What do Americans think of Canada?

I have seen a lot of Americans hate Canada. why?

Really? Where? People usually make fun of Canada but that's about it.

Canada is alright.

Americans make fun of Canadians, Canadians make fun of Americans. We both make fun of the French. In the end, we're all one big, happy North American family.

Pretty much this. Nobody ever seriously hates on Canada. There's no reason to.

I don't really think of Canada unless I see/read something like this thread that makes me think of it. I have nothing against Canada or it's people and think those that do are idiots. The only thing I don't like about Canada is how cold it gets and the lack of reptile life. Other than that, it seems like it would be a nice place to visit/live.

Most Americans I've met either think highly of Canada or at least are neutral towards it. I don't think making friendly jokes necessarily implies distaste...

I'm not american yet i love canada specially music ... BILLY TALENT XD !!!

Quebec or actual France?

Because actual France is pretty damn cool.

The best sex I ever had was with a girl from Quebec.

@Aljosa23 French people are so arrogant though, they won't speak to you in English, and even if you take the time to learn some basic French, they won't slow down at all when they talk to you. They will even get mad at you for not being fluent. I do find however, that the younger generation (under 30) is an exception to this, and I sincerely hope that this whole situation changes when the old generations die off.

Actually, I have experienced this too. While on our way to deploy we got a base liberty for like four days. Figured why not see Paris? Pretty much got treated like shit by every waiter/waitress we came across and pretended like they didn't understand us.

Considering I can speak a decent amount of French I didn't need to speak English when I went there so I don't really care about that generalization.

Parisians are just as much dicks as any other citizens of big cities.

I don't see the hate. Here where I am, there's almost as many Canadian flags as US flags. I see so many Ontario license plates I sometimes wonder if I'm really on the US side of the border. Canadians are part of the crowd here. So, I don't know where the hate part is.

Back in my hometown in Nevada, we even give Canadians a spot in the 4th of July parade. The town even picked a Canadian company to provide electrical power. So, no hate there either.

I have to wonder where the TC lives to even ask such a question.

Funnily enough I felt the exact same way when I moved to the Netherlands. Except here, people will speak English to tourists but not residents. Before my Dutch got halfway decent, most people refused to speak to me in English and if I tried to speak Dutch they'd tell me I was too slow and leave.

I wonder if this is true of the frenchies.....

@korvus How did people know you were a resident though?

@deeliman: They'd ask? =P

@airshocker You being American probably didn't help too much either. That's probably the nr1 reason you got treated like shit.

I blame Justin Bieber.

@korvus Wait, are you talking about colleagues or just random people like the supermarket employee?

@deeliman: Most people. Random people. If I spoke in English they'd ask if I was a tourist, and if I said yes (I did spend a month here to "check it out" then went back to Portugal for a few months, so I was a tourist then) they'd be all friendly to me. When I actually moved here and started telling people I was actually lived here, if I spoke in English they'd tell me "if you want to live here you need to speak the language"...makes sense, so I'd try my best in my crappy Dutch, then they'd tell me "it's boring to hear you talking so slowly"

@korvus Dutch people like honesty, maybe you could have explained to them that you recently moved here and are still learning the language, but as it stands it's easier/faster for you to communicate in English? That last sentence sounds rude even for Dutch standards, but that depends on the tone they used (maybe they said it jokingly), so I can't really give an opinion on that.

@deeliman: It's not very jokingly when they walk away...it's even worse when they're part of the staff of the establishment...sometimes customer service here shocks the hell out of me. But anyway, my point was that eventually I learned that it's not so much about whether people are friendly or not, it's about people from different cultures having different starting points and a lot of misunderstandings happen.

Now I have no problem saying "I'm sorry, but I found that rude" (I would never say that in Portugal) and normally they apologise and explain why they reacted in a certain way (mostly it's due to what I call the "Every foreigner is a Moroccan" syndrome), so people automatically assume I'm here to take advantage of the country (like I'm payed to be an immigrant or something XD) and am unwilling to learn the culture or find a job, which sadly it's what some people here think all Moroccan people do...

Although sometimes it's just a cultural thing that still clashes with my own culture...but I'm getting better at those...it takes time and I'm sure that happens any country you spend a certain amount of time in...there are still things that annoy me, but hey, I can live with that...

Probably. Douche bags.

lol

Wear a backpack with a Canada flag on it. Europeans don't like American tourists.

Wait, you know Billy Talent? Hi Friend. Its because the Guitarist is brown isn't it? Lol jk

I've never had issues in the UK or Germany. Just France.

@korvus I agree that customer service is absolutely atrocious in The Netherlands. And that stereotyping about Moroccans even exist amongst themselves. There are actually a lot of Moroccan girls in VWO (highest possible highschool education here) and all their parents don't allow them to date anyone other than white Dutch boys. They want their daughters to date someone successful so they can have a better life than they have had in Morocco, and I guess they associate being Dutch and white with being successful (which is obviously not the case at all).

