this post was submitted on 28 May 2026
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I read people say online that Americans are loud. What does this mean, exactly? Is it literal volume or is it our personality/presentation? Something else?

I may be moving to Australia because of my wife’s job, and I want to better understand this. I want to assimilate and I don’t want to be annoying. I’m personally pretty low key and listen more than speak, but this is my perception of myself.

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[–] farmgineer@nord.pub 13 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

American who left the country over a decade ago.

Many (of course not all) speak more loudly than they think and more than is necessary. This is especially noticeable when not competing against other people's voices/loudness in quiet places. That is, the default is higher and you might work to lower it or at least be aware of it depending upon the ambient volume and norms where you are (Americans aren't the only ones like this).

Many US folks also act differently to even other English-speaking countries. This can be extroversion, small talk in countries that don't do that, certain expectations of how things should work, etc. USAmericans are the folks I hear most saying "but it's not that way in my country!" (though again, not exclusively). How direct you are vs others is another one; many can be quite direct whereas other countries use more context and subtlety. My advice would just be to watch how other people interact more intently than just being around in the space until you get used to it. I've never lived in Australia so I couldn't specifically say

[–] WindyRebel@lemmy.world 2 points 14 hours ago

Thank you so much for your comment! I’ll definitely be sure to observe and do my best to not be that stereotype.