What are stereotypes in English? Topic "British National Character"

Nationality Stereotypes

A stereotype is a fixed set of ideas that is generally held about the characteristics of a particular type of person which are wrongly believed to be shared by all the people of that type. In my opinion it is a dangerous thing to judge about a people or a group of people by existing stereotypes but nevertheless a certain stereotype does exist. There are experimental ways of investigating stereotypes. One of the most obvious is to ask a group of people what trades characterize the British, the Russians, the Americans. Results of such studies of the whole agree well with what might have been expected. English are said to be prim. Weather is the most important topic in the land. In English this is an ever – interesting, even thrilling topic and you must be good at discussing the weather. You must never contradict anyone when discussing the weather. Should it hail and snow, should hurricanes up root the trees, should someone remark to you “Nice day, isn’t it?” – without answer hesitation “Isn’t it lovely?” On the continent people either tell you the truth or lie, in Britain they hardly ever lie but they don’t tell you the truth either. The British like people of every country tend to be attributed with certain characteristics which are supposedly typical. However you should be cautious about accepting such characterizations too easily. Societies change over time while their reputations lag behind. Many things which are often regarded as typically British are no longer representative of modern life. One example of this is the popular belief that Britain is a land of traditions. This is what most tourist brochures claim. The claim is based on what can be seen in public life. And at this level – the level of public life it is undoubtedly true. However in private everyday lives the British as individuals are probably less inclined to follow traditions than other people of most other countries. According to the stereotypes English are also thought to be reserved, conservative, shy of strangers, suspicious of change and slow to accept new ideas, responsible, honest and unemotional. But I think this stereotype pictures are far from true, especially in today’s world.

Nationality stereotypes are often described in anecdotes, humorous stories, private diaries. For example American westerns are dynamic and thrilling. They show us men strength in fights, gun fighting and horse riding skills, but to my mind it was various that made American character. You can easily spot Americans abroad by their toughness. It comes from their sense of individual freedom. Americans realize that individuals must rely on themselves, otherwise they risk to loose their freedom. So, self-reliance is usually the second trade and moral value supposed to be obligatory to a true American. The third national value accounts for their confident and unaffected manners. The fourth American value is competition. Sixty percent of the Americans believe in competition and so desire to win is healthy. In spite of the fact that society can’t consist only of winners the Americans are optimistic. They believe that every problem has a solution. The fifth national value is material wealth. Most Americans believe wealth is a reward for hard work and that it’s possible to have a good standard of living if a person works hard. God helps those who help themselves – says the proverb. The sense of humor is often the most revealing aspect of a culture. Surely, humor has never been valued more highly in any other civilization than in this one.

The Russian are considered to be industries, tough, brave and progressive. These stereotypes are derived from books, films and other cultural media. As any nation the Russians have both positive and negative qualities. On the one hand, people who belong to this nationality are hard-working, willing to respect the opinion of other people. They regard other racial or ethnic groups as equal. They are fond of being with other people, enjoying social life, hospitable to foreigners. On the other hand sometimes they are inclined to cheat and unwilling to respect the views, ideas, opinions opposite to their own. This is my point of view on this problem.

I would also like to say stereotypes are a part of human life though they may present one sided exaggerated view of religion, racial ethnic groups of people as well as of classes of people. Stereotypes are certainly not reliable description of individual people but they still exist.

Different nations have different characters. We expect every nation to have some typical qualities. The geographical position of Great Britain has produced a certain spirit among its inhabitants. Those who know the British say that they look at foreigners with contempt and think nothing is as well done elsewhere as in their own country. Actually the British have also been known as superior, snobbish, hypocritical and unsociable.

English vanity grew as England became the world’s leading trading nation. People say that Englishmen often think much of themselves. They appear to be very reserved and not straightforward. They like to hide their feelings. But British people have not only bad points.

In fact they are rather conservative and love familiar things and values. They got a lot of culture behind them and they stick to their customs and traditions. They are said to be very reliable, both socially and professionally. They seem to be very punctual and always keep their word. You can call the British cold, but deep-down they are very warm and kind.

