Which cultures are stereotyped to be more or less formal than is really the case?

[Nurzat]

as Romanian I can say Romanians think of themselves as having a traditional and formal culture but in practice they are very informal, even disrespectful, and I base this on my interaction with state employees on different occasions (school/university administrative employees, town hall employees, different public offices). the thing is much less present when dealing with private companies. also neighbour interaction in the city very easily gets to disrespect and quarrel.

this is why I say Romanians think of themselves of being formal but they are very informal and intrusive/not mannered in an interaction with a stranger.

I for example don't speak on 1st person to any stranger disregard the age, except kids/pre-teens, but most people will just speak on 1st person to you, which irritates me, and not only that, but with a disrespectful tone, like they would give you orders. this happens from taxi drivers to shop keepers to people on the bus etc. not to mention neighbours, who when there's anything to discuss they start it with a raised voice and aggressive stance already. maybe it's everywhere like that, I don't know, I've only lived here. what about your countries?

another thing I hate is the fake informal speech enforced in private companies, especially corporations, where you have to speak in 1st person to your boss etc.

[TrueIndepence]

They are not formal, so you are mistaken. In Netherlands they won't call engineer Doctor or other things like they do in Italy (where formal titles matter)
German culture is formal, but Dutch and Scandinavian is not.

British I consider formal. American is certanly not.

Definitely true for Scandinavia, especially Sweden. Younger people do not even address seniors as "sir" or "madam". Those words are practically inexistent in today's vocabulary and if someone were to bring them back in a conversation, they would sound awfully weird.

[Jacques de Imbelloni]

Hmm. Mexicans and Central Americans, as with Andean nations too, are often far more serious, sombre and formal than many people realise.

Also they tend to have a submissive attitude towards their employers, in an almost medieval way.

[Tooting Carmen]

Also they tend to have a submissive attitude towards their employers, in an almost medieval way.

Quite a few of them, yes.

[Harkonnen]

Don't know what the stereotype is but Finland has to be the least formal culture since forever.

[Dandelion]

Finnish-speaking minorities outside of Finland even call their languages after their dialect, yet they aren't colonised pushovers. They just prefer it that way. That's my impression of Finnish people as an outsider.

That is how Northern Europeans are in general, though. Also Scandinavians.

[Dandelion]

Dutch and Flemish are very informal, but Flemish a tad more. Dutch have formal circles that don't deviate from it.

[Tooting Carmen]

Given the thread Richmondbread opened comparing Americans with Europeans in terms of friendliness, I thought I'd revive this thread.

[SouthDutch7991]

American culture ( American meaning white British/German protestants and their peripheries ) is stereotyped as being a lot less formal than it really is. This culture of course underlies every other culture in America. This is in my opinion due to how outwardly casual Americans are, when in reality this is a way of being polite. But a lot of people misunderstand that our casual friendly demeanor does not necessarily mean that we are open, or that we accept just anyone. Obviously this varies from person to person but in America you are expected to be formally informal as a way of interacting in business, school, etc.

The reality is Americans are very closed off from everyone that is not their immediate family. However Im not sure this culture has been carried on by our youngest highschool and college generation, partially because of how massively unamerican their composition is, and partially because of outside pressure.