I have never really joined an international forum of this kind before and even for those who have I'm sure that there are things about other countries that are interesting/confusing/puzzling/exciting etc to others. So I thought I'd start a thread to ask things you always wanted to know about other countries and see if someone from that country can enlighten you. RULES: This is not a Xenaphobia thread - people from different countries clearly are going to have different beliefs and whilst we can discuss them rationally, your beliefs are just that, your beliefs and, as strongly as you might feel them, that does not make them the 'right' beliefs, only your beliefs. So please do keep a clear head in discussions and/or debates and appreciate that this is a space where such debates can be had without abuse, offence, etc. ---------- Post added 22nd Oct 2013 at 01:55 AM ---------- My first question for no particular reason other than curiosity and topicality - What does the phrase 'capital territories' mean in Australia?
it depends since there are strong regional differences. traditionally speaking (and being very general here), those in the north west have tended to be the most progressive, with small pockets here and there following suit, for instance i like to think of north-east spain as an anomaly, but look at it today, it's difficult to say if it's progressive or not. this idea that north americans supposedly have of europeans being progressive must be a contemporary one, since it's only been a largely "free" continent (in democracy, trade, cultural practices etc.) for about 20 years. that said, there are great variations country to country. for instance, while portugal attempts (albeit rather lazily) to integrate the roma, france just throws them out! which is progressive?! and when you compare east and west, having both entered the european union and equally overcome years of backwardness, you find [for some odd reason] that the east has shifted from extreme left to extreme right (not in all cases, of course!) while the west progressed even further, and perhaps further than those northern european countries that have had relatively stable histories. i think europe wants to be progressive, but has no united plan on how to achieve this, thus it's hard to say it is in its entirety. if i'm honest, i can only think of a handful of european countries i'd consider progressive, and i'd love to name and shame those i don't, but i'll refrain myself! that said, yes europe is a lot further ahead than the usa, in my view. also, i have no idea what is exactly meant by "progressive", so i touched on as many aspects as i could! ---------- Post added 22nd Oct 2013 at 02:27 AM ---------- what does it feel like to live in the netherlands or belgium and be exposed to so much of the english language? and why are you so good at it?!?!?
Outro tuga!!! Anyway... I didn't know we're trying to integrate the roma. Is our "dear! government creating begging and pick-pocketing centrals for them? :dry: When I left Portugal they were all over already... And don't forget that in Portugal the only thing missing for us is being able to adopt... or did that change in the meanwhile? I keep watching Portuguese TV over the internet but I haven't heard anything about changes to homosexual couples being able to adopt.
haha i've noticed exactly that! today i saw an exceptional number of them, groups of families selling scarves, all dressed in black. a fascinating bunch. well there seems to be some effort to integrate them here, indeed not all are begging (though a lot of them still are!), it's not an easy process however. i believe same-sex couples are still unable to adopt here sadly. television here is very strange...
I don't know how progressive North Americans think we are in England, but I think we do have some good equality laws in the UK. In 2010 the Equality Act was passed, basically it is illegal to discriminate against people for 9 protected characteristics which include sexuality. Not sure how that works person-to-person but companies can't refuse to serve or hire or give different treatment, etc. We also have gay marriage. But there are plenty of idiots in the country too. People are people wherever you go.
It's not easy because most of them just want to mooch instead of working :dry: Bleh... well... at least we already have everything else. That will come in time as well, I'm sure of it. Is it the amount of flesh and boob being shown all the time, the dumb shows full of "Pimba" music over the day or the stupidly high amount of soaps that put you off? OR all of it? :roflmao: For me it's the dumb shows and soaps. But those are everywhere anyway...
I'm really glad we're exposed to it as much as we are. Makes it easy to communicate in pretty much every country (most people speak at least some English), and all around the internet. Why we're good at it? I guess it's because, like you said, we're exposed to it all the time. It's EVERYWHERE. Films, tv shows, music. And nothing is dubbed, everything's subtitled. We also have our first English lessons in school around the age of 10, continuing all the way through high school.
