I just saw a British guy on Instagram talking about how, in America, everything is so SO much bigger than Europe. His thesis was, it's no wonder Americans haven't been to other countries, because in America, you don't need to! You can go from almost the highest mountains to the lowest desert valley within one state, then get to the ocean, then get to farmland, then get to areas that are like a rainforest, and you still have 3 TIME ZONES left to go. It's not necessarily as bad as it sounds to say you've only explored America if you've explored America right
I think this British guy is totally right! I live in a "bigger" country than US mainland (if you don't count Alaska) and we here do NOT have such high mountains, nor such dry areas. And we do not have sea coast in two Oceans (just in Atlantic Ocean)! We have almost no snow in our territory... So not so cold weathers (and not thinking about Alaska). And US have a so big amount of immigrants (so much more than my country), and from a more variety of countries. So, I think, you have more ethnical variety than a multiethnical country like mine. Salute from São Paulo city, Brazil.
Well the thing is, that’s also a lie. Most Americans HAVE left the country but the percentage with active passports is what they use for that point. You don’t need one if you’re driving or walking to Mexico and my friend got into Canada without it but they only let you do that a couple times lol. And mine expired and I haven’t renewed loony. We do travel y’all!
Another factor: in general Europeans get way more vacation (holiday?) time than Americans do. Many Americans simply don’t have the time off of work to take the time for a big trip halfway around the world.
Maybe we just don’t want holidays and need the extra work for financial reasons? Europeans CANNOT compare themselves to America because it’s apples to oranges comparison
@@Pr3miuM I get 6.5 weeks of paid vacation per year (which I can accrue up to 10 weeks). I would like to see Europe, Asia, Oceania, Latin America, Africa, but I never get around to it. It’s such a hassle to go to those places compared to visiting the national parks in the US, NYC, LA, San Francisco, Chicago, Hawaii, Aspen, Puerto Rico, New Orleans, etc. Plus, we like to visit relatives in other parts of the US. If I go to Europe, the people will be more judgmental towards me. Many of them will assume I’m stupid, that I own guns, I’m racist, that I don’t get paid vacations but I don’t care because money is all that matters to me, etc.
Something I've been saying for decades: No matter how you measure intelligence, half of the population is below the median. If your measure has a normal distribution, half the population is below average. If you only focus on the lower 50%, you might conclude the entire population lacks intelligence. People see only what they want to see.
@@mpetersen6I've been a George fan all the way back to when he did 'indian sergeants" looking like an advertising executive. I still have at least 2 of his LPs that I bought back then.
As a 63-year-old Canadian who has visited America many times, I can honestly say Americans are the nicest, friendliest people you could hope to meet. I was visiting my father in Florida a few years back. Everyone was so respectful to us everywhere we went. It's almost as if the news and talk shows only show content that will make people angry or afraid, but when you go out and meet people, life isn't like that. Life is full of wonderful people, like Kyle.
I've lived in the Western US all my life, but have traveled on business throughout the US. I have to comment that people in the South far exceed the rest of us in manners and politeness. And I will add that I've been to Canada on vacation and business a dozen times, including our honeymoon. Canada is a great neighbor, (with the exception of Mr. Trudeau and his kind.)
In the US, some people do get treated poorly based on appearances (you can ask black folks about sunset towns, for instance). But by and large, the disconnect between what some politicians try to claim about out of control crime does not match with the every day reality.
That was Australia as Canada. Austria is in Europe. Cambodia is in Southeast Asia - in the area once referred to as French Indo China. I hope YOU were joking when you said Austria and Cambodia.
Another reason Americans aren't generally bi- or trilingual is that there is no economic necessity. The American economy is much more self-contained than most individual European countries. In contrast, proficiency in more than one language is necessary when dealing with the European Union's commerce. I'm not saying it wouldn't be a great idea to be multilingual. It just isn't needed.
For that matter, when I chose a second language to study in high school I picked Spanish bc I grew up in California. Came in handy the other day buying fruit from a roadside stand.
Canada is officially bilingual but the majority of us are not close to being fluent in French. Only the politicians benefit from speaking both official languages.
'The American economy is much more self-contained' - really? Think it over, how many of the things in your home, your place of work are actually 'made in the usa'?
@@doppel0107 just because most products are made in China, doesn’t mean we are reliant on China. It doesn’t all of a sudden mean we need to learn Chinese either
Thank you for this! I have been saying this for years!! For a very long time, we could travel between Canada, US & Mexico without a need for a passport. It only changed in the 2000s.
Yep, my only visit to another country was Canada in 2003 when I could fly on a birth certificate and ID. The nonsense we have to go through right now with the new "Real ID" just to fly is nearly as bad as getting a passport. Europe is part of the European Union, they can travel between countries the same way we can travel between states. Makes me wonder how many of them have travelled beyond the Union.
Kyle I love you but as a middle eastern person I find it cringe when non middle eastern people call white people cringe for wearing our traditional clothing. I don’t think it’s cringe, it’s appreciation and it makes me sad that white people aren’t going to want to explore and appreciate our culture because they’re too afraid to be labeled as racist. All love here, for ALL races.
My immigrant grandparents always wanted me to be proud of my Norwegian heritage, so I do tend say, “I’m Norwegian”, when I really mean to say, “I’m Norwegian-American”. There aren’t many Norwegian-Americans in my part of the US, so when I meet someone with a Norwegian sounding last name, I get immediately get interested. I might ask them if they’re “Norwegian”. I don’t ask them if they are Norwegian-American because the “American” part seems unnecessary (unless, of course, they have a Norwegian accent). Americans like to connect with one another in this way. But, Europeans react like, “How dare you presume to be one of us”! They are so conditioned to putting Americans in their place, that even when I say, “My grandparents are from Norway, and I have relatives in Norway and Denmark”, they give you a reaction that is “You’re presumptuous and an impostor. You’re not part of our exclusive club”. It seems kind of arrogant.
It's when you say you're "italian/irish/german" without the "american" suffix that we might react like this, simply because italian-american culture (jersey shore) is nothing like italian culture, etc
@@spudwishThe American is implied, especially since most of the time we are talking to other Americans. Also the cultural similarities would surprise you.
Identify however you want. You're white, so anything you do will be bad, ESPECIALLY if you're proud of your European heritage. Just remember that that there's a double standard when it comes to race, and every other race gets to celebrate their non-American heritage with zero criticism. So just be proud of who you are and where you came from, and don't worry about people who will criticize you no matter what you say or do.
Europeans are just bitter and envious. They have endure wars and famine that Americans have not maybe that’s why they’re so full of anger and bitterness.
I hate when people complain that we don’t travel abroad, like we don’t do it because we’re stuck up or something. It’s my dream to travel abroad and I get so sad that I can’t. And I’m sure many others feel the same. I don’t think they understand how expensive it is. Thousands of dollars just for the flights, then multiplied by the number of people in your family. Plus you’d need to stay awhile to make it worth it and we don’t always get that much vacation time. This is why we often road trip instead. At least America is beautiful and diverse so we can enjoy what we got.
Yeah, it's kinda weird because it's an actual trope in any mode of story-telling in American media to have that dream trip to Paris, or Venice, or Kyoto etc. But it IS always set up as this big dream or far off goal because the finances and time needed to make it happen are beyond most peoples' means. Americans absolutely have interest in traveling abroad, it's just a massive undertaking compared to domestic.
I'm sure you're right. There are however, multiple ways to experience Europe which might involve less cost, like working vacations or volunteering, or tourism/entertainment opportunities like my cousin's daughter took advantage of in Greece last year. Even educational opportunities, like free university tuition in Germany with no German language proficiency required. Yes, that's right -- FREE! While you're studying in Germany, you can then travel for a relatively low cost around the rest of Europe. Get a Eurail Pass and travel all around between semesters. Or even short weekend jaunts. Definitely do-able.
@@sadee1287 What you’re describing is not a holiday but LIVING in Europe. Definitely not feasible for most people’s lives and not what was being discussed. I’m sure it’s a great experience though for those few who are able to.
Some foreign Geography UA-camrs: “Americans don’t know Geogrpraphy” Me who has been obsessed with Geography since I was little and is American: “Heyy…!”
Same. I love when non-Americans resort to asking you a canned “gotcha question” that you know they specifically looked up because they thought it’s obscure knowledge, only for you to immediately give them the correct answer. Would love to see some of the smug people embarrass themselves in a middle school geography bee.
That's a good reminder to tell ourselves in this UA-cam thread that we are painting with a very broad brush. I'm a senior Canuck and I have a lifetime of examples of facepalm moments with my US counterparts, but at the same time I have rubbed shoulders with the best of the best in my telco days regarding the US. My own relatives in Santa Monica are a good example. One cousin that is savvy with the world, however his girlfriend actually asked me if Vancouver was ever ice free and if we could drive cars there. My cousin let out a painful howl when she asked that.
I’m only partway through this video, but i have to say something before i forget it. When Europeans come to the U.S., they want to see, say, New York and Florida and the Grand Canyon and Yellowstone. Many figure these places are close together and they can fit them all into a weeklong trip. They really have no idea of the vast distances in North America. Kudos, Geoff, on an excellent video. This is one of your best.
Yeah, this is very real. I worked at a summer camp with some international staff from Turkey. We're in the middle of nowhere in Michigan, and they are from Istanbul. They were expecting to just be able to drive to the nearest "big city" and party. Anything that they would consider acceptable would be like 3-4 hours away. Michigan is also a good example of nobody understanding that our "lakes" are basically just inland seas
This is such a good point! Even a smaller region of the US can be difficult to see on a weeklong trip, like if they want to go to New York City but also visit say Niagara Falls (a 7 hour drive away) or see Disney World and the Keys (also like a 7 hour drive). Sure you could fly but that is expensive and still takes quite a big chunk out of your vacation time to be in an airport. Traveling through just one state is insanely time-consuming and expensive, its hard to imagine anyone trying to see that much in such a short amount of time.
I mean no disrespect to anyone but as a general observation, the most rude tourists I've seen have almost always been Chinese. They don't respect personal space, the concept of lines/queues, and are just flat out rude to others.
My last position before retiring last year was with a large (very large) Swiss company that has a product development site in my California home town. When I visited their Rotkreuz campus, I learned that the "official" language for company business was English. It is a very multicultural company that decided to use English as the "common denominator", even at the Swiss campus.
As a European, Americans must understand that we make as much (or more) fun of our own nation as we do of other nations. But I feel Americans don't like it when foreigners are critical of their country. They expect us to simply adore America, because "We liberated Europe in WW2..."
@@thomasvan7738 No, Thomas, we don't expect you to adore us. If anything, 21st century Americans are quite unlikely to pull the "We saved the world card" anymore; we're more likely to talk about what bad people we are. Your comment was a generalization; Kyle here was talking about just one particular observation, the perception of American geographic ignorance.
@@TheTrex9000not true, I’ve seen videos where they fly their flags they get arrested for it, especially in the UK when they are protests from people cheering for Palestine.
Traveling from Wyoming to the rest of the USA is similar. It often involves a long drive to a large airport out of state and an overnight stay prior to boarding to and from, or driving to a smaller airport in state that has one flight a day, then long layovers for connecting flights. These can add at least three extra days to a vacation of just traveling to and from an airport.
I wonder how many Europeans have actually travelled outside of the European Union, and truly travelled abroad. I bet if they say they've visited America, then it's probably only Disney World in Florida, Disneyland in California, or maybe New York City. I highly doubt many of them have a 50 state check off list.
I am Gen X and took French in high school. I think it is better now, but waiting until high school to teach languages, definitely makes it difficult to learn. I know friends who have children learning Chinese in elementary school.
