Regarding the sentence “we speak pretty bad English”, it´s a hot topic but I DO strongly agree. My understanding is that it's not a problem of the citizenship but of the different governments and educational systems that have governed in democracy. We used to start learning a foreign language when we were about 11 years old (at least, that is what happened when I was at school). That is an age at which you no longer have an absorption capacity to learn as easy as the one you have when you are 4-5 years old, where most of the concepts are assimilated naturally. After a specific age, you have to study to learn anything while, when you're in those early years, as I said, it is assimilated as a natural process.
Although the beginning in the study of a second language starts with three years kids, three hours a week (maximum according to statutory), it seems to me an insufficient number of hours.
We should also take note of very positive initiatives that take place in other countries like Portugal where movies are not dubbed but are shown in the original version with subtitles in Portuguese (in this case). I understand that experiences like this would contribute to stimulate quite a lot our ability to understand to develop a good ear. Or, once we´ve seen that this system doesn´t work, why some measures are not taken to encourage extracurricular classes in order to achieve a higher level such as a big bonus on the tax return? In the Community of Madrid you can deduct up to 10% of the amount paid for such foreign language classes.
It´s often said that we have bilingual educational system but it´s a paradoxical situation because we are far, far away from reaching it. It sounds pretty well in the speeches of our polititians but no one could give a speech in English (all talks, no action).
With respect to the affirmation that we love eating…what can I say, who would not? If we also add question 6 (we cook very well), the fact that the Mediterranean diet and the tasty and healthy products we have in our fields, could not be otherwise.
Concerning the statement that we like to drink, it's not my case because I don't drink alcohol , but we have to take into account the high temperatures we suffered all year long that involves a natural need of hydratation ... .although some people drink like a fish. Of course, the fact of having some of the best wines in the world can strengthen our inclination to drink.
In regard to the stereotype that we are family – oriented, I firmly believe that it is a common feature of the Latin countries, which have a very matriarchal hierarchy and, as a consequence, have strong family ties among their members... or don´t we remember the famous "famiglia" of the Mafia?
Part II (the system didn´t allow me to write so much in a row):
If we talk about the amount of bars we have in Spain, according to statistics, we're just behind Cyprus in this aspect and, from my point of view, this is due to a combination of good weather, our late schedules and the quality of our food.
The journalist says that wee cook very well. Not in my case, for sure, but to the evidences we surrender. “El Bulli” has been awarded for almost a decade (until its conversion into foundation) the best restaurant in the world, and its privileged position has been taken by the “Celler de Can Roca”, apart from other many good Spanish restaurants in the top ten for the past 15 years (“Arzak” , “Mugaritz” and so on). A good proof of the boom of our cuisine that is sweeping the nation, is the exorbitant number of candidates applying to cooking TV contests that have a great share such as Masterchef or Top Chef.
We are very affectionate and like kissing when we are introduced to someone, according to this report. To me, the first one is a nonsense affirmation. It depends on how loving you are while the second one it´s true but it's a habit like any other habit. In France they give three kisses when they greet people while here we give two or in other countries (mostly), people are used to shake their hands when they meet.
We talk very loud: I totally agree. In the trips I've done around the world, I've noticed this stereotype, and it is flatly true that, in a public space, if you mix people from different nationalities, you only hear the Spaniards.
We are on a different schedule from much of the rest of Europe. We are literally in a different schedule in the sense that we are one hour plus over the Greenwich meridian, something curious by the way, because we should have the same time zone (time zones are ruled by the position of the sun in the midday) as England, France or Portugal but it was a historical Franco´s choice in order to show sympathy to the Hitler´s regimen (Germany had another time zone and we adapted to it during World War II) and, once the nazi´s were defeated, we didn´t return to our natural time zone.
It´s true that we have lunch, dinner or go to bed later than any other European country but, to be honest, none of them “suffer” so many sun hours and high temperatures as we do. From my point of view, that´s the reason why we have the “siesta” (specially in summer) because it´s almost impossible to work from three til five (if not more) in the afternoon and, in order to that, the rest of the activities (finish work, have dinner, go out or go to bed) are delayed consequently)
I have to air my dissatisfaction with the statement that we are always late. To me, this is not a question of the country you are born but of the personality of each one. I personally hate arriving late.
In regard to the stereotype that we like free stuff…Definitely, we love it. As we say in Spain: “If it's free, it's good”. We can just have a look in Córdoba when the world's largest cake or flamenking have been done, the incredible queues (more than 2,000 or 3,000 people) that are formed waiting for a tiny portion and people so happy and proud to be waiting for three or four hours.
