The young student was frustrated by questions asked by Americans. Photo / 123rf
A young Kiwi woman joked she is “losing brain cells” in America because of how little they know about New Zealand.
Sonik Lia-Russell, who previously attended St Mary’s College in Wellington, posted a carousel of images to TikTok yesterday detailing conversations she’s recently had during three weeks in the US.
During the conversations, Lia-Russell was praised for speaking English well, told she must be related to Native Americans, and asked where New Zealand was in Australia.
“Real conversations I’ve had with Americans as an international student from New Zealand,” read the first slide in the carousel. Lia-Russell, who posed under the handle @sonik_lr didn’t specify where she had the conversations or where she was studying but several images are of the University of Idaho campus.
In the second slide, Lia-Russell recalled a conversation with someone who “didn’t know they spoke American in New Zealand”. She corrected them, saying Kiwis spoke English, but the American allegedly pushed back and reiterated that their American was good. It was unclear whether the person was referring to American slang which is specific to the country.
During other conversations, someone asked if it was true Aotearoa “only just got Wi-Fi”, another said she sounded Canadian and a third asked if New Zealand was a state in Australia.
One conversation about race was so concerning Lia-Russell said she “almost had a mental breakdown”. Someone allegedly asked the Kiwi what the natives of New Zealand were called and she explained they were Māori.
In response, the person said it was “cool” that she was “related to the Native Americans”. When Lia-Russell corrected them, saying that wasn’t accurate, they said they were related because Native Americans and Māori were “both Natives”.
“I actually almost had a mental breakdown during this conversation,” she recalled.
Lia-Russell said she had only been in the US for three weeks but asked someone to “please save” her.
The video has since received almost 1500 comments. Several commenters claimed the conversations were falsified to attract attention or argued Lia-Russell was judging the entire country on the behaviour of a few individuals.
“Americans are not as stupid as you guys like to pretend,” one wrote. “We’re not all like this,” another added.
However, most viewers who left comments appeared to defend Lia-Russell and claimed they’d had similar discussions.
One Kiwi who studied in the US said they could confirm Americans often misunderstand New Zealand’s culture and location. Another claimed an American admitted “they thought New Zealand was a myth”; a common Google search inquiry.
“I’m an exchange student from Brazil and they asked me if we have capybaras as pets,” one commented, referring to the giant rodents native to South America.
Several commenters from Australia and New Zealand claimed Americans had complimented them on their English or asked if it was spoken in their home country.
“One girl I worked with over there said ‘wow your English is really good!’ me: ‘I hope so, it’s the only language I know’,” one commented.
Again, others argued that “generalising does no one any good” and people should not judge all Americans for the behaviour of the few they encounter. Many Americans joined the discussion and were divided over whether people’s judgment was warranted.
American visitors in New Zealand have previously expressed their surprise when visiting New Zealand and experiencing culture shock towards things Kiwis consider normal.