Ask Lemmy

Definitely. I spent several years living in a South American country, one that is considered almost "high income" for the region. Uruguay. Now back in the States I still recognize how much less we USA folks could live on if our society was not so pushed by constant consumption by the corporatocracy's propaganda.

Learning to think in another language. Learning how even everyday things like doors and locks are different. Feeling distant from yet also slowly growing into that new to me culture

Smaller space, more use of renewables for heat, cooking, electric generation. Smaller cars than the giants on US roads that everybody here seems to "need". Yet many of those very small cars are indeed USA street legal if Hyundai/KIA, GM, etc imported the Brasil-Made Chevrolet Onyx, the Argentina-made small Chevrolets, the South American KIA Picanto, VW "city car" the Volkswagen Up! (Already on EU streets in an even smaller version)

Grocery stores with more home made and store made products. Yet without the massive duplication we have of entire aisles of breakfast cereals, soaps, etc. There was a reasonably broad degree of consumer choices but not the overwhelming and ridiculous amount here.

People shopping in small amounts for what they need that day. Rather than huge hauls from Costco?

And the universal and affordable healthcare. Which was not the single-payer free-at-service nonsense that some US politicians claim everywhere in the world' has. (Dear Bernie, NOBODY in the world has that!) Paid out of your local social security tax equivalent if employed, or about $60 US per month to buy into it if neither employed nor on benefits. Small "ticket charges" for physicians, labs, imaging, and about a $40 US ticket charge for the hospital ER. ZERO charge for hospital stay and all labs, tests, etc during that stay.

Mandatory voting with real competing parties and coalitions of parties. Military used almost only for UN peacekeeping.

There were frustrating times, and I personally had family reasons to return. But I still miss it, and sometimes envy those of my Uruguayan friends who could afford to travel to the US and my US friends that could afford homes in Uruguay while keeping a home also in the US.

One learns in ones bones that the US way is not the only way.

It's not that lofty, it's pretty much like the merrowingian put it in the second matrix movie: "cursing in french is like wiping your ass with silk" It's not limited to cursing, some languages have unique expressions for some things that are more fitting. You have to lean into it and embrace it though, it's like clothing or food, you have to want it and you have to enjoy it. There is no point in cooking yourself a fancy meal if you hate doing it and don't particularly value good food. The same is true for practicing language.

I enjoy learning languages in a low pressure way. I didn't enjoy it particularly in school.

Spouse is Kenyan and I have learned a fair bit of Swahili. My spouse is fluent in English, Swahili, and their tribal language which I know basically none of.

I never could have imagined how much it would help me understand them better by understanding their language. It has profoundly changed me as a person.

Language is not purely functional, it is woven into who we are and how others perceive us to be. I started learning to simply participate more with them and their family, now I am experiencing my brain be rewritten.

As a person who only spoke English well into adulthood and then is rapidly learning a very different language and culture, I feel like I have a POV that nobody else in my life understands.

Thanks for asking :)

Yes.

When talking with the average American back home, there are lots of things you can sense they don't notice and don't seem to think about, especially if they've never even travelled.

From small things like always being cognizant of time zone differences and phone number country codes you use, to bigger things like seeing how crappy American restrictive zoning laws, suburban hellscapes, and car-centric society are.

Also, from the weeb perspective, going from needing anime subtitles to almost not needing them is pretty interesting.

I don't feel like nobody can understand my POV. I grew up moving country to country and my classmates growing up led similar lives and probably had similar POVs. It was only in college that I realized most people lived their whole childhoods in one city, not counting vacations.

I think you'd be interested in looking into the concept of "Third Culture Kids". I think the original book may be a bit outdated and lack some of the complexity of modern globalization, but it definitely made me realize a lot of things about myself when I read the book the first time way back.

I am not sure what you mean with pov that no one else’s understand because many of my European friends speak english on top of native language.

What i can attest is that each language has its own expressions, saying and emergent philosophy that is not always translatable in other languages.

The language you speak/think directly influences what and how you think. Knowing multiple is therefore a very enriching experience.

Absolutely! A lot of an country's or region's culture and history is reflected in their language. In their expressions, vocabulary, loan words, etc.

No? The majority of my coworkers are also multilingual. They travel more often than I do.