Knowing your places.

Hopefully I am in a good place to post this otherwise the mods will be on my ass >_>
Anyhow OT:
I have noticed (This could be very sterotypical so don't take offence but its in general) that most American people only know a lot of stuff about their country and that not so much about some other countries.
As I am from England we learn about everyone else's countries a bit ours but not so much. When it comes to places we can tell you a lot of places in America however when you ask an American what places do you know in the UK they could maybe only name you 2 or 3. Is it down to that America is very (I don't know what word I'm trying to say so I will say this) Patriotic and like to only know about their country. We probably know more about everyone else's country's then we do ours!

Again this could cause arguments so remember if you are American please do not take offence. I just wanted to know is it for some reason or maybe its not all Americans maybe its just a certain area. If someone could shed some light that'd be great.

P.S If I did offend you in any way please do tell me and I am sorry.
Or if you have no idea what I am trying to say here just leave it as a comment I will try explain a little more O_o

Have a great day :D

Does this happen only in England or is the rest of Britain included?

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Originally Posted by Mark

Does this happen only in England or is the rest of Britain included?

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Wouldn't know, Never been taught in the rest of UK only England.
Sorry.

Oh I thought this was gonna be a thread about poor people

tbh there are a lot of things we're still not taught in England, I bet no-one has the history of Yemen on their syllabus

I can honestly say my school never taught us **** about america so I wouldn't just pick on america for the awareness of the rest of the world

Literally the only reason I know the geographic location of some cities and states in america is from knowing people from those places & self-research

Also UK is a tiny island compared to the rest of the world, if I was from America I reckon I'd only know about London

we're only aware of it because we've been exposed to the american culture through the media for quite awhile now, as american tv shows/news stations would be shown in the UK whereas they obviously didn't watch UK shows (before the internet became super popular)

in ireland we have all your tv shows, but you guys wouldn't have ours. this means i know way more about your culture than you would about mine, half the people on this forum probably couldn't tell you what the capital of ireland is.

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Originally Posted by wixard

we're only aware of it because we've been exposed to the american culture through the media for quite awhile now, as american tv shows/news stations would be shown in the UK whereas they obviously didn't watch UK shows (before the internet became super popular)

in ireland we have all your tv shows, but you guys wouldn't have ours. this means i know way more about your culture than you would about mine, half the people on this forum probably couldn't tell you what the capital of ireland is.

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Dublin. As you can tell I know a lot of places and no I didn't just search it in on Google for any of those who may so so, But OT: You are right I guess, A lot of American TV shows are shown in the UK and that's how people know a lot about places.

really tell me something about my country

Britain, America and others such as France, Russia and Germany are more well known in terms of culture or just their history simply because they have been or are the Great Powers/Superpowers of the world and thus more attention/the spread of their history has been more widespread. We are exposed to a lot of American culture for example through their films which glorify their most precious values or historical moments: the constitution, the Founding Fathers, the Confederacy vs the federalists, the Great Depression and it's the same for Britain with her Empire, Industrial Revolution and the world wars, France & Russia with their Revolution and Republicanism and Germany with her great industrial, scientific and warfaring recent history.

The history of other nations and cultures often just doesn't compare, or we don't take it in because we're not as interested or cannot relate to them in the same way or there's simply not enough time to learn about them. A lot of civilisations and countries have done a lot more than others and that's what we've got to accept: that they aren't all equal. Besides in my view, one should know about his own history, culture and country before all others. How can one begin to understand the world before you understand why you and your people hold the values you do?

And it's a lot easier to relate to America/Australia/Canada and even most of Europe if you are a Briton for example. The Anglo-Saxon countries and indeed a lot of Europe have similar ideals, values, histories, institutions that make it easier to understand one another whereas if one attempts to read on the history of another great civilisation such as Japan for example - as I have - it's very difficult to wrap your head around Japan as it's so complex and alien to the historical concepts we hold in the west.

lmfaooooo dryrash literally answered your capital of ireland question @wixard

I have to disagree, I'm from England and I know very little about other countries.

I can tell you a lot about American geography because I've traveled there many times, but not really American history or politics etc.

I never did Geography or History at school after I was 14 years old and prior to then we learned more about bodies of water, types of weather and natural disasters in Geography, and British history in History.

I'd say I'm very ignorant to the rest of the world because I simply know very little about it and I was never taught it and I now haven't the time to sit and learn about it.

To give you an idea, I could name the majority of European countries and their capitals, same with North America. South America I'd struggle to name many countries let alone their capitals. Africa is the worst for me, the number of countries I could name I could probably count on my fingers. Asia is somewhere in the middle. Most of them I couldn't place though, I'd know roughly where abouts they are, but not exactly. I'm more likely able to place where each of the States are.

And no, I'm not an idiot, it's just that world geography and so on isn't my specialist subject.

I also disagree with Americans not knowing many places in England. I'm always surprised when I talk to people in hotels in America who have heard of the city I'm from. This surprised me because when I started at uni there were people who didn't know where my city was and it was only 30 miles away and it's not a tiny place. I've had people talk to me in America about places they have been to in England that I've never been to myself. So I wouldn't say everyone is in the unknown. And these were just ordinary people.

