When a American visits another country can you immediately tell they are american?
October 5, 2025
Let's say you walking down the street and from a distance spot someone. Before even hearing them speak. Can you just look and tell they are american? If so, what gives it away? Even if they wear native clothes. Would you still be able to tell?
36 comments
I have visited 13 countries and I think all the locals knew I was an American.
Why are you asking Americans?
The answer is a massive “it depends”.
How are they dressed? What country are we in? What’s the persons background? Are they trying to blend in?
I don’t know if Americans can really answer this question for you. Is there an “AskANonAmerican” subreddit? Unless you mean if an American is visiting another country and they are able to spot other Americans. Then…I would say: not really.
Well, when I was in London for work a few months ago we thought we’d run into another American because he was wearing an American flag T shirt and a hat that said “USA” on it and he ended up just being a brit who likes the look of our flag.
I think it depends on the person and the area. When I was in Germany, locals spoke German to me before they realized I didn’t speak German.
When I was in Mexico, locals mistook my group of friends and I for Italians.
When I was walking a quiet trail in Yosemite national park in California, I was startled by a couple walking up to me and asking if I knew how to get to a specific location. I hesitated for a second and the woman said quietly to her husband “Maybe they don’t speak English… Oops”..
I am a white woman with blonde hair and blue eyes. No idea why I get mistaken for anything but an American.
In the summer months in Germany I can spot the American male joggers easily. They’re the ones wearing shorts over their compression shorts and I am thankful they do that.
**Edit:** What I am saying is that American men are more modest and wear shorts over the compression layer (if they wear a compression layer). German men only wear the compression layer and it’s so tight you can tell their religion.
No. Unless I walk up to someone and hear their accent, I can’t tell shit. I also still get it wrong because I can’t tell a Canadian accent from a Midwest accent
After being in a foreign country for a week or two its refreshing to run into an American. I remember running into a couple of Americans when in Rome years ago, and that was on our 10th travel day so it was nice to connect with someone who speaks English the same way and just has a broadly similar culture. Yes, you can talk to Italians or most traveling Europeans in English, but it isn’t the same.
I think it’s pretty obvious to spot a tourist no matter what country you’re in. You can tell by their excitement, lots of photo taking, and sometimes by the way they’re dressed
yes, shoes and outfit
When I went to Albania, I found myself waiting for the bus in this little cafe in Macedonia. I walked in and there were two girls sitting at a table. I looked at them and they looked at me and then one of them said “do you want to sit with us?”. We ended to hanging out in Albania together for a few days. We could just sense the connection.
but realistically Canadians give off the exact same vibe.
I’m an American who travels a lot. Yes, a lot of times I can pick out other Americans before I hear them speak. A lot of times it’s because of how they dress, combined with some mannerisms and pacing.
Dress is the first giveaway.
If they’re wearing a Browns hat.
This is super going to depends on the person. People in Scotland definitely thought I was Scottish before I spoke at least sometimes. I also had a French person speak to me in French. My dad had a lot of Finns speak to him in Finnish. I’ve also seen Japanese school kids try to speak to French people in English, assuming they are American. On the other hand there are people from these countries who don’t fit the ethnic norm who never get assumed to be their own nationality. Americans in general are very diverse so we don’t all look the same. Imo those article about our distinctive lean or whatever are fake. There’s no American shortcut.
I did a study abroad semester in France one summer in college. I rode the train to Paris with some of my classmates, none other than myself were American. While walking around we actually had some American tourists ask us directions. They didn’t realize that I was American and they tried asking in French. I knew before they even said anything that they were Americans. I’m pretty sure one was wearing a baseball hat, so it was almost too easy.
It depends. 10ish years ago I sitting on a beach in one of those ‘less traveled’ type island places, almost as far away from home as I could be in the world when a girl came up and asked if I was from San Diego. I asked her how she knew and she had spotted my Blenders sunglasses, which hadn’t quite gotten as big yet.
So sometimes it’s the little things.
For some reason, I am not read as American.
Sometimes, they think I am either a local, or from another country where they speak the same language.
Sometimes, they can tell I am not from there and thus speak English to me- but they still do not guess correctly that I am American.
From a distance: tennis shoes/trainers, graphic print tee shirts, shorts, fanny pack, baseball cap are all good tells. A backpack with an American flag used to be one, for a while a Canadian flag, but those are kinda passé
Closer: loud.
Even closer: “Why don’t they speak English!”
Source: Am American, traveled a reasonable amount.