I don’t know what Europeans are expecting of us geography wise. I’ve seen people get mad that we can’t label all of Europe and don’t know the obscure countries. Why would we? We don’t live there. We have 50 states to memorize. But whenever someone asks me what state I’m from, they’ve never heard of it.
America is roughly the size of Europe, and we have 50 states to their 44-50 countries (depending on the definition of a sovereign nation). So we have as much to learn about our own country as Europeans do for their entire continent. And I guarantee most non-Americans think all our states are basically alike. California is different from Florida in pretty much every way imaginable. They might as well be different countries.
@@reddykilowatt Maryland. I was talking to one guy in Egypt and he asked me if I was from California or New York. I said neither, one of the others. And his response was, “there are more??” I said yea, there are 50! He was so surprised. But even when I talk to Australians, Irish, UK, etc. they’ve never heard of Maryland.
@@JakeKoenig How about mid-town Manhattan or Beverky Hills versus a 'holler' in Appalachia? Or E. St. Louis vs Yosemite (yos-might, lol) Falls? Might as well be another planet...
@@catgirl6803 that’s funny. I was in South Africa once and someone asked me where in America I was from. Figuring he’d have no idea what town it would be I just said California. He said is that near New York! I said well compared to where we are right now, yes it is, but that I don’t really think of it that way. 😂😂
On the travelling point, Americans also don't get as much time off as other industrialized nations. People in other countries take for granted the paid time off and vacation they get.
And when the Brits get the time, they’re likely to go sit on a beach in Alicante, or even worse, a Caribbean beach that was under British rule until fifteen minutes ago. The French, they go sit on their own beaches.
My husband is from Germany and I have to say, they have far more vacation time than we have in the U.S. They get over a month off. We are lucky to get 2 weeks. That's certainly not enough time to go traveling around the world. Who wants to spend days of our precious, hard won vacation time traveling when we just just drive to the next state?
Indeed. And it's something to think of when comparing quality of life - I don't think too many Americans would refuse an extra two weeks of paid vacation time, even those who bleat about being "number one" and Europeans being "jealous."
When I was a kid in the 1950's, my dad bought me and my brother an inexpensive globe and a jigsaw puzzle map of the US states. They were colorful, fun to study and made clear where and how big the continents, countries and states actually are. Comparable items are available today at very reasonable cost. (Globes can also be found in most public libraries.) The basic geographic knowledge is readily available if we care to learn it.
I learned about US geography in exactly the same way. My dad bought me this kind of puzzle when we were about to relocate from the Czech Republic to California. The move never happened, but the puzzle really sparked my interest in (political) geography. In high school we only learned about physical geography, and even that was taught in an uninspiring way. So if I had only relied on the educational system, I would have become a 'dumb European' in this area of knowledge.
I’m an Indian who has traveled to 12 countries, lived in the United States for the last 7 Years and now moving up to Canada. Many Americans I have spoken to wish they could travel outside the United States but do not have the financial privilege. It’s insensitive to judge an entire nationality that way. Also, as a first-generation immigrant the last few minutes hit me hard. Big fan of your work as a fellow geography nerd!
This is one of your better videos. Very insightful on how geography shapes our culture. You should do more with the true sizes of countries. People would be amazed to know the the northern tip of Brazil is closer to every country in the Americas than it is to the southern tip of Brazil.
Interestingly, the southeasternmost point of the United States (Puerto Rico) is closer to every nation of the Americas and the Caribbean, and possibly even to Africa, than it is to the northernomst point in the United States (Point Barrow, Alaska).
Its about time someone did a video like this. Pointing out US ignorance of Canadian geography seems to be a favourite parlour game to us Canadians. I live in Alberta and can tell just as many "ignorant Eastern Canadian" stories, and we are not even talking about foreign countries. Many seem to think that the world ends west of Toronto. While it is true Canadians know a lot more about the US than vice-versa that is due to heavy US media presence. Even so, outside of the megalopoli how many Canadians could tell you much about, say, Iowa or New Mexico? They don't make the news often (except in primary season, lol) and they don't have a lot of newsmakers living there. And they get fewer Canadian visitors. The number of English-French speakers even in Ontario would be low compared to Europe. All in all, thanks for making this video. I will de-smugify many people.
It's not only geography The Netherlands has a population of 17.70 million Sweden has a population of 10.49 million LA metro area has a population of 12.6 million The New York metropolitan area has a population of 20.1 million. This is greater than 46 states and 41/51 European countries
I always laugh at the non-Americans who say things like this. They want to scream how ignorant we are by showing how ignorant they are. Oh, well, nobody’s perfect, but some people sure like to think they are.
Boy Kyle , I've been preaching this to anyone who would listen forever . I live in Toronto and have spent my entire life of 72 years traveling . I love to road trip and when I head for Vancouver do you know where I can get with 24 hrs. of constant driving ? The Ontario / Manitoba Border ! That's right , 24 hrs. straight and I haven't even left my province . This is a huge and beautiful continent ( and you didn't even need a passport traveling between our countries till 9/11 ruined that.) The U.S. has Plains , Mountains , Arctic , Tropics , Deserts , South Pacific Islands , Caribbean Islands all accessible without a passport , I can think of no other country that can make that claim . As far as English is concerned it was the " perfect storm ". The British built an empire thus spreading English , and , the U.S. took over as the dominant power ( including the entertainment industry ) in the first half of the 20th. century reinforcing the dominance of English as a world wide 2nd. language . The only thing I must take issue with is your map of Canada . I think it may be upside down .
Your comment brings to mind something Bismarck said: "The most significant event of the 20th century will be the fact that the North Americans speak English."
All good points. When I was visiting Jordan, a guy I rented a car from told me that most vacationers to Jordan are French, British and American. Of course there are Dutch and others, but those are the big three. He said out of them they like Americans the most because they are happy to be there. From the horses mouth.
As a Scot who has travelled to the states many times, I have to say that yes, I have met many stupid Americans; I have also met stupid people within 6 feet of my own front door! The generalisation is unfair, and I have met so many wonderful Americans - I think my favourite state is Idaho though, as absolutely everyone I met whilst travelling around there was fantastic, friendly, fun.... and most certainly not stupid
I think that we all need to come to an understanding that there are stupid and smart people everywhere. I notice that this is also a thing with generations.
"Travel has no longer any charm for me. I have seen all the foreign countries I want to except heaven and hell and I have only a vague curiosity about one of those." - Mark Twain
“Travel is fatal to prejuidce, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.” -Mark Twain
Couldn’t agree with these points more as an American. I’ve gotten to travel abroad a lot this past year, and it’s both easy and fun to impress Europeans with geography knowledge. What’s also interesting is that if you try to speak in the native language in some places, lots of people will just default to English.
I found saying "I'm very sorry, I don't speak German, do you happen to speak English" was a great way to be polite. I only ran into maybe 4 people on my visit years ago who didn't speak any English.
That often happens because they want to make it easier on you, but you can counter it by saying "thank you, no -- I'd like to try to speak (insert language)." I did this in Montreal. And the server was flattered and happy that I did and said "Not too many people are like you. Thank you."
You had me at "not looking for drama," Mr. Kyle. Refreshing. Thank you for well-considered geographic (and logical) perspectives I have not seen anywhere else. I went to the site, "The True Size Of" and saved it right away. That is super-informative. I have seen Americans in Mexico behave rudely, but they very rare in my experience. The rest of us behaved as very welcome guests, as we were treated.
@@GeographyKing I loved the deadpan delivery when you called Australia 'Canada'. Also how you left Tasmania off the map because they lose their shit over that. Ditto calling out the prominent NZ when it wasn't shown too.
Great analysis! I live in the Western US. Last summer, we took a trip to Scotland. We planned this trip for over two years and saved up. The flight alone cost us over $2000 apiece and we had two layovers on the way. 14 hours in the air. We had a wonderful time, but I would guess most Americans could at most be able to make one or two trips like this in a lifetime.
Two layovers?? Where did you fly from? When I flew to London in 1986 -- it was a direct flight of 10 hours. From Calgary to London. Granted where I live now I'd have to make a stop at Toronto, but otherwise the flight goes straight to Heathrow.
@@sadee1287 We flew out of Boise, Idaho. Originally, we were supposed to go Boise/Denver/Newark/Edinburgh, but our first flight got cancelled, so we had to fly out the next day, which was Boise/San Francisco/Newark/Edinburgh. We could have gotten a flight with only one layover, but the tickets would have cost significantly more. Then they also lost our luggage. I hate flying. lol
Great points, K man. Texas is so large, there are so many things in my own "backyard" that I can travel to to see. Going from Houston to Big Bend is a monumental trip. Europeans are the ones who don't understand America. Also, pretty much any white American (let's say whose grandparents were all born here) is going to be some mix of English, Irish, German, or Italian. The first Euro settlers were mostly British, then the 1800s was a huge wave of Irish and German. And the early 1900s mostly Italian wave. And that wasn't that long ago. I've got ancestry from the mid-1600s in America and can trace every ancestor back to Europe. My most recent were my German-American great-great-grandparents who came here in the 1880s. I knew my great-grandma as a kid and she was born to German immigrants. I have her cookbook in my pantry and it's got stuff like stollen, brats/sauerkraut, etc. My dad's side I can trace back to Ireland circa the potato famine. That was not that long ago... Irish came here and had kids with other Irish, who did the same, etc. It's not like your heritage disappears. So, while I'm 11th generation American, with ancestors who fought in the Revolutionary War I very much identify as "Irish", "Irish-American", or "Irish and German." It's totally standard here for entrenched Americans to still refer to their European heritage. Not sure why that angers so many Euros. Sorry your ancestors didn't have the stones to cross the Atlantic to get to USA#1.
My ancestors came here in a slave ship and unfortunately I can’t trace them back that far since they were property up until 1865 and second-class citizens until 1965. USA#1 😂
It definitely makes the US sound dumb when people point out how many people in Canada have Passports, but 90% of Canada's population lives within 100 miles of the US border. How many of those passports are used to go somewhere OTHER than the US? That would be a more meaningful comparison and data point IMO.
@@thefactsarethese3668 We are part of the Commonwealth which means we can easily hop any of those countries with a quick scan. Mine has stamps from the Philippines, Thailand, Cambodia, England, Australia, New Zealand, Antigua Barbados, but not one from the USA. Americans that visit up here usually have to immediately go through culture shock, such as getting Canadian funds as change when they buy something up here. That really throws off some Americans. At times the police have to be called.
@@tunnsie Believe it or not, I have been to Canada multiple times in full knowledge that it was a different country with different customs, shocking, I know. Of course there are stupid Americans, but there are stupid people from every country. Last I checked, Philippines and Thailand aren't part of the Commonwealth of Nations. Congrats to you I guess on going all over the world but being very original by not going to your closest neighbor. The hipsters of 2010 would be very proud of you.
The majority of Americans don’t live all that close to an international airport either-it takes me three airports on the eastern seaboard to leave the USA every time I travel internationally-and as others have said, we don’t get much vacation to traipse around the world. This is a great video and I think you’re spot on. I do travel quite a bit and have been asked to defend my entire country for only speaking English! Once I was on a flight in Greece that got cancelled and everything was announced first in Greek and then English, and people were griping to “Speak English!” And being the only native English speaker in the group it made me laugh, but it is the universal language now. Europe has super cheap interior flights too-whereas the US doesn’t! I wanted to point out that if you’re going abroad it’s worth checking into flying to the cheapest European city and taking another flight from there. I can get to Egypt way cheaper doing that than NY to Cairo. Plus the more you travel around, the more you naturally learn geography.
