Comments on: The 16 Friendliest Countries And The 11 Rudest Countries

By: Kay Carswell

Kay Carswell — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 03:47:03 +0000

We just returned from a month in Sicily and Greece, including Crete, Santorini, and mainland Greece. Contrary to other opinions here, we found the Greeks to be quite friendly, even in Athens — not only the hotel personnel but the taxi drivers, store clerks, and men-on-the-street were considerate and friendly. On the other hand, we found Sicilians to be among the rudest people we’ve ever encountered in our 30 years of international travel. And it wasn’t our attitude that caused the rudeness — they are rude to each other, shouting, pushing, etc. (There were, of course, exceptions, and we found exactly 3 Sicilians who were friendly, helpful and dignified.) The driving is insane, drivers showing absolutely no regard for the other driver nor for traffic laws. “Wait your turn” doesn’t compute whether on the highway or the sidewalk. Waiters are at best disinterested and at worst hostile.

It would be hard to say which country is the friendliest, but we have had good experiences in France, England, Ireland, and Croatia. I think Croatia surprised us the most with their enthusiasm toward visitors.

By: Sandra Bravo

Sandra Bravo — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 12:30:59 +0000

We (family) have travelled around the world, and agree that definetely French from PARIS area are the worst, but not so for the rest, even if one or them do not speak the language (English, Spanish or French).

Puerto Rico is my home country, yet our people 99% of the time go all out for newcomers, yet I recognize that service in restaurants is an area we are lagging behind. SOrry on behalf of PR people who do care.

By: Alicia Hooben

Alicia Hooben — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 11:13:56 +0000

Austrailia hands down is the friendliest place. Not only are the Austrailians friendly and helpful but they are so earth friendly as well. Sydney was such a clean clean city. Cairns also was so welcoming from our taxi driver to our hotel staff everyone was wonderful. Now after Austrailia we stopped in Tahiti for a few days. There we found very rude hotel staff. Very slow, no attention to detail service. The beauty of the place does make up for all of it!

By: Tom Pappas

Tom Pappas — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 22:42:18 +0000

Many Americans misinterpret the aloofness of French (Parisian) waiters as rudeness. Unlike the US, where restaurant workers are often temporary workers earning minimum wage, in France service personnel are professionals, and they expect their clients to treat them with the respect their station deserves. If customers don’t, they are treated with disdain.

By: Art

Art — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 04:56:50 +0000

Without hesitation, my response for the most friendly people would be Jamaica. That is why so many of the all-inclusive resorts are based there. “No problem mon” is not just a saying; it is a way of life. IRIE means “good feelings” in Jamaican and that is what you will have if you go there.

By: Doug

Doug — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 13:03:20 +0000

I have to defend the French. We spent two weeks there a couple of years ago and everyone was universally friendly and helpful. Several times in the Paris Metro, when we looked confused, a local would offer advice, in English without our even having to ask. We also witnessed a young woman trying to pull a huge rolling suitcase up the steps in the Metro and a young man, unasked, grabbed another handle and lifted it up the steps for her. We don’t speak fluent French, but we practice out phrasing and our attempt to speak the local language is appreciated and usually reciprocated by the French switching to English.

A country that also has lovely, warm local folks is Costa Rica. Ticos just naturally smile when greeted with an Hola!

The Irish are wonderful friends of the “Yanks” and the way they speak the language is poetic.

We’ve traveled to many other countries including Chile, Agentina, England, Scotland, and all over the Caribbean and have found that if one is friendly towards the locals, they treat you likewise.

By: Christine

Christine — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 01:35:29 +0000

We have traveled in many of the countries listed. By far the friendliest was Australia. The people were always striking up a conversation with us. They really wanted to know what we thought of their country and were interested in the USA. Perhaps it is because there were no language barriers. I have visited New York City many times and have always found New Yorkers to be helpful, not rude at all!
I think the rudest treatment we have received has been in Germany. Our heritage is German. In fact I am often mistaken for German when we travel. I understand, though, that once the Germans get to know you they are very kind.

By: Virginia Kamke

Virginia Kamke — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 15:21:30 +0000

France can go either way. The positives outdo the negatives, even though many believe the French are rude.

Argentines are friendly. The residents of Buenos Aires are known to think they are superior , but the rest of the Argentines are very friendly. In fact, in BA, they were very friendly to Americans (at least to us!!!)

By: Charles Rogers

Charles Rogers — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 14:06:16 +0000

I was sorry to hear Barbara had such a bad time in Budapest,My wife and I spent almost a week there last year,We found the people very helpful and friendly.
The subways were very clean,the restaurants and servers very polite, and the food was excelent.
We look forward to going back very soon.

By: Karen Sandness

Karen Sandness — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 13:50:20 +0000

I’ve found that people all over the world reflect YOUR attitude toward them. Years ago, when I was a teenager, my family took a trip to Europe. At the time, there were a lot of artiles in the U.S. press about how unfriendly the French were. However, both my father and I spoke some French, and we found people largely helpful and friendly, with the exception of one souvenir seller near the Eiffel Tower, who was probably just having a bad day. The rest of the family, who didn’t speak a word of French, had neutral or bad experiences.

I find it incredible that people sometimes take off for a foreign country without reading up on it or learning any of the language. Buying a $25 guidebook and reading it thoroughly helps you understand some of the cultural differences and avoid misunderstandings and unintentional rudeness.

In addition, learning a few words of your host country’s language shows respect for its residents. Even in countries where “everybody speaks English,” I always learn how to say, “Do you speak English?” in the local language. These days, it’s easy to find audio familiarization courses and podcasts for the world’s major languages, and you can buy recorded materials for just about any language in the world online, so if you can afford to go overseas, there’s no excuse for not spending an extra $30 or so to learn a few phrases.

Quite often the people who claim that “everyone” in a foreign country was rude are people who go over with a superior attitude or a chip on their shoulder. I’ve met friendly and rude people all over the world and all over the U.S.