As an American, if I’m not used to hearing an American accent for a couple of days, I can pick out an American across a crowded room no problem, my ears just dial in. Visually? Eh, kinda depends where you are in the world. You might be able to pick up on some body language stuff, like apparently Americans are known to lean on things. And that’s just because we’re just cool as fuck.
💯 I can tell by the way we walk. I’ve only been unsure a few times in Vietnam because the folks in question were not walking OR talking in the group. Otherwise our walk is a dead giveaway before we even open our mouths. Bonafides – lived overseas for 8 years, worked overseas for about 12 years (backstopping in DC). Focus was mostly in Asia and Africa.
When abroad, I can recognize other Americans from how they carry themselves and because they often carry hilariously large water bottles.
That said, I cannot tell the difference between an American and Canadian until I hear their accent.
I’ve been traveling abroad every year since 1964 and I can usually still recognize my Fellow Americans by
1. Clothes
2. Noise volume
3. Body language
Yes- it’s usually pretty obvious.
In a tube in London decades ago, there was a guy wearing sneakers, a ball cap, and chewing gum. I asked him if he was American (he wasn’t) and he got a kick out of it, especially when I explained why. He said me randomly talking to a stranger was definitely an American thing to do.
Sometimes. Last time we traveled outside the country, excluding Canada. we were in Curaçao. Ran into two other Americans and didn’t know they were until we talked. Same trip a cruise ship arrived for the day and immediately recognized fellow Americans as they walked through Willemstad wearing things like Old Navy t shirts with American flags. Some of them were talking very loudly and complaining that they thought the city would look nicer.
All that said, that is probably more of a reflection of people who travel to immerse in places vs those who travel to just get quick highlights of touristy areas.
I lived in Athens for awhile and yes you could generally tell.
They were well fed.
They wore baseball caps for any American team other than the Yankees or Dodgers.
They were carrying gigantic water bottles.
I will say that all the Americans i ran across were well behaved. If anything they were overly polite so much that sometimes it felt weird.
So as someone born and raised in the USA apparently we are often recognized by how much we lean on stuff.
Not sure if it is true or not, but I have read the “American Lean” is one of the first things the CIA has to train out of operatives or they are immediately given away as from the USA.
I an American went to Belgium to visit a friend in Belgium. Everyone spoke English to them and thought he was American. They spoke Dutch to me and thought I was Belgian.
A flight attendant spoke to me in Russian. A lady in the airport line spoke to me in French.
When I went to Vietnam I tried guessing who were American and was always wrong.
So, no it isn’t really easy to spot someone from a country until they open their mouths.
Survivorship bias (or I suppose the inverse of it) makes this very difficult to answer.
I’ve been able to identify Americans several times by how they dress, but I have no real way of knowing how many I couldn’t identify.
My wife and I went to London in 2011 to visit my sister. We were walking into Westminster Abbey and as we approached the entrance, a gentleman at an information kiosk looked at us and proclaimed ‘Americans!’. I laughed and said ‘is it that obvious?’ He said it was how much we were smiling. Apparently even though both my wife and I have predominantly English heritage, our happy go lucky Americanness just shined right through.
Usually speaking loud, wearing crisp white shoes, eating and walking/drinking, wearing American brands that very few other people will wear (like North Face), leaning on things (the American lean), water bottles in backpacks, looking lost/confused a lot.
None of these are 100% but happen enough that it’s a tendency
It’s pretty easy to spot tourists when visiting another country (when you are in a touristy location). My first tell is clothing. Cargo shorts/pants, baseball caps and white tennis shoes for men. Spaghetti strap tank tops and yoga shorts/leggings for women. Then are they holding a water bottle in one hand? Backpacks-more like American. Cross body bags-likely not American. A tell used to be socks with sandals but some of my American friends do that now…I’m probably better than 50% but to be fair there are a lot of us about.
I was once on a bus in London with my born in Korea/raised in the US colleague-he told me that as an Asian he could identify the nationality of other Asians. He pointed to a large family group and proclaimed them to be Chinese. At our next stop they approached him and began speaking Korean to him. I teased him about that for a bit.
It’s easy to tell for a certain type of American. 40+, fat but dressed like they’re about to run a marathon, extremely loud and oblivious to everything as though they’ve never left the country before. But there are plenty of Americans who carry themselves differently and blend in.
Years ago, I (American) was walking past some nudie shows in Amsterdam. There were barkers out front trying to get men to come inside.
As I approached, one guy talked to me in German, and when I didn’t respond, he switched to Dutch. I shook my head and said “no thanks.”