I have read that Englishmen have a strong sense of private space. And they rarely shake hands except when being introduced to someone for the first time. But despite this, they are very hospitable and friendly.

In fact every national character is a combination of good and bad traits. But still you must treat every nation with equal respect.

Translation:

Different nations have different characters. We expect that every nation has some similar characteristics. The geographical position of Great Britain has imposed a certain mood among its inhabitants. Anyone who knows the British says that they look at foreigners with contempt and believe that nothing is done anywhere as well as in their own country. In fact, the British are also known to be arrogant, snobby, hypocritical and unsociable.

English vanity grew after England became the world's leading trading country. People say that the English have a high opinion of themselves. They give the impression of being very reserved and not straightforward. They like to hide their feelings. But the British have more than just bad traits.

In fact, they are quite conservative and value family things and values. They have left a cultural mark behind them and they adhere to their customs and traditions. They are said to be very reliable, both socially and professionally. They seem to be very punctual and always keep their word. You may call the British cold, but deep down they are very warm and polite.

I've read that the British have a strong sense of personal space. And they rarely shake hands, except when introducing themselves to someone for the first time. But despite this, they are very hospitable and friendly.

In fact, every national character is a combination of good and bad qualities. But still you must treat every nation with equal respect.

Useful expressions:

To look on smb with contempt - look at someone with contempt

Superior – arrogant

Hypocritical - hypocritical

Straightforward - straightforward

Vanity - vanity

To have a strong sense of private space - to have a strong sense of personal space

To treat smth (smb) – treat smth. (to someone)

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A nation is a group of people who share common history and usually a language and usually, not always live at the same area. Culture can be described as our everyday life: how we communicate, our language, religion, traditions, behavior, way of life - in other words, what we do each day.

People that belong to various nations may differ and they always differ from one another. For example, the Germans are regarded as scientifically-minded and industrial, they"re always considered solid, intelligent, mathematical, extremely nationalistic, arrogant and even aggressive. And, for instance, Jews are believed to be mercenary, industrial, shrewd, loyal to family, religious. There is a large amount of examples we can list about national character of different people.

Proving the difference of the national stereotypes I want to compare Russian and English nations. There are a lot of features that vary. The Russians are industrial, tough, brave, progressive and suspicious. They are always considered to be nationalistic, patriotic (because of this reason they"re good soldiers), we are willing to respect the opinion of other people.

Speaking about Englishmen I may note that they"re reserved, tradition-loving, courteous, honest, extremely nationalistic and etc. To my mind, they have a specific sense of humor. They say that they can"t understand our jokes and anecdotes not only because of the different meanings of the words, but because of their humor is more delicate.

Looking at these features of the Russians and the Englishmen it is not hard to mark out the differences. The Englishmen are reserved, but the Russians are open-hearted and communicative. The Englishmen are tradition-loving and the Russians, to my mind, don't keep their traditions in such a degree.

There is a great majority of factors that influence the nations stereotype and their people's character. People that live in the southern countries have less problems than those who live in the North and because of this they"re more cheerful and artistic. The history also has a great influence on the national character. The people of Asia are revengeful because their forefathers were often at war with others. In Africa many countries were colonies of the Great Britain, Holland, Spain and so on Africans were the slaves and because of this they"re still hard-working and industrial.

The National Character exists. It is not a myth, it "s a reality. But the National Character doesn"t describe the character of every person, it describes the character of people of nation in general. Every person has its own character, but according to the person"s belonging to some nation many traits of character are similar and these features may be explained as the national character.

National Stereotypes

In heaven, the cops are British, the lovers are French, the food is Italian, the cars are German, and the whole thing is run by the Swiss.

In hell, the cops are German, the lovers are Swiss, the food is British, the cars are French, and the whole thing is run by the Italians.

Stereotypes having to do with people of specific nationalities. Some of them are a little bit Truth In Television (certain others more so), due to having some basis in reality. But remember, nations are not Planets Of Hats.

