We asked some expatriates a complicated question. Now in Portugal, what do we think about us, Portuguese people?
The Portuguese are… they completed the sentence. Here are some interesting insights about us, by… people like you.
Not like other Southern Europe folks
Thus, making a generic characterization of the temperament of the Portuguese, Paul and Kasia risk saying that they are more similar to the British. “Calm, reserved and even formal on some occasions.”
He also notes some differences to the British, more evident when it comes, for example, to the work culture. “In the UK, you get used to a faster-paced work style – you eat lunch at your desk, you drink your coffee on the way to work,” he says.
“The Portuguese population seems to take some formalities more seriously, such as having a lunch break, drinking coffee while seated. It looks old-fashioned, but in reality, it is even better in a sense.”
Always willing to help
“They are not exactly like the rest of the peoples of southern Europe, normally seen as loud, tough and very energetic”, says Briton Graeme Eaves, clarifying: “On the contrary, the Portuguese do not fit this mould.”
Helpful and supportive – that’s how Lisa sees the Portuguese. “They are always trying to help,” she points out. Monique, who spent most of her life in Italy, agrees and says that she felt welcome from the first day she arrived.
“Locals were helpful; they helped me in any way necessary”. “They are generous and warm. I like the Portuguese mentality, and I have now many Portuguese I call friends”, she says.
Friendly but reserved and frontal
Colombian Carolina considers Portuguese “receptive and friendly”, although it is not as easy as initially hoped to build a friendship. “Maybe it is on me, I tend to demand too much of people I know, and because of that, friendships take time to grow,” she says. “Anyway, once we know where we stand, knowing me better, I feel that the few I know that are my friends, they are so.”
For his part, Lincon, a Brazilian who also has Portuguese nationality, describes the Portuguese as “honest people, compliant with rules and customs, helpful and friendly, but frontal, without half words, when necessary”.
Lincon defends that it is a people who “cherish their ancestors and their culture” for having a long history.