What opinion do Americans have about India?

美国人对印度怎么看?

 Quora读者的评论：

Rohan Kamath, Foodie, Birder, Nerd, Student Forever

Originally Answered: What do Americans think about India?

1.Indian men are rapists.

2.India has elephants and snake charmers on the streets.

3.Indians are uneducated and all live rural lives in poverty.

4.There’s no electricity or internet in India.

5.There are no toilets in India.

6.Indians eat curry and do yoga all day.

最初的问题是：美国人如何看待印度?

1.印度男人都是强奸犯。

2.印度街头有大象和耍蛇人。

3.印度人没有受过教育，所有人都生活在贫困的农村。

4.印度没有电，也没有互联网。

5.印度没有厕所。

6.印度人整天吃咖喱、练瑜伽。

You know how many Americans think this about India? Would you like to take a guess? It’s probably <1%. It’s actually quite hilarious how many Indians think that this is what Americans think about them. Well, let me burst that little bubble for you; they don’t. They might make jokes about it in movies and on TV shows; but then isn’t that the point of comedy?

I have been living in the US for the last 8 years and NOT ONCE have I ever heard any American say any of these things. I’ve met loads of locals from pretty much all 50 states and every single one of them is always in awe and fascination of India.

They always talk about how the people are brilliant and enterprising and warm and friendly; they are amazed by the hospitality Indians exhibit towards not just their own but even complete strangers. That is just a completely foreign concept to most and they never fail to acknowledge how impressive they find it.

Those who have visited India or had close interactions with Indian cultural events here talk about how beautiful and colorful the country is and how there’s a harmony amidst the chaos. Most of them come back with stories of how a random rickshaw driver or tea vendor or a waiter at a restaurant went out of their way to do something nice for them when they were in need. One thing that amazes every American who has ever visited India is how much variety exsts in vegetarian food and how amazing it tastes despite the lack of meat.

你知道有多少美国人这样看印度吗？你猜猜？可能不到1%。事实上，很多印度人认为这是美国人对他们的看法，这非常可笑。好吧，我来捅破这个小泡泡；他们并不这么看。他们可能会在电影和电视节目中拿它开玩笑；但这不就是喜剧里的笑点吗？

我在美国已经生活8年了，从未听到美国人说过这些话。我见过来自50个州的美国人，他们都对印度充满敬畏和迷恋。

他们总是说印度人有多聪明进取，多热情友好；他们对印度人不仅对自己同胞，甚至对完全陌生的人表现出的热情感到惊讶。对大多数人来说，这是一个完全陌生的概念，他们从不会否认自己对这一点有多么印象深刻。

去过印度或与印度文化活动有过密切接触的人都说，这个国家是多么美丽多彩，乱中有序。他们中的大多数人回国后都讲述了这样的故事：在他们需要帮助的时候，某个人力车司机、茶商或餐馆服务员会不辞辛苦地为他们伸出援手。每一个去过印度的美国人都会感到惊讶的一件事是，印度的素食种类如此之多，而且在没有肉类的情况下，印度的素食味道居然那么棒。

Americans often tend to get overwhelmed by the sheer cacophony that comes with everything India. We are a loud and boisterous people with over the top festivals and celebrations, massive weddings, colossal gatherings and bold flavorful food that packs a punch; heck even our movies are laced with masala. We have almost no boundaries when it comes to privacy and personal space and will always over-share and over-inquire; sometimes it drives them insane to see this happen but over time they understand how this builds the deep bonds that friends and family share.

What do Americans think about India?

They think of a loving, caring and respectable people who are probably one of the biggest forces to be reckoned with in the next 50 years. They do not see this as a threat like they do some of the other rising super-powers; they see an opportunity to collaborate and together make the world a slightly better and happier place to live in. Whatever perceptions they may or may not have had 30 years ago have now changed; they have had more than their fair share of exposure to Indians in the last couple of decades and there is an unspoken sense of homogeneity among the two cultures and their people.

