How do you visibly identify your nationality when travelling overseas?

[GMT]

I try not to advertise my nationality when overseas although it's usually obvious when I start talking. I say 'usually' because in different little towns in the US when I've told them I'm from Australia, one asked if that was in California, another if that was near New Orleans and various other places.

 

[Deleted member]

When people ask " where are you from"? I reply " I live in Australia"
It saves lengthy explanations , and I have lived most of my life in Australia.
That in itself doesn't define me though.
Where I am from is a small dot in the pacific ( amongst other small dots)

 

[Deleted member]

Strongly agree - the other thing that makes my flesh crawl is when identified as an Australian overseas, over enthusiastic know-alls start loudly talking about "Sheila's" & other Barry mckenzieisms thinking I will find them funny.

Wendy Harmer one Australia Day explained that the possible etymology was Cornish wives going down to the mine pit opening at lunch time with hot pasties for their husbands, and yelling down the mine shaft "oggie, oggie, oggie, oi, oi, oi"

I have often been mistaken for a New Zealander by other Australians ( here) - have no idea why

Are you originally from Adelaide?

 

[Skyring]

When I was in Lake Louise I had a tee shirt on with a HSV logo on the front pocket. As I wandered around a store I heard the comment "HSV must be an aussie" however in a Canadian accent. Shows the influence of many Australians working in the ski resorts.

I love that song!

"...I bet he thinks this shirt is about him..."

 

[Warwick Thorley]

I am not sure that wearing Kathmandu will identify you as Australian. The Company was founded in NZ by Kiwi Jan Cameron.

 

[SeatBackForward]

Theres nothing like flag waving patriotism to identify that you're from the USA..But I'm struglling as to *why* you need to openly advertise your nationality.


Having said that, there's absolutely no point in me trying to identify my nationality. I look Indian, until I open my mouth. The jaw drops when I visit India are the best but its equally confusing (perhaps confronting is a better word) in MANY countries I've been too, especially in Australia itself...

ETA: great thread to post though!

 

[Dragon2512aus]

Great thread, I have to admit that the thing that gives me away is that I wear my Collingwood member hat when I am walking (not only cos I am a keen Pies supporter but also to keep my hair out of my face LOL) So the people who recognise me are either followers or non of my team (shhh AFL ppl )

Other than that, I, too prefer to speak the language of the country as much as I can, as I love learning other languages, so hopefully not being obviously a tourist, I prefer if possible to stay in one place for a week or so rather than flit through so I can at least find a decent wine and coffee bar

Salut!

 

[sydunipete]

I try to blend in but at 6'4" Europeans spot me for a tourist a mile away - even without the backpack and camera.

For a while I would wear a very small discrete Kangaroo pin. You can pick them up in Australian tourist stores for next to nothing. Then if somebody helped me when overseas I would smile and give them the pin. One particularly memorable occasion was my first trip to Paris. Standing at a train station puzzling at a poster map of the metro a French lady came up, somehow managed to get across the message that we were at a train station, not the metro and that the metro was in that direction. She loved the pin.

I speak fluent Italian, but with a strong accent. It's interesting to note that as soon as Italians hear the accent or can see I'm not a local they speak English - no matter how much Italian I speak. In France however, it's the opposite. I can really only say hello, thank you and goodbye, but as soon as you say one word in French they will continue to speak French to you. Two countries, so close but so different.

 

[drron]

I have the opposite experience in France.I will say "une table pour deux s'il vous plaît" and the waiter responds with 'the English menu sir".

 

[Allan R]

I'm proud to be an Aussie. However there have been many occasions when I've been overseas, particularly in the terminals, that I've seen Aussies performing like morons, something like a cross between Bazza McKenzie, Crocodile Dundee and Strop, and they think they're being cool. It is an embarassment to other Australians. Now that I've got that off my chest, I can normally pick an Aussie overseas by the clothes. We seem to wear a lot of Billabong, Roxy and RM Williams.

 

[TheRealTMA]

re underpants.
I feel that this statement is either TMI or it deserves its own thread, not sure which.

