purpose. Dressed in green and khaki they are fluent in English and Portuguese stationed in Future World and World Showcase.

prob let go along time ago due to budget cuts

 

[Goofyernmost]

The problem with the Brazilian tour groups isn't their nationality or language, it's their often pushy and disrespectful behavior. A pushy and disrespectful American family is just as bad in most cases.

Not only just as bad, but arrogantly in your face about it as if you are standing a the exact spot of land that they own personally.

 

[Heppenheimer]

The problem with the Brazilian tour groups isn't their nationality or language, it's their often pushy and disrespectful behavior. A pushy and disrespectful American family is just as bad in most cases.

And this is also nothing new. The Brazilian tour groups were infamous for this even back in the 70s and 80s.

You never heard complaints about the Asian tour groups (I don't even know if they still visit Disney World in significant numbers, now that Japan and China both have Disney resorts), because they generally were quiet, and respectful of other peoples' space.

 

[LittleBuford]

I vastly prefer European tailoring for this reason. Our men's clothes over here tend to have a very boxy, unflattering cut.

Anyways, the point being that the days of the "Ugly American" tourist drawing disproportionate attention to themselves through loud, abrasive behavior in Europe are generally over. Those types generally stay state-side for their vacations now:

I tend to think the stereotype was always unfair anyway. There are good and bad holidaymakers from every nation. I cringe when I think of the behaviour of some of my fellow Brits abroad!

 

[flynnibus]

You never heard complaints about the Asian tour groups (I don't even know if they still visit Disney World in significant numbers, now that Japan and China both have Disney resorts), because they generally were quiet, and respectful of other peoples' space

Sure you did - they are just less disruptive. The asian tour group's biggest impact is their swarm impact... like when the large group causes jams, makes it hard to move, can break up groups. Basically the issue of a very large group trying to act in a similar manner anywhere causes conjestion and breaks up free movement.

They weren't as infamous as the youth groups from brazil or cheer teams because those groups brought ADDITIONAL issues...

 

[Heppenheimer]

I tend to think the stereotype was always unfair anyway. There are good and bad holidaymakers from every nation. I cringe when I think of the behaviour of some of my fellow Brits abroad!

Never noticed any bad behavior from Brits abroad, but then again, I've never been to Ibiza, Majorca, or a World Cup or Champions League match...

 

[Lilofan]

prob let go along time ago due to budget cuts

Not true. I saw Brazilian super greeter cast as recently as a few years ago when we were in Epcot.

 

[Lilofan]

Never noticed any bad behavior from Brits abroad, but then again, I've never been to Ibiza, Majorca, or a World Cup or Champions League match...

The Brits and Aussies letting loose in Thailand make Daytona spring breakers look like good citizens.

 

[Lilofan]

Spain and Italy both have racism problems; I was only talking about speaking English.

With that said, I don't think they're any more racist than people in the US. The people that are racist are just more open about it because they never had a significant civil rights movement or anything like that which eventually forced American racists to be more circumspect about it (for the most part).

More open about is an understatement. What they say in Spanish is cruel.

 

[StarWarsGirl]

Not to be rude, but did you read what that phrase means? I’m simply saying that singling out a group of kids in a negative way based on their language seems off to me. Never said anything like what you just wrote.

It's not based on their language.

It's based on the fact that they're a large group of young, generally unsupervised teenagers who have no respect for the rules and lack respect for American cultural norms when they're in a foreign country. And the worst of them happen to be from Brazil, though I've seen some from other South American countries as well. The benefit of the ones from other South American countries is that enough Americans, including myself, speak enough Spanish to let them know when their behavior is unacceptable. With the Brazilians, not enough Americans speak Portuguese, which means they just act like they don't speak English and continue with whatever they were doing.

I've seen Brazilian adults in WDW and have never seen them act as rudely as the tour groups do.

 

[LittleBuford]

It's not based on their language.

It's based on the fact that they're a large group of young, generally unsupervised teenagers who have no respect for the rules and lack respect for American cultural norms when they're in a foreign country. And the worst of them happen to be from Brazil, though I've seen some from other South American countries as well. The benefit of the ones from other South American countries is that enough Americans, including myself, speak enough Spanish to let them know when their behavior is unacceptable. With the Brazilians, not enough Americans speak Portuguese, which means they just act like they don't speak English and continue with whatever they were doing.

I've seen Brazilian adults in WDW and have never seen them act as rudely as the tour groups do.

The common denominator here is youth and being in groups. I wish people would leave nationality out of it. As others have pointed out, American cheerleader groups can be just as bad. I'm sure that if large groups of British teenagers went to WDW, they would be no different.

 

[castlecake2.0]

It's not based on their language.

It's based on the fact that they're a large group of young, generally unsupervised teenagers who have no respect for the rules and lack respect for American cultural norms when they're in a foreign country. And the worst of them happen to be from Brazil, though I've seen some from other South American countries as well. The benefit of the ones from other South American countries is that enough Americans, including myself, speak enough Spanish to let them know when their behavior is unacceptable. With the Brazilians, not enough Americans speak Portuguese, which means they just act like they don't speak English and continue with whatever they were doing.

I've seen Brazilian adults in WDW and have never seen them act as rudely as the tour groups do.

The original post singled out a group based on language. I don’t disagree that these tour groups can be disruptive, I disagree on defining the group based on their language.

 

[mkt]

People in Paris kind of do (or at least some of them, I'm sure there are plenty who don't), but I never encountered that in Spain or Italy.

People in Paris have a problem with any language that isn’t French, but as I’ve discovered in my travels, if you make a minimal attempt to speak French, they’ll be nice to you.

 

[UNCgolf]

People in Paris have a problem with any language that isn’t French, but as I’ve discovered in my travels, if you make a minimal attempt to speak French, they’ll be nice to you.

Right, that's what I meant.

Although I did have a bad experience at a bakery where I tried to speak French and they were mad and dismissive that I didn't speak it fluently.

 

[mkt]

I've seen open racism towards people of color especially in Spain.

That is a very sad reality of Spain, but it’s a weird one in that some words when translated would be perceived as racist in another language, are actually viewed as terms of endearment in Spain (and other Spanish speaking countries)

 

[mkt]

Right, that's what I meant.

Although I did have a bad experience at a bakery where I tried to speak French and they were mad and dismissive that I didn't speak it fluently.

That’s been my exact opposite experience. I have never once experienced rudeness for attempting to speak French, but I have witnessef rudeness when English speaking tourists insist on English

 

[UNCgolf]

That is a very sad reality of Spain, but it’s a weird one in that some words wjentranslated would be perceived as racist in another language, are actually viewed as terms of endearment in Spain (and other Spanish speaking countries)

They can also be dismissive/haughty about what they consider American (as in North/South America and the Caribbean, not specifically the US) Spanish because of different word meanings etc.

My brother-in-law was told he was speaking Mexican (as opposed to Spanish) because of some word he used that has a more general meaning here and a more specific meaning in Spain.

 

[UNCgolf]

That’s been my exact opposite experience. I have never once experienced rudeness for attempting to speak French, but I have witnessef rudeness when English speaking tourists insist on English

I was pointing it out as an outlier experience; not suggesting it was the norm.

I agreed with you in general regarding Parisians.

 

[flynnibus]

I'm sure that if large groups of British teenagers went to WDW, they would be no different.

Is chanting and clapping like they are at a football match common for british teens running around?