For people who want to edit this trope. Remember the following:

1. We don't claim that all these types of behavior are exclusively typical of these nationalities, only that they are very common false or exaggerated perceptions of certain countries. Most of the time these images were created by popular books, comic strips, animated cartoons, films or propaganda. We"re listing stereotypes here, which means that we list all these recurring caricatural ideas about other nationalities that can be found regularly in any work of fiction.

2. So no racist or discriminatory quotes claiming: "Hey this stereotype is actually true" or aggressive, offended comments like "Hey, my country or people are nothing like that!" Most countries depict their neighboring countries as if they are all either lazy, evil, dumb, primitive or arrogant. Nothing new there and it proves that these stereotypical impressions about other countries are universal, rather than tied to one specific country.

3. We can also miss proud, arrogant, patriotic boasting remarks like "Our country is uniquely very good at this or that", which is usually also very narrow-minded nationalism. Behavior can not be restricted to an entire race, culture or country of people. Not all Americans are fond of owning guns, not all Britons like tea, not all Frenchmen are arrogant and not all Asians are martial arts experts. Each country has its own strong liquor culture and claims that they are especially well known for being good beer drinkers. And a lot of countries have a reputation for being hospitable.

See also Hollywood Atlas, Funny Foreigner, Acceptable Nationality Targets, and Axis Powers Hetalia.

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Examples of this trail by continent:

The United States

Thanks to the numerous Wild West legends and westerns the country is still seen as Americans Are Cowboys. If a character in foreign fiction is American he is either a cowboy or wearing a cowboy hat.

Even though the U.S. isn't the only country where carrying firearms is legal, the image of the "gun obsessed American" is larger than other nationalities. This again may partly be attributed to Americans Are Cowboys and numerous violent Hollywood action movies. To be fair, the number of privately owned firearms in America is the highest of any nation, per capita AND in total.

Americans helped Europe win World War I and World War II, but people usually forget that the U.S collaborated with other countries to defeat the Axis. Many war movies and documentaries paint the wrong impression that America won these wars singlehandedly. After World War II the United States were generally seen as liberators by all the countries that had been surpressed by the Nazis or Japanese. This leads to an internationally positive view of the U.S. where many people across the world gladly embraced American products like Coca Cola, chewing gum, large cars and Hollywood films. But during the 1960s at the height of the Vietnam War America's foreign policy was criticized by other countries and to this day a lot of people across the globe hate the U.S.A., solely based on the actions of their Presidential Administration and the power of their multinationals ( See America Saves The Day, Yanks With Tanks and America Wins The War).

People from the U.S.A. are often depicted as rich, cigar smoking business men with too many dollars to spend. This may be a result of America's aggressive consumer culture, The American Dream and the huge skyscrapers in each large city.

Outside the U.S. a stereotypical image of the dumb, fat, ignorant, self-important, decadent, prudish, obese and clueless white American exists. Most of these images are based on American fast food culture which has spawned a lot of morbidly fat people. Of course, in foreign countries sitcom characters like Archie Bunker, Al Bundy and Homer Simpson are also often seen as representative of the typical American.

Outside the U.S. Americans are often seen as devoutly religious and prudent evangelical Christians, obsessed with Jesus, praying and reacting against sex or anything progressive.

Tourist couples who visit other countries, but are more interested in shopping and souvenirs than authentic culture are usually depicted as being either Americans or Japanese. Expect to hear some jokes about American tourists wondering if the Tower of London pre-dates World War II, or pronouncing the city in The Midlands "Lie-chester", or talking about "Bucking-Hayum Palace". Examples of these ignorant American tourist couples can be found in the Fawlty Towers episode “Waldorf Salad”, Monty Pythons The Meaningof Life and Flushed Away.

In the United States itself Americans are split into various sub-categories, from Deep South rednecks to New York poseurs. However, Wealthier Americans are often shown as greedy capitalists or Corrupt Corporate Executives.

All American Indians are based on plains Indians. All Sioux, by the way, are Lakota.

LATIN AMERICA

TheCarribean

Cubans are often depicted as smokers of Havana cigars and opponents/supporters of Fidel Castro. Within Spanish-speaking countries there"s the stereotype that Cubans end all their phrases with the word "Chico", and generally mangle the Spanish grammar and/or pronunciation. There is a saying that "the Spanish language was born in Castille and died in Cuba".