译文来源：三泰虎  http://www.santaihu.com/47862.html  译者：Joyceliu

美国人往往会被印度的一切喧闹声所淹没。我们是一个喧闹的民族，庆祝盛大的节日和庆典，举行盛大的婚礼，举办盛大的聚会，食用味道浓烈的食物。见鬼，就连我们的电影里也有马萨拉香料的影子。当涉及到隐私和个人空间时，我们几乎没有边界感，总是会过度分享和过度探究；有时这种情况会让他们抓狂，但随着时间的推移，他们开始明白印度人就是通过这种方式建立起朋友和家人之间的深厚纽带。

美国人怎么看印度？

他们想到的是一个充满爱心、关心他人、受人尊敬的民族，他们可能是未来50年里最不可忽视的力量之一。他们没有把印度人视为一些正在崛起的超级大国那样的威胁；他们看到了合作的机会，让世界变得更美好、更幸福。无论他们30年前的看法如何，现在都已经改变了；在过去几十年里，他们对印度人的接触增加了很多，两种文化和两国人民之间有一种不言而喻的同质性。

Oh and they also think we’re completely crazy… or maybe that’s just me…

哦，他们还认为我们完全疯了……或者也许只有我才会这样……

Note: I’m not just talking about the west coast and the tech sector; I’m talking about New Jersey, Chicago, Minneapolis, Austin, Houston, Atlanta and about a couple of dozen other cities that have had heavy Indian inflow and interaction over the years. Whether it’s in the form of engineers, bankers, hoteliers, chefs, truckers, cabbies or anyone else; the sentiment has always been the same.

注：我并不只在谈论西海岸和科技行业；我说的是新泽西、芝加哥、明尼阿波利斯、奥斯丁、休斯顿、亚特兰大以及其他几十个城市，这些城市多年来都有大量的印度移民涌入，并相互影响。他们中有工程师、银行家、酒店经营者、厨师、卡车司机、出租车司机等等。

As an American, do you concur? And an Indian have you been told or experienced these feelings? Or have you witnessed or seen the complete opposite at times? Please do share your thoughts and views and anecdotes in the comments below. Thanks.

作为一个美国人，你同意吗？作为一个印度人，你听说过或有过这些感受吗？或者你是否曾经亲眼目睹或看到过完全相反的情况？请在下面的评论中分享你的想法、观点和轶事。谢谢。

Anonymous

It is very hard to describe what Americans think of India considering the fact that a lot of Americans don’t even know where India is!.

Secondly, I think Indian people are not mature enough and are too emotional and over patriotic to have any kind of pros and cons discussion. To be honest, I have done these type of questions on Quora A lot of Indian people are complete “children” in terms of dealing with such matters, so it is better not to have such discussions.

鉴于很多美国人甚至连印度在哪里都不知道，很难说清美国人对印度的看法。

其次，我认为印度人不够成熟，太情绪化，太爱国了，没法正常讨论。说实话，我在Quora上问过这类问题，很多印度人在回答这类问题时完全就是个“孩子”，所以最好不要进行这样的讨论。

1.An Indian asks a question asking a foreigner ( Read : white guy) his opinion on India, what he likes about India and what he does not like about India.

2.White guy responds with the same

3.The patriots jump in ‘ You say so and so is bad with our country, how about xyz that is bad with your country, huh? You know we are 7th in economy, you know xyz % of Microsoft employees are Indians, how dare you speak against our country, look at your country first, our culture is best, we don’t care about your opinion. The comment gets 20 up votes or so and then the trend repeats with more and more patriotic Indians jum in and the whole comment section becoming a war. ( Funny part is, an Indian asked a question, and directed it towards the foreigner- we don’t care for your opinion, yeah right!). Isn’t the question about India? If you want me to point negatives about America, send me a link to a question that asks for it, I will post it very happily because I have tons of negatives about America to write about!. I remember someone had asked me about my favorite and not so favorite bollywood movie. I criticized a Bollywood movie , I was bombarded with abuses and people were asking me to criticize ‘Superman’ because some smart Indian found out how even the ‘Superman’ movie also lacked common sense . Well, why would I give a crap about ‘Superman’? Superman is not the national monument of America( and even if he was, who gives a damn? I have my own life to live, I would not spend half my day posting angry replies because someone criticized my country). I don’t find the need to defend or criticize a man who flies with a red underwear or waste my time over him. Crazy that people would get so mad over a freaking Bollywood movie!! How is it related to Indian pride? Are you that damn insecure? Damn!-

4.Answer gets down voted and collapsed.( just like this answer which will get down voted within an hour by the the very proud patriots who forget their patriotism after they log off from their wifis and demonstrate it by abusing anyone who suggests improvements for India’s sake).