Thanks Kyle: Another informative and fun episode. I also am going to Europe this spring. I am starting in Budapest 04 MAY to see the Dimash Qudaibergen concert, and then will spend a month traveling to Vienna, Prague, Amsterdam, Paris, London. My personal Grand Tour.
The travel and passport issue is multidimensional. The USA is large, Isolated, offers so much within its borders, including going to the arctic (Alaska) or Polynesia (Hawaii) without a passport. If we want an Alpine ski weekend, we can go to the Sierra or Rocky Mountains. If we want a seaside holiday, we have so much variety from tropical islands, to rocky coastlines, to long stretches of white sandy beaches, to bays and swamps, etc. We even have sub cultures of the USA to consider as well and can immerse ourselves in Latin American culture in Miami, Cajun in Louisiana, or Asian cultures in California. We also have a variety of big city vibes that cross and aggregate a variety of International cultures. We can even take cruises out of our southeastern ports and travel to the Caribbean to American territories like the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico without a passport. And yes, the costs and distances is a HUGE deterrent to Americans travelling to Europe, Asia and beyond. We don't have very many budget airline options to cross the Atlantic. It's typically going to cost well over $1000 a person just for that round trip ticket alone. That all said, I do have a passport and have been to dozens of countries in Europe, Asia, South America and the Middle East. I am privileged though and I know that there are millions and millions of Americans who would like to travel but they neither have the time (limited vacation time at their jobs) nor the money.
Europeans definitely don't regularly travel to North Africa and the Middle East, the vast majority of us have never been there. The only places we "travel south" to is the Mediterranean coast. And that's in the summer, basically no ones goes to the coast in winter. And Europe doesn't get cold. It is on a higher latitude than the US, but because of the Gulf stream most of Europe stays moderately cool during the winter, only Russia and northern Scandinavia get winters like in the Midwest.
Most of what you've said is accurate but there were a few things you left out. First off - most European Countries have a Class Based Society. This comes from when there were nobles and peasants which the US never had. This creates an inherent belief that some people are better than others. We have an Upper Class here - but - it's financially based - not blood based. The thing is - one of the most universal human traits is that everyone tends to think they are better than everyone else. Everyone does that. The Japanese, the Chinese, the Indians and certainly the Europeans. Of course - the same is true within the United States, people from one area just assuming that they are better than everyone else in the country. The reason that the Europeans all look down on the US is because they used to be, prior to WWI - the Great Powers of the World - and we replaced them. They hate that. So, while they may each think they are better than the other European countries - and everyone else in the world - they ALL think they are better than the Americans. Given the fact that they have to a large degree been swamped with out culture due to the dominance of American Television - this is one more thing for them to resent. So - it is an article of faith among Europeans that Americans are stupid. We are not of course any more stupid than they are. They have plenty of people who are stupid. Also - if you look at the job they did when they were ruling the world - they've got nothing to brag about. .
If you live in continental Europe, you can visit lots of other countries by car or train, which can be much more affordable than airfare. For my family of 5 to visit Europe , the cost of airfare alone can easily be more than $4,000. Obviously, that’s so much more than the cost of a car trip from Germany to Spain.
Air fair is the cheapest tho. My friend flew from London to Romania for 20 pounds. Only to travel around Germany by train will cost me hundreds of euros.
Being a geography nerd myself, I am naturally interested in all parts of the globe, I'll spend hours looking for different archipelagos, islands, etc., on Google Maps. We rarely travel outside the US because, yes, it's very expensive. I do tend to notice when people don't even know which direction they're going when they travel here though. The fall of good old paper map to the onboard navigation app is to blame for people that can't read a compass. Didn't think I'd like this video, glad I stuck with it- thanks Kyle!
And in Europe, all workers have 25 days of vacation, paid double by the employer, of course, and around 13 holidays per year, which gives around 35 days of annual vacation.
@@khsh99 Rhode Island is a ripoff. it's my second favorite state but it isn't even an island! Back in the colonial days it was the British colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.
I appreciate your points in the video and agree that editing plays a significant role in shaping perceptions on this topic. However, it's important to recognize that many young Americans do struggle with basic knowledge about their own country and beyond, not just in geography. As a European, I was surprised to easily answer most questions from the referenced videos, which are common knowledge here. The rise of "stupid American" content on UA-cam indicates that this isn't just an isolated issue. Additionally, while the U.S. offers diverse landscapes and cultures, traveling abroad could greatly broaden American perspectives, fostering a deeper understanding and appreciation of the world. And one doesn't have to cross the pond to experience this.
I am planning on visiting Germany next year. I am learning German beforehand. My ancestry goes back there but I am an American first and foremost. It will be the trip of a lifetime. I have heard stories of Europeans visiting America and not understanding the scale of the country. They think they can drive from New York to LA in one day. Geographical illiteracy is certainly not confined to the USA.
When I was 10 my family moved from Michigan to Alabama. The first assignment in History class was to fill in a blank outline of the United States. I filled in the states, larger cities, rivers, etc. Almost all of my southern classmates left it almost entirely blank.
The US became a country before Germany. So it's like there are ethnicities that have been around forever, and countries that keep evolving, but both may go by the same name. Complicated but definitely not boring.
Well said Kyle. I've been attacked for being an example this type of, "ignorance." Usually by people presuming that, because I'm a white American male, I'm automatically a racist jackass because I don't know the geography of their country or culture, or a place or culture they are interested in. It usually takes no more than a few minutes conversation to establish that most people are no more knowledgeable than I am about the world's geography and its varied cultures. Usually they're less knowledgeable. It's impossible to know the whole Earth's geography and all the world's cultures. There's not enough memory in any human to know it all. I like how you pointed out the scale of the United States compared to most of the world's countries. It's like one Japanese woman told me once, Americans don't need to leave their own country to see something new and interesting. The country is so big and diverse. That's not to say I don't want to see other countries. I do, and I have, but it's easy to stay in the U.S. and be perfectly satisfied with all of the new discoveries you make.
Worth noting that English has for a long time been the international language of trade and diplomacy. It's a holdover from the era of the British Empire, but that is an important reason why English is spoken around the world. And, yes, I have visited many parts of the world.
Thank you Geography King. A brutally honest video that all of Europe needs. I'm in Ohio and it's unbelievably expensive and unreasonable for the large majority of Americans to travel abroad. I have been lucky enough to do so and I respected the local cultures to the tee. I hate the stereotype of the 'ugly American'. Unfortunately I only speak English but the other four points are false, as a rule.
Steve, I think that a good country to compare with US (in these questions in the video) is Brazil. We have many differences in culture, but... Talking about other countries among Brazilians makes me feel like an alien, in almost 99% of cases. Yes, I have studied Geography (and journalism)... But, in these cases and situations Brazilians are VERY MUCH like the american syreotype!
the reason why Europeans are smug about this is that they define themselves in contrast with the US (Canada does the same too). They don't see the US as somewhere very similar, but rather "somewhere that doesn't have a healthcare system like us" or "somewhere that has lots of guns that we don't". they focus on the differences, not the similarities, likely because US has a worldwide cultural hegemony as everyone is listening to our music, watching our movies, using our social media apps, etc so they do this as a sort of protective measure. I do also wonder how much of the European cultural superiority complex is a remnant of their colonial past where they projected their national "superiority" on to much of the Global South.
@@lemuret69 Yes! But that is a valid differentiation! Same music/movies, but better health care, free(!) education, ~30 paid vacation days each year etc.
@@lemuret69 Yes, absolutely! I just didn't read the first post solely as criticising Europeans for making that distinction. I think it's rather interesting how little Europeans try to escape American cultural hegemony (music, movies, etc.) in some areas but make this distinction in an extra strong way regarding other areas (like the mentioned health care, education, probably even the original topic - geographic knowledge)
From 4th grade to 61 yrs.of age, I know all my state capitals, most people will run out of states before I run out of capital cities. One is either apathetic or not. Thank you for speaking up.
Knowing your state capitals isn't education it's common sense when it comes to Proper education in every other country. Every other country makes their students learn at least 50 different countries rather than 50 states and their capitals 😂 but you do you. Smart American.
@@AutismoGamer did you watch the video ? that was the point of this video ..every state is like a different country,, airline pilots in every country must speak English. English is taught throughout the entire world. Kyle is absolutely right about the bigotry. How can you say it's not education and then say it's Common Sense proper education ?
@@timothydillow3160 If you cannot comprehend something after reading it once, refrain from speaking hastily. Take the time to process the information before making assumptions. It is a fact that a significant portion of the American population lacks critical thinking skills. Additionally, it is a fact that a substantial number of Americans cannot read beyond a sixth-grade literacy level.
As a European (Greece) that have travelled a bit around the world, I can confirm that most people around the world have no idea about geography, no matter their ethnicity. I have found the percentages to be about the same, no matter where in the world you are.
Make no mistakes about it, stupidity knows no boundaries, I have gotten in arguments with folks about Islands, the number of people that think Scotland and Greece are Islands is incredible
And if you add in Hawaii and Alaska, there is every climate and type of area to explore. Although the Florida is down there in Baghdad was pretty funny.
Very thought provoking. Thank you. Also I think we Americans don’t travel the US to see and learn about this country, we have so much beautiful to explore.
Not going to lie, I was really impressed with the direction this vid took. I work in the aviation industry, so travel is part of the package, and the truths about European tourists are spot on.
You're impressed with him making this an "America versus Europe" video and ignoring the rest of the world, despite the rest of the world being even MORE critical of Americans? Interesting. I think a better conversation is why this topic was limited to Europeans, and why people like you are "impressed with that direction." Pretty sure I know the answer though.
@@JakeKoenig All of the videos I've seen about this subject have been from European channels. I follow several African channels, and I don't hear the same rhetoric from them. They tend to be more critical of Europe and the colonizing countries. But there's also the economic factor. Wealthy countries are going to compare themselves to each other.
@@JakeKoenig Europeans are the only ones really whining about Americans. I don't see Pakistani or Iraqi channels constantly complaining about us (unless it's about our government, which is a completely different topic), but Europeans have nothing but negative things to say about Americans.
Excellent explanation about language, especially the part about "Canada", and New Zealand, which is definitely, totally clearly visible on that map! Another way to explain it is that you can literally drive for 87 hours from Homer, AK to Key West, FL and only pass through areas that speak English (I think the fact that we have a large neighboring country, let's call it "Australia", that also speaks primarily English is an important part of the explanation). Furthermore, it's the whole of the Americas that's notorious for being monolingual, meaning Latin America, too. Similarly, I assume that, even though it's many countries, it's because you can travel very far only needing to speak Spanish. Rio Gallegos, Argentina to Barranquilla, Colombia is a whopping 134 hours (and that's not even taking you all the way through Mexico, since there are no roads between Colombia and Panama)! Yeah, the reason we don't travel abroad much is 3-fold. First, it costs a lot of time an money to get out of such a large country because of the distance just to leave the country. Second, the country is so big, there's so much to see here, there's less reason to leave, especially since, circularly, we don't speak other languages. Third, because the country is so big, we tend to have family in various places across the country, so we spend out vacation time visiting them and don't have much left for tourism abroad. As more of an aside, most Central American countries are dangerous, and even South America is a bit far and surprisingly expensive to get to given its proximity.
Yes but this is also related to the religion. And most of them living here only in second or third generation and still have strong bonds to family in turkey. It is not at all comparable.
