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A discussion about your country! | ||
Tags: Place of Residence | Cultural Identity | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Cultural Experiences in Foreign Languages |  | |
| Alvinho Triglot Senior Member Brazil Joined 6044 days ago 828 posts - 832 votes  Speaks: Portuguese*, English, Spanish | Message 19 of 66 25 July 2008 at 4:15pm | IP Logged | ||
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I'm Brazilian...I wonder what I should say about my country without extending my quote?
Well, it's a country with plenty of natural resources, different and breathtaking landscapes.....a huge race mixing that has made this country one of nirvana of beautiful women.....but it's being stained by corruption and violence....and a bunch of bad-intended leftists....growth figures have been so disappointing..... that's all... Edited by Alvinho on 25 July 2008 at 4:16pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Frisco Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 6666 days ago 380 posts - 398 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Norwegian, Italian, Turkish, Mandarin | Message 20 of 66 26 July 2008 at 1:21am | IP Logged | ||
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I won't talk about my country because everyone already has a strong opinion about it and there's nothing I could say no matter how seemingly benign that couldn't be used to hijack the thread for 90 pages.
Instead I'll talk about my home state of New Mexico. I'll skip the history to avoid what I was talking about in my first paragraph and give a little description. It's a sparsely populated and fairly new state (1912) though one of the biggest in area. The Rocky Mountains cut right through the state as does a long river called the Rio Grande which has had difficulty keeping full in parts (due to droughts and irrigation). Most of the terrain is desert, but there are several forests and a few lakes. We've got some cool natural wonders like Carlsbad Caverns and White Sands. We're probably most famous for Wild West figures like Billy the Kid and Pat Garrett and the Roswell incident. Even with that history, a lot of people don't know that New Mexico is part of the United States. I was in Tennessee last month and had to explain to a few people there that New Mexico is not the same place as Mexico. Our culture is a mix of Western, Spanish/Mexican and Native American. You'll find all 3 in our art, architecture and food. We grow and eat a lot of chile here. We've got a state question which is "Red or green?" in reference to your chile preference. English is the dominant language, though Spanish has a significant representation. You'll find Spanish speakers, signs and documents everywhere. Navajo is struggling, but encouraged. We've even had a group of Navajo students doing Navajo language broadcasts for New Mexico State football games. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Walshy Triglot Senior Member Australia Joined 6752 days ago 335 posts - 365 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, German | Message 21 of 66 26 July 2008 at 5:40am | IP Logged | ||
Heh, I thought the 'cultural cringe' was dead. Guess I was wrong. ------------------------------- Anyway, Australia is a resource rich land, which is good for me as I work in the mining industry. Unfortunately, it's largely uninhabitable, water is scarce and agricultural land is too. This keeps the population very low for it's size. It's hard to typify an Australian. If you look at the statistics, and I love studying statistics, one in four of us migrated here after birth, and one in three of us use a language other than English in the home. Unfortunately, we are one of the biggest drinkers in the world, particularly the younger generation. We have free health-care for everyone, the second longest lifespan in the world, and one of the best educated populations. We also have a large number of overweight people, and our government is fairly negligent when it comes to planning for the future. Our biggest problems can be fixed by some prudent governance, but I can't see it happening. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Natts Diglot Newbie Finland Joined 5725 days ago 4 posts - 4 votes Speaks: Finnish*, English Studies: Swedish | Message 22 of 66 30 September 2008 at 11:32am | IP Logged | ||
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I´m from Finland, Lapland. We live in Rovaniemi, the hometown of Santa Claus.
Finland is full of woods, but there are big cities, too! Somehow, a lot of people think that here in Finland we live far from each other and our closest neighbour live across the lake. Well, we sure like the nature (at least I do), but we are not total hillbillies (or what do you call them xD) I like Finland the best in the winter. It´s so white because of the snow, and I like to wear warm clothes :) But there are things I don´t like that most of the finns like: - sauna. I can´t stand it! It´s too hot for me. I go there once in a while, but I don´t stay there for hours like my brothers do :s - dark bread. I hate it. It´s so dry! >_< - Santa Claus. I´ve seen him so many times, and I don´t even belive in him :> Oh! And we have free school in Finland :) And I just LOVE school! Edited by Natts on 30 September 2008 at 11:33am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| ymapazagain Senior Member Australia myspace.com/amywiles Joined 6769 days ago 504 posts - 538 votes Speaks: English* Studies: SpanishB2 | Message 23 of 66 30 September 2008 at 4:08pm | IP Logged | ||
Do we? Last time I went to the doctors in Australia it cost me $40...even when I was a student on centrelink I had to pay $10. I love how beautiful Australia is, especially Tasmania (where I grew up). I love that we still have beaches where you can be the only person for miles, and that you can drive on a main highway and not see another car for an hour. I love that Hobart (capital of Tasmania) hasn't been tainted by the problems (such as racism) that mass imigration has caused in other Australian cities; imigrants are coming, but slowly, and they are being accepted into the community and their cultures are being embraced as our own. I love beautiful summer days when you can hear lawnmowers and smell BBQ's. At the same time I find Australia a bit stifling at times. To be a language learner is definitely not the norm, and if you jump on a plane in tassie 7 hours later you still wont have left australia. That's why I live in England right now, because it really does feel like the world is at your feet. If I wanted I could go to france, sweden or holland for the weekend on a whim. It's great being in London as a language learner because there are always people you can talk to who are just as keen to learn. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| maya_star17 Bilingual Tetraglot Senior Member Canada Joined 5725 days ago 269 posts - 291 votes Speaks: English*, Russian*, French, Spanish Studies: Japanese | Message 24 of 66 05 October 2008 at 7:32am | IP Logged | ||
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I live in Canada.... it's VERY cold here. I lived in Israel at one point, where it's 20 degrees celsius in the winter, so I've never quite gotten used to the climate of Canada...
The landscape can be quite nice. There are lots of woods and mountains and what have you. I live in a big city though (Toronto), so I don't really come in contact with nature as much as people living in certain other parts of the country. To be honest, it's quite boring here (except in Montreal). People sit inside a lot (partly because of the climate) and even on like Saturday night, you don't see too many young people downtown. People get tired a lot, and depression is quite common during the winter. There are too official languages, English and French, but most English speakers cannot speak French. This is partly due to the fact that our French curriculum is quite horrible, but also due to the fact that many Anglophones dismiss the Quebecois as "annoying French people." Although English and French Canadians get along well on a diplomatic level, we tend to be wary of one another on a social level. We're not as united a nation as we'd like to think we are. One thing that I think stands out about Canada is that the people here are REALLY nice! Most people are extremely polite and are willing to help out other people, including tourists. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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