We love football. Yes, but this is a worldwide stereotype. Except for a few exceptions such as USA, Australia and some Asian countries, football is the most popular sport and many countries are literally paralyzed during an important game.
“Spain is different”… or at least, this is our belief, furthermore we usually repit this statment over and over again. On one hand, I have travelled quite a lot to realise that every place has its own peculiarities; nevertheless, the more visited a country is, the more known are these peculiarities; because of Spain has become a very turistic state, our special features are well-known by most people in the world. Not only do we own up that many of them are true, but also we usually have fun of them (because this is another of our specific characteristics: we laugh at everything and everybody, mainly ourselves). I am increasingly convinced that sun and weather are guiltied of almost each of our stereotypes: we sleep siesta because it is too hot to go for a walk during the afternoon, we are on a different schedule than the rest of Europe, because we just can go out when it is getting dark, we love drinking and eating because we are blessed with a huge variety of natural and delicious goods, that grow easily in our countries, besides with many cool bares, in where we can meet our acquitances around a table to savor the exquisite food I was talking about. On the other hand, we are attributed other conventions that are nor so kind, neither true. People think that we are lazy, tardy, sometimes opportunists, almost always on holidays and we live like a king with the Government subsidies. I can see where all of these stereotypes come from, however I rise against them with all my might because I totally disagree; I have known Britishs who are always delayed and dislike tea, Germans who do not work like a dog or live with an allowance and Belgian teachers who have much more holidays than me. Summing up, it is the same wherever you go and Spaniards are more than these fixed ideas that we are usually caricatured with, and living together with us is the only way to know us closely, because despite the “fiesta”, we are hard-workers and responsible and judgmental citizens.
To some, national stereotypes may provoke racism. To others, national stereotypes are harmless jokes based on the identity that a certain nation or people have established or projected towards other countries through the years. But is there a sliver of truth in these national stereotypes? Or are they just inaccurate preconceived notions, which can be pretty offensive to many people? Nevertheless, I would focus on stereotypes are based on nationalities and not race.
First of all, I would highlight that, the Spanish have got different strengths. Not only are we very sociable, and easy-going but we are also quite family-oriented. We love going out for tapas or to drink and for this reason there are many bars with tables outdoors where the Spanish meet friends or relatives. Indeed, we have one for every 132 inhabitants. From my point of view, this is because of the weather; we have clear skies, bright sunshine and many sunny periods.
Secondly, I would underscore that we are famous for being lazy and bad workers. This preconceived notion is truly unfair to the Spanish. I hit the roof when people say that the Spanish don´t like working and we only love going parties. If we were so lazy, how could we spend the entire at a restaurant? or, how could we keep our gigantic textile, chemical or engineering industries going? It´s my belief that, this unfair idea is due to the fact that we love taking a nap but, foreign people should not forget that our famous nap doesn´t last beyond twenty minutes. In addition, research has shown that short naps are very effective in restoring our energy levels and mood.
Finally, I would shed light on our English is very bad. I strongly agree with this assignment but, I would emphasize this lack of awareness derives from our poor bilingual education system. The cause is not our unwillingness to learn foreign languages; the root of the problem is our education system
There is some truth in all the stereotypes mentioned in this text, and some of the animated gifts accompanying them are hilarious. It is my belief that we should be able to laugh at ourselves, because, we want it or not, these stereotypes are part of our culture. Spaniards are known for knowing how to enjoy life. I would blame it partly on the excellent weather we have and partly on our natural resources shared with other Mediterranean countries. We love eating well and we have one of the most healthy and tasty cuisines. Every family meal is accompanied of a long table talk, which gives us the opportunity of knowing better each other and having a close-knit family. We love drinking, of course, but I would add that we know how to drink well. We simply enjoy having a good glass of wine or an ice beer, and that is the reason why we have so many bars. From my experience, people from other countries (Americans, Britishers or Frenches, to name a few) are much more heavy-drinkers, and they let their hair down as soon they have a drink. Bars are part also of our culture, where we cultivate lasting, loving and strong friendships. I would say we are extremely sociable and we hardly spend our free time alone, needing others to share our experiences and thoughts. I could not agree more on the comments about our problems for languages. Everyone is able to recognise a Spaniard talking English after listening to just one sentence. Our Achilles' heel is pronunciation, partly because English pronunciation is so different than Spanish one... And we speak louder than everyone, this is also a universal truth. About our lack of punctuality, this is something I have had the occasion of checking abroad. From all students of an International residence I was staying for three months, Spaniards were always the last ones to arrive. Having said that, I have to admit that, of course, all stereotypes are dangerous generalisations. They show a general trend, but people in a country are extremely diverse. For example, I have friends in Spain who are extremely punctual, others who do not drink a drop, and I myself do not like soccer. All in all, not only should we admit that these stereotypes are partly truth, but we should also be proud of some of them.
