I read people say online that Americans are loud. What does this mean, exactly? Is it literal volume or is it our personality/presentation? Something else?

I may be moving to Australia because of my wife’s job, and I want to better understand this. I want to assimilate and I don’t want to be annoying. I’m personally pretty low key and listen more than speak, but this is my perception of myself.

  • sasquash@sopuli.xyz
    15·
    4 days ago

    As European travelling in Asia at the moment, I notice this a lot.

    • Americans tend to speak louder, especially in groups
    • You seem to speak with deeper voices. But that could also be just my imagination.
    • You seem to speak more since you do a lot of small-talk. That’s something not so common in other countries.
    • And since many people speak English, maybe we just notice it more since we can understand it. When there are let’s say loud Chinese around, it’s more like a background noise.

    There are loud people from all countries, and Americans are at least pretty nice usually. But in my opinion it’s true, you are also louder than most.

    • WindyRebel@lemmy.worldOP
      3·
      4 days ago

      Thank you for this answer!

      It really has me thinking about why we speak louder. It’s got to be something to do about our culture here. Proud? Bravado? We have more space and we’re used to having to project our voices? The want to be heard over others (competition)? I really have no clue, but it’s an interesting subject.

      • Balisada@piefed.socialEnglish
        2·
        4 days ago

        I want to reply with a joke about how America is a big country and people need to talk louder because of it, but you raise a very good question.

        I would venture a guess that your suggestion about the space being bigger and people having to project their voices as a possible reason.

        • WindyRebel@lemmy.worldOP
          1·
          4 days ago

          It’s entirely possible. Or maybe we’re so fat that we have to work harder to speak and thus we get louder? 🤣🤣🤣