I'm an American whose spent a few months in Japan across a couple trips (including some very non-touristy areas; I am conversational in Japanese, etc). In my time there, I saw some happy and outgoing Americans who were open but also a bit silly. I talked to some Mexicans who were deeply interested in learning other cultures, languages, etc. I encountered a couple of Swedes who seemed to be very judgmental at the idea of someone enjoying local cuisine "too much". (Why are you even traveling, then??). I met a Chilean guy who lived there and had become fluent. I met some old British dudes who had lived there 20+ years but still needed a break to go chill at an english rock bar. I saw a bunch of loud Chinese tour groups intent on standing in the middle of the road. I sat shoulder-to-shoulder with some Vietnamese college kids who didnt know any English OR Japanese but wanted to be friendly and smile with me and everyone else anyhow. I joked around with a middle aged Nigerian man. I had a long conversation with a Bangladeshi guy who was so happy to practice his English with me (using our shared Japanese for any communication problems). I've been refused service for being a foreigner; witnessed drunk salarymen yell at wait staff for being Chinese; had someone assume I was from France and be surprised when I couldn't help him practice his French; embarrassed a dude for telling him I could understand him when he was talking about me. I've also had people who'd never left their prefecture want to know everything there was to know about my US state, what we eat, what we do. One thing I've learned is that there can be idiots from every country; jerks from every country; friendly and curious people from every country; and people who seem to know nothing about the world outside, but given the chance are eager to learn everything there is to know about my not-so-famous part of America. Americans may be stupid, but so is everyone else! xD
as a non-American asian, I love this video and how most Americans treat people from other cultures. I used to study and live in the US and now living in Europe for years, I can assure most educated American are far less arrogant than a majority of people from certain European countries! btw it always makes me feel privileged to travel in the US, love the diverse vast landscape! god bless America!
I think one reason for the increase in passports is that you need one to travel between the US and Canada/Mexico now. Before, you could just use an ID to get across the border. Cruises are now cheaper than ever which probably helps. You can go to Mexico for 3 days for like $300. You even need a passport to cruise to Alaska since the departure port is in Vancouver.
I'm an American and have been living in Europe for the past 15 years, Spain to be specific. English has become the de facto lingua franca between Europeans so you know who you will frequently find themselves annoyed that the others don't speak English?? Other Europeans!! But you won't hear about that anywhere because it's not an easy sellable trope for content. The Spanish are known for being one the European countries with poor English, likely for similar geopolitical historical reasons Kyle explains. They've got an economic language bloc that includes all of Latin America which they exchange people, skills and business with and managed to export their language through conquest which I guess the dutch east India company never could do. Ever try speaking Dutch? Good luck pal! Anyway long story short... know who you'll find frequently in Spain complaining the English is bad?? The Germans, the Dutch, the Scandinavians.
I personally don't think that money is a real deal breaker for Americans to travel. I think it's just sufficient amount of tourist attractions withing the borders
@@AlphaGeekgirl it doesn't mattter that there are plenty of dumb ones, we are an extremely unequal country, so the smart ones usually end up with all the power while the dumb ones happily slave away in poor working conditions for crappy wages because as long as we have a distraction (immigrants, lbgbtq+ people, etc) for them to direct their anger towards, then they'll continue to vocally support any decrease in their social services, workers' righta, etc and will be willing to die in foreign conflicts for us. this is why the European economy has lagged massively behind the US, our working class is much more subservient and thus they are easier to exploit and extract labor from
You are an awesome guy. I'm joining your Patron site now, and I assure you I only join a few. Your content and delivery of real knowledge are extraordinary!
I'm a Brit, and for many years I worked closely with a US partner company. The guys there told me that most people they knew had never been out of the state never mind out of the country, so the distance argument doesn't really wash.
@@rainycitygirl well you are really clutching at straws aren’t you. Read my damn post (if you can). These were ppl I knew very well so I have no reason to doubt what they told me. Sorry if the truth is a bit inconvenient for you.
I think one problem when visiting in other countries is that they assume that all obnoxious tourists are American when in fact they are not. I am not familiar with the map tool you were showing, but I will definitely be looking for it.
I just used the true size of app to place Texas on Germany. With Paris France placed where El Paso is south Texas is deep in to Italy, east Texas is in Hungary and North Texas in Denmark.
I am Portuguese and live in Portugal, and I perfectly understand your arguments, which are completely valid. In Europe, northern Europeans travel to southern Europe in the summer, but flights, for example, do not exceed 100 dollars, and a 4-star hotel with everything included does not exceed 500 euros per week...
I completely agree with you Kyle. My wife is from Belarus and all I hear from some of them is how bad the USA is. None of them have ever been to the USA but they have a preconceived notion of it. But I’m a firm believer that you can’t judge a place if you haven’t been there. Anyways, interesting video as always!
Honestly, before I moved to US some 20 years ago, I thought single family houses in the movies were just American propaganda. An average person cannot own a house, is the automatic belief in other countries. And people must be miserable is another automatic belief. (Side note: after living in NYC for 15 of these years, I still cannot make peace with car dependency but I don’t think that is what Belarussians are critisicing for)
@@chefnyc97% of Romanians own properties. We are nr1 in the world. My white grandpa was a slave as a kid. When he was 20 he built a big house. Floodings came and he moved in other region. When he got there he built another house with yard, vine yard and garden. Our house was huge. We sold it last year. He was minimum wage worker. He did it all by himself.
@@alexia2189 Sorry for the confusing American terms. A house in US refers to "single family detached" residence. A condo refers to a "unit inside a building intended for sale". If the unit is for rental then it is called an apartment. What I meant was "in other countries including my former country, single detached houses are considered luxury, so average Joe living in such a place cannot be real. Hence must be propaganda". My father also built a house with his own hands in 1980. The rule there is you build something on your land without any permits, and as an election bribe, the government forgives you :)
I wish I could speak another language, but it’s hard to get motivated for the reasons you mentioned. I had three semesters of Spanish in college, but… I calculate it would take me about 8.5 days to drive from my house to Fairbanks, Alaska. Not only would nearly everyone speak English along the way, they would mostly have the same general North American accent I have.. Plus, We can travel to other English speaking countries like the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland. And, these are interesting countries definitely worth visiting. I get six and half weeks of vacation a year, but I have never been outside North America. I would like to travel farther, but I never get around to it. Plus, I’m a little concerned about being judged. Are people going to look down their noses at me because I only speak one language; because I wear polo shirts, cargo shorts, and running shoes; because I’m not a pro at using public transportation; basically just because I’m American? It seems like such a hassle compared to visiting San Francisco, New York, LA, Chicago, national parks, New Orleans, Maine, Puerto Rico, Aspen, Hawaii, etc. Not to mention relatives in other parts of the US.
Having been from Australia to America 3 times, spending about 3 months overall, through 18 states, we have found Americans to be so friendly and welcoming no matter where we go and they are interested in where we are from. Although we have very similar backgrounds, we love to see and experience the differences in cultures, scenery and food. We have also met a good number of Americans who are visiting Australia and your video does explain why they seem to experience culture shock when visiting even a similar culture like Australia. Whether it is not being able to buy Lucky Charms or visit a Dairy Queen or see Chevys driving the streets on the right hand side of the road, whilst we tend to embrace the experience of the changes, most, not all, Americans that we have met seem to experience anxiety because of those changes. As per your video, the fact that for miles around, you can get the same things everywhere must make it much harder to travel.
I saw an Instagram post by an Englishman traveling in the U.S. that was making many of the same points. He was astonished by how vast the U.S. is and how many things you can see without leaving the country compared to living in Europe.
I live in central Texas. If I want to leave Texas, it's a 5 hour drive in every direction.
Not if you're headed west or toward the panhandle. That drive from ATX to El Paso - while gorgeous - is most certainly not five hours.
@@ChristopherStandardTime Yeah it’s even longer. What’s your point dawg
@@peterloftus4011 I think the point is rather clear: "west" is a direction.
@@ChristopherStandardTime I really want to argue back but I feel like we’re having two entirely different conversations.
same with me in central florida, its 4 hours to georgia which is the nearest state
I just saw a British guy on Instagram talking about how, in America, everything is so SO much bigger than Europe. His thesis was, it's no wonder Americans haven't been to other countries, because in America, you don't need to! You can go from almost the highest mountains to the lowest desert valley within one state, then get to the ocean, then get to farmland, then get to areas that are like a rainforest, and you still have 3 TIME ZONES left to go. It's not necessarily as bad as it sounds to say you've only explored America if you've explored America right
I think this British guy is totally right!
I live in a "bigger" country than US mainland (if you don't count Alaska) and we here do NOT have such high mountains, nor such dry areas.
And we do not have sea coast in two Oceans (just in Atlantic Ocean)!
We have almost no snow in our territory... So not so cold weathers (and not thinking about Alaska).
And US have a so big amount of immigrants (so much more than my country), and from a more variety of countries. So, I think, you have more ethnical variety than a multiethnical country like mine.
Salute from São Paulo city, Brazil.
"We're the best, so we don't care about the rest of the World"
@@GamerWithAttitude1 sorry you missed the point, fam
@@GamerWithAttitude1 The whole thing went right over your head......sigh.....
Well the thing is, that’s also a lie. Most Americans HAVE left the country but the percentage with active passports is what they use for that point. You don’t need one if you’re driving or walking to Mexico and my friend got into Canada without it but they only let you do that a couple times lol. And mine expired and I haven’t renewed loony. We do travel y’all!
"floridas down there in baghdad", florida makes so much more sense now
🤣😂🤣😂
Oddly enough, there is a Bagdad, Florida. I know this because pro golfer Bubba Watson is from there.
😂😂
@@robloxvids2233I’m about 12 miles from there.
come on man
Another factor: in general Europeans get way more vacation (holiday?) time than Americans do. Many Americans simply don’t have the time off of work to take the time for a big trip halfway around the world.
Maybe we just don’t want holidays and need the extra work for financial reasons? Europeans CANNOT compare themselves to America because it’s apples to oranges comparison
Because they cannot afford it.
@@Labyrinth6000 When Europeans have time off, it's usually paid time off. I think it's a fair comparison, Europe just values work-life balance more.
@@Pr3miuM I get 6.5 weeks of paid vacation per year (which I can accrue up to 10 weeks). I would like to see Europe, Asia, Oceania, Latin America, Africa, but I never get around to it. It’s such a hassle to go to those places compared to visiting the national parks in the US, NYC, LA, San Francisco, Chicago, Hawaii, Aspen, Puerto Rico, New Orleans, etc. Plus, we like to visit relatives in other parts of the US. If I go to Europe, the people will be more judgmental towards me. Many of them will assume I’m stupid, that I own guns, I’m racist, that I don’t get paid vacations but I don’t care because money is all that matters to me, etc.
Europeons will never get that Americans dont need to "go halfway around the world" for a "holiday".
Something I've been saying for decades: No matter how you measure intelligence, half of the population is below the median. If your measure has a normal distribution, half the population is below average. If you only focus on the lower 50%, you might conclude the entire population lacks intelligence. People see only what they want to see.
The old George Carlin quote.
@@mpetersen6I've been a George fan all the way back to when he did 'indian sergeants" looking like an advertising executive. I still have at least 2 of his LPs that I bought back then.
As a 63-year-old Canadian who has visited America many times, I can honestly say Americans are the nicest, friendliest people you could hope to meet. I was visiting my father in Florida a few years back. Everyone was so respectful to us everywhere we went. It's almost as if the news and talk shows only show content that will make people angry or afraid, but when you go out and meet people, life isn't like that. Life is full of wonderful people, like Kyle.
I've lived in the Western US all my life, but have traveled on business throughout the US. I have to comment that people in the South far exceed the rest of us in manners and politeness. And I will add that I've been to Canada on vacation and business a dozen times, including our honeymoon. Canada is a great neighbor, (with the exception of Mr. Trudeau and his kind.)
In the US, some people do get treated poorly based on appearances (you can ask black folks about sunset towns, for instance). But by and large, the disconnect between what some politicians try to claim about out of control crime does not match with the every day reality.