Jamaicans are caricatured as marijuana smoking rastafari"s with dreadlocks, listening to reggae.

Other countries in the Carribean are generally associated with pirates, slaves and popular musical genres like calypso, memento, reggae, soca and steelband.

Russia and Eastern European countries in general

Most people are depicted as harsh, primitive peasants who are miserably poor. They’ll be cooking soup, stew, goulash or eat yoghurt, paprika or salami. If they are not working on the fields they are either spied upon by secret police or active in espionage. Most of these stereotypical images date back to the Cold War and Dracula movies, who are often set in Romania. A more modern stereotype depicts them as gangsters active in the Russian mafia. They love chess, ballet, playing violin or Russian Roulette, taking hot baths in icy temperatures and are quite likely to use some Russian Reversal (“In Soviet Russia, TV watches you!”). Russians will tend not to use articles (the words "the" and "a"), or to use the wrong ones, since the Russian language does not have any equivalent to these words. They refer to anyone as "Comrade". Their speech often puts a strong emphasis on the letter "r" and "g"-sounds are put in front of words beginning with the letter "h". Other popular cliché expressions are "njet" ("no") and "da!" (“yes”).

The men always have heavy eyebrows, mustaches and/or beards and carry bearskin hats. They usually drink their misery away with vodka and after finishing a drink they throw their glass over their shoulder whereupon it crashes against the floor or a wall. They are either exuberantly joyful or coldly enraged, and can switch between the two at a moment’s notice. When they are excited they shout with a loud, booming voice.They are nostalgic for Soviet Russia (always referring to it as "The Motherland"), and love to do traditional dances and trepaks while drunk. When they travel they go by troika.

The women wear babushka’s. Sometimes they are depicted as being more masculine than feminine.

Rich Russians will be seen eating caviar and drinking vodka in snowy landscapes.

Gypsies are also often associated with Eastern Europe.

Russian Humor

Spaniards are often caricatured as being hot-blooded and proud to the point of being idle.

They are often seen cooking olives or paella or playing and dancing to flamenco music. The rest of the time they are having siestas, which leads to the impression that they are rather lazy.

Spaniards are either bull fighters themselves or all watch bull fights for their amusement. They will shout "Ole!" or "Ayayayayayay" in unison whenever the occasion is ripe.

Spaniards are Toros Y Flamenco. In England, the women are seen as fat and ugly. In America, stupid Americans consider them interchangeable with Mexicans.

All Spaniards, of course, secretly (or not so secretly) long to bring back The Spanish Inquisition.

Japanese people are often represented as extremely polite (Japanese Politeness), intelligent, and obedient but dislike foreigners. They bow extensively and are ruthless, stoic business people wearing glasses and black suits. Their stop words are: "honourable", "regrettable" and "please" (usually spoken in a Japanese English accent).

The cheerful Japanese Tourist who films and photographs everything in sight.

The cute and sexy giggling girl in school uniform. (See Joshikousei)

Japanese also have a reputation for honorable suicides, ranging from hara-kiri, seppuku to kamikaze pilots.

Japanese popular culture often baffles other countries. Anime is often ridiculed for being disturbingly dark and violent with characters who simply freeze in one position while a vague background goes by. The kaiju films are ridiculed for being surrealistic and full of bad, cheap special effects like for instance men wearing rubber monster suits.

Speaking of which, Japanese people are engineering geniuses, but they use this to create giant robots.

Other popular Japanese stereotypes are the geisha, sumo wrestler, samurai and ninja.

A more negative stereotype is of the perverted Japanese man who is a Nightmare Fetishist and possible pedophile.

Japanese people add -u to the end of every word. (This, of course, comes from katakana.)

Oddly, the Ainu get more press in America than in Japan.

