We have such an international group here, I thought it would be interesting to create a topic where we can discuss various aspects of foreign culture and have an open forum for legitimate questions. Feel free to ask for translations as well.

If no one else is interested, this'll peter out soon enough, I suspect.

Anyway, a couple of guidelines:

-Respect each other *and* your cultural differences.
-Be mature
-Think before you type
-Keep it classy

I'll start:

TOPIC: St. Patrick's Day
ADDRESSED TO: Our Lovely Irish Members

Is St. Patrick's Day as big of a deal in Ireland as it is in America?

I'm American and its ridiculous how people go all out for it. It is widely considered a drinking holiday and hugely commercial. I mean every store has cheap beads with a green shot glass on them. And leprechaun hats. And every bar has Flogging Molly on for the evening.

Anyway, at least on our side of the pond, there doesn't seem to be much thought for the relevant history or religious aspect of it.

So...how do people in Ireland feel about it? Just another day, or a legitimate celebration to reflect on Irish identity, pride and traditions?

The Irish in Liverpool seemed more to see it as an excuse for sectarian pride and drinking, and they're widely renowned for being more Irish than the Ireland. Though I find the idea of a 40 something Irishman willingly wearing beads has not caught on here yet.

I think it's so that they can get rid of all that green beer..



ask Evilfish





The Dutch eat raw herring -but no other raw fish.. except sushi..

and double salty liquorice

There's also the matter of the little Dutch kid going around sticking his finger in dykes, but Princess Stomper doesn't want me talking about it...

not classy enough I s'pose

What countries still have a monarchy ? I find it interesting... I only yesterday found out Japan still has an emporer... Yeah.
(IIRC Sweden and Norway have them too)

Also people say English is hard to learn. Is it really that bad ?

It is if you're Japanese


We have a queen, who soon will be usurped by her son Billy.. not in a Game of Thrones kind of way unfortunately.. she'll just retire and apparently he has to interview for the job..

no drama there I guess...

It's about as hard as learning your home language. You don't even have to study it in school, just watch T.V. and play games and before long you are fluent. I for one only contribute perhaps 5% of what I know about English to structured classes in school. I at least think that it isn't going to be hard for anyone in Europe as the English language has some close ties to the other languages spoken here.

Exactly. That is a testament to the legitimacy of St. Patrick's Day in America.


I did. Sent him a PM. We should get the official facts on the matter shortly.

<3 Old Andy

For Ellert, I vaguely remember reading about naming conventions for children, how does it work exactly and is there a stigma to going against the grain when naming children in Iceland.

Why do people seem to make a big deal about the British monarchy (royal wedding, even had people from mexico coming here 0.o), yet I didnt even know yours existed.
Damn, people always said it was one of the worst languages to learn. Well I guess videogames nd tv help, but dont they translate them for you ?

Why do we have thousands of active members from Scandinavia but as far as I know either hardly any or none from Spain, France, Italy or Germany?

Better weather in those countries?

Just a suggestion, maybe format new inquires similar to this:


That way, people can see "at a glance" what is an answer and what is an open question.

My guess would be that Spain, France, Italy and Germany, having larger populations in general than the nordic countries, have their own online communities in their native language.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monarchy#Current_monarchies

The king of Sweden is generally considered a bit of an idiot.

I didn't find it very difficult. Movies and TV shows are only subtitled here, rather than dubbed as is common elsewhere. Games aren't translated at all, unless they're for very young kids. So yeah, that probably helps.

You have seen the recent weather across Europe right ? he also listed Germany.

From that I also realised we have no Russians, poles, etc.

Probably because the British monarchy has centuries of fairly interesting history behind it, while ours was founded by the British, Prussians and Russians less than 200 years ago and hasn't done anything of interest since. And the best king we've had was not a Dutchman, but Napoleon's brother.

How so if I may ask? I don't keep up with political figurehead antics,

Im glad someone else asked that question

Japans is older, Sweden/Norways are pretty old too. But I jsut dont hear about them. I just find that odd.

Another question to Scandinavians. How do you guys cope with the Winter where you live ?

I think the Royal Wedding captured a lot of interest, especially among women, for a number of reasons.

For starters, so many girls grow up with stories that involve either:

• Marrying a Prince
  
• Becoming a Princess

Kate Middleton did both (well….Duchess, rather). It was her going from commoner to royal that captured the attention of quite a few people. And she certainly seems to be a breath of fresh air into the Monarchy, which from an American point of view, was desperately needed.

And her style. Oh my goodness, her style.

Lastly, America doesn’t have a monarchy, so I think that is one of the reasons it interests us as well.

They live indoor lives, and wear really big snowshoes for the rest..



just guessing really

[actually, never mind...]

Why did you guys feel it needed a breath of fresh air ? Im suprised you guys even think about the monarchy.

I didnt care about her style. Now her sisters dress on the other hand, that I liked...

How did you guys feel about Diana ?

Without getting into politics here, the general media image of him is quite similar to that of your previous president. Our king's just a pretty simple guy who, like most simple guys, tends to say a lot of stupid things.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_swimming is quite popular.

Talk about upstaging the bride

The Scandinavian nations tend to be viewed as beacon nations for their health care and social support mechanisms. How do they feel about that view and what are their perceptions of the rest of the world when it comes to health care, social security and inclusion?

I think the issue people have with English are the strange self-breaking rules and such it has. There are words that are pronounced exactly the same, but have different spellings and meanings (they're, there, their), words that are spelled the same but have different pronunciations and meanings (address, buffet, tear), silent letters, confusing rules (I before E except after C, except for the time when you ignore that rule like in Their over there, or Y being "sometimes" a vowel), and so on. A lot of these things we aren't really taught, but just figured out from the context. Depending on your starting language and general exposure to English, I can see how that nonsense would make it very difficult to learn.