'Speak Softly, Don't Argue and Slow Down'--UK (Tips for Americans)

[Gloria]

From the new World Media Watch up now at http://www.zianet.com/insightanalytical
Tomorrow at Buzzflash.com

More stories in my Journal....


1//The Telegraph, UK Monday 17 April 2006

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/04/16/wtour16.xml&sSheet=/news/2006/04/16/ixworld.html



‘SPEAK SOFTLY, DON’T ARGUE AND SLOW DOWN’

By Philip Sherwell
(Filed: 16/04/2006)



Loud and brash, in gawdy garb and baseball caps, more than three million of them flock to our shores every year. Shuffling between tourist sites or preparing to negotiate a business deal, they bemoan the failings of the world outside the United States.



The reputation of the "Ugly American" abroad is not, however, just some cruel stereotype, but - according to the American government itself - worryingly accurate. Now, the State Department in Washington has joined forces with American industry to plan an image make-over by issuing guides for Americans travelling overseas on how to behave.



Under a programme starting next month, several leading US companies will give employees heading abroad a "World Citizens Guide" featuring 16 etiquette tips on how they can help improve America's battered international image.



Business for Diplomatic Action (BDA), a non-profit group funded by big American companies, has also met Karen Hughes, the head of public diplomacy at the State Department, to discuss issuing the guide with every new US passport. The goal is to create an army of civilian ambassadors.

The guide offers a series of "simple suggestions" under the slogan, "Help your country while you travel for your company". The advice targets a series of common American traits and includes:



• Think as big as you like but talk and act smaller. (In many countries, any form of boasting is considered very rude. Talking about wealth, power or status - corporate or personal - can create resentment.)


MORE 15 MORE TIPS!!!!!!

[Erika]

1. Karen Hughes issuing tips?

The Arab country was totally offended by her. Did she learn she better shut up rather than lecture to those who have no use for what they see as GOP/American ideals?

[pushycat]

3. This smacks of K Hughes talking points for all of us

She tells everyone else how to behave yet her own words are never close to what she advises the rest of us. Just amazing she is getting paid to tell all of us how to act outside our country!

We need a change here at home. Clean the whole mess up and throw the bums out of office this Sept!!!!

[TechBear_Seattle]

2. I've been to Europe several times, and far worse than the Americans...

... are the German tourists. I have rarely seen anyone acting rude or overbearing who spoke American English; it was always German.

[Arugula Latte]

4. I remember a German tourist when I was in Florida

I was astonished by how arrogant and rude he was; I remember thinking that that's how Americans must appear to many Europeans.

[clyrc]

5. I've heard more about loud, rude American tourists than I've seen

Although I do remember that in London right after Katrina, the newspapers were all pretty much expressing surprise about the ineptitude of Bush in dealing with the storm, and some Americans sitting near me were loudly outraged at the criticism. Earlier in that visit, I probably added to the negative view of Americans by screaming at my husband in the streets of London. I was exhausted, jet-lagged, sick and trying to recover from a recent misscariage, and he was being a butt and I just lost it. OF course the one place I would do that is in London, where the opinion of Americans is not sky high.

[lildreamer316]

6. Um,

I think you can be excused for that,dear. Sheesh. I am sorry about your misc.; hope everything is better...........

[TheBaldyMan]

7. That article doesn't agree with my experiences of American tourists at all

most of them are very personable and extremely friendly. Even if they turn up in a Stetson, it's looked on as a charming eccentricity rather than an attempt at cultural imperialism.

I used to work in the hotel trade many moons ago and you couldn't generalise about any nationality. Maybe there is one that surprises British people, that is the amount of food Americans can eat, it's guaranteed to raise a few eyebrows when you polish off a substantial meal then ask for seconds.

The only time I actually met group of Americans I didn't like was some management students. Rich, white and relatives of texas oil barons. Republican to the core and not the sort of company I'd choose to keep.