There is an old saying that says where there’s smoke, there’s fire, and in this particular case it is partially true. A large number of stereotypes have been coined by foreign people; either tourists visiting our country or those who have accepted us in their home countries. Because of this, Spaniards are not conscious of some of them. To begin with, I’d like to address some of the true stereotypes. With regard to our ability to speak languages, it is obvious that it isn’t our strong point. Language learning has never been fostered in our society. The concern about studying languages is a very recent phenomenon that I would frame within the period when Spain became a member of the European Union. Another stereotype considered to be true is that the number of bars in Spain is above average compared with other neighboring countries. It makes sense if we bear in mind that we have a good climate, more daylight hours and a different schedule from much of the rest of Europe (as mentioned in the article), which invites one to spend more time out, where? In the bars… All these aspects are closely linked to the fact that we cook well. More people in bars, more cooks, more people drinking and eating, greater competitiveness, better chefs. This, together with the variety of Mediterranean food makes the culinary aspect a trademark. Now that I've dealt with supposedly true stereotypes, I’d like to highlight some which are, in my view, old-fashioned. The way I see it, Spaniards are not as family oriented as it is thought. Sometimes it is confused with the fact that we do care about our family and we give them in return all the good things they have done for us. Another stereotype with which I disagree is the one that refers to soccer as being everything for us. Nothing could be more untrue. In fact, a wide percentage of women aren’t keen on soccer, to give just an example. Recent polls show that the main concerns of Spanish citizens are unemployment and corruption. All in all, what is clearly evident from this article is that we cannot always generalise since a country encompasses the mixture of different ways of living and different kinds of people.
When speaking about stereotypes it is necessary to wonder what´s is a stereotype. According to the Oxford dictionary an stereotype is “an oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing” , that is a stereotype never can´t be true because is a sweeping generalization that doesn´t take into account the diversity, the variety, the plurality and the richness of the reality. But I know that a human being´s vital need is to categorize and conceptualize the reality, even though we realize that” concepts are coins which have lost their pictures” (Nietszche), only metaphors which do not correspond to reality, but they are created by common agreement to facilitate human communication. Focusing on the stereotypes, Let´s think the crucial role that they have had in historical process like the Holocaust, so we must be very careful when we use them. In spite of that, I recognize some of them as general Spaniards´ characteristics or habits. Let´s begin with the first one. I am sure that everybody remembers the Ana Botella most famous sentence all over the world: “a relaxing cup of café con leche in Plaza Mayor”. Ana Botella showing off her better English tried to persuade the committee of the celebration of Olympic Games in Madrid in 2020.Not only did she make a fool of herself, but Spaniards also did. I think our bad English has a complex explanation. As we know, Spain has been a dictatorship until 1975 and also an autarchy till 60´, because of this we didn´t need to speak English. Slowly and at the same time , the needs to study English and to open to the world have emerged. Nowadays , young people have a much better English than the previous generations, but a social change never happen quickly because it implies to change people´s minds.
Nowadays, to say that every single stereotype about a particular culture is true makes neither head nor tail. Stereotypes are but a host variety of common believes made up by people who belong to another culture and have completely different customs and lifestyle. Thus, they tell us about the way foreigners see us. Nevertheless, nos always are these impressions so close to reality as they should. On the one hand, there are some stereotypes which I consider to be extremely true. For instance, our unwillingness to learn English is well known; Why are we so abolutely hopeless at English? I think it has to do with our educational system which is leading us to the queue of the European Unión. Also, I feel that we, as Spaniards, are too narrow-minded when it comes to adopt things that are not familiar to us on a regular basis. Likewise, the large amount of bars in Spain is a fact and maybe that's why we like eating and drinking a lot, specially in spring and summer. Besides, our schedule is quite different from most countries, so we do not have a hectic schedule and prefer having a more sendentary lifestyle without forgetting having "tapas" in a nearby bar. On the other hand, I disagree with a handful of the stereotypes mentioned in the article. I reckon that football is not everything for us although it is a matter of fact that our country paralyses when there is a crucial match. I would say that our thought about football is: "the more, the merrier". Furthermore, I don't share the idea that we are always late or the one related to our emotional attachment to our relatives or new acquaintances. I guess there is always a black sheep in every family. In a nutshell, stereotypes exert a powerful impact on people. Everyone has his/her own believes about certain cultures and these are disseminated by word of mouth. After all, we all take a dose of our own medicine, don't we?
