The US population is grouped together in one giant pool instead of spread out by state like Europe is grouped by individual country. We focus on national news that affects the large population, and stuff that happens on other states becsuse of the shared identity, while European countries don’t have the same kind of European Union shenanigans that affect all of Europe and mostly post about country level stuff. Communities in languages other than English also tend to be posted in separate communites further separating their discussions from the general purpose communities.
We are also louder, which also contributes, but that is not as big of a deal as the sheer numbers.
plus, you know, inheritors of the British empire - practically an unbroken chain of hegemonic anglophones who refuse to learn another language
While a huge portion of the population chooses not to become fluent in a language, because nearly everything within hundreds of miles of where they live uses the same language by default, we still provide opportunities to learn languages and in some areas people are commonly bilingual.
It can be hard to maintain a language without frequent exposure. I had some classes in Spanish and French, but without a large population that speaks either language in my area I just forgot it over time. Moved tons place where we do have a lot of people who speak Spanish and English, but since I’m not part of their community my exposure is limited to the occasional festival or signage as nobody needs me to impose my attempt to learn their language on them.
It isn’t all about refusal, it is mostly lack of exposure.
Yeah, the geography certainly plays a role - much like it does for Britain having ~30 miles of ocean between it and the rest of Europe.
But the broad trend in the States has been a narrowing of languages. Like, a century ago there was national distribution for newspapers printed in German. Those started disappearing during WW1 and were completely gone by the end of WW2. And, of course, that is dwarfed by the number of First Nations languages that have been driven to the edge extinction, if not outright extinguished already.
I think if Lemmy wants to have less of a US bent to topics and perspectives, then they’ll have to follow ich_iel’s example and stubbornly commit to a language that isn’t english. The way how the internet collapses geography, conversation trends toward orbiting the densest population of monoglots.
It is a self reinforcing system, and the same reason that English has become so widespread worldwide.
Increased communication across wider areas promote common languages to be more accessible to more people, so in the case of the US this means each time people communicate it is more likely to be in English. Sure, some stupid laws have helped out too but this is a trend that was going to happen in the US for the same reasons English is increasingly used worldwide, but we don’t have a national language that English is being added to to promote being bilingual. Quebec has been fighting the trend though legislation since it was happening there as well.
Even regional dialects of English are being homogenized within the US. It is less likely for people traveling across many states to be unable to understand a regional dialect as was fairly common before cheap long distance communication.
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I am actively working on learning spanish as an American, because I want to be able to speak to people when I go to central and south America.
I have far less interest in learning french or german, because Europe is both expensive to get to for me, and expensive to stay in relative to other places I have equal interest in travelling to. And besides that, if I were to travel to Europe, I’ve been told that everyone there already speaks english anyway. And besides that, I’ve been told that even if I try to learn french or german, the locals will just speak to me in English anyway since it is faster for them. Due to this, learning these languages largely becomes an intellectual exercise performed for its own sake. And if I’m going to spend hours doing some sort of intellectual hobby, I could just as easily want to learn to paint or play the guitar or perform statistical analysis on the different varieties of weeds in my back yard.
yeah, broadly speaking, there are two languages spoken on this continent and french is not one of them (désolée Quebec)
Presumably you’re browsing english-language Lemmy
Most people are going to want to converse in their native/primary language, and by numbers that means a lot of Americans who are, of course, primarily concerned with American issues
There’s also the fact that America is a huge player on the international stage, so American issues can have a lot of repercussions in other countries
And if you haven’t noticed, America has kind of a lot of shit going on and there is a lot to talk about there.
Kind of a natural thing to happen, french lemmy (and reddit) is very france focused in much the same way.
Well said!
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“Well said”
“I hope your family gets bombed and you watch your family die”
Are you OK? Please logout and hug a person IRL, it does wonders for mental health.
Everyone slows down to watch the car wreck.
Because Americans are louder and tend not to confine their activities to the country-specific forums
As an American, I can say one of our defining characteristics is we believe we belong everywhere on the Internet. There is no space that we are embarrassed to enter. Reminds me of the Americans showing up on Chinese social media and acting like they owned the place.
As an american, I don’t see a problem with this.
I heard theres a comm around the corner that doesn’t have anything to do with us. Wanna go crash it, guys?
I see German content here all the time, even though I don’t understand it or follow it.
I’ve blocked so much german.
It’s either that or learn German and I’m way too busy scrolling for that.
