Some days ago I read in a blog (Matthew Bennet/ Let’s talk about the future
of Spain) an article telling about many of the Spanish typical stereotypes. And I thought it would be of some interest to post it here.
- Spanish people eat lots of tortilla: Spanish people eat
quite a lot of tortilla. A
good great tortilla is one of the staples of every Spanish mother’s cooking
inventory and everybody’s mum always makes the tastiest one. Tortilla is
definitely very tasty and worth getting to know properly. Tortilla is not
something that people eat every day though, or at every meal, and not everybody
likes it.
- Spain is sun, sea and sand: depends on the part of Spain.
There are beautiful parts of the north of Spain which could easily be in Wales
or England due to the greeness and quantity of rainfall and cloud. There are
big differences between the north of Spain, the south and Mediterranean coast.
In the north and many parts of the Spanish countryside which are inland, in
winter it can get very, very cold. In the south it’s sunny, clear blue skies just about all day every day,
all year round. Clouds rarely appear. Rain appears even less frequently.
From May until November, it’s
very hot and it will try and rain a couple of times during the summer. There
are, indeed, many beautiful beaches in Spain. You shouldn’t think this is all
of Spain, however, not even half. There are hundreds thousands of beautiful
places to visit all over Spain, whether it’s sunny, raining or covered with
snow. And it’s even more fun if you get to know the people, traditions and
history of the places you visit.
- All
Spaniards are bullfighters or go every week to a bullfight: of course not. Bullfighting
is half sport, half art, half barbarity, depending on who you ask. Bullfights
are normally held in ferias or festival periods. It is incredibly complicated
and understanding bullfighting (whether you’re Spanish or foreign) requires time.
Recently there were news on
the press about Spanish villages doing referendum to choose between spending
some spare Money in smaller bulls in the ferias or investing it in creating
some temporary jobs for the villages, and I have to say that the bulls option
won (I am Spaniard and I admit I am not proud of that villages taking those
decisions, I admit it!). The business of bullfighting moves a lot of money. It
reaches across social classes. It’s been around for ages and is not going
anywhere. Many Spanish people compare it to the recently banned English ’sport’
of fox-hunting. Not everybody
goes to the bulls, fewer people understand it and the only people who fight
bulls are the professional bullfighters. (this assumes we’re talking about
proper bullfights and not smaller bulls in the many village ferias).
- All
Spaniards like flamenco (and all Spanish women know how to dance flamenco): not
true (not true at all, I admit it again!). Many Spanish people hate
flamenco, in fact. English people think all Spanish girls know how to dance
flamenco: this is because to the untrained eye it’s very easy to move around a
bit and look like you’re dancing flamenco with a few swirls of your hands and
hips. There are many different types of flamenco (the dance most people associate
with the flamenco stereotype is called ‘sevillanas‘). Flamenco is a whole
sub-culture, composed of song, dance and instrumentals, sometimes all together
and sometimes individually. It’s an art. It has more followers in the south of
the country where it originates from. There is traditional flamenco and there
are new waves of pop-flamenco. There are many different rhythms within flamenco
and most traditional flamenco songs, lyrics, dances and instrumental solos fit
into one of those subtypes. It’s incredibly difficult to tell the difference
between the subtypes if you’re not practiced.
- Spanish people are good at that salsa dance: nope, not at
all. Many Spanish people go to salsa and other dance classes though, just like
people in other countries. Most Spanish blokes have two left feet just like
most English blokes and most Spanish girls love at least trying to dance a lot.
Salsa was created in New York and the influences were all Caribbean and Latin
American.
- Is Shakira Spanish? Nope, she’s from Colombia.
- And Ricky Martin? no, he’s from Puerto Rico.
- Everybody eats paella in Spain: No, of course not. Everybody
enjoys a good one though. It’s very difficult to make well. There are many
variants on what a foreigner might think is paella but which is actually a
different type of rice dish.
- All Spaniards drink sangría: No, Spanish people sometimes
drink sangría. The most popular drinks at meals are wine, beer and water.
- Spanish food is tapas. Some Spanish food is tapas. The idea of tapas being free is mainly
a southern thing (especially in places like Granada
and Almeria,
where you buy a beer and basically eat for free if you go to the right places).
There are hundreds of different types of tapas. Apart from tapas, there
is some fantastic Spanish food which is nothing to do with tapas. Every region
has its own specialities. Spain could easily be a gourmet’s paradise but don’t
limit your ideas of Spanish food to tapas and paella.
- Mexico, donkeys, dusty roads and big hats: no, no, no. These
are ridiculous cartoon assumptions that foreigners mix up with Spain from
watching Speedy Gonzalez. There
are of course, a few dusty roads and a few Mexicans in Spain. I
have yet to see anybody wearing a big hat (apart from English tourists on
tourist beaches and in airport waiting lounges);
- Spanish people are the same as Latin American people: no. They speak the same language, with
differences (with quite differences, I should say) and of course have
historical and cultural roots, but don’t mix them up: many different national
cultures which all share (apart from indigenoues Latin American communities)
certain common features (language, history, religion). Although this
would be very debatable, a comparison with the idea of the British Commonwealth
or the more general concept of ‘the English speaking world’ would not be a bad
one.
- Spanish
people are very lazy: no (I have met British lazy people too, for instance!).
Spanish people work some of the longest hours in Europe (although have lower
productivity levels) and one of the biggest problems here is lack of sleep due
to noise, timetables and a general desire to live life to the full as much as
possible (not now because of the crisis!). The work timetable combined
with the daily-chores timetable combined with a well-filled social life means
that many people don’t sleep as much as they would like to. In the south in the summer (and in many other
parts of the country), it’s very, very hot and between about one o’clock and
seven or eight in the evening, there’s not much point in trying to do anything,
especially after lunch: it’s too hot. Life shifts a few hours at night
and takes a break during the day.
- The waiter
doesn’t speak English very well: of course not. The idea that everybody
does or should speak English is a myth. Waiters in many countries know enough
to bring you a beer and, on the other end of the jobs scale, people working in
multinational companies tend to have very good English if their job involves
communicating with English speakers. Learning a language properly takes years
of continuous effort and practice.
- Spanish
people are very rude and loud: this is something that many foreigners will
notice on arriving in Spain.
It’s a tricky one: the noise level is definitely higher and people shout
a lot when they should be speaking normally. It doesn’t however, mean that
people are being rude. It’s just the way it is most of the time.
- Spanish
people drink a lot of coffe: Yes, lots and lots. If you like coffee,
you’ll like Spain.
- Spanish
people don’t know how to make a cup of tea:True. Not a clue, unless
they’ve lived in England and taken a liking to tea.
- Spanish
people have wierd timetables:Spanish people have a different timetable
to most of the rest of Europe, althought with shifts in globalisation, this is changing
in big cities like Madrid and Barcelona. Most things related to timetable
differences are related to the weather and heat in the summer. The traditional
Spanish timetable is: morning until 14:00, midday/lunchtime 14:00-17:00,
afternoon from 17:00 until 21:00, followed by dinner.
- Spanish beers are very small: Yes they are, compared to
English pints, but this is absolutely the best way to drink them in the summer
when it’s very hot or as a refreshing slurp in winter. Imagine trying to enjoy
a few pints of stout in 45ºC
heat, or mixing Guiness with seafood.
- Ibiza, parties, Benicassim and Spanish music: Spain has some
great parties. There is also some great Spanish music.
Have you ever been to Spain? What do you think of the post? Any more topics to add to the list or even to change? Would you like to tell your experience here?