What we have to write about is an article by a woman, whose name looks Spanish (Margarita Lázaro), based on twelve stereotypes about what the author calls “The Spanish”, that has been published on The Huffington Post website. Taking into account where that edition comes from, USA, we could assume the author is in a good position to discuss about that issue. However, I will give my point of view about it, in order to show how much I agree or disagree. Talking in general, I agree with most of the points analyzed but there are three which I consider old-fashioned or simply wrong, the one I most disagree with is the sixth. To support the argument, the author says we have a good and varied cuisine as well as a lot of very well-known and recognized restaurants all around the world. That would be true in the olden days but the Spanish society has been changed more and more so that, currently, the amount of good cooks has been meaningfully cut down to the point there are no many places where cooking is taken seriously beyond traditional families where grandmothers still cook. The main reason why this happens would be the inclusion of the woman to the labor market. Of course there are really good restaurants but the number of people who cook there is not significant quantitatively. To make a long story short I will try and sum up my point of view as far as the rest of the topics in the article, which I agree with, is concerned, analyzing more deeply the last one, due to the fact that it is the point I am more used to dealing with. A good method to do that would be giving examples to widen the information provided in the article, not always in the same sense the author defends. In the first topic, the author says we Spaniards are bad at mastering English. There is no deny in every single arguments she uses to support this topic but there are more points that should be taken into account, such us the increasing introduction of the bilingual education in our country, specially during the last decade. Another point that is sadly true is the one related to soccer, which is featured as the highlight of our lives (“the king sport”). What I feel when taking about football, the word we use to name soccer, is a mix of anger, sadness and, why not, repugnant. I will give several examples thanks to which I feel and think like that:
Firstly, there are no few football teams that manages huge amounts of money on account of their specific market but never regularize their financial status, what is to say that they owe us millions and millions of euros. What is more, that situation is unlikely to change.
Another annoying aspect is the privilege coverage this sport has in the media. I do not know why the sport sections are called like that, considering football is the only topic all of them are about. I would understand it in case of private channels where all the money came from subscribers who had freely decided to support it (as well as advertisements) but that is not what happens. As far as the football followers is concerned, they look hypnotized as they overestimate the importance of this activity, which is only a sport. For instance, some of them prefer to cut down basic necessities to enjoy football matches live. Finally, I think it is worth to talk about the values there are grown in football matches: insults, spits, cheating the referees…That is not the best model to our youngsters, let alone when talking about an activity with such coverage.
It's said that Spain is one of the country that atracks strong stereotypes and, over the last decades, Spain has become one of the most popular cliched country. However, more and more spaniards get absolutely furious when it comes to speaking about this controversial topic. Not only do other countries make fun of our stereotypes, but they also believe that we are really such a lazy, layabout, meesy and idle people. But foreign people are completely jelous rather than critical and, as it's claimed: "the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence"
Most of local people put the blame on foreign writers who steeped in the traditions of the Romantic movement for many of the cliches about Spain. Thus, it's thought that but for those foreign writers, Spain wouldn't have been branded intentionally. Is Spain a country high on "fiestas"?
The idea of what foreign people have about our country is far from reality. According to their holiday snaps, we are meant to be the whole time throwing parties, having sunbath and lying on the beach or drinking wine. However, does any of those fereign take pics when we are working and not having nap all the afternoon!! Ohh! Come to Spain: fiesta and siesta, forever!!! It drives me up the wall!!
To make matter worse, we are supposed to be "machos", the real bulfighter who are absolutely sexist! Although our character is rather easygoing, we are not toelrant when it comes to speaking about sexism! Take everything into account, Italy and Greek are by far more sexits than Spain. The more a Spanish stereotype becomes viral, the worse our reputation is.
All in all, foreign people could claim that if you come to Spain, you will come across loads of people having fun all the time and drinking wine most assuredly. However, spaniards are more than that, the more you live here as local people, the less time you realise you have for having fun. The only thing I can state is that we know how to take advantage of our leisure time and our completely stanning wheather, always being smiling and charming people
Regarding the sentence “we speak pretty bad English”, it´s a hot topic but I DO strongly agree. My understanding is that it's not a problem of the citizenship but of the different governments and educational systems that have governed in democracy. We used to start learning a foreign language when we were about 11 years old (at least, that is what happened when I was at school). That is an age at which you no longer have an absorption capacity to learn as easy as the one you have when you are 4-5 years old, where most of the concepts are assimilated naturally. After a specific age, you have to study to learn anything while, when you're in those early years, as I said, it is assimilated as a natural process.