He said “Oh, American! Come on in! Beautiful girls!”
36 comments
I have visited 13 countries and I think all the locals knew I was an American.
Why are you asking Americans?
The answer is a massive “it depends”.
How are they dressed? What country are we in? What’s the persons background? Are they trying to blend in?
I don’t know if Americans can really answer this question for you. Is there an “AskANonAmerican” subreddit? Unless you mean if an American is visiting another country and they are able to spot other Americans. Then…I would say: not really.
Well, when I was in London for work a few months ago we thought we’d run into another American because he was wearing an American flag T shirt and a hat that said “USA” on it and he ended up just being a brit who likes the look of our flag.
I think it depends on the person and the area. When I was in Germany, locals spoke German to me before they realized I didn’t speak German.
When I was in Mexico, locals mistook my group of friends and I for Italians.
When I was walking a quiet trail in Yosemite national park in California, I was startled by a couple walking up to me and asking if I knew how to get to a specific location. I hesitated for a second and the woman said quietly to her husband “Maybe they don’t speak English… Oops”..
I am a white woman with blonde hair and blue eyes. No idea why I get mistaken for anything but an American.
In the summer months in Germany I can spot the American male joggers easily. They’re the ones wearing shorts over their compression shorts and I am thankful they do that.
**Edit:** What I am saying is that American men are more modest and wear shorts over the compression layer (if they wear a compression layer). German men only wear the compression layer and it’s so tight you can tell their religion.
No. Unless I walk up to someone and hear their accent, I can’t tell shit. I also still get it wrong because I can’t tell a Canadian accent from a Midwest accent
After being in a foreign country for a week or two its refreshing to run into an American. I remember running into a couple of Americans when in Rome years ago, and that was on our 10th travel day so it was nice to connect with someone who speaks English the same way and just has a broadly similar culture. Yes, you can talk to Italians or most traveling Europeans in English, but it isn’t the same.
I think it’s pretty obvious to spot a tourist no matter what country you’re in. You can tell by their excitement, lots of photo taking, and sometimes by the way they’re dressed
yes, shoes and outfit
When I went to Albania, I found myself waiting for the bus in this little cafe in Macedonia. I walked in and there were two girls sitting at a table. I looked at them and they looked at me and then one of them said “do you want to sit with us?”. We ended to hanging out in Albania together for a few days. We could just sense the connection.
but realistically Canadians give off the exact same vibe.
I’m an American who travels a lot. Yes, a lot of times I can pick out other Americans before I hear them speak. A lot of times it’s because of how they dress, combined with some mannerisms and pacing.
Dress is the first giveaway.
If they’re wearing a Browns hat.
This is super going to depends on the person. People in Scotland definitely thought I was Scottish before I spoke at least sometimes. I also had a French person speak to me in French. My dad had a lot of Finns speak to him in Finnish. I’ve also seen Japanese school kids try to speak to French people in English, assuming they are American. On the other hand there are people from these countries who don’t fit the ethnic norm who never get assumed to be their own nationality. Americans in general are very diverse so we don’t all look the same. Imo those article about our distinctive lean or whatever are fake. There’s no American shortcut.
I did a study abroad semester in France one summer in college. I rode the train to Paris with some of my classmates, none other than myself were American. While walking around we actually had some American tourists ask us directions. They didn’t realize that I was American and they tried asking in French. I knew before they even said anything that they were Americans. I’m pretty sure one was wearing a baseball hat, so it was almost too easy.
It depends. 10ish years ago I sitting on a beach in one of those ‘less traveled’ type island places, almost as far away from home as I could be in the world when a girl came up and asked if I was from San Diego. I asked her how she knew and she had spotted my Blenders sunglasses, which hadn’t quite gotten as big yet.
So sometimes it’s the little things.
For some reason, I am not read as American.
Sometimes, they think I am either a local, or from another country where they speak the same language.
Sometimes, they can tell I am not from there and thus speak English to me- but they still do not guess correctly that I am American.
From a distance: tennis shoes/trainers, graphic print tee shirts, shorts, fanny pack, baseball cap are all good tells. A backpack with an American flag used to be one, for a while a Canadian flag, but those are kinda passé
Closer: loud.
Even closer: “Why don’t they speak English!”
Source: Am American, traveled a reasonable amount.
As an American, if I’m not used to hearing an American accent for a couple of days, I can pick out an American across a crowded room no problem, my ears just dial in. Visually? Eh, kinda depends where you are in the world. You might be able to pick up on some body language stuff, like apparently Americans are known to lean on things. And that’s just because we’re just cool as fuck.
