To ask about people from different countries

[TyraBanksEyeTwitch]

I don't know how well I can express myself here. Currently on holiday somewhere with lots of Europeans, Spanish, German,Italian, Scandinavian, French and of course British.

The Italians are outgoing, social, glamorous. The Danes are reserved, polite, healthy.
The Germans are practical, family orientated, humorous.
This is just my interpretation based on one holiday park obviously. I have spent time in all these countries too.
But how do different cultures form personalities? There must be Italian introverts, but on the whole is it the weather, location, history, language?
What makes them more likely to be engaging, social, care about appearances, enjoy chatting and laughing for long amounts of time?
I was thinking about our history and whether our status as an island made us rule breakers? Did it make us the rebellious, stubborn, funny, resilient people we are? Did our weather make us more prone to socialise with our immediate family more, compared to the bigger social networks of the Southern Europeans.
It's funny because I belong to two cultures but I am most definitely British. I feel my Britishness in every inch of my body. But would I have the same personality if I grew up in another country?

Agreed - we noticed this in Mediterranean countries with warmer weather and lighter evenings (BST+1/2). Also that the kids are all out and about with their parents instead of tucked up in bed while it's still daylight.

so can I.

On my various travels I enjoy finding the similarities (if any) between my native British self and the people in the places I'm visting. Currently finding many similarities between a coastal Portugese City/Town and the SW UK town I live in - I think down to very similar local geographies and the historical Cod/Newfoundland Timber and 3rd stop Trade routes.

The most standout cultural similarity for me was Albanian humour - the amount of mutual laughs I have had in interactions there is significant. Which, like the OP suggested, I think is down to Island Nation culture, where it develops when geographically cut off from nearby countries and cultures. In Albania's case, they were cut off in every way from other countries for decades due to Hoxha's long standing dictatorship.

Anyways, quite an interesting topic OP

My British sociologist husband completely dismisses any notion of national characteristics as stereotypes and points out the different nations in Britain, class differences, ethnic distinctions etc whenever I claim that something is "typically British". I am also very aware of strong regional differences in my small EU country but still... having lived in several different countries, I am convinced that education, religion, politics, ideology, weather, geography, history, popular culture, etc shape our behaviours, our values, aesthetics and outlook on life. I speak several languages fluently and know that I behave differently when I speak a different language and my body language changes. I can spot people from my country easily although I haven't lived there for 30 years. At the same time, I am often considered foreign when I visit because I don't fit in completely any longer and my accent has changed and it takes a while to readjust. I find the idea of what makes me "me" fascinating because it so clearly depends on context. I could be a completely different person had I been born in Finland!

As a dane i agree with yous but compared to brits we are quite reserved. Was a big culture shock for me that strangers kept talking to me when I moved here. Not a huge fan of it 😅
And again, OP also described brits as rule breakers which I do not recognise at all so we might just disagree with their assessments😅

Every explanation given for how we know someone's nationality is based on assumptions. I don't understand how we can assume someone's nationality based on their behaviour and then say people of that nationality behave in that way.

Bit this is literally how our brains work. We see things, and based on our previous experiences, our brains make the necessary links and shortcuts to understand a situation or make a judgement. Our brains might not get it right 100% of the time but are generally pretty accurate I think. Unconscious bias and all that.

Similarly to previous posters I agree it’s interesting to observe other people abroad and guess where they are from. I’m not always right but that’s part of the interest for me. For example I saw a family in a Greece holiday resort that based on appearance, clothing, mannerisms etc I thought could only be English. But walking past then later I heard them speaking Dutch.

By hearing them speak, presumably.

@AllProperTeaIsTheft

By hearing them speak, presumably

How do you distinguish between the German and the Austrian?

Unless you are an expert in many languages, how do you distinguish between the Swede and the Norwegian?

@Kneidlach

I think you have missed the point I am trying to make.

In most cases the information received to make a decision about someone's nationality is then attributed to the people of that nationality.
It is pure confirmation bias.