Quote:
Originally Posted by MMM
I read a couple versions of the article. The polling happened last month.
Carried out last month by TNS Infratest, the study asked 40,000 hotels worldwide to rank tourists from 27 countries based on nine criteria, from their politeness to their willingness to tip.
French take title as 'world's worst tourist' in survey
Why would you travel to another culture and not make an effort to not be rude? That seems like a foreign concept to me.
If you have no interest in that culture, why would you go there?
The question is, tourists from which country make the least effort not to be rude. The answer is in the first post.
I think that is implied in what I said. I didn't say "Every French person" I said "The French". Surveys like this are generalizations, but it doesn't mean EVERY French tourist is bad. If I say "Americans like cheeseburgers" it is a true statement, but doesn't mean EVERY American likes cheeseburgers. |
Okay, thanks. I'll make sure to check it out.
I think you may have misunderstood the statement I made. I didn't say that people can go to another country without caring about what is rude or not. I meant to say that a person might not understand what is rude or not.
I read and reread the article. I doesn't say that "the French make the least amount effort." It says that the French are the worst tourists. It's an article that stereotypes and attracts readers who easily believe these kinds of surveys without questioning it - without raising questions such as, "Who gets to decide that they're rude?" and, "What if the tourists don't have the resources to understand another culture?"
"The French" is the same as saying "every French person." It's a generalization based on a person's nationality. Saying that Americans like cheeseburgers is also a generalization. It's like saying, "Americans are idiots for voting Bush in for a second term." It's a generalization because not everyone wanted Bush back into office. Saying that the French are rude and don't make an effort is a generalization and a stereotype because I'm sure there are French who do make an effort, and who are extremely polite. Words like "most" and "some" need to be added, because - according to the English language - saying "the French" means every single French person.