💯 I can tell by the way we walk. I’ve only been unsure a few times in Vietnam because the folks in question were not walking OR talking in the group. Otherwise our walk is a dead giveaway before we even open our mouths. Bonafides – lived overseas for 8 years, worked overseas for about 12 years (backstopping in DC). Focus was mostly in Asia and Africa.
When abroad, I can recognize other Americans from how they carry themselves and because they often carry hilariously large water bottles.
That said, I cannot tell the difference between an American and Canadian until I hear their accent.
I’ve been traveling abroad every year since 1964 and I can usually still recognize my Fellow Americans by
1. Clothes
2. Noise volume
3. Body language
Yes- it’s usually pretty obvious.
In a tube in London decades ago, there was a guy wearing sneakers, a ball cap, and chewing gum. I asked him if he was American (he wasn’t) and he got a kick out of it, especially when I explained why. He said me randomly talking to a stranger was definitely an American thing to do.
Sometimes. Last time we traveled outside the country, excluding Canada. we were in Curaçao. Ran into two other Americans and didn’t know they were until we talked. Same trip a cruise ship arrived for the day and immediately recognized fellow Americans as they walked through Willemstad wearing things like Old Navy t shirts with American flags. Some of them were talking very loudly and complaining that they thought the city would look nicer.
All that said, that is probably more of a reflection of people who travel to immerse in places vs those who travel to just get quick highlights of touristy areas.
I lived in Athens for awhile and yes you could generally tell.
They were well fed.
They wore baseball caps for any American team other than the Yankees or Dodgers.
They were carrying gigantic water bottles.
I will say that all the Americans i ran across were well behaved. If anything they were overly polite so much that sometimes it felt weird.
So as someone born and raised in the USA apparently we are often recognized by how much we lean on stuff.
Not sure if it is true or not, but I have read the “American Lean” is one of the first things the CIA has to train out of operatives or they are immediately given away as from the USA.
I an American went to Belgium to visit a friend in Belgium. Everyone spoke English to them and thought he was American. They spoke Dutch to me and thought I was Belgian.
A flight attendant spoke to me in Russian. A lady in the airport line spoke to me in French.
When I went to Vietnam I tried guessing who were American and was always wrong.
So, no it isn’t really easy to spot someone from a country until they open their mouths.
Survivorship bias (or I suppose the inverse of it) makes this very difficult to answer.
I’ve been able to identify Americans several times by how they dress, but I have no real way of knowing how many I couldn’t identify.
My wife and I went to London in 2011 to visit my sister. We were walking into Westminster Abbey and as we approached the entrance, a gentleman at an information kiosk looked at us and proclaimed ‘Americans!’. I laughed and said ‘is it that obvious?’ He said it was how much we were smiling. Apparently even though both my wife and I have predominantly English heritage, our happy go lucky Americanness just shined right through.
Usually speaking loud, wearing crisp white shoes, eating and walking/drinking, wearing American brands that very few other people will wear (like North Face), leaning on things (the American lean), water bottles in backpacks, looking lost/confused a lot.
None of these are 100% but happen enough that it’s a tendency
It’s pretty easy to spot tourists when visiting another country (when you are in a touristy location). My first tell is clothing. Cargo shorts/pants, baseball caps and white tennis shoes for men. Spaghetti strap tank tops and yoga shorts/leggings for women. Then are they holding a water bottle in one hand? Backpacks-more like American. Cross body bags-likely not American. A tell used to be socks with sandals but some of my American friends do that now…I’m probably better than 50% but to be fair there are a lot of us about.
I was once on a bus in London with my born in Korea/raised in the US colleague-he told me that as an Asian he could identify the nationality of other Asians. He pointed to a large family group and proclaimed them to be Chinese. At our next stop they approached him and began speaking Korean to him. I teased him about that for a bit.
It’s easy to tell for a certain type of American. 40+, fat but dressed like they’re about to run a marathon, extremely loud and oblivious to everything as though they’ve never left the country before. But there are plenty of Americans who carry themselves differently and blend in.
Years ago, I (American) was walking past some nudie shows in Amsterdam. There were barkers out front trying to get men to come inside.
As I approached, one guy talked to me in German, and when I didn’t respond, he switched to Dutch. I shook my head and said “no thanks.”
He said “Oh, American! Come on in! Beautiful girls!”
I just shook my head and kept walking.
He shouted after me “HOMO!”