1.一个印度人对外国人（白人）提问他对印度的看法，他喜欢印度什么，不喜欢印度什么。

2.白人也有同样的反应

3.爱国者们跳出来，你说我们的国家这不好那不好，你们国家的XXX呢？你知道的，我们的经济排名全球第七，你知道微软员工有多少印度人吗，你怎么敢说我们国家的坏话，先看看你的国家吧，我们的文化是最棒的，我们才不在意你的看法呢。这条评论获得了20个左右的赞，然后越来越多爱国的印度人加入讨论，整个评论区变成了一场口水战(有趣的是，这个印度人提出了一个问题，并指向外国人——我们不在乎你的意见，没错！)这不是关于印度的问题吗？如果你想让我指出美国的缺点，给我发一个问题的链接，我会很高兴地贴出来，因为我有很多关于美国的缺点要写！我记得有人问过我最喜欢的和不太喜欢的宝莱坞电影是什么。我批评了一部宝莱坞电影，于是我被谩骂轰炸，人们让我点评一下《超人》，因为一些聪明的印度人发现，即使是《超人》电影也缺乏常识。好吧，我为什么要在乎《超人》？超人又不是美国的国家纪念碑(即使是，谁在乎呢？)我有我自己的生活要过，我不会因为有人批评我的国家而花上半天的时间来进行愤怒的回复)。我觉得没有必要为一个穿着红色内衣的男人辩护或批判，也没有必要为他浪费时间。疯了，人们竟然会因为一部宝莱坞电影而变得如此疯狂！！这和印度人的自豪感有什么关系？你就那么没有安全感吗？该死的!

4.答案被人差评。(就像这个答案，将在一个小时内被非常自负的爱国者们差评，他们会辱骂任何为印度着想而提出改进建议的人，但是他们在下线后就会忘记了自己的爱国主义)。

So basically the questions ‘ What do XYZ think about Indian culture, sports, women, education, IT skills’ are just one thing in a nutshell ( they may be asked in different forms at different times , but they all mean the same thing).

“Hey foreigners, please praise my country so that I get a ego boost and only put positive things because your validation and positive feedback is the benchmark and barometer for my success”- A proud Indian

所以基本上，“某某对印度文化、体育、女性、教育、IT技能有什么看法”这些问题只是一个简单的问题(可能在不同的时间以不同的形式提出来，但意思都是一样的)。

“嘿，外国人，请赞美我的国家，这样我才能获得更多的自豪感，你们只能写好话，因为你的认可和积极的反馈是我成功的基准和晴雨表”——一个自豪的印度人。

Andrew Herman

Here are some random things which comes to mind immediately:

Proficiency in English: I was told that there are upwards of 20 different languages in India. These are the major ones. Actually the real number is 2000 or so including dialects. Naturally I did not expect Indians to add one more and speak English. But I found that it is really shocking that many of you speak English at least in cities and most of you speak broken English even in rural areas. Hard to believe for a countryman who knows only one language.

Colorful country: India is always known as colorful. But it is not at all exagerrated as this colorful country can put the best countries look like a "boring country". Right from dressing to color of Indian food to every damn thing. India is so "not boring".

Too much Diversity: I think there will be much more in common in Spain & USA than what is common between Punjab & West Bengal. We are talking about so much differences that it becomes hard to believe that they are part of the same nation.

