What non-European country/population have you always felt kinship with?
May 7, 2025
In my case it would be Lebanon and Pakistan.
I also really like Latinos in general.
24 comments
The USA, and to a lesser extent Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Because I’ve been exposed to American culture all my life through mass media and I’ve been fluent in English since my early teens.
With Israel too to some extent because many Jews there are Hungarian Jews and Ashkenazi culture is Central European.
Canada / Quebec: we speak the same language, been there, they’re nice people, beautiful place, nice food, pleasing accent even if it sometimes sounds a bit funny. They’re like our favorite cousins outside Europe.
Latinamerica, but they are mostly half European and the culture in its core isn’t as different.
[removed]
Former Portuguese colonies such as Brazil, Angola, Mozambique, Cape Verde, Papua New Guinea, etc.
Countries with what I think are generally similar values such as Canada, Australia, pretty much every South American country, etc.
Countries that I heard about a good bit in history class such as the ones not mentioned are mostly Japan, China and South Africa.
I’d love to include more African nations here but I honestly don’t know enough about them to feel kinship with
Canada, New Zealand and Australia. Ireland itself shares some culture with UK, so given that these countries are also anglophones and also share culture with the UK through the commonwealth there is a fair bit of commonality. In addition, a lot of Irish people have gone to these countries either as immigrants or simply just to travel, so you’d often hear stories about them. Most Irish people would have a family member that has lived in Ca, NZ or Au.
Thai and Philpeans people.
They get western humour and are genuinely positive, very safe and trustworthy imo.
I would say Central Asian countries (like Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan), but then again, we don’t have that much in common with them anymore. We migrated from somewhere close to those countries, and it is interesting how Turanism can be found ib both cultures. Our history in like, the 900s before Saint Stephen was very reminiscent of traditional Turkic culture found there, and it is fun to compare some old traditions and symbols that also exist in those places. But we took a completely different path later on.
But I also feel like Latin Americans can be pretty close to Eastern Europeans sometimes. Many similar stereotypes exist in both places surprisingly, and we are sort of the “yeah, but are you REALLY Western” Westerners.
The US played a large part in my life for obvious reasons. I started to question those reasons with the invasion of Irak.
That turned into a strong dislike with the current administration.
I also became obsessed with everything Japan at age 15.
But It’s not really kinship. So those might be wrong answers to your question.
Brazil in particular but also all the others in South America.
New Zealand. Love the language, The people and the nature
As someone from eastern Germany I feel a lot of connection to Vietnam, probably because I’ve grown up around a large diaspora group. Otherwise, I’d say Canada and many LatAm countries!
None fully. Closest is probably Canada, similar climate/flora/fauna, hockey, similar-ish values.
Honourable mentions are New Zealand for much of the same reasoning and maybe Japan but I can’t quite explain why.
Brazil, although I am not Portuguese. I have many friends from Brazil and there is also a lot of German diaspora in the south of the country and I find it funny that there is a huge city named Blumenau, the same name as the village my parents lived in when I was a baby 😆
For some reason Canadians. Maybe because a lot of Croatians moved there, but I think it’s also because they seem like the normal and kind cousin when compared to the country to the south of them. New Zealand and Australia, again, for the same reason. They’re like distant weird uncles.
I like Persians. Great civilisation, ancient history, ancient culture. If history had went another way in the 70s they could easily be a first world democratic country like Italy or maybe Poland. And of course the Lebanese.
Iraq, Syria, Palestine, Lebanon, Turkey and Greece, because there lies the bedrock of Western civilization.
New Zealand, Australia, Canada and the US, because so many Dutch people emigrated to those countries. Unfortunately, the US has become a traiterous enemy.
Southern Africa, because Afrikaans sounds like funny old Dutch and because of the Dutch names of towns and other places.
Belgium, because they are neighbours and speak a softer, more elegant form of Dutch.
All European countries, and by extension latin America, because of our common European heritage and countless historic and other ties. France holds a special place because of the Enlightenment.
Norway: Canada and New Zealand.
Canada because a lot of similar values i.e: Healthcare. And lifestyle (outdoors)
New Zealand: A lot of similar nature.
Maybe with people of German descent that still are somewhat German and haven’t been totally assimilated (which disqualifies pretty much any German American).
My cousin claims she is Native American – even though she’s never been to America, she doesn’t know anybody there, and she has no family background there. She just says she is one, “in spirit”.
Crazy as a box of frogs.
Canada and New Zealand. They seem like reasonable people. Especially the New Zealanders. I’ve heard some states of Canada are quite a bit different from the rest of the country and more akin to the US.
Ireland:
Palestinians for our similar colonial history and similarities in culture. The Palestinian dabke is very similar to Irish dancing, and much of Palestinian hospitality is similar to Irish hospitality. When I visited Palestine in 2017 I was struck by how similar we were!
Also Jamaicans again for our similarities. Even our accents are fairly similar – and in fact, the Jamaican accent is said to have come about because Irish indentured servants taught enslaved Africans English. Similarly my cousin married a Nigerian guy and when I met him I instantly connected with him and his family and we bonded over our similarities. Tap dancing itself is a combination of African and Irish dance.
I’m not sure if it fully counts but i love Georgia, very underrated country and culture
Canadians, especially the Bluenosers of Nova Scotia. I feel that may be a comically obvious answer since the province itself is named after us, but in terms of its culture and language it has always felt to me like an extension of our nation but extremely far away.
