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Which European country has most cultural simularities with the UK?

It would obviously be Ireland, but much to the dispair of Irish nationalists, I think that the UK and Ireland are so intertwined that to consider Ireland to be truly a foreign country is difficult. Of course, in technical terms the Republic of Ireland is an independant nation, but culturally its hard to distract from the fact the two countries will always be intertwined to the extent it would be impossible to begin to unstitch it.

In terms of countries that are entirely separate of the UK, I would be inclinded to say that the Netherlands is most similar in terms of way of doing things and culture to the UK. Dutch is often considered to be one of the closest languages in terms of grammar and vocabularly to English and both countries are now constitutional monarchies and have developed in a similar fashion. Also, the Netherlands and the UK also strike me as having rather similar tastes in archetecture.

Dutch and British food doesn't strike me as being massively disimilar either, both suffering from a distinct lack of culinary skill (traditionally anyway).

Which country would you say is most similar to the UK?

Reply 1

nolongerhearthemusic

13

I know nothing about Dutch food or architecture :frown:

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Reply 2

ghanglish

16

I'd probably agree with the Netherlands. That's the one place in Europe I'd be confortable living in, apart for the UK of course.

Reply 3

Psyk

16

burninginme

It would obviously be Ireland, but much to the dispair of Irish nationalists, I think that the UK and Ireland are so intertwined that to consider Ireland to be truly a foreign country is difficult. Of course, in technical terms the Republic of Ireland is an independant nation, but culturally its hard to distract from the fact the two countries will always be intertwined to the extent it would be impossible to begin to unstitch it.

Apparently Ireland actually isn't considered foreign according to the government. There's a legal definition of foreign and it excludes things from Ireland.

Reply 4

Renner

19

ROI isn’t even considered a foreign country by the government, and the same visa-versa, we have rather a special relationship with the Irish which was quite unique before the open boarders with the EU.

Reply 5

Prince Rhyus

15

Other than RoI, I'd say Germany or the Netherlands.

Reply 6

Hasret

I'd go for Germany for sure.

Germany

I'd go for Netherlands or perhaps Norway. Definetly not the ******* Germans.

Reply 9

Hasret

Bagration

Definetly not the ******* Germans.

Why not? We both speak Germanic languages; (as far as I know) most Germans and British people are almost identical from a racial perspective; we have terrible food and love our beers; etc.

Reply 10

burninginme

OP

2

What on earth are you on about?

(edited 4 years ago)

Reply 11

Renner

19

During WW1 the Saxony regiment refused to the fight against the British, saying we had too much in common and England was no an enemy of Germany.

My Dutch driving instructor said once "My dad told me to go and work in the colonies, so I came to England".

Reply 12

Bagration

18

I don't feel like I have anything in common with Germany, whatsoever. I visited Berlin, it was great for a holiday, but I just didn't feel it to be anything like a British city in terms of culture.

Reply 13

The_Octopus

11

I would imagine the Dutch. Some parts of Germany may be "simular" to the UK but a lot of it is not.

Reply 14

Locke54

16

Cyprus or Malta, in terms of culture have a lot of British influence although their politics are quite different to ours. Interesting fact we nearly incorporated Malta into the UK after WW2 and planned to give them representation in parliament like the french do with some of their old colonial possessions but the government cocked it up and ended up just giving them independence.

Anyways I would probably go for the Netherlands, although they're probably that bit more liberal than us, the Germans are quite close aswell, from unification through the Nazi leadership and past it, the Germans have been huge Anglophiles although it was strongest in the late 19th century and early 20th.