Thank you all for reminding me why I don't like to talk politics with "americans" sometimes. Whew.

Check the US dept. of Treasury monthly statement on where taxmoney is spent: mainly Medicare, Military and Social security spending. Your statement that spanish speakers are causing a lot of tax money expenses is more than exaggerated.

Very true. I generally avoid it or 'uh, huh' while looking repeatedly at my watch.

should we assume that we have average American here in EF & Switzerland?

Languages are no longer a requirement for graduation in many (most?) places. If required, it is taught for a year or two, that's all. That's not enough to become proficient in the language.

Absolutely, it's maddening at times. Moreover, others "discussing" the US is usually really just them bashing on the US, based sometimes on fact, mostly on anecdote, lore, and stereotypes. So as an American, you end up taking an adversarial stance.

(Then again, many Swiss love an argument just for the sake of argument, so no matter what viewpoint you represent, they'll argue you on it. Even if you change your mind and say "hm, yes, I agree with you!" they'll take a 180 and start arguing the opposite… )

I try to avoid discussing US politics, just because I'm tired of being told how bad the US is, how stupid I am for not seeing it, etc.

Blimey! Wish I was American, as I am extremely jealous of all the thanks they got here for their comments!!

I dunno, I think Switzerland is also riiiiight up at the top of the pro-capitalist countries, on the grand scale of things. It's in good company with the US and China.

USA is a real consumer society (gas station & fast food examples); switzerland is a capitalist country but not a consumer society. The list of rants in EF on shopping centers opening hours/days is a small example.

It's all about who's the president at the time:

During the Clinton administration:

Swiss: You're American? I like your President.
Me: Yes, so do I. But many don't.
Swiss: We feel a bit sorry for him for all the bad publicity he's getting.

During the Bush administation:

Swiss: You're American? I hate your President.
Me: Yes, so do I.
Swiss: So, why don't you get rid of him? He's going to ruin your country's reputation. Oh wait, he already did.

During the Obama administration:

Swiss: You're American? What do you think of Obama?
Me: It's a tough clean-up job. Many Americans expect a quick turn around which isn't going to happen.
Swiss: America is in deep sh*t.

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Faith isn't about everything turning out okay. Faith is about being okay no matter how things turn out.

A totally off-topic comment on this thread: some of y'all (or "youse" or "you'uns", depending on which dialect you use) are such good writers, you should quit whatever jobs you do now and become columnists instead.

That is all.

This money comes more at the state level not the national level. Taxes have increased immensely to cover these costs.

Yes absolutely! it does seem to be the trend here in Europe.

louder than drunk Brits?

That's because they are going at it wrong.

Educate more of the already Spanish speaking folks to teach and have classes taught in both English and Spanish starting from kindergarten to ALL of the students. Help the entire community become bilingual and everyone wins. It may involve some more cost to begin with but in the end, the profit on every level will show it to be a worthwhile investment.

Even the bare smattering of Spanish I picked up along the way + the French I failed in high school help me communicate with people here in Switzerland, there is no loss suffered by making sure that all of the children can speak more than one language. Making it part of every day life will make it easier to learn and remember as they go, not to mention removing the divisions within the communities (or at least making the divide something other than language).

There really is no reason why that can't happen in those states I mentioned earlier, although some of the other states may benefit from something other than Spanish being the second language taught from the start.

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The Joys of Opticianry

A group of sober Americans would do honorable battle in the loudness area against a group of drunk Brits. Especially on public transport.

definitely not louder than Italians or northern Germans...

well said peg. actually it happens in more states than we know. there are both dual language and bilingual classes going on. right now dual language classes are definitely gaining more popularity- half the class native spanish(let's say for this instance) and half the class native english. starting at kindergarten classes are taught (and ALL subject areas) in both languages, having A days and B days. these kinds of classes are very popular now, because english native speaking parents are so intent on having their kids learn spanish from the beginning that they demand it from the district. i have taught in one for a few years and it was very rewarding.

people are quite ignorant when it comes to figuring out solutions to these kinds of things, when it's really quite simple and obvious. why wouldn't you want to educate children in the language of the land, especially when you get the benefit of having bilingual so to be adults? anyway creating an environment where you put people down and call them names because of where they are from or what they speak will not create an environment where people want to learn the language or feel comfortable doing so...

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'there isn't enough of anything as long as we live.
but at intervals a sweetness appears and, given a chance prevails'

Seems to me that we always stick out in a crowd.

That's it, Sky. A friend of mine was in a serious summer opera school in Rome, mostly with other Americans. They were told off numerous times for being too loud on public transport and other places. These weren't teenagers, but people in their late 20s or early 30s.

I always thought I just heard Americans more because they are my heritage and my ear must be tuned to them, but non-Americans have mentioned it too.