ResponderEliminarAlthough the beginning in the study of a second language starts with three years kids, three hours a week (maximum according to statutory), it seems to me an insufficient number of hours.
We should also take note of very positive initiatives that take place in other countries like Portugal where movies are not dubbed but are shown in the original version with subtitles in Portuguese (in this case). I understand that experiences like this would contribute to stimulate quite a lot our ability to understand to develop a good ear. Or, once we´ve seen that this system doesn´t work, why some measures are not taken to encourage extracurricular classes in order to achieve a higher level such as a big bonus on the tax return? In the Community of Madrid you can deduct up to 10% of the amount paid for such foreign language classes.
It´s often said that we have bilingual educational system but it´s a paradoxical situation because we are far, far away from reaching it. It sounds pretty well in the speeches of our polititians but no one could give a speech in English (all talks, no action).
With respect to the affirmation that we love eating…what can I say, who would not? If we also add question 6 (we cook very well), the fact that the Mediterranean diet and the tasty and healthy products we have in our fields, could not be otherwise.
Concerning the statement that we like to drink, it's not my case because I don't drink alcohol , but we have to take into account the high temperatures we suffered all year long that involves a natural need of hydratation ... .although some people drink like a fish. Of course, the fact of having some of the best wines in the world can strengthen our inclination to drink.
In regard to the stereotype that we are family – oriented, I firmly believe that it is a common feature of the Latin countries, which have a very matriarchal hierarchy and, as a consequence, have strong family ties among their members... or don´t we remember the famous "famiglia" of the Mafia?
Part II (the system didn´t allow me to write so much in a row):
ResponderEliminarIf we talk about the amount of bars we have in Spain, according to statistics, we're just behind Cyprus in this aspect and, from my point of view, this is due to a combination of good weather, our late schedules and the quality of our food.
The journalist says that wee cook very well. Not in my case, for sure, but to the evidences we surrender. “El Bulli” has been awarded for almost a decade (until its conversion into foundation) the best restaurant in the world, and its privileged position has been taken by the “Celler de Can Roca”, apart from other many good Spanish restaurants in the top ten for the past 15 years (“Arzak” , “Mugaritz” and so on). A good proof of the boom of our cuisine that is sweeping the nation, is the exorbitant number of candidates applying to cooking TV contests that have a great share such as Masterchef or Top Chef.
We are very affectionate and like kissing when we are introduced to someone, according to this report. To me, the first one is a nonsense affirmation. It depends on how loving you are while the second one it´s true but it's a habit like any other habit. In France they give three kisses when they greet people while here we give two or in other countries (mostly), people are used to shake their hands when they meet.
We talk very loud: I totally agree. In the trips I've done around the world, I've noticed this stereotype, and it is flatly true that, in a public space, if you mix people from different nationalities, you only hear the Spaniards.
We are on a different schedule from much of the rest of Europe. We are literally in a different schedule in the sense that we are one hour plus over the Greenwich meridian, something curious by the way, because we should have the same time zone (time zones are ruled by the position of the sun in the midday) as England, France or Portugal but it was a historical Franco´s choice in order to show sympathy to the Hitler´s regimen (Germany had another time zone and we adapted to it during World War II) and, once the nazi´s were defeated, we didn´t return to our natural time zone.
It´s true that we have lunch, dinner or go to bed later than any other European country but, to be honest, none of them “suffer” so many sun hours and high temperatures as we do. From my point of view, that´s the reason why we have the “siesta” (specially in summer) because it´s almost impossible to work from three til five (if not more) in the afternoon and, in order to that, the rest of the activities (finish work, have dinner, go out or go to bed) are delayed consequently)
I have to air my dissatisfaction with the statement that we are always late. To me, this is not a question of the country you are born but of the personality of each one. I personally hate arriving late.
In regard to the stereotype that we like free stuff…Definitely, we love it. As we say in Spain: “If it's free, it's good”. We can just have a look in Córdoba when the world's largest cake or flamenking have been done, the incredible queues (more than 2,000 or 3,000 people) that are formed waiting for a tiny portion and people so happy and proud to be waiting for three or four hours.
