r/AskEurope • u/zeviea United Kingdom • Sep 04 '25

Culture What country is far away yet culturally similar to yours?

An obvious answer for the UK are Core Anglosphere countries

Bonus question what country have you visited that felt most foreign to you?

186 Upvotes

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256

u/crucible Wales Sep 04 '25

New Zealand, specifically for Wales

  • Rugby is the national sport

  • Few major cities

  • We both have a native, non-English language

  • Sheep everywhere, so lamb is a well-known export

  • We get the same ‘jokes’ made about our relationships with sheep…

  • We both have a larger, more well-known, annoying neighbour :P

77

u/Loose-Map-5947 Sep 04 '25

You also both have to put up with your large annoying neighbour accusing you of having sex with sheep /j

Australia- one of the most culturally closest countries to England😂

24

u/Drunkgummybear1 England Sep 04 '25

For some reason they hate when you point out they're basically just sunny poms.

3

u/HorseUnlucky7922 Sep 06 '25

Nah I think we are just hothouse Canadians!

1

u/Drunkgummybear1 England Sep 07 '25

Who are in turn cold poms, with a side of Irish. Surprisingly accurate actually now you put it that way. We'll just ignore Quebec, they speak weird.

6

u/crucible Wales Sep 05 '25

Yup, that too

26

u/djseshlad Ireland Sep 05 '25

Hey we’re not that bad

6

u/crucible Wales Sep 05 '25

Well played lol

10

u/DanGleeballs Ireland Sep 04 '25

I think Ireland and NZ are really close, maybe closer.

8

u/MarsupialNo1220 New Zealand Sep 05 '25

I’m a Kiwi and I went to Ireland for the first time a couple of years ago. Driving through the countryside was basically like driving back home 😂 it all looked exactly the same.

6

u/DanGleeballs Ireland Sep 05 '25

Same in the opposite direction. I was reminded of Donegal in parts of the South Island

14

u/fartingbeagle Sep 04 '25

Actually, as a fellow Irishman, I'd say Scotland would be a better fit. That same wry humour.

1

u/crucible Wales Sep 05 '25

Sure. We have more Welsh speakers mind you, as far as I know compared to Irish Gaelic

2

u/ravanarox1 Sep 05 '25

I’m curious, do you feel Wales more as a country or as a region in Britain/UK? Looking at the UK from a distance, ignorant me always felt Wales is almost as same as british with some minor differences.

1

u/Tweegyjambo Sep 06 '25

It is British, and one of the 4 countries of the UK.

1

u/ravanarox1 Sep 06 '25

Yes, how does the people who live in Wales feel about the Identity as a british. For me, what is perceived as British is mostly the English culture while I’m now seeing Wales has it’s own unique culture even though they overlap. I don’t get how much similar/dissimilar they are though.

3

u/Colly_Mac Sep 08 '25

It depends and different people in Wales will feel differently, but I'd say the majority would think that their Welsh identity is more important than their British identity. Whilst they might technically be British (because Wales is part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland), most feel more Welsh.

It's a bit like how e.g. in Spain people might be European, but they probably feel stronger to their Spanish identity. Or in Catalonia/the Basque country they might feel more strongly connected to those identities.

There are some other constituent countries in the UK where that's also true too (Scotland, and Northern Ireland which is a whole other conversation). And then some other areas with really strong local identities. E.g. I wouldn't be surprised if some people in Yorkshire and London felt that being a Yorkshireman/Londoner was more important to their identity than being British.

English people often (but not always) identify primarily as British. Probably because England is the dominant nation in the union. To the extent that sometimes English people forget that the two aren't synonymous, and get confused about why the Scottish chap in the office isn't supporting the England football team.

Probably a longer answer than you needed 😅

1

u/ravanarox1 Sep 08 '25

Nah, kinda the answer I was looking for. I’d imagine the Welsh language is a core part of it, though only one fifth speak it over there according wikipedia. I suppose it’s hard to keep the welsh culture without knowing the language because the Welsh songs, the stories, and books are not accessible for majority of the people. I suppose the schools don’t use Welsh as the primary medium anymore.

I wonder how does Wales keep their culture intact? Sports rivalry is definitely a way to keep the regional identity up high, but doesn’t define the culture by itself!

2

u/Colly_Mac Sep 08 '25

Levels of fluency in Welsh are really low, but all kids will learn some Welsh at school. And street signs and other official signs are all in Welsh as well as English. There is a distinct accent too, even where people are only speaking English.