Bless your heart darlin
So true. And you're welcome back Snow Bird 😊
@@johnchedsey1306 That's "bovine scatology."
This is where the smart Americans hang out
indeed my IQ is in the 90th percentile
@@JonathanCabotmy IQ is 95, which I'm sure means the 95th percentile. I is smart
Except for you
What, on our phones?
2+2 =?
Y'ALL - HE'S JOKING WHEN HE REFERRED TO AUSTRIA AS CAMBODIA.
😂
Hope so. lol. Or he just misspoke.
That was Australia as Canada. Austria is in Europe. Cambodia is in Southeast Asia - in the area once referred to as French Indo China. I hope YOU were joking when you said Austria and Cambodia.
@@railfan439the joke went over your head
@@kj64gaming19 They're talking about Austin and Canberra, right?
That was actually Angola, he thought it was Connecticut haha😂
Another reason Americans aren't generally bi- or trilingual is that there is no economic necessity. The American economy is much more self-contained than most individual European countries. In contrast, proficiency in more than one language is necessary when dealing with the European Union's commerce. I'm not saying it wouldn't be a great idea to be multilingual. It just isn't needed.
Exactly, there’s no financial necessities for me to learn Bulgarian or Finnish if there’s literally no one around me that speaks it!
For that matter, when I chose a second language to study in high school I picked Spanish bc I grew up in California. Came in handy the other day buying fruit from a roadside stand.
Canada is officially bilingual but the majority of us are not close to being fluent in French. Only the politicians benefit from speaking both official languages.
'The American economy is much more self-contained' - really? Think it over, how many of the things in your home, your place of work are actually 'made in the usa'?
@@doppel0107 just because most products are made in China, doesn’t mean we are reliant on China. It doesn’t all of a sudden mean we need to learn Chinese either
"prominently displayed New Zealand" 😂 shoutout to /r/mapswithoutnewzealand
People in Finland go down to Estonia for a few hours just to buy some cheaper alcohol lol.
We can do that too 😂.
Where are you from?!
@@eduardocajias5626 is this for me or the op?
@@lisapop5219 Oh, sorry! It's for you.
@@eduardocajias5626 the US. We can travel to different states where they have different taxes and prices on goods.
The projection corrected overlay of the US over Europe is brilliant.
Another interesting one, Kyle. Especially keen to know more about those Canadian cities of Perth, Sydney, and Brisbane you mentioned!!
🤓. I knew somebody would comment on this
I was very confused with that!
It was a joke 😂
Thank you for this! I have been saying this for years!! For a very long time, we could travel between Canada, US & Mexico without a need for a passport. It only changed in the 2000s.
And much of the Caribbean
Oh, so that explains why americans don't give a damn about the rest of World, right ?
Yep, my only visit to another country was Canada in 2003 when I could fly on a birth certificate and ID. The nonsense we have to go through right now with the new "Real ID" just to fly is nearly as bad as getting a passport. Europe is part of the European Union, they can travel between countries the same way we can travel between states. Makes me wonder how many of them have travelled beyond the Union.
@@SandrA-hr5zk Judging by all the postcards I used to sort for 33 years, quite a few.
Kyle I love you but as a middle eastern person I find it cringe when non middle eastern people call white people cringe for wearing our traditional clothing. I don’t think it’s cringe, it’s appreciation and it makes me sad that white people aren’t going to want to explore and appreciate our culture because they’re too afraid to be labeled as racist. All love here, for ALL races.
Thanks, this is a good comment.
My immigrant grandparents always wanted me to be proud of my Norwegian heritage, so I do tend say, “I’m Norwegian”, when I really mean to say, “I’m Norwegian-American”. There aren’t many Norwegian-Americans in my part of the US, so when I meet someone with a Norwegian sounding last name, I get immediately get interested. I might ask them if they’re “Norwegian”. I don’t ask them if they are Norwegian-American because the “American” part seems unnecessary (unless, of course, they have a Norwegian accent).
Americans like to connect with one another in this way. But, Europeans react like, “How dare you presume to be one of us”! They are so conditioned to putting Americans in their place, that even when I say, “My grandparents are from Norway, and I have relatives in Norway and Denmark”, they give you a reaction that is “You’re presumptuous and an impostor. You’re not part of our exclusive club”. It seems kind of arrogant.
Hi. I never act like this. Nor have I ever met anyone that does. Peace out.
It's when you say you're "italian/irish/german" without the "american" suffix that we might react like this, simply because italian-american culture (jersey shore) is nothing like italian culture, etc
@@spudwishThe American is implied, especially since most of the time we are talking to other Americans. Also the cultural similarities would surprise you.
Identify however you want. You're white, so anything you do will be bad, ESPECIALLY if you're proud of your European heritage. Just remember that that there's a double standard when it comes to race, and every other race gets to celebrate their non-American heritage with zero criticism. So just be proud of who you are and where you came from, and don't worry about people who will criticize you no matter what you say or do.
Europeans are just bitter and envious. They have endure wars and famine that Americans have not maybe that’s why they’re so full of anger and bitterness.
I hate when people complain that we don’t travel abroad, like we don’t do it because we’re stuck up or something. It’s my dream to travel abroad and I get so sad that I can’t. And I’m sure many others feel the same. I don’t think they understand how expensive it is. Thousands of dollars just for the flights, then multiplied by the number of people in your family. Plus you’d need to stay awhile to make it worth it and we don’t always get that much vacation time. This is why we often road trip instead. At least America is beautiful and diverse so we can enjoy what we got.
Yeah, it's kinda weird because it's an actual trope in any mode of story-telling in American media to have that dream trip to Paris, or Venice, or Kyoto etc. But it IS always set up as this big dream or far off goal because the finances and time needed to make it happen are beyond most peoples' means. Americans absolutely have interest in traveling abroad, it's just a massive undertaking compared to domestic.
I'm sure you're right. There are however, multiple ways to experience Europe which might involve less cost, like working vacations or volunteering, or tourism/entertainment opportunities like my cousin's daughter took advantage of in Greece last year. Even educational opportunities, like free university tuition in Germany with no German language proficiency required. Yes, that's right -- FREE!
While you're studying in Germany, you can then travel for a relatively low cost around the rest of Europe. Get a Eurail Pass and travel all around between semesters. Or even short weekend jaunts. Definitely do-able.
@@sadee1287 What you’re describing is not a holiday but LIVING in Europe. Definitely not feasible for most people’s lives and not what was being discussed. I’m sure it’s a great experience though for those few who are able to.
Some foreign Geography UA-camrs: “Americans don’t know Geogrpraphy”
Me who has been obsessed with Geography since I was little and is American: “Heyy…!”
Same bro
Same. I love when non-Americans resort to asking you a canned “gotcha question” that you know they specifically looked up because they thought it’s obscure knowledge, only for you to immediately give them the correct answer.
Would love to see some of the smug people embarrass themselves in a middle school geography bee.
Well there are always exceptions -- you being one. But in general, Americans are astonishingly clueless about geography.
That's a good reminder to tell ourselves in this UA-cam thread that we are painting with a very broad brush. I'm a senior Canuck and I have a lifetime of examples of facepalm moments with my US counterparts, but at the same time I have rubbed shoulders with the best of the best in my telco days regarding the US. My own relatives in Santa Monica are a good example. One cousin that is savvy with the world, however his girlfriend actually asked me if Vancouver was ever ice free and if we could drive cars there. My cousin let out a painful howl when she asked that.
I’m only partway through this video, but i have to say something before i forget it. When Europeans come to the U.S., they want to see, say, New York and Florida and the Grand Canyon and Yellowstone. Many figure these places are close together and they can fit them all into a weeklong trip. They really have no idea of the vast distances in North America. Kudos, Geoff, on an excellent video. This is one of your best.
Yeah, this is very real. I worked at a summer camp with some international staff from Turkey. We're in the middle of nowhere in Michigan, and they are from Istanbul. They were expecting to just be able to drive to the nearest "big city" and party. Anything that they would consider acceptable would be like 3-4 hours away. Michigan is also a good example of nobody understanding that our "lakes" are basically just inland seas
This is such a good point! Even a smaller region of the US can be difficult to see on a weeklong trip, like if they want to go to New York City but also visit say Niagara Falls (a 7 hour drive away) or see Disney World and the Keys (also like a 7 hour drive). Sure you could fly but that is expensive and still takes quite a big chunk out of your vacation time to be in an airport. Traveling through just one state is insanely time-consuming and expensive, its hard to imagine anyone trying to see that much in such a short amount of time.
Im sure Kyle appreciates you mixing him up with another UA-camr. Lol!
Who’s Geoff? lol
Geoff???
I mean no disrespect to anyone but as a general observation, the most rude tourists I've seen have almost always been Chinese. They don't respect personal space, the concept of lines/queues, and are just flat out rude to others.
A single sentence that sums up the difference between Europe and the US:
"In America, a century is a long time, but in Europe a mile is a long way"
That's quite the memorable quote
My last position before retiring last year was with a large (very large) Swiss company that has a product development site in my California home town. When I visited their Rotkreuz campus, I learned that the "official" language for company business was English. It is a very multicultural company that decided to use English as the "common denominator", even at the Swiss campus.
even geography king has had it with smug europeans
Can't say I blame him. Europeans are ridiculously prideful
Lol yes
As a European, Americans must understand that we make as much (or more) fun of our own nation as we do of other nations. But I feel Americans don't like it when foreigners are critical of their country. They expect us to simply adore America, because "We liberated Europe in WW2..."
@@thomasvan7738 No, Thomas, we don't expect you to adore us. If anything, 21st century Americans are quite unlikely to pull the "We saved the world card" anymore; we're more likely to talk about what bad people we are. Your comment was a generalization; Kyle here was talking about just one particular observation, the perception of American geographic ignorance.
@@TheTrex9000not true, I’ve seen videos where they fly their flags they get arrested for it, especially in the UK when they are protests from people cheering for Palestine.
Traveling from Wyoming to the rest of the USA is similar. It often involves a long drive to a large airport out of state and an overnight stay prior to boarding to and from, or driving to a smaller airport in state that has one flight a day, then long layovers for connecting flights. These can add at least three extra days to a vacation of just traveling to and from an airport.
I wonder how many Europeans have actually travelled outside of the European Union, and truly travelled abroad. I bet if they say they've visited America, then it's probably only Disney World in Florida, Disneyland in California, or maybe New York City. I highly doubt many of them have a 50 state check off list.
Honestly, there is not much to see in some states. Why would we waste our money to just randomly go through empty spaces?
I think that not many Europeans put Disneyland on their priority list.
I am Gen X and took French in high school. I think it is better now, but waiting until high school to teach languages, definitely makes it difficult to learn. I know friends who have children learning Chinese in elementary school.
Even then thinking how we should've been taught Spanish instead. Way more useful especially in CA.
I don’t know what Europeans are expecting of us geography wise. I’ve seen people get mad that we can’t label all of Europe and don’t know the obscure countries. Why would we? We don’t live there. We have 50 states to memorize. But whenever someone asks me what state I’m from, they’ve never heard of it.
why what state is it?
America is roughly the size of Europe, and we have 50 states to their 44-50 countries (depending on the definition of a sovereign nation). So we have as much to learn about our own country as Europeans do for their entire continent. And I guarantee most non-Americans think all our states are basically alike. California is different from Florida in pretty much every way imaginable. They might as well be different countries.
@@reddykilowatt Maryland. I was talking to one guy in Egypt and he asked me if I was from California or New York. I said neither, one of the others. And his response was, “there are more??” I said yea, there are 50! He was so surprised. But even when I talk to Australians, Irish, UK, etc. they’ve never heard of Maryland.
