I think you have to move to another country to see the culture from your original country. Maybe travelling helps as well, but usually travels are to short to learn the culture of another country. Anyway, what I want to say is, I realise more how "Dutch" I am now I'm in France. Very often we think of other countries (or the inhabitant) in stereotypes, but of course reality is much more nuance. In a post earlier this year from Dina Metha, I saw the Prejudice Map generated by Google. The Dutch are not in the Map, the French are. According to Google they are known for: loving their food (just read Chocolate & Zucchini), spoiling their dogs (don't know about this, as long as they keep their dogs on lead in the forest of Rambouillet I would be happy), romance and sophisticaton (the Stiletto Run could have been organised in Paris).
I read the Dutch version of Sixty Million Frenchmen Can't Be Wrong: Why We Love France But Not The French by Nadeau and Barlow. They try to look further than the stereotype Frenchman and they describe all kinds of aspects of the people and the way the country is structured. In my review on Managementboek.nl I write that the book is a kaleidoscoop of topics that misses a clear framework. Any topic could be relevant if you try to understand people in a country. I don't understand why the English title is so negative, the authors seem to love the French as much as their country!
For those who believe in this kind of research, we didn't move to the smartest country
in Europe. Perhaps Google could put The Netherlands on the Prejudice
Map as "smart", next to the "love drugs", "walk on wooden shoes" and
"visit the Red Light district".