Paris might as well be on a different planet and is not representative of France in general in my experience. Hating on tourists is a prerequisite in Paris, but this is not the case elsewhere.

Huh. I spent four years in Turkey. During that time, my family and I traveled to a number of European cities (Brussels, Rome, Vittorio Veneto, many places in Germany, Netherlands, England) every time we took a vacation. I don't recall getting the cold shoulder anywhere. If they really hated American tourists, they did a good job of hiding it even when they were being very helpful.

In my book, they're just like regular folks everywhere. You act nice, they'll be nice. You act like an asshole, then they treat you like one.

Canada's alright....Actually Canadians aren't much different than Americans. No one here hates Canadians....I really don't know where you came up with that. Hyperbole?

I'm not aware of any Americans that truly think poorly of Canada/Canadians. Plenty of jokes between both countries, but from my experiences in both places nobody has any issues really.

I was speaking from my own experience. They probably didn't know you were American then. I've read plenty of stories of American tourists being disliked when they visit the big tourist destinations, whether they be in Europe or Asia or where ever. No idea why they have that reputation since the tourists who visit Toronto from the US are pretty decent; no where near as bad as mainland Chinese ones.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nora-turriago/why-does-everyone-hate-th_1_b_5637825.html?utm_hp_ref=travel&ir=Travel

Billy Talents Guitarist is brown ? Thought of em as White boys band always HeHe.

LISTEN TO THIS :)

@Aljosa23: LOL dude I don't think that article is any sort of evidence TBH. It's probably clickbait.

As an American, I look up to Canada

@LJS9502_basic: Probably. Didn't even read it just searched up "American Tourist" on Google News and clicked the first thing I saw.

They knew we were Americans. For one thing, we had our passports, we spoke English, and the locals often asked where we were from. The thing is we were a family. Many people tend to view single folks and families differently. Telling them we were Americans didn't change their attitudes toward us.

Japan is a good example. Most Japanese locals loath groups of single GIs and other foreigners because they can get loud and rowdy. Yet, they're very welcoming of families. They know most families aren't likely to cause any trouble. I've seen this so many times during my visits there.

@deeliman: I really don't get the hatred. Yeah, I'm sure there are some lazy bastards who won't make an effort so people start dubbing them all as lazy but about 3 months after I moved here I was going in a restaurant and somebody grabbed me by the arm and said "You shouldn't go there...it's a Moroccan restaurant...if you give them money they'll bring their whole family over". So basically fucked if they don't want to work, fucked if they do. I don't even look like a Moroccan at all (sometimes people assume I'm Turkish too..I'd probably look more like a Turk than Moroccan) but when I ask them why, they say it's because I have dark eyes...so basically, if you don't have blue eyes you are treated like crap just in case you're Moroccan or Turk...how very aryan of them =P

That being said, the more effort I put into understanding the culture and avoid some of the faux pas the friendlier people become...and I find that even if my Dutch falls short and I need to use some English words people don't mind much. In Belgium though, people are extremely friendly and couldn't care less how good your Dutch is...they just seem thrilled that you're talking to them. Kind of the same thing in Germany, except everybody seems to be a perfectionist there...I don't speak German yet (although I can link some stuff to Dutch), and if they think their English isn't perfect they won't speak at all (then my wife comes to the rescue =P)

@korvus Don't get me wrong, I'm not condoning their racism at all. Just trying to explain some people's thought processes. But that guy that grabbed your arm really should be an exception, most people I know would much rather they work/ open a business. There are a lot of Turkish snack bars where they sell Turkish pizza and other stuff, and almost all of their customers are white and Dutch. May I ask in which city/province you live, because some are generally more racist than others (totally understandable if you don't want to tell regarding your stalking problem).

I love canada... I would actually like to live there.

Maybe they hate our free health care?

LOL it's not free. It's funded.

Lol for terrance and philip.

Having lived in Canada for 5 years, the biggest problem I had with Canadians was the "little brother syndrome". Everyone was always pointing out to me how much better this or that is than in the States. It got to the point where I would have preferred people didn't know I was an American, but my southern accent always betrayed me.

Canada seems to be a decent place from what I have seen and read about it. I would like to visit it, someday.

I drove to Canada this summer and Toronto seemed very dense, aggressive and laissez-faire, like everyone was racing. I couldn't find any public drinking fountains. Montreal seemed calmer and more friendly. The locals said I didn't have to worry about pickpocketing, and there was less cops too.

Our deceptively peaceful plotting against us from the North.

I don't see much hate for Canada. Some are a bit snobby towards Americans but thats no big deal. And my God they get in our face when they beat us in hockey, like its as big a deal to Americans.

Even though Canadians like to think so, not a whole lot of difference between Canadians and Americans in our northern states. I have no problems with either.