@@JakeKoenig How about mid-town Manhattan or Beverky Hills versus a 'holler' in Appalachia? Or E. St. Louis vs Yosemite (yos-might, lol) Falls? Might as well be another planet...
@@catgirl6803 that’s funny. I was in South Africa once and someone asked me where in America I was from. Figuring he’d have no idea what town it would be I just said California. He said is that near New York! I said well compared to where we are right now, yes it is, but that I don’t really think of it that way. 😂😂
On the travelling point, Americans also don't get as much time off as other industrialized nations. People in other countries take for granted the paid time off and vacation they get.
And when the Brits get the time, they’re likely to go sit on a beach in Alicante, or even worse, a Caribbean beach that was under British rule until fifteen minutes ago. The French, they go sit on their own beaches.
My husband is from Germany and I have to say, they have far more vacation time than we have in the U.S. They get over a month off. We are lucky to get 2 weeks. That's certainly not enough time to go traveling around the world. Who wants to spend days of our precious, hard won vacation time traveling when we just just drive to the next state?
Indeed. And it's something to think of when comparing quality of life - I don't think too many Americans would refuse an extra two weeks of paid vacation time, even those who bleat about being "number one" and Europeans being "jealous."
When I was a kid in the 1950's, my dad bought me and my brother an inexpensive globe and a jigsaw puzzle map of the US states. They were colorful, fun to study and made clear where and how big the continents, countries and states actually are. Comparable items are available today at very reasonable cost. (Globes can also be found in most public libraries.) The basic geographic knowledge is readily available if we care to learn it.
I learned about US geography in exactly the same way. My dad bought me this kind of puzzle when we were about to relocate from the Czech Republic to California. The move never happened, but the puzzle really sparked my interest in (political) geography. In high school we only learned about physical geography, and even that was taught in an uninspiring way. So if I had only relied on the educational system, I would have become a 'dumb European' in this area of knowledge.
I’m an Indian who has traveled to 12 countries, lived in the United States for the last 7 Years and now moving up to Canada. Many Americans I have spoken to wish they could travel outside the United States but do not have the financial privilege. It’s insensitive to judge an entire nationality that way.
Also, as a first-generation immigrant the last few minutes hit me hard. Big fan of your work as a fellow geography nerd!
This is one of your better videos. Very insightful on how geography shapes our culture. You should do more with the true sizes of countries. People would be amazed to know the the northern tip of Brazil is closer to every country in the Americas than it is to the southern tip of Brazil.
Wow. That's an interesting fact. I may use that to win a few bets.
Interestingly, the southeasternmost point of the United States (Puerto Rico) is closer to every nation of the Americas and the Caribbean, and possibly even to Africa, than it is to the northernomst point in the United States (Point Barrow, Alaska).
He said Australia was Canada....I wouldn't invest in his advice.
Its about time someone did a video like this. Pointing out US ignorance of Canadian geography seems to be a favourite parlour game to us Canadians. I live in Alberta and can tell just as many "ignorant Eastern Canadian" stories, and we are not even talking about foreign countries. Many seem to think that the world ends west of Toronto.
While it is true Canadians know a lot more about the US than vice-versa that is due to heavy US media presence. Even so, outside of the megalopoli how many Canadians could tell you much about, say, Iowa or New Mexico? They don't make the news often (except in primary season, lol) and they don't have a lot of newsmakers living there. And they get fewer Canadian visitors.
The number of English-French speakers even in Ontario would be low compared to Europe. All in all, thanks for making this video. I will de-smugify many people.
He gets Canada and Australia mixed up in the video!!!😂
@@arnodobler1096 He made a joke for the subject of the video.
It's not only geography
The Netherlands has a population of 17.70 million
Sweden has a population of 10.49 million
LA metro area has a population of 12.6 million
The New York metropolitan area has a population of 20.1 million. This is greater than 46 states and 41/51 European countries
I always laugh at the non-Americans who say things like this. They want to scream how ignorant we are by showing how ignorant they are. Oh, well, nobody’s perfect, but some people sure like to think they are.
I love that you're standing up for us American nerds. Thank you. ❤
Boy Kyle , I've been preaching this to anyone who would listen forever . I live in Toronto and have spent my entire life of 72 years traveling . I love to road trip and when I head for Vancouver do you know where I can get with 24 hrs. of constant driving ? The Ontario / Manitoba Border ! That's right , 24 hrs. straight and I haven't even left my province .
This is a huge and beautiful continent ( and you didn't even need a passport traveling between our countries till 9/11 ruined that.)
The U.S. has Plains , Mountains , Arctic , Tropics , Deserts , South Pacific Islands , Caribbean Islands all accessible without a passport , I can think of no other country that can make that claim .
As far as English is concerned it was the " perfect storm ". The British built an empire thus spreading English , and , the U.S. took over as the dominant power ( including the entertainment industry ) in the first half of the 20th. century reinforcing the dominance of English as a world wide 2nd. language .
The only thing I must take issue with is your map of Canada . I think it may be upside down .
Your comment brings to mind something Bismarck said: "The most significant event of the 20th century will be the fact that the North Americans speak English."
All good points. When I was visiting Jordan, a guy I rented a car from told me that most vacationers to Jordan are French, British and American. Of course there are Dutch and others, but those are the big three. He said out of them they like Americans the most because they are happy to be there. From the horses mouth.
As a Scot who has travelled to the states many times, I have to say that yes, I have met many stupid Americans; I have also met stupid people within 6 feet of my own front door! The generalisation is unfair, and I have met so many wonderful Americans - I think my favourite state is Idaho though, as absolutely everyone I met whilst travelling around there was fantastic, friendly, fun.... and most certainly not stupid
I think that we all need to come to an understanding that there are stupid and smart people everywhere. I notice that this is also a thing with generations.
"Travel has no longer any charm for me. I have seen all the foreign countries I want to except heaven and hell and I have only a vague curiosity about one of those."
- Mark Twain
“Travel is fatal to prejuidce, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.” -Mark Twain
Couldn’t agree with these points more as an American. I’ve gotten to travel abroad a lot this past year, and it’s both easy and fun to impress Europeans with geography knowledge. What’s also interesting is that if you try to speak in the native language in some places, lots of people will just default to English.
I found saying "I'm very sorry, I don't speak German, do you happen to speak English" was a great way to be polite. I only ran into maybe 4 people on my visit years ago who didn't speak any English.
They do that because no one wants to be used in their language class and think its more efficient if they talk the language you speak more fluent.
That often happens because they want to make it easier on you, but you can counter it by saying "thank you, no -- I'd like to try to speak (insert language)." I did this in Montreal. And the server was flattered and happy that I did and said "Not too many people are like you. Thank you."
You had me at "not looking for drama," Mr. Kyle. Refreshing. Thank you for well-considered geographic (and logical) perspectives I have not seen anywhere else.
I went to the site, "The True Size Of" and saved it right away. That is super-informative. I have seen Americans in Mexico behave rudely, but they very rare in my experience. The rest of us behaved as very welcome guests, as we were treated.
Mexico is the one country where I've seen Americans act really obnoxious and superior.
@@GeographyKing I loved the deadpan delivery when you called Australia 'Canada'. Also how you left Tasmania off the map because they lose their shit over that. Ditto calling out the prominent NZ when it wasn't shown too.
Well done, Kyle. This was sorely needed.
Great analysis! I live in the Western US. Last summer, we took a trip to Scotland. We planned this trip for over two years and saved up. The flight alone cost us over $2000 apiece and we had two layovers on the way. 14 hours in the air. We had a wonderful time, but I would guess most Americans could at most be able to make one or two trips like this in a lifetime.
Two layovers?? Where did you fly from? When I flew to London in 1986 -- it was a direct flight of 10 hours. From Calgary to London. Granted where I live now I'd have to make a stop at Toronto, but otherwise the flight goes straight to Heathrow.
@@sadee1287 We flew out of Boise, Idaho. Originally, we were supposed to go Boise/Denver/Newark/Edinburgh, but our first flight got cancelled, so we had to fly out the next day, which was Boise/San Francisco/Newark/Edinburgh. We could have gotten a flight with only one layover, but the tickets would have cost significantly more. Then they also lost our luggage. I hate flying. lol
@@denisem.1042 Ouch. I see why you hate flying. I hope you otherwise had a great time in Scotland.
@@sadee1287 Once we got there a day late and got our luggage the next day, everything was great! Love Scotland!
Great points, K man. Texas is so large, there are so many things in my own "backyard" that I can travel to to see. Going from Houston to Big Bend is a monumental trip. Europeans are the ones who don't understand America. Also, pretty much any white American (let's say whose grandparents were all born here) is going to be some mix of English, Irish, German, or Italian. The first Euro settlers were mostly British, then the 1800s was a huge wave of Irish and German. And the early 1900s mostly Italian wave. And that wasn't that long ago. I've got ancestry from the mid-1600s in America and can trace every ancestor back to Europe. My most recent were my German-American great-great-grandparents who came here in the 1880s. I knew my great-grandma as a kid and she was born to German immigrants. I have her cookbook in my pantry and it's got stuff like stollen, brats/sauerkraut, etc. My dad's side I can trace back to Ireland circa the potato famine. That was not that long ago... Irish came here and had kids with other Irish, who did the same, etc. It's not like your heritage disappears. So, while I'm 11th generation American, with ancestors who fought in the Revolutionary War I very much identify as "Irish", "Irish-American", or "Irish and German." It's totally standard here for entrenched Americans to still refer to their European heritage. Not sure why that angers so many Euros. Sorry your ancestors didn't have the stones to cross the Atlantic to get to USA#1.
My ancestors came here in a slave ship and unfortunately I can’t trace them back that far since they were property up until 1865 and second-class citizens until 1965. USA#1 😂
Actually, as an European I'm glad my ancestors didn't cross the Atlantic lol
Love how you cut out Tasmania for the Canada/Australia joke 👍
He also mentioned NZ, which isn't part of Australia but is often left out of world maps, the same as Tassie is often left off Australian maps.
It definitely makes the US sound dumb when people point out how many people in Canada have Passports, but 90% of Canada's population lives within 100 miles of the US border. How many of those passports are used to go somewhere OTHER than the US? That would be a more meaningful comparison and data point IMO.
Well, mine has stamps from Chile, Perú, Uruguay, Panamá, Tanzania, South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Ireland.
@@sagmilling that's great, but I'm guessing most Canadians aren't hopping to those countries (or others) disproportionately more than Americans.
@@thefactsarethese3668 We are part of the Commonwealth which means we can easily hop any of those countries with a quick scan. Mine has stamps from the Philippines, Thailand, Cambodia, England, Australia, New Zealand, Antigua Barbados, but not one from the USA. Americans that visit up here usually have to immediately go through culture shock, such as getting Canadian funds as change when they buy something up here. That really throws off some Americans. At times the police have to be called.
@@tunnsie Believe it or not, I have been to Canada multiple times in full knowledge that it was a different country with different customs, shocking, I know. Of course there are stupid Americans, but there are stupid people from every country.
Last I checked, Philippines and Thailand aren't part of the Commonwealth of Nations.
Congrats to you I guess on going all over the world but being very original by not going to your closest neighbor. The hipsters of 2010 would be very proud of you.
The majority of Americans don’t live all that close to an international airport either-it takes me three airports on the eastern seaboard to leave the USA every time I travel internationally-and as others have said, we don’t get much vacation to traipse around the world.
This is a great video and I think you’re spot on. I do travel quite a bit and have been asked to defend my entire country for only speaking English! Once I was on a flight in Greece that got cancelled and everything was announced first in Greek and then English, and people were griping to “Speak English!” And being the only native English speaker in the group it made me laugh, but it is the universal language now.