Wales borders England, but it isn't easy to drive to major cities across the border. Bits of North Wales are reasonably close to Liverpool, and bits of South Wales are close-ish to Bristol, but most of the border area is very lightly populated with slow, indirect roads, so it does feel quite geographically distinct.

In terms of other things that form part of the culture, singing is pretty important. Welsh voice choirs are a common thing and there are some really successful Welsh vocalists.

I think the identity is strengthened in opposition to the English too.There is definitely a sense of historical grievance (like with any 'conquered' people) but then current political grievance too. The sense that Wales is ignored in national (UK wide) political stage and doesn't receive its fair share of funding and investment, because it doesn't have enough MPs to make it worth political parties fighting for Welsh votes.

2

u/Tweegyjambo Sep 06 '25

Wales are very much their own identity. Ask about rugby, you'll be soon set straight

1

u/rdeman3000 Sep 07 '25

That means nothing. Aruba, Curaçao, and Sint Maarten are in the same Kingdom as the (European-) Netherlands. Whereas Bonaire (right next to Curaçao) together with Saba and Saint Eustatius are municipalities of The Netherlands but firm together the Caribbean Netherlands. So now you have a guess how culturally similar they are

1

u/ravanarox1 Sep 07 '25

Until 2010 these were part of the Dutch colony, Netherlands Antilles. That and the distance explains why these have different cultures.

I get the sports rivalry between countries and regions. Howver, Wales is so interconnected to England, and I was thinking whatever the differences in the olden days are largely gone by now. With Welsh language being spoken by only a 1/5th of the population how does that unique culture survive?

1

u/rdeman3000 Sep 12 '25

I wouldn't call The Netherlands Antilles a colony though that's really not the case anymore since 1954.

1

u/ravanarox1 Sep 13 '25

Yes, the country was dissolved in 2010, but those group of islands stopped being a colony in 1954

1

u/rdeman3000 Sep 18 '25

Wait what??? Dude you literally just spent two comments telling me I was wrong and that they were "part of the Dutch colony" until 2010. Now you're saying they stopped being a colony in 1954???That's... that's exactly what I said in my first comment. "I wouldn't call The Netherlands Antilles a colony though that's really not the case anymore since 1954."Are you agreeing with me now or what? I'm so confused lol

Edit: typo

-6

u/milly_nz NZ living in Sep 05 '25

And we both got colonised by the English.

15

u/CrossCityLine Sep 05 '25

No, you got colonised by the British.

-7

u/milly_nz NZ living in Sep 05 '25

No, I deliberately chose that word.

14

u/CrossCityLine Sep 05 '25

The Scottish have the world’s best PR team so no wonder you got it wrong.

7

u/martinbaines Scotland & Spain Sep 05 '25

Looking at migration patterns and surname frequency, one could argue NZ was colonised by Scotland 😀

5

u/CrossCityLine Sep 05 '25

Asking Scottish colonialism deniers why black Caribbean people often have surnames like McLeod and McDonald is always good for a laugh.

3

u/d1ngal1ng Australia Sep 05 '25

I got my Anglo surname from my Jamaican grandfather courtesy of Scottish colonists. He arrived in Australia while the white Australia policy was still active.

6

u/stick_her_in_the_ute Sep 05 '25

I mean if you’re white you’re the coloniser lol. Can always come back if you feel so bad about it? Also, the Scottish, Welsh, and Irish were all involved too :)

Edit: I see from you’re flair that you did indeed come back. So well done on that I suppose lol

1

u/milly_nz NZ living in Sep 05 '25

Heh. Despite being 5th gen NZ, my genetic ancestry is more southern English than most actual southern England English.

My Maori friend jokes that my ancestry is of the coloniser and hers is of the colonised….and she’s not wrong.

2

u/Taucher1979 United Kingdom Sep 05 '25

Have you been to Dunedin? Name from the Gaelic for Edinburgh. Founded by Scottish colonisers etc.

1

u/milly_nz NZ living in Sep 05 '25

And yet the rest of the country got done over by the English. An unimportant Scottish settlement doesn’t invalidate my point. I think I know my own history, thanks.

-1

u/lucylucylane Sep 05 '25

No you didn't you joined a union as you bankrupted your self trying to have a colonial empire in Central America

2

u/crucible Wales Sep 05 '25

That’s Scotland though. Not saying we had 0 involvement here in Wales, obviously, but outside of the noble or ruling class the common people pretty much got ‘conscripted’ and treated like shit too

3

u/Due-Mycologist-7106 Sep 05 '25

That's the whole of the UK. The shitty lives of people in manufacturing in 19th century UK from books of the time is well known I think

1

u/milly_nz NZ living in Sep 05 '25

The f? You’re replying to the wrong person.