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Have you been confused for a different nationality?


iff

Are you mistaken for someone from another country?ie  

191 members have voted

  1. 1. Have you been mistaken for someone from another country

    • Yes, regularly
      57
    • Occassionally
      94
    • Never
      40

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When I was younger, lots of people thought I was Asian. Now, everybody thinks I'm Portuguese.

 

If you meant physically from, then people have thought I was from England. One time I mentioned I used to live in Avon (a small town in my state), and half my class though it was a country. I have a weird accent that's almost General American, but a hint of Boston. Plus until last year or two years ago, I had a speech impediment.

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Someone asked if I was from Denmark once, and I've also had someone ask if I was Australian. 

Once when I was younger I got mistaken for a German exchange student, which was weird because I have a pretty standard accent for my area of the UK.

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Like 4 separate people have told me I look French. Why French specifically, I have no idea!

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I've encountered this on-and-off through life, mostly people guessing at my ethnicity rather than nationality.  I don't mind, but I think the best way to ask the question would be "May I ask what's your heritage?"

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My voice is weird, so people can't work out where I'm actually from.

 

I was in a shop down the road from me a few years ago and the man in there asked me where I'm from. So I said "Just down the road". He said "Nooooo...where are you from originally? Where in Ireland?"...I've never even been to Ireland.

 

One time I was in NYC and someone asked me if I was from New Zealand. Never been there either!

 

People actually from the city I'm from don't think I'm from there. I've actually been accused of lying about it before (spoiler: it's not worth lying about).

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  • 2 weeks later...
9 hours ago, CBC said:

Yeah, been mistaken for American a few times.

I'm sorry.

:P 

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I've had someone tell me that I'm Italian once when I don't look Italian at all. :blink: 

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Tasha the demi squirrel

I always find it funny that I'm occasionally mistaken for another nationality or asked where I'm from especially as I've never even been out of the country (because I haven't had the money to) 

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People constantly assume I'm Arab or some type of Muslim because of my looks. Doesn't bother me, find it funny....except at costumes where it's annoying to get "randomly selected for screening" every time. 

My mom is a classic blond Dane, dad is Danish as well, but is occasionally mistaken for an Eskimo ( I can't see why).

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People always ask if I'm welsh because of my name even though I don't have an accent whatsoever 

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CosmicTheAceOfSpace

I've been mistaken for a few nationalities, the main ones I can remember of the top of my head are; Irish, Scottish and Hungarian (that one caught me off guard), among other European countries. Being from the North of England my accent is, what I can only describe as, some strange mixture of English and Scottish, with possibly a hint of Nordic (given our history), I assume it would catch most people out if they didn't know where I was from :lol:

 

Of course, if we go by looks, I've been mistaken for Spanish or from a country of middle-eastern origin, since my grandfather is Iranian those answers make a lot more sense but it's still funny when I have to tell people 'nah, I'm from England... sunny, sunny England...' :lol:

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My reading buddy last year thought I was african XD I just have dark skin, but I am a white Canadian. Other than him, I've only been mistaken as someone from Mexico or somewhere else that people generally tend to have tanned skin.(because most people don't get naturally tan-coloured in the middle of a Canadian winter(or spring)

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  • 3 weeks later...

I usually get asked where I am from because of my weird accent.

I live in Denmark and speak danish fluently (as I went to a danish school in germany), but I have a very unique accent, that you only get growing up in northern Germany, as we have our own danish dialect. 

Most of the time people ask if I am from Iceland, Faroe Island, Norway or Sweden. Only sometimes they guess right with Germany :D 

I got asked if I am from Canada from english-speaking people several times, even though I've never been there :D

 

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Divide By Zero

When I travel outside of Canada I am sometimes mistaken for being American, although I think that's fairly common for Canadians because the accents tend to be similar and people have trouble distinguishing the difference (which I can completely understand because I have difficulty distinguishing between English speaking people from other countries, e.g. Scotland and Ireland, England and New Zealand).

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Since I'm Canadian and English-speaking, I probably get confused for being American when travelling abroad. Plus, when I lived in the States, I imagine most people who didn't know me just assumed I was American.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I also have a very special accent ^^ Nobody knows where it comes from, as it's a mix of probably many things.
I describe it as an "American-ish Finnish accent", even though I am neither of those. All my English teachers were Americans, but I wanted to sound British and watched many British series. Since I started learning German I might do the same endings as in German :p

Then I like Finnish and Swedish music (I sing), so I got some of that accent. Add to it a hint of Polish/French maybe (my mother tongues) and voilà, you got my accent x)

 

But if people see and hear me, they sometimes think I am German, which I am only 1/8th by blood ^^ I am Belgian.

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KnowinglyDifferent

Because I'm biracial, I tend to look racially ambiguous. I get "are you Hispanic? Native American? Indian?" and then I have to explain to this person I just met that my parents don't match lol.

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I am frequently misgendered, and mis-nationalized. Most people think I am Mexican, or Australian.

 

I say "Oi" a lot. 

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I get asked if I’m some sort of Latin/Spanish  what am I I must have some sort of Brazilian or something probably daily get asked this I guess cause  I’ve got curves and olive skin   nope white and Jewish even though that’s technically not a  nationality it’s kindof become its own at least where I live

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Celyn: The Lutening

When I was a baby I looked Chinese or Eskimo, and still get asked if I have an Asian parent or grandparent because of the shape of my eyes (which are blue btw). I get Irish or English because of my accent. I have been asked if I was French - no idea why, and a doctor asked me if I had African ancestors because I have a couple of conditions that are more common in black people.

 

I am Welsh. All my ancestors are Welsh. My accent is Welsh-Australian. There is nothing Asian or African about me. I went to France once when I was 3.

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This doesn't actually quite count but on the internet people have thought I'm a native English speaker even though I'm not.

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RavenKey666

Very often, which isn't that surprising considering I'm Chinese and living in Ireland but I've been mistaken for being from a whole host of other East Asian countries based on my looks, and from the USA and Australia based on my accent (which is very, very British).

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When people guess my nationality they try literally every country they know of in (East) Asia. People also often try speaking to me in various Asian languages (most often Mandarin or Japanese) assuming I'll understand but I usually don't. 

 

When I'm in my home country people often think I'm a foreigner based on how I speak and how I dress - the usual assumption is that I'm American or Canadian because of my accent. 

 

In reality... I'm ethnically Chinese from Southeast Asia and grew up in a whole bunch of different countries- I went to American schools as a kid and never lost the accent despite living in the UK for like 18 years., so i understand why I'm kinda hard to place.

 

It's also hard for me to place myself so I hate being asked where I'm from :lol: 

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If being mistaken for various different Asian nationalities counts then yeah a fair amount back in the day (TBF which East Asian nationalities aren’t mixed up on occasion 😛). Nowadays, most people can guess one of my two major nationalities cause my features are a little more distinct and some people recognize my last name as being Japanese (I’m basically half Chinese and half Japanese).

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th-emptyhearse

Someone thought I was Norwegian once when I said I was going on an exchange there, they thought I had an accent- but really I'm a New Zealander through and through with the usual NZ accent, so that was weird.

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I could easily get away with wearing a "Kiss Me I'm Irish" shirt, but it would be a lieeee. Red hair exists in other places, man.

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