24 comments
The USA, and to a lesser extent Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Because I’ve been exposed to American culture all my life through mass media and I’ve been fluent in English since my early teens.
With Israel too to some extent because many Jews there are Hungarian Jews and Ashkenazi culture is Central European.
Canada / Quebec: we speak the same language, been there, they’re nice people, beautiful place, nice food, pleasing accent even if it sometimes sounds a bit funny. They’re like our favorite cousins outside Europe.
Latinamerica, but they are mostly half European and the culture in its core isn’t as different.
[removed]
Former Portuguese colonies such as Brazil, Angola, Mozambique, Cape Verde, Papua New Guinea, etc.
Countries with what I think are generally similar values such as Canada, Australia, pretty much every South American country, etc.
Countries that I heard about a good bit in history class such as the ones not mentioned are mostly Japan, China and South Africa.
I’d love to include more African nations here but I honestly don’t know enough about them to feel kinship with
Canada, New Zealand and Australia. Ireland itself shares some culture with UK, so given that these countries are also anglophones and also share culture with the UK through the commonwealth there is a fair bit of commonality. In addition, a lot of Irish people have gone to these countries either as immigrants or simply just to travel, so you’d often hear stories about them. Most Irish people would have a family member that has lived in Ca, NZ or Au.
Thai and Philpeans people.
They get western humour and are genuinely positive, very safe and trustworthy imo.
I would say Central Asian countries (like Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan), but then again, we don’t have that much in common with them anymore. We migrated from somewhere close to those countries, and it is interesting how Turanism can be found ib both cultures. Our history in like, the 900s before Saint Stephen was very reminiscent of traditional Turkic culture found there, and it is fun to compare some old traditions and symbols that also exist in those places. But we took a completely different path later on.
But I also feel like Latin Americans can be pretty close to Eastern Europeans sometimes. Many similar stereotypes exist in both places surprisingly, and we are sort of the “yeah, but are you REALLY Western” Westerners.
The US played a large part in my life for obvious reasons. I started to question those reasons with the invasion of Irak.
That turned into a strong dislike with the current administration.
I also became obsessed with everything Japan at age 15.
But It’s not really kinship. So those might be wrong answers to your question.
Brazil in particular but also all the others in South America.
New Zealand. Love the language, The people and the nature
As someone from eastern Germany I feel a lot of connection to Vietnam, probably because I’ve grown up around a large diaspora group. Otherwise, I’d say Canada and many LatAm countries!
None fully. Closest is probably Canada, similar climate/flora/fauna, hockey, similar-ish values.
Honourable mentions are New Zealand for much of the same reasoning and maybe Japan but I can’t quite explain why.
Brazil, although I am not Portuguese. I have many friends from Brazil and there is also a lot of German diaspora in the south of the country and I find it funny that there is a huge city named Blumenau, the same name as the village my parents lived in when I was a baby 😆
For some reason Canadians. Maybe because a lot of Croatians moved there, but I think it’s also because they seem like the normal and kind cousin when compared to the country to the south of them. New Zealand and Australia, again, for the same reason. They’re like distant weird uncles.
I like Persians. Great civilisation, ancient history, ancient culture. If history had went another way in the 70s they could easily be a first world democratic country like Italy or maybe Poland. And of course the Lebanese.
Iraq, Syria, Palestine, Lebanon, Turkey and Greece, because there lies the bedrock of Western civilization.
New Zealand, Australia, Canada and the US, because so many Dutch people emigrated to those countries. Unfortunately, the US has become a traiterous enemy.
Southern Africa, because Afrikaans sounds like funny old Dutch and because of the Dutch names of towns and other places.
Belgium, because they are neighbours and speak a softer, more elegant form of Dutch.
All European countries, and by extension latin America, because of our common European heritage and countless historic and other ties. France holds a special place because of the Enlightenment.
Norway: Canada and New Zealand.
Canada because a lot of similar values i.e: Healthcare. And lifestyle (outdoors)
New Zealand: A lot of similar nature.
Maybe with people of German descent that still are somewhat German and haven’t been totally assimilated (which disqualifies pretty much any German American).
My cousin claims she is Native American – even though she’s never been to America, she doesn’t know anybody there, and she has no family background there. She just says she is one, “in spirit”.
Crazy as a box of frogs.
Canada and New Zealand. They seem like reasonable people. Especially the New Zealanders. I’ve heard some states of Canada are quite a bit different from the rest of the country and more akin to the US.
Ireland:
Palestinians for our similar colonial history and similarities in culture. The Palestinian dabke is very similar to Irish dancing, and much of Palestinian hospitality is similar to Irish hospitality. When I visited Palestine in 2017 I was struck by how similar we were!
Also Jamaicans again for our similarities. Even our accents are fairly similar – and in fact, the Jamaican accent is said to have come about because Irish indentured servants taught enslaved Africans English. Similarly my cousin married a Nigerian guy and when I met him I instantly connected with him and his family and we bonded over our similarities. Tap dancing itself is a combination of African and Irish dance.
I’m not sure if it fully counts but i love Georgia, very underrated country and culture
Canadians, especially the Bluenosers of Nova Scotia. I feel that may be a comically obvious answer since the province itself is named after us, but in terms of its culture and language it has always felt to me like an extension of our nation but extremely far away.