Europe has super cheap interior flights too-whereas the US doesn’t! I wanted to point out that if you’re going abroad it’s worth checking into flying to the cheapest European city and taking another flight from there. I can get to Egypt way cheaper doing that than NY to Cairo. Plus the more you travel around, the more you naturally learn geography.
Thanks Kyle: Another informative and fun episode. I also am going to Europe this spring. I am starting in Budapest 04 MAY to see the Dimash Qudaibergen concert, and then will spend a month traveling to Vienna, Prague, Amsterdam, Paris, London. My personal Grand Tour.
If there's going to be a country where the people won't expect you to learn their language, it's Hungary! Sounds like a great trip.
The travel and passport issue is multidimensional. The USA is large, Isolated, offers so much within its borders, including going to the arctic (Alaska) or Polynesia (Hawaii) without a passport. If we want an Alpine ski weekend, we can go to the Sierra or Rocky Mountains. If we want a seaside holiday, we have so much variety from tropical islands, to rocky coastlines, to long stretches of white sandy beaches, to bays and swamps, etc. We even have sub cultures of the USA to consider as well and can immerse ourselves in Latin American culture in Miami, Cajun in Louisiana, or Asian cultures in California. We also have a variety of big city vibes that cross and aggregate a variety of International cultures. We can even take cruises out of our southeastern ports and travel to the Caribbean to American territories like the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico without a passport.
And yes, the costs and distances is a HUGE deterrent to Americans travelling to Europe, Asia and beyond. We don't have very many budget airline options to cross the Atlantic. It's typically going to cost well over $1000 a person just for that round trip ticket alone.
That all said, I do have a passport and have been to dozens of countries in Europe, Asia, South America and the Middle East. I am privileged though and I know that there are millions and millions of Americans who would like to travel but they neither have the time (limited vacation time at their jobs) nor the money.
Europeans definitely don't regularly travel to North Africa and the Middle East, the vast majority of us have never been there. The only places we "travel south" to is the Mediterranean coast. And that's in the summer, basically no ones goes to the coast in winter. And Europe doesn't get cold. It is on a higher latitude than the US, but because of the Gulf stream most of Europe stays moderately cool during the winter, only Russia and northern Scandinavia get winters like in the Midwest.
We have -35 degrees in Romania...
I can’t stand it any longer: traveling to another country in Europe is like us traveling to another state in the US
Most of what you've said is accurate but there were a few things you left out.
First off - most European Countries have a Class Based Society. This comes from when there were nobles and peasants which the US never had. This creates an inherent belief that some people are better than others. We have an Upper Class here - but - it's financially based - not blood based.
The thing is - one of the most universal human traits is that everyone tends to think they are better than everyone else. Everyone does that. The Japanese, the Chinese, the Indians and certainly the Europeans. Of course - the same is true within the United States, people from one area just assuming that they are better than everyone else in the country.
The reason that the Europeans all look down on the US is because they used to be, prior to WWI - the Great Powers of the World - and we replaced them. They hate that.
So, while they may each think they are better than the other European countries - and everyone else in the world - they ALL think they are better than the Americans. Given the fact that they have to a large degree been swamped with out culture due to the dominance of American Television - this is one more thing for them to resent.
So - it is an article of faith among Europeans that Americans are stupid.
We are not of course any more stupid than they are. They have plenty of people who are stupid.
Also - if you look at the job they did when they were ruling the world - they've got nothing to brag about.
.
good points. it is still somewhat hurtful that Americans know so little about canadians, their neighbours next door.
If you live in continental Europe, you can visit lots of other countries by car or train, which can be much more affordable than airfare. For my family of 5 to visit Europe , the cost of airfare alone can easily be more than $4,000. Obviously, that’s so much more than the cost of a car trip from Germany to Spain.
It helps that the trains in Europe do 200mph
Air fair is the cheapest tho. My friend flew from London to Romania for 20 pounds. Only to travel around Germany by train will cost me hundreds of euros.
Being a geography nerd myself, I am naturally interested in all parts of the globe, I'll spend hours looking for different archipelagos, islands, etc., on Google Maps. We rarely travel outside the US because, yes, it's very expensive. I do tend to notice when people don't even know which direction they're going when they travel here though. The fall of good old paper map to the onboard navigation app is to blame for people that can't read a compass. Didn't think I'd like this video, glad I stuck with it- thanks Kyle!
Supertramp--Breakfast in America. Such a great album--not a bad song on it, and the album cover itself is one of the greatest of all time!
And in Europe, all workers have 25 days of vacation, paid double by the employer, of course, and around 13 holidays per year, which gives around 35 days of annual vacation.
5:21 "this is canada"
That's sarcasm mac.
I'm not the best at detecting sarcasm, but it really sounds to me like he meant to say Australia and just got confused.
@@ThatMediaGuy150it's clear it was a call-back joke playing on the idea Americans don't know where countries are
@@seandarbe2521no that is just pure dumb American, that he is trying to say he's not. Just DUMB DUMB DUMB
Adding to that, the mention of a "prominently displayed New Zealand" @5:37 leads me to believe he's purposely being tongue in cheek. Funny tbh
Love going to America. Great diverse country to visit.
I been there 2 times
And i only visited 4 states 😢
New York
Florida
Massachusetts
And rouhdisland 😅
true as long as you stick to the coasts
@@khsh99you came here to Massachusetts, wicked awesome!
@@khsh99 Rhode Island is a ripoff. it's my second favorite state but it isn't even an island! Back in the colonial days it was the British colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.
@@khsh99Next time you come, you should visit Louisiana next
I appreciate your points in the video and agree that editing plays a significant role in shaping perceptions on this topic. However, it's important to recognize that many young Americans do struggle with basic knowledge about their own country and beyond, not just in geography. As a European, I was surprised to easily answer most questions from the referenced videos, which are common knowledge here. The rise of "stupid American" content on UA-cam indicates that this isn't just an isolated issue.
Additionally, while the U.S. offers diverse landscapes and cultures, traveling abroad could greatly broaden American perspectives, fostering a deeper understanding and appreciation of the world. And one doesn't have to cross the pond to experience this.
I am planning on visiting Germany next year. I am learning German beforehand. My ancestry goes back there but I am an American first and foremost. It will be the trip of a lifetime.
I have heard stories of Europeans visiting America and not understanding the scale of the country. They think they can drive from New York to LA in one day. Geographical illiteracy is certainly not confined to the USA.
No European thinks that u can drive from ny to la in one day. This is a myth. Sorry but don’t tell lies.
When I was 10 my family moved from Michigan to Alabama. The first assignment in History class was to fill in a blank outline of the United States. I filled in the states, larger cities, rivers, etc. Almost all of my southern classmates left it almost entirely blank.
and your point is?
@johnl5316 think they're implying that southerners were lacking in that category
Yeah us Southern dum dum
Go back to Michigan, then. Delta's ready when you are.
@@johnmurphy9385at 10 years old, I don’t think that it was his choice to move & I’m assuming that when he was older that he did move out!
The US became a country before Germany. So it's like there are ethnicities that have been around forever, and countries that keep evolving, but both may go by the same name. Complicated but definitely not boring.
Also before Australia, Canada, etc. But we have a target in our backs.
Well said Kyle. I've been attacked for being an example this type of, "ignorance." Usually by people presuming that, because I'm a white American male, I'm automatically a racist jackass because I don't know the geography of their country or culture, or a place or culture they are interested in. It usually takes no more than a few minutes conversation to establish that most people are no more knowledgeable than I am about the world's geography and its varied cultures. Usually they're less knowledgeable. It's impossible to know the whole Earth's geography and all the world's cultures. There's not enough memory in any human to know it all.
I like how you pointed out the scale of the United States compared to most of the world's countries. It's like one Japanese woman told me once, Americans don't need to leave their own country to see something new and interesting. The country is so big and diverse. That's not to say I don't want to see other countries. I do, and I have, but it's easy to stay in the U.S. and be perfectly satisfied with all of the new discoveries you make.
Worth noting that English has for a long time been the international language of trade and diplomacy. It's a holdover from the era of the British Empire, but that is an important reason why English is spoken around the world. And, yes, I have visited many parts of the world.
Thank you Geography King. A brutally honest video that all of Europe needs. I'm in Ohio and it's unbelievably expensive and unreasonable for the large majority of Americans to travel abroad. I have been lucky enough to do so and I respected the local cultures to the tee. I hate the stereotype of the 'ugly American'. Unfortunately I only speak English but the other four points are false, as a rule.
Oh how sad that you have such a large country.
Steve, I think that a good country to compare with US (in these questions in the video) is Brazil.
We have many differences in culture, but... Talking about other countries among Brazilians makes me feel like an alien, in almost 99% of cases.
Yes, I have studied Geography (and journalism)...
But, in these cases and situations Brazilians are VERY MUCH like the american syreotype!
AGREED! I love Brazil and it's lovely inhabitants such as Dan Vasc@@eduardocajias5626
"Bla bla bla we americans are the best"
Talk to my attorney Bob Boblaw@@GamerWithAttitude1
the reason why Europeans are smug about this is that they define themselves in contrast with the US (Canada does the same too). They don't see the US as somewhere very similar, but rather "somewhere that doesn't have a healthcare system like us" or "somewhere that has lots of guns that we don't". they focus on the differences, not the similarities, likely because US has a worldwide cultural hegemony as everyone is listening to our music, watching our movies, using our social media apps, etc so they do this as a sort of protective measure. I do also wonder how much of the European cultural superiority complex is a remnant of their colonial past where they projected their national "superiority" on to much of the Global South.
These are valid and good questions actually (coming from a European).
Nah. They do have (much) better health care systems and sensible gun policies.
@@lemuret69 Yes! But that is a valid differentiation! Same music/movies, but better health care, free(!) education, ~30 paid vacation days each year etc.
@@andieymiAre we not agreeing here? 🤔
@@lemuret69 Yes, absolutely! I just didn't read the first post solely as criticising Europeans for making that distinction.
I think it's rather interesting how little Europeans try to escape American cultural hegemony (music, movies, etc.) in some areas but make this distinction in an extra strong way regarding other areas (like the mentioned health care, education, probably even the original topic - geographic knowledge)
From 4th grade to 61 yrs.of age, I know all my state capitals, most people will run out of states before I run out of capital cities. One is either apathetic or not. Thank you for speaking up.
Knowing your state capitals isn't education it's common sense when it comes to Proper education in every other country.
Every other country makes their students learn at least 50 different countries rather than 50 states and their capitals 😂 but you do you. Smart American.
@@AutismoGamer did you watch the video ? that was the point of this video ..every state is like a different country,, airline pilots in every country must speak English. English is taught throughout the entire world. Kyle is absolutely right about the bigotry. How can you say it's not education and then say it's Common Sense proper education ?
@@timothydillow3160 If you cannot comprehend something after reading it once, refrain from speaking hastily. Take the time to process the information before making assumptions. It is a fact that a significant portion of the American population lacks critical thinking skills. Additionally, it is a fact that a substantial number of Americans cannot read beyond a sixth-grade literacy level.
i think people have a tendency to switch over to English whenever an english speaker attempts to speak a foreign language
Overall, I think your premise, perspective and presentation on this subject is excellent.
As a European (Greece) that have travelled a bit around the world, I can confirm that most people around the world have no idea about geography, no matter their ethnicity. I have found the percentages to be about the same, no matter where in the world you are.
Finally someone said it, thank you so much
Make no mistakes about it, stupidity knows no boundaries, I have gotten in arguments with folks about Islands, the number of people that think Scotland and Greece are Islands is incredible
As a Canadian, I get annoyed when Europeans constantly trash Americans. It’s like it’s coming from insecurity.