We love football. Yes, but this is a worldwide stereotype. Except for a few exceptions such as USA, Australia and some Asian countries, football is the most popular sport and many countries are literally paralyzed during an important game.
“Spain is different”… or at least, this is our belief, furthermore we usually repit this statment over and over again.
ResponderEliminarOn one hand, I have travelled quite a lot to realise that every place has its own peculiarities; nevertheless, the more visited a country is, the more known are these peculiarities; because of Spain has become a very turistic state, our special features are well-known by most people in the world. Not only do we own up that many of them are true, but also we usually have fun of them (because this is another of our specific characteristics: we laugh at everything and everybody, mainly ourselves).
I am increasingly convinced that sun and weather are guiltied of almost each of our stereotypes: we sleep siesta because it is too hot to go for a walk during the afternoon, we are on a different schedule than the rest of Europe, because we just can go out when it is getting dark, we love drinking and eating because we are blessed with a huge variety of natural and delicious goods, that grow easily in our countries, besides with many cool bares, in where we can meet our acquitances around a table to savor the exquisite food I was talking about.
On the other hand, we are attributed other conventions that are nor so kind, neither true. People think that we are lazy, tardy, sometimes opportunists, almost always on holidays and we live like a king with the Government subsidies. I can see where all of these stereotypes come from, however I rise against them with all my might because I totally disagree; I have known Britishs who are always delayed and dislike tea, Germans who do not work like a dog or live with an allowance and Belgian teachers who have much more holidays than me.
Summing up, it is the same wherever you go and Spaniards are more than these fixed ideas that we are usually caricatured with, and living together with us is the only way to know us closely, because despite the “fiesta”, we are hard-workers and responsible and judgmental citizens.
To some, national stereotypes may provoke racism. To others, national stereotypes are harmless jokes based on the identity that a certain nation or people have established or projected towards other countries through the years.
ResponderEliminarBut is there a sliver of truth in these national stereotypes? Or are they just inaccurate preconceived notions, which can be pretty offensive to many people?
Nevertheless, I would focus on stereotypes are based on nationalities and not race.
First of all, I would highlight that, the Spanish have got different strengths. Not only are we very sociable, and easy-going but we are also quite family-oriented. We love going out for tapas or to drink and for this reason there are many bars with tables outdoors where the Spanish meet friends or relatives. Indeed, we have one for every 132 inhabitants. From my point of view, this is because of the weather; we have clear skies, bright sunshine and many sunny periods.
Secondly, I would underscore that we are famous for being lazy and bad workers. This preconceived notion is truly unfair to the Spanish. I hit the roof when people say that the Spanish don´t like working and we only love going parties. If we were so lazy, how could we spend the entire at a restaurant? or, how could we keep our gigantic textile, chemical or engineering industries going? It´s my belief that, this unfair idea is due to the fact that we love taking a nap but, foreign people should not forget that our famous nap doesn´t last beyond twenty minutes. In addition, research has shown that short naps are very effective in restoring our energy levels and mood.
Finally, I would shed light on our English is very bad. I strongly agree with this assignment but, I would emphasize this lack of awareness derives from our poor bilingual education system. The cause is not our unwillingness to learn foreign languages; the root of the problem is our education system
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ResponderEliminarThere is some truth in all the stereotypes mentioned in this text, and some of the animated gifts accompanying them are hilarious. It is my belief that we should be able to laugh at ourselves, because, we want it or not, these stereotypes are part of our culture.
ResponderEliminarSpaniards are known for knowing how to enjoy life. I would blame it partly on the excellent weather we have and partly on our natural resources shared with other Mediterranean countries. We love eating well and we have one of the most healthy and tasty cuisines. Every family meal is accompanied of a long table talk, which gives us the opportunity of knowing better each other and having a close-knit family. We love drinking, of course, but I would add that we know how to drink well. We simply enjoy having a good glass of wine or an ice beer, and that is the reason why we have so many bars. From my experience, people from other countries (Americans, Britishers or Frenches, to name a few) are much more heavy-drinkers, and they let their hair down as soon they have a drink. Bars are part also of our culture, where we cultivate lasting, loving and strong friendships. I would say we are extremely sociable and we hardly spend our free time alone, needing others to share our experiences and thoughts.
I could not agree more on the comments about our problems for languages. Everyone is able to recognise a Spaniard talking English after listening to just one sentence. Our Achilles' heel is pronunciation, partly because English pronunciation is so different than Spanish one... And we speak louder than everyone, this is also a universal truth.