A nation is a group of people who share a common history and, usually, language and usually do not always live in the same area. Culture can be described as our daily life: how we communicate, our language, religion, traditions, behavior, way of life - in other words, what we do every day. People who belong to different countries may be different, and they are always different from each other. For example, Germans are seen as scientifically-minded and hard-working; they are always considered tough, intelligent, mathematical, extremely nationalistic, arrogant and even aggressive. And, for example, Jews are considered mercenaries, hardworking, intelligent, devoted to family, religious. There are a large number of examples we can list about the national character of different people. Proof of the difference in national stereotypes I want to compare the Russian and English languages ​​of the peoples. There are many features that change. Russians are hardworking, tough, brave, progressive and suspicious. They have always been considered nationalistic, patriotic (for this reason they are good soldiers), we are ready to respect the opinions of other people. Speaking about the British, I can note that they are protected, tradition-loving, polite, honest, extremely nationalistic, etc. In my opinion, they have a specific sense of humor. They say that they cannot understand our jokes and anecdotes, not only because the words have different meanings, but because their humor is more subtle. Looking at these characteristics of the Russians and the British, it is not difficult to highlight the differences. The English are reserved, but the Russians are open and communicative. The British are traditionally loving and Russians, in my opinion, do not keep their traditions to that extent. There is a vast majority of factors that influence a country's stereotype and character of its people. People who live in southern countries have fewer problems than those who live in the north, and because of this they are more cheerful and artistic. History also has a great influence on national character. The people of Asia are vindictive because their ancestors were often at war with others. In Africa, many countries were colonized by Great Britain, Holland, Spain and so on, Africans were slaves, and because of this they are still hardworking and hardworking. National character does not exist. This is not a myth, this is reality. But national character does not describe the character of each person; it describes the character of the people of the country as a whole. Each person has his own character, but, depending on the person’s belonging to a certain nation, many character traits are similar and these characteristics can be explained as national character. National stereotypes In the sky, British police, French amateurs, Italian food, German cars, and all this is under the jurisdiction of Switzerland. In hell, German policemen, Swiss lovers, British food, French cars, and all this is run by Italians. Stereotypes associated with people of specific nationalities. Some of them are a little bit true on television (some others are more so), due to having some basis in reality. But remember that countries are not planets of the hat. For people who want to change this path. Remember the following: 1. We are not saying that all of these types of behavior are exclusively characteristic of these nationalities, only that they are very common false or exaggerated ideas about some countries. Most of the time these images were created by popular books, comics, cartoons, films and propaganda. We are listing stereotypes here, which means we will list all of those recurring caricatures of other nationalities that can be found on a regular basis in any work of fiction. 2. So there are no racist or discriminatory quotes stating: "Hey, this stereotype is really true" or aggressive, resentful comments like "Hey, my country and people are nothing like that!" Most countries portray neighboring countries as if they are all either lazy, evil, stupid, primitive or arrogant. Nothing new there, and it proves that these stereotypical impressions of other countries are universal and not tied to one specific country. 3. We can also skip the proud, arrogant, patriotic boasting with remarks like “Our country is clearly very good at this or that,” which tends to be a very narrow nationalism. Behavior cannot be limited to an entire race, culture or country of people. Not all Americans like gun owners, not all Brits like tea, not all French are arrogant and not all Asians are martial arts experts. Each country has its own high liquor culture and claims to be particularly well known as good beer drinkers. And many countries have a reputation for being hospitable. See also Hollywood Atlas, Funny Foreigner, Acceptable Nationality Targets, and Axis Powers Hetalia. ________________________________________ Examples of this trope across continents: United States Thanks to numerous Wild West legends and westerns, the country is still seen as whether the Americans are Cowboys. If a character in foreign fiction is American he is either a cowboy or wearing a cowboy hat. Even if the US is not the only country where carrying firearms is legal, the image of "gun possessed American" is greater than that of other nationalities. This again may partly explain that Americans are Cowboys and the numerous violent actions of Hollywood films. To be fair, the number of private America's firearms rate is the highest of any country, per capita and overall. Americans helped Europe win World War I and World War II, but people tend to forget that the US collaborated with other countries to defeat Axis. Documentaries paint the false impression that America won these wars alone. After World War II, the United States was generally seen as the liberator by all countries that were surpressed by the Nazis or the Japanese. This led to an internationally positive view of the United States, where many people believed. The whole world has happily embraced American products such as Coca-Cola, chewing gum, big cars and Hollywood films. But in the 1960s, at the height of the foreign policy of the Vietnam War, America came under criticism from other countries and to this day, many people around the world hate the United States, based