Podcasts Culture How to Live in Denmark Danes and Stereotypes: The superficial American and the Copenhagen cheater

Danes and Stereotypes: The superficial American and the Copenhagen cheater

Published: March 9, 2014, 8:43 a.m.

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As an American in Denmark, I get to experience Danish stereotypes about Americans on a regular basis: we are superficial, too outspoken and direct, and are apparently controlled by a small cabal of right-wing nutcases.\\xa0

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But the Danes have stereotypes about other nationalities as well.\\xa0 Spaniards and Italians are seen as fun and sexy and romantic, but unlikely to arrive on time. Eastern Europeans work too hard, at wages that are much too low, at least by Danish standards. Asian immigrants are seen as OK because they work hard at things Danes aren\\u2019t interested in, like high-level engineering degrees.

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Danes also have stereotypes about other Nordic people.\\xa0Norwegians are seen as happy, friendly people with a humorous language.\\xa0 Everything sounds funny in Norwegian because everything sounds like singing.\\xa0\\xa0Swedes are seen as kind of stiff, humorless types who can\\u2019t dance, and can\\u2019t hold their liquour.\\xa0 Finns are silent, angry drunks that carry knives. Oddly, given their history, Danes really like Germans. \\xa0Really, really like the Germans. \\xa0Many Danes will say that Berlin is their favorite town.

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Danes also have stereotypes about each other, something that amazed me when I first arrived here.\\xa0 You have 5 million people, and you\\u2019re dividing yourselves into groups!\\xa0 But Danes themselves see a big difference between people from Sjelland, the island with Copenhagen on it, and Jylland, the bigger part of Denmark that is connected to Germany.

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As the stereotype goes, people from Jylland are seen as quiet, reliable, trustworthy, and likely to marry young and start families. They are also sometimes seen as stubborn, and very tight with money. They want to drive a hard bargain. People from Copenhagen are seen as slick. Smart-ass, fast-talking, prone to exaggeration- everything\\u2019s the biggest and the best.\\xa0 The men wear expensive business suits, and everyone wears overpriced eyeglasses. They have jobs that are non-jobs, like Senior Communications Consultant or SEO specialist.\\xa0 People from Jylland have real jobs, like pig farmer, or Lego designer.\\xa0

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