About our lack of punctuality, this is something I have had the occasion of checking abroad. From all students of an International residence I was staying for three months, Spaniards were always the last ones to arrive.
Having said that, I have to admit that, of course, all stereotypes are dangerous generalisations. They show a general trend, but people in a country are extremely diverse. For example, I have friends in Spain who are extremely punctual, others who do not drink a drop, and I myself do not like soccer.
All in all, not only should we admit that these stereotypes are partly truth, but we should also be proud of some of them.
There is an old saying that says where there’s smoke, there’s fire, and in this particular case it is partially true. A large number of stereotypes have been coined by foreign people; either tourists visiting our country or those who have accepted us in their home countries. Because of this, Spaniards are not conscious of some of them.
ResponderEliminarTo begin with, I’d like to address some of the true stereotypes. With regard to our ability to speak languages, it is obvious that it isn’t our strong point. Language learning has never been fostered in our society. The concern about studying languages is a very recent phenomenon that I would frame within the period when Spain became a member of the European Union.
Another stereotype considered to be true is that the number of bars in Spain is above average compared with other neighboring countries. It makes sense if we bear in mind that we have a good climate, more daylight hours and a different schedule from much of the rest of Europe (as mentioned in the article), which invites one to spend more time out, where? In the bars… All these aspects are closely linked to the fact that we cook well. More people in bars, more cooks, more people drinking and eating, greater competitiveness, better chefs. This, together with the variety of Mediterranean food makes the culinary aspect a trademark.
Now that I've dealt with supposedly true stereotypes, I’d like to highlight some which are, in my view, old-fashioned. The way I see it, Spaniards are not as family oriented as it is thought. Sometimes it is confused with the fact that we do care about our family and we give them in return all the good things they have done for us.
Another stereotype with which I disagree is the one that refers to soccer as being everything for us. Nothing could be more untrue. In fact, a wide percentage of women aren’t keen on soccer, to give just an example. Recent polls show that the main concerns of Spanish citizens are unemployment and corruption.
All in all, what is clearly evident from this article is that we cannot always generalise since a country encompasses the mixture of different ways of living and different kinds of people.
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ResponderEliminarWhen speaking about stereotypes it is necessary to wonder what´s is a stereotype. According to the Oxford dictionary an stereotype is “an oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing” , that is a stereotype never can´t be true because is a sweeping generalization that doesn´t take into account the diversity, the variety, the plurality and the richness of the reality. But I know that a human being´s vital need is to categorize and conceptualize the reality, even though we realize that” concepts are coins which have lost their pictures” (Nietszche), only metaphors which do not correspond to reality, but they are created by common agreement to facilitate human communication. Focusing on the stereotypes, Let´s think the crucial role that they have had in historical process like the Holocaust, so we must be very careful when we use them.
ResponderEliminarIn spite of that, I recognize some of them as general Spaniards´ characteristics or habits. Let´s begin with the first one. I am sure that everybody remembers the Ana Botella most famous sentence all over the world: “a relaxing cup of café con leche in Plaza Mayor”. Ana Botella showing off her better English tried to persuade the committee of the celebration of Olympic Games in Madrid in 2020.Not only did she make a fool of herself, but Spaniards also did.
I think our bad English has a complex explanation. As we know, Spain has been a dictatorship until 1975 and also an autarchy till 60´, because of this we didn´t need to speak English. Slowly and at the same time , the needs to study English and to open to the world have emerged. Nowadays , young people have a much better English than the previous generations, but a social change never happen quickly because it implies to change people´s minds.
Nowadays, to say that every single stereotype about a particular culture is true makes neither head nor tail. Stereotypes are but a host variety of common believes made up by people who belong to another culture and have completely different customs and lifestyle. Thus, they tell us about the way foreigners see us. Nevertheless, nos always are these impressions so close to reality as they should.
ResponderEliminarOn the one hand, there are some stereotypes which I consider to be extremely true. For instance, our unwillingness to learn English is well known; Why are we so abolutely hopeless at English? I think it has to do with our educational system which is leading us to the queue of the European Unión. Also, I feel that we, as Spaniards, are too narrow-minded when it comes to adopt things that are not familiar to us on a regular basis. Likewise, the large amount of bars in Spain is a fact and maybe that's why we like eating and drinking a lot, specially in spring and summer. Besides, our schedule is quite different from most countries, so we do not have a hectic schedule and prefer having a more sendentary lifestyle without forgetting having "tapas" in a nearby bar.
