cmcs01@abnjh.UUCP (J. Hasselbrook) (10/10/83)
My family and I recently returned from a vacation in the Netherlands. The observation (by laidbak!tsmith) that Americans are usually louder than Europeans fits with my experience. I found myself getting lots of funny looks because I would raise my voice in order to save a few steps when gathering my family together in a public place (our daughters are aged 3 and 5, so you can imagine that there was a great deal of gathering that needed to be done!) A European Papa would have either left the whole problem to his wife, or gone running after the children and addressed them in a low voice from close range. Americans easily get a reputation for being loud and unmannered in this way. Does anybody have any theories as to why this cultural difference arose over the years? Rick Thomas ihnp4!abnji!rbt
tsmith@laidbak.UUCP (Tim Smith) (10/15/83)
I have just returned from a few weeks in France. For the first time in my European travels, I was with a large group of Americans. What can be annoying is not, for the most part, <accent> in the sense of how vowels and consonants are pronounced, or how the pitch of the voice is varied. It seems to be a matter of overall amplitude. Europeans learn to speak to individuals, and to small groups, and to reserve max gain for special occasions. For us the addressed unit is the room, no matter how large. Very embarrassing in a large restaurant. Perhaps it is a matter of high population density vs. the wide open plains...? Tim Smith (...!laidbak!tsmith)