solely on the actions of their Presidential Administration and the power of their multinational corporations (See America Saves The Day, Yankees with tanks and America wins the war). People from the US are often portrayed as rich, cigar-smoking business people with too many dollars to spend. This may be a result of America's aggressive consumer culture, the American dream and huge skyscrapers in every major city. Outside the US, the stereotypical image of the dumb, fat, ignorant, self-important, decadent, prudish, obese and ignorant white American exists. Most of these images are based on American fast food culture, which has produced many morbidly fat people. Of course, in foreign countries comedy characters such as Archie Bunker, Al Bundy and Homer Simpson are also often seen as representative of the typical American. Outside the US, Americans have often seen devoutly religious and sensible evangelical Christians obsessed with Jesus, praying and reacting against sex or anything progressive. Tourist couples who visit other countries but are more interested in shopping and souvenirs than authentic culture are usually portrayed as neither American nor Japanese. Expect to hear jokes about American tourists wondering if the Tower of London pre-dates the Second World War, or pronouncing the town in the Midlands "Lee-Chester", or talking about "Bucking-Hayum Palace". Examples of these clueless American tourist couples can be found in the Fawlty Towers episode "Waldorf Salad", Monty Pythons Meaningof Life and Flush Away. In the United States itself, Americans are divided into various sub-categories, from Deep South rednecks to New York poseurs. However, wealthy Americans are often shown as greedy capitalists or corrupt corporations. All American Indians are based on the Plains Indians. All Sioux, by the way, are Lakota. LATIN AMERICA TheCarribean Cubans are often portrayed as Havana cigar smokers and opponents/supporters of Fidel Castro. In Spanish-speaking countries, there is a stereotype that Cubans end all their phrases with the word "Chico", and generally cripple Spanish grammar and/or pronunciation. There's a saying that "Spanish was born in Castile and died in Cuba." Jamaicans are caricatured as marijuana-smoking Rastafarians with dreadlocks, listening to reggae. Other Caribbean countries tend to be associated with pirates, slaves and popular music genres like calypso, memory, reggae, popr and steel band. Russia and Eastern European countries in general Most people are depicted as tough, primitive peasants who are terribly poor. They will cook soups, stews, goulash or eat yogurt, paprika or salami. They do not work in the fields; they are either spies for the secret police or active in espionage. Most of these stereotypical images date back to the Cold War and Dracula films, which are often set in Romania. The more modern stereotype portrays them as gangsters operating in the Russian mafia. , ballet, play the violin or Russian roulette, take hot baths in icy temperatures and are likely to use some Russian spreads ("In Soviet Russia, TV is watching you!"). Russians tend not to use articles (the words "" and ""), or use the wrong ones, since the Russian language does not have any equivalent to these words. They treat everyone as a "comrade". Their speech often places a strong emphasis on the letters "g" and "zh" - sounds placed before words beginning with the letter "ch". Other popular cliché expressions are "njet" ("no") and "Yes!" ("Yes"). Men always have thick eyebrows, mustaches and/or beards and wear bearskin hats. They usually drink their misery from vodka, and after finishing the drink they throw the glass over their shoulder, after which it falls on the floor or walls. They are either exuberantly joyful or coldly furious, and can switch between them at any time. When they are excited, they scream in a loud, booming voice. They are nostalgic for Soviet Russia (always calling it "Motherland"), and love to do traditional dances and trepaks when drunk. When they travel they go in threes. Women wear grannies. Sometimes they are portrayed as more masculine than feminine. Rich Russians will be seen eating caviar and vodka in snowy landscapes. Gypsies are also often associated with Eastern Europe. Russian humor Spain Spaniards are often caricatured as hot-blooded and proud to the point of idleness. They were often seen cooking olives or paella or watching and dancing to flamenco music. The rest of the time they have siestas, which leads to the impression that they are quite lazy. The Spaniards are either bull fighters themselves or the bull fights all hours for his own entertainment. They will shout "Ole!" or "Ayayayayayay" in unison when the connection is ripe. Spaniards Toros Y flamenco. In England, women are considered fat and ugly. In America, stupid Americans consider them interchangeable with Mexicans. All the Spaniards, of course, secretly (or not so secretly) spent a lot of time returning to the Spanish Inquisition. Japan The Japanese are often presented as very polite (Japanese politeness), intelligent and obedient, but dislike foreigners. They bow broadly and ruthlessly, stoic businessmen in glasses and black suits. Their stopping words are: "honorable", "sorry" and "please" (usually spoken in a Japanese Engrish accent). A cheerful Japanese tourist who can see everything in films and photographs. Cute and sexy girls giggled in school uniform. (See Joshikousei) The Japanese also have a reputation for honorable suicides, ranging from hara-kiri, seppuku, to kamikaze pilots. Japanese pop culture often confuses other countries. Anime has often been derided for being disturbingly dark and violent with characters that are simply frozen in one position while a vague background goes on. Kaiju films have been derided for being surreal and full of bad, cheap special effects such as men in rubber monster costumes. By the way, the Japanese are engineering geniuses, but they use this to create giant robots. Other popular Japanese stereotypes are geisha, sumo, samurai and ninja. A more negative stereotype is the perverted Japanese man who is a Fetishist Nightmare and a possible pedophile. The Japanese add a -U to the end of every word. (This of course comes from katakana). Oddly enough, the Ainu get more press in America than in Japan