On the other hand, I disagree with a handful of the stereotypes mentioned in the article. I reckon that football is not everything for us although it is a matter of fact that our country paralyses when there is a crucial match. I would say that our thought about football is: "the more, the merrier". Furthermore, I don't share the idea that we are always late or the one related to our emotional attachment to our relatives or new acquaintances. I guess there is always a black sheep in every family.
In a nutshell, stereotypes exert a powerful impact on people. Everyone has his/her own believes about certain cultures and these are disseminated by word of mouth. After all, we all take a dose of our own medicine, don't we?
What we have to write about is an article by a woman, whose name looks Spanish (Margarita Lázaro), based on twelve stereotypes about what the author calls “The Spanish”, that has been published on The Huffington Post website. Taking into account where that edition comes from, USA, we could assume the author is in a good position to discuss about that issue. However, I will give my point of view about it, in order to show how much I agree or disagree.
ResponderEliminarTalking in general, I agree with most of the points analyzed but there are three which I consider old-fashioned or simply wrong, the one I most disagree with is the sixth. To support the argument, the author says we have a good and varied cuisine as well as a lot of very well-known and recognized restaurants all around the world. That would be true in the olden days but the Spanish society has been changed more and more so that, currently, the amount of good cooks has been meaningfully cut down to the point there are no many places where cooking is taken seriously beyond traditional families where grandmothers still cook. The main reason why this happens would be the inclusion of the woman to the labor market. Of course there are really good restaurants but the number of people who cook there is not significant quantitatively.
To make a long story short I will try and sum up my point of view as far as the rest of the topics in the article, which I agree with, is concerned, analyzing more deeply the last one, due to the fact that it is the point I am more used to dealing with. A good method to do that would be giving examples to widen the information provided in the article, not always in the same sense the author defends. In the first topic, the author says we Spaniards are bad at mastering English. There is no deny in every single arguments she uses to support this topic but there are more points that should be taken into account, such us the increasing introduction of the bilingual education in our country, specially during the last decade. Another point that is sadly true is the one related to soccer, which is featured as the highlight of our lives (“the king sport”). What I feel when taking about football, the word we use to name soccer, is a mix of anger, sadness and, why not, repugnant. I will give several examples thanks to which I feel and think like that:
Firstly, there are no few football teams that manages huge amounts of money on account of their specific market but never regularize their financial status, what is to say that they owe us millions and millions of euros. What is more, that situation is unlikely to change.
Another annoying aspect is the privilege coverage this sport has in the media. I do not know why the sport sections are called like that, considering football is the only topic all of them are about. I would understand it in case of private channels where all the money came from subscribers who had freely decided to support it (as well as advertisements) but that is not what happens. As far as the football followers is concerned, they look hypnotized as they overestimate the importance of this activity, which is only a sport. For instance, some of them prefer to cut down basic necessities to enjoy football matches live. Finally, I think it is worth to talk about the values there are grown in football matches: insults, spits, cheating the referees…That is not the best model to our youngsters, let alone when talking about an activity with such coverage.
It's said that Spain is one of the country that atracks strong stereotypes and, over the last decades, Spain has become one of the most popular cliched country. However, more and more spaniards get absolutely furious when it comes to speaking about this controversial topic. Not only do other countries make fun of our stereotypes, but they also believe that we are really such a lazy, layabout, meesy and idle people. But foreign people are completely jelous rather than critical and, as it's claimed: "the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence"
ResponderEliminarMost of local people put the blame on foreign writers who steeped in the traditions of the Romantic movement for many of the cliches about Spain. Thus, it's thought that but for those foreign writers, Spain wouldn't have been branded intentionally. Is Spain a country high on "fiestas"?
The idea of what foreign people have about our country is far from reality. According to their holiday snaps, we are meant to be the whole time throwing parties, having sunbath and lying on the beach or drinking wine. However, does any of those fereign take pics when we are working and not having nap all the afternoon!! Ohh! Come to Spain: fiesta and siesta, forever!!! It drives me up the wall!!
To make matter worse, we are supposed to be "machos", the real bulfighter who are absolutely sexist! Although our character is rather easygoing, we are not toelrant when it comes to speaking about sexism! Take everything into account, Italy and Greek are by far more sexits than Spain. The more a Spanish stereotype becomes viral, the worse our reputation is.
All in all, foreign people could claim that if you come to Spain, you will come across loads of people having fun all the time and drinking wine most assuredly. However, spaniards are more than that, the more you live here as local people, the less time you realise you have for having fun. The only thing I can state is that we know how to take advantage of our leisure time and our completely stanning wheather, always being smiling and charming people