下面是我马上想到的一些随机事件：

英语水平：听说印度有20多种不同的语言。这还是主要语种。实际上，真正的数字达到了2000左右，包括方言。自然，我不指望印度人再加一个，然后说英语。但我发现，令人震惊的是，你们中的许多人，至少在城市里的人，都会说英语，而大多数人甚至在农村地区的人，也能说一些蹩脚的英语。对于一个只懂一种语言的乡下人来说，简直难以置信。

色彩斑斓的国家：印度一直以色彩斑斓而闻名。但这一点也不夸张，因为这个色彩斑斓的国家可以让最好的国家相形之下，变成“无趣的国家”。从服装到印度食物的颜色到所有的一切，印度一点也不“无趣”。

惊人的多样性：我认为西班牙和美国的共同点都远远超过旁遮普和西孟加拉邦的共同点。我们的差异如此之多，以至于很难相信他们同属一个国家。

Zero respect for Rules (if any): I find it hard to believe that this functioning de ocracy is a place where Traffic rules simply does not seem to exst. It is very hard to believe this truth. I shudder to think whether criminal laws are followed either.

Dirt everywhere: It is hard to believe that a country can be this dirty. I mean I don't think further explanation is even needed. Indian-Americans comes as a highly civilized lot and it is therefore shocking to see the dirt in their homeland.

Innovation mindset: I expect more from India than due to its openness being a de ocracy which will foster meaningful innovation & enterpreneurship. I am expecting some exciting corporations from India. When I see questions by Indians in Quora like "How difficult is it to programme a search engine like Google" I am convinced that one of those kids thinking on these lines might go on to beat them. When I see frequent mention of "Quick Suggestions option in Indian online store neotonn which suggests shirts to men on entering Skin Color, Body Shape & Height"; I can't help but smile knowingly at this Silicon valley mentality of getting the word across and promoting your stuff to every Tom, Dick & Harry. I am sure Silicon valley will be a thing of the past and Banglore valley might be the new term.

对规则毫不尊重：我很难相信，在这个运转良好的民*国家，交通规则似乎根本不存在。很难相信这个事实。我一想到人们是否遵守刑法就不寒而栗。

到处都是尘土飞扬：很难相信一个国家能这么脏。我的意思是我不认为需要进一步的解释。印度裔美国人是一个高度文明的群体，因此看到他们祖国的肮脏程度，实在令人震惊。

创新思维：我对印度的期望比高，因为印度是一个开放的民*国家，能促进有意义的创新和创业。我期待着看到印度涌现出一些令人激动的公司。当我在Quora上看到印度人提出的问题，例如“为谷歌这样的搜索引擎编写程序有多难”时，我确信，那些在思考这些问题的孩子中，有一个可能会打败他们。我相信，硅谷将成为过去，而班戈勒谷可能是一个新名词。

Amy Barnes, I'm traveler

I had a lot of misconceptions about India before visiting there. Like India is a bad country to live in, It's dirty and almost every member of my family warned me that don’t go to India Its too dangerous especially for girls. It made more curious to know about India, So I decided to travel to India for 7 days with my BF(He is Indian). I felt like I’m in heaven. Everyone was living happily and they treated me like I'm very close to them just like best friends. I had a visit Goa and It was really beautiful. I loved the beach especially there. There was nothing wrong and my views about India was changed. Here are some pictures too, a real Heaven!.

Beach

在访问印度之前，我对印度有很多误解。比如印度是一个不适合居住的国家，很脏，几乎我的每个家庭成员都警告我，不要去印度，那里太危险了，尤其是对女孩来说。这让我对印度更加好奇，所以我决定和我的男朋友(他是印度人)一起去印度旅行7天。我觉得犹如身处天堂。每个人都生活得很快乐，他们把我当成很亲密的好朋友一样。我去过果阿，那里真的很漂亮。我特别喜欢那里的海滩。没有什么不对的，我对印度的看法也改变了。这里也有一些图片，一个真正的天堂！

海滩
 

City View

城市景观

Indians

印度人

Thank you!

谢谢！

Alan Martinez

Overall, there is a good perception of India. One of the most popular things you hear are, “didn’t this Indian guy (Mukesh Ambani) build a billion dollar tower in India for him to live in?” Also you hear positive things about yoga and Indian food. Indian HINDUS are thought of to be very peaceful people who love to celebrate. If you go to rural parts of America they don’t know much about India. But the East and West coast and major cities, you hear positive things about India.