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Originally Posted by Futz

lmfaooooo dryrash literally answered your capital of ireland question @wixard

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i know and i love how he states that he didn't google it hahahahaha

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Originally Posted by karter

really tell me something about my country

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I can only go off from what I have known from school but so it won't be much but,
It was one of the richest countries in the world until the invasion in the 17th centenary. (Edit) British Invasion
Before 1985 I think it was O_O India was the only place where diamonds could be found!
Chess also originated from India plus I am more than likely wrong on some of these and I think this one too maybe you have one of the largest railway systems in the world.
Some of the information may be wrong as I am going off memory, Can't give you a lot but hey I know some ;]
That is if you are from India xD Otherwise this would be awkward...

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Originally Posted by wixard

i know and i love how he states that he didn't google it hahahahaha

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Well you get them type of people then there's me xD!

you're still pretty good for an average person tho when some person on this forum learnt that i lived in India his first question was "do you live in kabul" o kay......

I feel I know very little about the history of other countries. I would like to have been taught more (I don't have the motivation or knowledge on where to start alone...) in school but nooo it was all WW2 and WW1 and about every king of England like my God.

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Originally Posted by karter

really tell me something about my country

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IT HOT

Err honestly I don't know much about America? Like wixard, said we have all the British shows so I'd know a lot about Britain and especially cus I've travelled there a lot and I've spoken to a lot of British people since I was quite young / boyfriends English. I'd know bits about certain parts of America, but only because I've been to those parts. I'd know things about Russia because I studied it in history, same with India and Germany. I'd know things about Syria and Rwanda because we're told to research it for college but that's really it.

anyway in high school we get a choice between east asian, indo-chinese, european history and modern american history and indian history is compulsory so i chose indo-chinese and modern america coz thats what interested me! but we were given introductory lessons on all of em sooooo

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Originally Posted by FlyingJesus

IT HOT

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no it not

It is I saw it on tv and everything

I learnt quite a bit about other countries but I feel like I still don't know much - we barely covered a lot of countries. History/ geography/ politics are such broad subjects and you can't just learn them in a week. America would still learn about other countries but just focus on their own more which makes sense to me. I know in year 11/12 modern history the majority of focus was on the Australian soldiers in WW1 and WE2.

then it must be! i'm a ***** sorry

I know about landmarks, states, capital cities etc but learned them for trivial reasons, I feel it's important to know about my own heritage so obviously am aware of of going on where I grew up. most of stuff I know about places is because I've been there or seen a place in the news or w.e and decided to research it and its people further. also learned a lot about other places in britain cos of close friends I've discussed them with.

I can be quite geographically challenged sometimes.

Being American, when I was in school we never really learned much about other countries unless it was revolved around war and other stuff along that line.Most things that school did not teach me, I learned in my own time. Geographically, I know where everything is for the most part. Continents, countries, ect. I actually think it's quite unfair that some educational systems in the US shelter students from history of other countries, especially if other countries take their time to learn about things going on in the US.

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Originally Posted by crystaldd0

Being American, when I was in school we never really learned much about other countries unless it was revolved around war and other stuff along that line.Most things that school did not teach me, I learned in my own time. Geographically, I know where everything is for the most part. Continents, countries, ect. I actually think it's quite unfair that some educational systems in the US shelter students from history of other countries, especially if other countries take their time to learn about things going on in the US.

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where's malaysia

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Originally Posted by Eric

where's malaysia

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whats a malaysia ?

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Originally Posted by crystaldd0

whats a malaysia ?

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o m g

What's a Malaysia lmaooo
idk about countries cultures as a whole but i do know quite a bit about little tribes

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Originally Posted by crystaldd0

whats a malaysia ?

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http://www.habboxforum.com/customava...ar79964_91.gif

ot : yea i know uk consists of 4 countries and canada has 2 official languages

Americans don't have much history really.. I think a lot of Americans think their country is the best and are so full of themselves that they are ignorant of other countries backgrounds.

That's just my opinion though!

Edit: Did he really just say what's a Malaysia? LMAO

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Originally Posted by karter

really tell me something about my country

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I'm sure @-:Undertaker:-; can give you a nice run down, hahaha :P

As for the topic, I like to think I know where most countries are on a map, and back in the day I used to know a lot of the world capitals and flags - but then you go into Habbo events and @Samanfa; starts asking for the capital of Turkmenistan, and then you just give up.

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Originally Posted by Kardan

I'm sure @-:Undertaker:-; can give you a nice run down, hahaha :P

As for the topic, I like to think I know where most countries are on a map, and back in the day I used to know a lot of the world capitals and flags - but then you go into Habbo events and @Samanfa; starts asking for the capital of Turkmenistan, and then you just give up.

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Ashgabat (next time do one I didn't have to google :'()

I like to think I know where a lot of places are, playing www.geosense.net helped me when I was in high school :P.

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Originally Posted by Kardan

I'm sure @-:Undertaker:-; can give you a nice run down, hahaha :P

As for the topic, I like to think I know where most countries are on a map, and back in the day I used to know a lot of the world capitals and flags - but then you go into Habbo events and @Samanfa; starts asking for the capital of Turkmenistan, and then you just give up.

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pretty sure he only knows stuff about colonial india not medieval nor ancient nor prehistoric

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Originally Posted by karter

pretty sure he only knows stuff about colonial india not medieval nor ancient nor prehistoric

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I know, I was trying to be funny :P

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Originally Posted by karter

pretty sure he only knows stuff about colonial india not medieval nor ancient nor prehistoric

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Correct, although I should do sometime as I have great respect for ancient India. One of the greatest civilisations in world history.