A stereotype is an obsession that people have about what particular social groups or individuals are like—especially if it is a misconception. Other terms related to the term "stereotype" are "prejudice" and "cliché". This term is of Greek origin: stereos means durable or hard, and typos means an imprint, engraved or stamp. This term was first used in printing. In modern English, the term was first used in 1850, meaning "an image preserved unchanged."

Because stereotypes are standardized and simplified representations of groups based on some prejudice, they are not derived from objective facts, but rather from subjective and often unverifiable opinions. As sociologist Charles E. Hurst states, “One of the causes of stereotypes is people's lack of personal, concrete, intimate interaction with people of other racial and ethnic groups.”

The existence of stereotypes can be explained by the need for groups of people to see themselves as more normal or higher in status than other groups. Consequently, stereotypes can be used to justify unfounded prejudice or ignorance, and to prevent people from stereotyped groups from entering or succeeding in various activities or fields. Groups that have been stereotyped are usually reluctant to reconsider their attitudes and behavior towards the stereotyped group.

Stereotypes can negatively influence people. This includes forming inaccurate and distorted perceptions and opinions of people. Stereotypes can also be used to scapegoat or create general false judgments about people. Some people who are subject to stereotyping may feel comfortable preventing themselves from becoming emotionally identified with the stereotyped group, which leads to xenophobic or racist behavior. Finally, another serious consequence of stereotypes is the feeling of inferiority that stereotyped people may experience, which may impair their behavior.

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A stereotype is a fixed idea that people have about what specific social groups or individuals are like, especially an idea that is wrong. Other terms that are associated with the term stereotype are prejudice and cliché. The term has a Greek origin: stereos means solid or firm and typos mean impression, engraved or mark. The term was first used in the printing business. The first modern English use of the term was in 1850, meaning “image perpetuated without change.”

Because stereotypes are standardized and simplified ideas of groups, based on some prejudices, they are not derived from objective facts, but rather subjective and often unverifiable ideas. As Sociologist Charles E. Hurst states “One reason for stereotypes is the lack of personal, concrete familiarity that individuals have with persons in other racial or ethnic groups.”

The existence of stereotypes may be explained by the need of groups of people to view themselves as more normal or more superior than other groups. Consequently, stereotypes may be used to justify ill-founded prejudices or ignorance and prevent people of stereotyped groups from entering or succeeding in various activities or fields. The stereotyping groups are, generally, reluctant to reconsider their attitudes and behavior towards the stereotyped group.