总的来说，人们对印度的印象不错。你听到的最多的事情之一是，“这个印度人(穆凯什·安巴尼)不是在印度建造了一座价值10亿美元的住所吗?”你还会听说瑜伽和印度食物的正面评价。印度教徒被认为是非常和平的人，喜欢庆祝。如果你去美国的农村地区，他们对印度知之甚少。但在东海岸、西海岸和主要城市，你会听到关于印度的积极评论。

Aaditya, B.tech from Babu Banarasi Das Northern India Institute of Technology (2018)

Most of the Americans and Europeans do not form any good opinion about India . For Americans , India is a third world country that has no access to proper healthcare , education etc.

Only few educated and aware Americans know that India is a progressive country that has achieved in space(ISRO ) , medical , IIT , bollywood .

Also Americans who are fond of tourism know that India has beaches in Goa , Himalayas , Thar desert etc .

Rest ignorant Americans who do not care will view India as a poor country .

大多数美国人和欧洲人对印度没有好感。对美国人来说，印度是第三世界国家，民众无法获得适当的医疗、教育等。

只有少数受过教育的美国人知道，印度是一个在太空(印度空间研究组织)、医学、印度理工学院和宝莱坞取得成就的进步国家。

喜欢旅游的美国人也知道印度在果阿、喜马拉雅山、塔尔沙漠等地有海滩。

其他无知的漠不关心的美国人则把印度当做贫穷的国家。

Srikanth Throvagunta, Technical Researcher

Americans in companies have a good opinion about Indians. They think Indians work hard and so in challenging circumstances and environment.

American society has complaints of Indians not integrating well enough, but this opinion is coming down.

公司里的美国人对印度人有很好的评价。他们认为印度人工作努力，在富有挑战性的环境中也很同样努力。

美国社会抱怨印度人没有很好地融入社会，但这种观点正在弱化。

Ibss Consultant

A week ago I met a 4 Americans player while playing counter strike global offensive in deathmatch lobby they seem nice and but when I ask hem what they thoughts on India it was pretty much the same

1. India is poor
2. people shit on the street
3. we have no etiquette

but then I ask them to watch these video which has some solid points and after watching they apologise for there rudeness but I said it’s ok and then we play MM for 2 matches

一周前，我在《死亡竞赛》里遇到了4名美国玩家，他们看起来人挺不错的，但当我问他们对印度的看法时，他们的看法几乎是一样的

1. 印度很贫穷
2. 人们会在街上拉屎
3. 我们没有礼仪

我马上让他们看这些视频，视频中有一些实证，看完之后他们为自己的粗鲁道歉，我说没关系，然后我们一起打了两场比赛。

Lucas Brock

Im just going to list off some stereotypes.

Tech support, obesity and really skinny brown guys come to mind.

Also, overpopulation, elephants, Bollywood, and WAY too much singing in their movies. Like, it’s really cheesy and doesn’t make sense.

Also, it smells terrible there and everyone wants white skin for some reason.

But Indian food is really good, and pretty popular in the US

我只想列举一些人们的固有偏见。

我想到了技术支持、肥胖和瘦得皮包骨头的棕色男人。

此外，人口过剩，大象，宝莱坞，电影里歌舞过多。那样真的很俗气，没有任何意义。

而且，印度空气里的味道很难闻，出于某种原因，每个人都想拥有白皙的皮肤。

但是印度菜真的很好吃，在美国很受欢迎。

Jayashree Sampath, Process Lead at Capgemini India

Whatever Americans think about India doesn't matter. They have their own mess to deal with than give time to think about us.

Plus, we have our own screwing/(non) functional systems, to worry about.

美国人怎么看印度并不重要。他们有自己的烂摊子要处理，没有空闲时间来操心我们。

此外，我们有自己的问题要操心。

Abe Lewis, lives in The United States of America

Other than a stereotype that Indians are fairly spiritual, and a belief that India could become a major economy, I don't think you can make too many generalizations about American opinions of India. If I had to sum up the sentiments of Americans toward India in one sentence it would be, "Like , but less evil and more poor."

除了那种觉得印度人相当注重精神的刻板印象，认为印度可以成为一个主要经济体之外，我不认为你可以对美国人对印度的看法做出太多概括。如果要我用一句话来概括美国人对印度的感情，那就是：“跟类似，没那么邪恶，但更贫穷。”