AskUSA
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Community for asking and answering any question related to the life, the people or anything related to the USA. Non-US people are welcome to provide their perspective! Please keep in mind:
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Sensitivity is more than fine! You'd fit right in. However, you very much need to be able to firmly advocate for yourself, and be confident in what is necessary for your health needs.
I feel like it also depends on where you go. It's a big country and the culture can be drastically different in different areas, even within the same state.
True. I just don't get why so many Americans can be so confident. I hope I can keep up with that. Cause my parents ruined my confidence with all the trauma they introduced to me. But maybe it would help just going out of the country of my parents
Literally just lean into your accent and it'll carry you 100% of the way through conversation π Don't even worry about feeling like you're hamming it up. We can't tell the difference!
What do you mean by accent? I can only do an American accent (maybe a little British if I try hard)
No I mean your native accent. I see you're from germany, and while you might not think you have one, I'd dare to assure you that you do! Even baseline "American" is technically transatlantic IIRC
I think I watched too much American TV it's kinda hard for me to do the German accent now and it feels weird to do tbh
Unless it's absolutely perfect, a native speaker will pick up your accent...how's your "th" that's usually a dead give away for native German speakers.
Yea it definitely doesn't sound as bad as many other Germans but I don't have the American sound down to the nuances so you could definitely tell. Idk why but I think it's quite hard to get the nuance if you haven't been raised with the language, it sucks if you don't sound 100% authentic, I hope it will come with time.
But you really have to study each tone down to its core including its cultural context to get it perfectly. Imma try to do that though for sure
Seriously, no need to change. There are so many accents across the US, and if you're anywhere vaguely urban you're going to hear English speakers from all over the world.
And the correct response to any Americans who give you a hard time for having a foreign accent is "How many languages do you speak?"
The country will kill you quicker than the people. If you do come, remember this place is MASSIVE, the biggest mistake tourists make is going exploring natural spaces. If you aren't prepared, didn't bring a compass, and can't navigate by tree moss and the sun, then it is extremely easy to wander off, and never be found. If the road you are on suddenly switches from asphalt to gravel or dirt, you want to stop your car immediately, consult your navigation, and a damn atlas just in case, and turn back towards the nearest shreds of civilization. Exposure to the elements in this country can be, and frequently is, lethal. The less said about the wildlife the better, but if you're in a car you're mostly safe.
Ah the first time you drive past a herd of elk.
Absolutely pants shitting fear. Like primal dread.
I worked in Yellowstone for a season.
The elk had their babies during that time.
Trying to get from one of the employee dorms to the employee bar, and we got pushed off course by a mama elk.
We wound up on the employee cafeteria loading dock, as elk can't (or won't?) climb stairs.
We had to get rescued by park rangers.
Ultimately the big downside of the us is that there are no real assitance programs unless your in poverty. So nothing to keep you from falling into poverty. They also tend to be inadequate and don't get to those who need it. If you have wealth living here then it don't matter what your like, you will do fine.
competitive and that the people are very direct/speak their mind.
I associate this attitude more with East Coast folks. Us in the Pacific Northwest are known for smiles, soft pedalling and strictly passive aggression only.
I'm soft like overproved dough. Deeply allergic to anything competitive and near pathologically conflict averse. I've felt very welcome since I moved here from Australia ~10 years ago.
PNW, SoCal, NorCal, Midwest, New England and the South are some of main culturally distinct areas. I think you're better off finding where you might like to move to and investigating a particular city, state or area. Subreddits and Nextdoor are (alas) probably better for detailed local info, but cast around widely as some forums can be surprisingly polarized - r/oregon was partly a refuge for trolls who'd been banned from r/portland, for example.
People in the US probably won't say what they mean directly the same way you would in Europe. The biggest thing I've noticed in the EU is that, to an American, most people are horrifically blunt to the point of being rude. So if you're used to that you should be fine.
Unless you are very fluent in English a lot of American rudeness tends to be very underhanded, so you might not really realize it anyways? It's either that or batshit crazy.
It is so variable.
It is generally true that folks on this side of the pond are more direct and blunt than folks that I've met from Europe, or even from our lovely neighbors to the north. But I wouldn't say it's aggressively so. It's also the case that it's a matter of degrees.
I'm from the southern US, and we tend to be way less blunt, and more wordy than many other areas. Like, the New Yorkers I've known will just up and say something, in one sentence, and it's up to you to like it or lump it. A southerner is likely to edge around a subject a little more, and feel you out before deciding how to say something, and then say it with relatively careful wording.
I'm not even talking about harsh things, I'm talking about something like asking if you like hamburgers.
It isn't perfect, but we tend to be nice to visitors. Not everyone, and not as much as we should, but the places I've lived, or visited long enough over time to get to know people, you're more likely to run into people being curious and helpful as a tourist, or even immigrant, than they would be to someone from the next town over.
So, I don't think you'd have to "toughen up" to visit or live here.
The caveat to all of that is that there are assholes here. There are everywhere, but we're a big country, so even a 1% asshole group is a lot of people.
I suppose this depends on where you're coming from. My Eastern European relatives thought that Americans were oddly friendly. I remember my mother saying "Why did the cashier smile at me? She doesn't know me!"
A French coworker of mine back in Australia was talking about how much cashiers smile, and I was like "oh yeah, people are real friendly, great right?" To which she replied "I just want to tell them stop it, you're not my friend!"
I'm from Germany specifically.
No Americans assimilate better than any other country. Thatβs kinda their thing. Theyβre overly friendly if anything.
Avoid the UK though we love tearing everyone including ourselves down.
Really?
Yes itβs a melting pot with a shared dream of prosperity. Grew up in the states, uk born and back here now. Might call you an idiot but itβs fairly surface level. Brits are anti-competitive and go for the heart.
Don't go. It's a failed state. And it will get worse in the future.
Don't move to New Jersey or the Philly area, and you'll probably be fine.
Most of the Northeast really.
And avoid the southeast
They call us passive aggressive. Pffh