We are used to forming opinions about countries based on movies, news, and stories of friends. But overall, we don’t even pay attention to the fact that the movies are fiction, the news is biased, and your friends’ week-long trip isn’t enough to create an objective opinion about a foreign country.
That is why many things that we think we know about other countries are false or exaggerated. We ready to bust some popular myths about other countries.
Myths About Different Countries
11. China Is The Most Densely Populated Country
Most of the people in the world live in China, but it is not the most densely populated country. For example, Germany and Italy are more densely populated.
The point is that, in addition to its huge population, the ROC has one of the largest territories in the world. But about 2/3 of those territories are mountains and deserts.
10. Sumo Is The Most Popular Sport In Japan
In recent years, this traditional sport has become more popular again. Still, sumo is less common than baseball. Half of all the people there, who play sports, prefer baseball.
9. India Is A Country Of Buddhists
More than 80% of religious people in India practice Hinduism. The second most common religion is Islam. Less than 1% of the people are Buddhists and the majority live in the northern areas, near Tibet.
8. All Citizens Of The UAE Are Incredibly Wealthy
As a general rule, the natives are, in fact, quite wealthy. But approximately 85% of people are immigrants. Even around 2/3 of the Arabs living in the UAE are from neighboring countries.
Obviously, IT specialists and senior managers can offer a good quality of life, but ordinary blue-and-white collar workers live in really bad conditions in this expensive country.
7. Rio de Janeiro Is The Capital Of Brazil
Rio de Janeiro had been the capital for almost 200 years, but in 1960 the capital was transferred to Brasilia, a city founded for that purpose. Today, Rio is not even the largest city, São Paulo is much larger.
6. In Germany, People Are Very Punctual And Everything Works According To A Schedule
Punctuality is part of German culture, but just like in the rest of the world, cultural boundaries and old traditions disappear. Many projects do not meet deadlines, and according to the data, about 1/3 of all trains in Germany are delayed.
5. Bullfighting Is The Most Popular Entertainment In Spain
Bullfights are still carried out in many cities in Spain, but their popularity is not that high. Most of the people who visit the shows are tourists.
Under pressure from activists, the Catalan Parliament banned bulls in the area, including Barcelona.
3. Australia Is The Country Of Eternal Summer
Most people live in the southern areas, in cities like Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, and Adelaide. For example, in winter, the temperature is 32 ° F in Canberra. What’s more, a big part of the continent is mountains, which are covered in snow in the winter.
2. Romania Is A Country Of Gypsies
Some people think that most of the people in Romania are gypsies. Others are sure that Romanians and Gypsies are like-minded people. But none of them is right.
First, Romanians and Gypsies have different backgrounds and speak absolutely different languages.
Romanians are European and their language is close to Italian and Spanish. Gypsies are descendants of Indians. Secondly, there are only 3% of Gypsies in Romania.
1. The Chili Pepper Was Named In Honor Of The South American Country
The ancient Aztecs who lived in the territory of modern Mexico gave the name to this hot pepper. The state of Chile is far from Mexico and was inhabited by different people who used to speak a different language.
In many modern languages, the name of this plant and the country are also spelled differently.
Do you know other stereotypes about other countries? Have you heard myths about your own country?