Yup
I was in a Mexican resort and the area we were in was full of Germans and Italians. Far more obnoxious than Americans .
On the language front, the U.S. is the second largest Spanish-speaking country in the world after Mexico.
And if you add in Hawaii and Alaska, there is every climate and type of area to explore. Although the Florida is down there in Baghdad was pretty funny.
@cherihabegger9856, his point in that section was that the various pairs of cities are at the same latitude, not the same location.
Very thought provoking. Thank you. Also I think we Americans don’t travel the US to see and learn about this country, we have so much beautiful to explore.
Not going to lie, I was really impressed with the direction this vid took. I work in the aviation industry, so travel is part of the package, and the truths about European tourists are spot on.
You're impressed with him making this an "America versus Europe" video and ignoring the rest of the world, despite the rest of the world being even MORE critical of Americans? Interesting.
I think a better conversation is why this topic was limited to Europeans, and why people like you are "impressed with that direction." Pretty sure I know the answer though.
@@JakeKoenig All of the videos I've seen about this subject have been from European channels. I follow several African channels, and I don't hear the same rhetoric from them. They tend to be more critical of Europe and the colonizing countries. But there's also the economic factor. Wealthy countries are going to compare themselves to each other.
@@JakeKoenig People like me? College educated military veterans with a great post-military career that affords them frequent worldwide travel?
@@JakeKoenig Europeans are the only ones really whining about Americans. I don't see Pakistani or Iraqi channels constantly complaining about us (unless it's about our government, which is a completely different topic), but Europeans have nothing but negative things to say about Americans.
Excellent explanation about language, especially the part about "Canada", and New Zealand, which is definitely, totally clearly visible on that map! Another way to explain it is that you can literally drive for 87 hours from Homer, AK to Key West, FL and only pass through areas that speak English (I think the fact that we have a large neighboring country, let's call it "Australia", that also speaks primarily English is an important part of the explanation).
Furthermore, it's the whole of the Americas that's notorious for being monolingual, meaning Latin America, too. Similarly, I assume that, even though it's many countries, it's because you can travel very far only needing to speak Spanish. Rio Gallegos, Argentina to Barranquilla, Colombia is a whopping 134 hours (and that's not even taking you all the way through Mexico, since there are no roads between Colombia and Panama)!
Yeah, the reason we don't travel abroad much is 3-fold. First, it costs a lot of time an money to get out of such a large country because of the distance just to leave the country. Second, the country is so big, there's so much to see here, there's less reason to leave, especially since, circularly, we don't speak other languages. Third, because the country is so big, we tend to have family in various places across the country, so we spend out vacation time visiting them and don't have much left for tourism abroad. As more of an aside, most Central American countries are dangerous, and even South America is a bit far and surprisingly expensive to get to given its proximity.
Sorry to do this, but there are no Central American countries. It is only North America and South America.
Turks in European countries (other than Turkey) will always consider themselves to be Turks
Yes but this is also related to the religion. And most of them living here only in second or third generation and still have strong bonds to family in turkey. It is not at all comparable.
I'm an American whose spent a few months in Japan across a couple trips (including some very non-touristy areas; I am conversational in Japanese, etc).
In my time there, I saw some happy and outgoing Americans who were open but also a bit silly. I talked to some Mexicans who were deeply interested in learning other cultures, languages, etc. I encountered a couple of Swedes who seemed to be very judgmental at the idea of someone enjoying local cuisine "too much". (Why are you even traveling, then??). I met a Chilean guy who lived there and had become fluent. I met some old British dudes who had lived there 20+ years but still needed a break to go chill at an english rock bar. I saw a bunch of loud Chinese tour groups intent on standing in the middle of the road. I sat shoulder-to-shoulder with some Vietnamese college kids who didnt know any English OR Japanese but wanted to be friendly and smile with me and everyone else anyhow. I joked around with a middle aged Nigerian man. I had a long conversation with a Bangladeshi guy who was so happy to practice his English with me (using our shared Japanese for any communication problems).
I've been refused service for being a foreigner; witnessed drunk salarymen yell at wait staff for being Chinese; had someone assume I was from France and be surprised when I couldn't help him practice his French; embarrassed a dude for telling him I could understand him when he was talking about me. I've also had people who'd never left their prefecture want to know everything there was to know about my US state, what we eat, what we do.
One thing I've learned is that there can be idiots from every country; jerks from every country; friendly and curious people from every country; and people who seem to know nothing about the world outside, but given the chance are eager to learn everything there is to know about my not-so-famous part of America.
Americans may be stupid, but so is everyone else! xD
I live in the Yukon and this winter I've noticed an increase of tourists from... Mexico 🇲🇽
as a non-American asian, I love this video and how most Americans treat people from other cultures. I used to study and live in the US and now living in Europe for years, I can assure most educated American are far less arrogant than a majority of people from certain European countries! btw it always makes me feel privileged to travel in the US, love the diverse vast landscape! god bless America!
As an American myself who previously held this opinion strongly before watching the video i must say, you've changed my mind!
I think one reason for the increase in passports is that you need one to travel between the US and Canada/Mexico now. Before, you could just use an ID to get across the border.
Cruises are now cheaper than ever which probably helps. You can go to Mexico for 3 days for like $300. You even need a passport to cruise to Alaska since the departure port is in Vancouver.
I'm an American and have been living in Europe for the past 15 years, Spain to be specific. English has become the de facto lingua franca between Europeans so you know who you will frequently find themselves annoyed that the others don't speak English?? Other Europeans!! But you won't hear about that anywhere because it's not an easy sellable trope for content. The Spanish are known for being one the European countries with poor English, likely for similar geopolitical historical reasons Kyle explains. They've got an economic language bloc that includes all of Latin America which they exchange people, skills and business with and managed to export their language through conquest which I guess the dutch east India company never could do. Ever try speaking Dutch? Good luck pal! Anyway long story short... know who you'll find frequently in Spain complaining the English is bad?? The Germans, the Dutch, the Scandinavians.
Poor you. Have you heard of Afrikaans language? That is almost like Dutch. :))))
I personally don't think that money is a real deal breaker for Americans to travel.
I think it's just sufficient amount of tourist attractions withing the borders
exactly
I love this channel!!! I have met very smart Americans!!!
I have too... but I have met twice as many who aren't. I find it really scary ;)
Time for a "smart Americans" meetup!!!
No kidding
@@AlphaGeekgirl it doesn't mattter that there are plenty of dumb ones, we are an extremely unequal country, so the smart ones usually end up with all the power while the dumb ones happily slave away in poor working conditions for crappy wages because as long as we have a distraction (immigrants, lbgbtq+ people, etc) for them to direct their anger towards, then they'll continue to vocally support any decrease in their social services, workers' righta, etc and will be willing to die in foreign conflicts for us. this is why the European economy has lagged massively behind the US, our working class is much more subservient and thus they are easier to exploit and extract labor from
Good luck,..😂@@ebx100
All very valid points!
You are an awesome guy. I'm joining your Patron site now, and I assure you I only join a few. Your content and delivery of real knowledge are extraordinary!
Thank you!
THANK YOU for making this video
I'm a Brit, and for many years I worked closely with a US partner company. The guys there told me that most people they knew had never been out of the state never mind out of the country, so the distance argument doesn't really wash.
Did this person have facts? Or was it his opinion?
@@Rancid-Jane can’t you read? Obviously facts as they knew the people, duhhh.
Someone told you, huh? So in other words, trust me bro. LOL
@@rainycitygirl well you are really clutching at straws aren’t you. Read my damn post (if you can). These were ppl I knew very well so I have no reason to doubt what they told me. Sorry if the truth is a bit inconvenient for you.
You do realize how big states like California are? You can drive for 12 hours and still be stuck in traffic in LA
As an Australian found it ironic an American geography expert calls our country Canada😂
Canadian here, don't u feel we have more in common than with Americans.
He made a joke for the subject of the video.
If Americans did travel outside the US in greater numbers, Europeans would criticize us for that, too. In fact, they often do. We can’t win. 🤷♂️
I think one problem when visiting in other countries is that they assume that all obnoxious tourists are American when in fact they are not.
I am not familiar with the map tool you were showing, but I will definitely be looking for it.
I just used the true size of app to place Texas on Germany. With Paris France placed where El Paso is south Texas is deep in to Italy, east Texas is in Hungary and North Texas in Denmark.
Now look how densely populated the European countries are and how much of a waste land you have in Texas. :)))))))
I am Portuguese and live in Portugal, and I perfectly understand your arguments, which are completely valid.
In Europe, northern Europeans travel to southern Europe in the summer, but flights, for example, do not exceed 100 dollars, and a 4-star hotel with everything included does not exceed 500 euros per week...
I completely agree with you Kyle. My wife is from Belarus and all I hear from some of them is how bad the USA is. None of them have ever been to the USA but they have a preconceived notion of it. But I’m a firm believer that you can’t judge a place if you haven’t been there. Anyways, interesting video as always!
Honestly, before I moved to US some 20 years ago, I thought single family houses in the movies were just American propaganda. An average person cannot own a house, is the automatic belief in other countries. And people must be miserable is another automatic belief. (Side note: after living in NYC for 15 of these years, I still cannot make peace with car dependency but I don’t think that is what Belarussians are critisicing for)
@@chefnyc97% of Romanians own properties. We are nr1 in the world. My white grandpa was a slave as a kid. When he was 20 he built a big house. Floodings came and he moved in other region. When he got there he built another house with yard, vine yard and garden. Our house was huge. We sold it last year. He was minimum wage worker. He did it all by himself.
@@alexia2189 Sorry for the confusing American terms. A house in US refers to "single family detached" residence. A condo refers to a "unit inside a building intended for sale". If the unit is for rental then it is called an apartment. What I meant was "in other countries including my former country, single detached houses are considered luxury, so average Joe living in such a place cannot be real. Hence must be propaganda".
My father also built a house with his own hands in 1980. The rule there is you build something on your land without any permits, and as an election bribe, the government forgives you :)
I wish I could speak another language, but it’s hard to get motivated for the reasons you mentioned. I had three semesters of Spanish in college, but…
I calculate it would take me about 8.5 days to drive from my house to Fairbanks, Alaska. Not only would nearly everyone speak English along the way, they would mostly have the same general North American accent I have.. Plus, We can travel to other English speaking countries like the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland. And, these are interesting countries definitely worth visiting.
I get six and half weeks of vacation a year, but I have never been outside North America. I would like to travel farther, but I never get around to it. Plus, I’m a little concerned about being judged. Are people going to look down their noses at me because I only speak one language; because I wear polo shirts, cargo shorts, and running shoes; because I’m not a pro at using public transportation; basically just because I’m American? It seems like such a hassle compared to visiting San Francisco, New York, LA, Chicago, national parks, New Orleans, Maine, Puerto Rico, Aspen, Hawaii, etc. Not to mention relatives in other parts of the US.
Having been from Australia to America 3 times, spending about 3 months overall, through 18 states, we have found Americans to be so friendly and welcoming no matter where we go and they are interested in where we are from. Although we have very similar backgrounds, we love to see and experience the differences in cultures, scenery and food. We have also met a good number of Americans who are visiting Australia and your video does explain why they seem to experience culture shock when visiting even a similar culture like Australia. Whether it is not being able to buy Lucky Charms or visit a Dairy Queen or see Chevys driving the streets on the right hand side of the road, whilst we tend to embrace the experience of the changes, most, not all, Americans that we have met seem to experience anxiety because of those changes. As per your video, the fact that for miles around, you can get the same things everywhere must make it much harder to travel.
I saw an Instagram post by an Englishman traveling in the U.S. that was making many of the same points. He was astonished by how vast the U.S. is and how many things you can see without leaving the country compared to living in Europe.