Stereotypes may affect people negatively. This includes forming inaccurate and distorted images and opinions of people. Stereotypes may also be used for scapegoating or for making general erroneous judgments about people. Some stereotyping people may feel comfortable when they prevent themselves from emotional identification with the stereotyped group, which leads to xenophobic or racist behavior. Finally another serious consequence of stereotypes is the feeling of inferiority that the stereotyped people may have and which may impair their performance.

Source of English text: Wikipedia

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Glossary for the text

• idea – idea, thought, idea, concept, opinion, judgment, consideration, view, point of view
• fixed idea - obsession
• specific – specific; special; separate
• individual – individual; face, personality, person, person
• term - term
• associated – associated; connected; combined
• prejudice - prejudice; prejudice
• cliché - cliche; stamp
• origin - origin
• derived – derived; received; extracted
• unverifiable - not verifiable; unverifiable
• familiarity - close communication; familiarity with (smb.); awareness of (smth.)
• consequently - consequently; That's why; as a result, as a result
• to justify - to justify; find an excuse; excuse; explain
• ill-founded – unfounded, unfounded; poorly reasoned
• ignorance – ignorance, ignorance, lack of education; ignorance, ignorance
• activity (plural: activities) – activity; event, events in any area; activity
• field – field; sphere; region
• stereotyped group – a group about which there is a stereotypical (prejudiced) idea
• stereotyping group – a group that has a stereotypical idea of ​​something
• generally – usually, as a rule; generally
• to reconsider - to reconsider; rethink
• image – image; idea (of something, someone)
• scapegoating - searching for a “scapegoat”: the property of human and group psychology to shift responsibility for mistakes, difficulties and problems to a group of people with certain qualities; e.g., a certain nationality (Arabs, Jews) or field of activity (bureaucrats, politicians)
• erroneous - false; incorrect; wrong; erroneous
• finally - in conclusion; ultimately; in the end; finally
• inferiority - lower position
• impair - to worsen; damage, spoil
• performance – action; action; behavior

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A nation is a group of people who share common history and usually a language and usually, but not always, live in the same area. Culture can be described as our everyday life: how we communicate, what makes us happy and said. It also includes our language, religion, traditions, behavior, way of life – in other words, what we do each day. People that belong to various nations may differ and they always differ from one another.

For example, the Germans are regarded as scientifically-minded and industrial, they"re always considered solid, intelligent and mathematical. And, for instance, Israelis are believed to be mercenary, industrial, shrewd, loyal to family, religious. There is a large amount of examples we can list about national character of different people. Proving the difference of the national stereotypes I want to compare Russian and English nations. There are a lot of features that vary. The Russians are industrial, tough, brave, progressive and suspicious. They are always considered to be nationalistic, over - patriotic (because of this reason they"re good soldiers), we are willing to respect opinion of other people.

Speaking about Englishmen I may note that they"re reserved, tradition-loving, courteous, honest, extremely nationalistic and etc. To my mind, they have a specific sense of humor. They say that they can"t understand our jokes and anecdotes not only because of the different meanings of the words, but because of their humor is more delicate. Looking at these features of the Russians and the Englishmen it is not hard to mark out the differences. The Englishmen are reserved, but the Russians are open-hearted and communicative. The Englishmen are tradition-loving and the Russians, to my mind, don't keep their traditions in such a degree. There is a great majority of factors that influence the nations stereotype and their people's character. People that live in the southern countries have less problems than those who live in the North and because of this they"re more cheerful and artistic. The history also has a great influence on the national character. The peoples in Asia are revengeful because their forefathers often were at war with others. In Africa many countries were colonies of the Great Britain, Holland, Spain and so on and they (Africans) were the slaves and because of this they"re still hard-working and industrial. The National Character exists. It is not a myth, it "s a reality. But the National Character doesn"t describe the character of every person, it describes the character of people of nation in general. Every person has its own character, but according to the person"s belonging to some nation many traits of character are similar and these features may be explained as the national character.