Ok. But what do you wear on your head at communication conferences then?

 

[Favfern]

I am not really sure why wearing Mountain Design, Katmandu or Anaconda clothing (earlier post) necessarily marks you out as an Aussie! When traveling purely as a tourist rather than on business, this low maintenance style of clothing is the "bee's knees"! In 2008 my wife and I undertook a 21 day Insight coach tour round Europe. I was the only member of the party decked out in lightweight "trekking gear" as I like to call it. By the end of that trip, I had converted every male on the coach to my way of thinking! No ironing, overnight "rinse and dry" in the bathroom, lightweight suitcase --- what more could a male want? I do agree however with the comments about Aussies in France and the USA. In 2008 I was at the 90th anniversary of the Battle of Villers Bretonneux on the Western Front and spent 2 weeks in France. Apart from the fact you couldn't get a decent cappuccino, the French treated us extremely well. I spent a lot of time in America in the late Sixties as a QF flight steward. Of course this was during the Vietnam war, and once your Aussie accent was correctly identified in a bar, you did not pay for a drink for the rest of the night!

 

[Peterjules]

After spending 3 weeks in USA and been thought as British by just about everyone, we are thinking of having t-shirts made up announcing we are Aussies!

 

[crm911]

It's impossible to identify my nationalities - born in India but now simply an Overseas Citizen of India (OCI), Kiwi for 35 years, Aussie for 32 years. Although I'm a native Indian, I'm one of the paler ones with grey eyes, so I've had the confusion *in India* of being mistaken for a Westerner and offered to change money!

I have very little Indian left in my accent, but only well-travelled Americans pick that up. Aussies hear me as an Aussie and Kiwis likewise, as I didn't keep the Kiwi accent for long. I stick to the British/Indian/Kiwi versions of "dance/chance/advance", so in the UK I'm picked as a "maybe a posh Brit" or South African (never been there).

I have tried wearing a sober polo shirt with a small embroidered "Australia" on it, but unless you carry a stack of them, you can't wear the same one every day. Tried a flag-motif cap once, but I'm not a cap person, so it didn't last more than one day. Yes, had the "Nous sommes Australiens, pas Anglais" experience in Marseille when a shopkeeper had no patience for our English. It didn't help that I learnt French in India from an Indian who hadn't heard native French. Hence I couldn't understand the gruff French in Marseille either.

So now I just have a discreet "Ansett Australia Frequent Flyer" and "Ansett Golden Wing" carry-on bag tags, which have been picked up by fellow Aussies.

 

[Rono]

Casanova,

I am intrigued by your comments, especially the bit about "fairly olive skin".
I am in the same boat - would love to hear your comments as would my wife and my mother.

PS - my father (recently deceased) was of Scandanavian descent - whilst I saw his relations regularly when in Europe - I was always the odd man out in the photo's - if you take my meaning!

regards

Rono

 

[sydunipete]

After spending 3 weeks in USA and been thought as British by just about everyone, we are thinking of having t-shirts made up announcing we are Aussies!

I have a T-shirt that says "I don't speak Icelandic" in Icelandic. It doesn't come in handy very often. But one day ....

 

[lobos305]

I wear absolutely nothing to show my national identity for security reasons.

 

[Magoo]

We used to be able to identify Australians abroad by the Downtown Duty Free bags they carried, bright orange and green, and strong enough to carry around for a while.

I was identified in Madrid when I went to pay for something at the Post Office, and the homesick Aussie in the queue behind me saw my Medicare card.

I got free medical care when I was very sick travelling around the Somme, Presumably because I was Australian. Although maybe not. I also got free medical care in Scotland last year because the sun was shining! (well...that's what they said!)

 

[irv]

I love that song!

"...I bet he thinks this shirt is about him..."

Sorry I don't understand the reference to a song?

 

[Pushka]

Are you originally from Adelaide?

GPH South Aussies do not speak like NZ'ers. We pronounce our vowels correctly down here and no fush and chups for us.

Mum got free phone calls back home when near Villers Bretonneux in France. Probably appropriate given her father had fought there and died of heart issues in his forties from war related problems.