I’ve accidentally learned a good amount of German from lemmy, actually. I didnt mean to, but from similar words, to looking up Rammstein lyrics, I had a base. From that base, and context, I’m actually learning a good bit of German without intention. Sometimes I read a German headline and it takes me a second to realize I’m reading German. I come across a word I don’t know and I’m like “oh shit, I’m reading German”. It’s honestly been my favorite part of lemmy, I struggled with Spanish in a classroom setting and here I am learning German on accident. Granted, I couldn’t pretend to know how to pronounce half of it, but I’m learning to read it.
You have to be a bit careful, because some people deliberately talk in wrong German (“Zangendeutsch”, where words are translated from English by “force”).
That makes sense, like learning English from Internet memes?
Even worse, English memes usually aren’t as bad regarding the creation of new words.
The good news is German has consistent pronunciation so it’s easy to learn that part
Whats the latest word you’ve learned?
Probably eisbrecher, honestly. Because it started coming up on a Rammstein playlist. Which is cool because it gives me the base for ice and breaker, making it that much easier for me to pick up on other words in context, that I may have missed otherwise. Even moreso because I read so much climate news, which is important to me as the US dwindles in climate research, I hope to learn more French and German. I just wish I could learn my grandparents native languages of Norwegian and swedish. Those are much harder for me, even though I’ve actually put effort into those. It just doesn’t come as easy to me.
Because the Europeans post in their weirdo languages.
NEIN
Nem
Nee hoor, dat doen wij helemaal niet!
É raro mas acontece.
Squomp, squendled scruinion.
Waar heb je het over?
Kamo sreće
Because it’s the most newsworthy country at the moment. The most powerful country in the world is crashing before your eyes, whilst the rest of the world mostly continues on as it was. Yeah, some noteworthy things are happening all over the world, but that’s not as dramatic as the fall of arguably the most hated country in the world. And everything from genocide to climate change, disease and general suffering can be at least tangentially related to the disaster that is the US and it’s administration. I mean, what noteworthy things are there to chide Sweden for? Anything? Is it comparible to the horrors and despair that the US is causing? There’s your answer.
… but that’s not as dramatic as the fall of arguably the most hated country in the world
Easy there, lets not forget Israel. America is maybe right behind them though.
That’s why that key word, “arguably” is there. Russia is also working for that title.
Most of the things happening in Israel now is because of the US though. Netanyahu really felt empowered by Trump becoming president, and rightly so, because he can manipulate that orange toddler into doing anything he wants.
I checked the news in the biggest newspaper in sweden, and there’s this story about a bus that scraped the roof while driving under a bridge. Must have been scary for the passengers. Luckily it wasn’t going that fast. And there’s a list of schools where you actually get paid to study so you don’t need student loans.
That’s awesome that that’s the worst news from there. And I love Sweden and Norway as that’s where my family originated from. What I wouldn’t give to have been born in either of those countries. Unfortunately I’m one generation out of being able to easily go back.
For Norway a good chunk of the news on our state-run newspaper is related to the US as well. Especially the recent Epstein stuff
Other than that it’s Israel/Palestine, Ukraine/Russia, some other international news, sports, the current heatwave, a little about nature, a little about new infrastructure projects, a news story about hate speech, and a couple other misc stories
No moose mentioned?
There was a story about moose some weeks ago, but it’s been a while now, sadly.
what noteworthy things are there to chide Sweden for?
They’re been losing Social Bastion points for a while now and are turning a hard right towards Aryan Master-race ethos.
Most of europe actually.
Have you seen the shitstorm we’re (U.S.) in? We’re like the worst car crash you’ve ever seen and then the ambulance also crashes then the fire truck blows up and then aliens come down and start attacking…kinda hard to look away.
You forgot the train derailment and plane crash…
I thought I understood US politics…even if it was by osmosis given the sheer volume we’re exposed to…but lately I felt like I only understood the dem half…after the election I’m not sure and by now I have this “there is no hope of understanding this mess, different culture, different values” that I get from trying to understand Indian politics.
I mean honestly this is the most deranged and worst it’s been in my … at least adult lifetime. I think a lot of the political mess we’re in is tied into our appetite for some pretty terrible pop culture. Yes, yes, we have moral and intelligent and sane people here too, but the way that we have leaned in so hard to trashy reality television, infuencers, anything to grab your attention and reward it monetarily…hell we have a reality tv president. It’s not the only reason I think we’re in the mess, but I think we’ve been primed to accept more and more outrageous behavior cause we’ve always been over the top and big and loud. I always assumed I’d live in a democracy, it was just a given. This is the first time I’m doubting it.
Yeah fam we live in a fascist oligarchy masquerading as a democracy. Been that way probably our whole lives, it’s just the latest puppet gave the game away pretty hard. Hope you’ll keep following the white rabbit for your own self edification but stay hydrated and fed and look after your safety, things can get a lot worse before enough people come together to make it better.
As an American I think the same way.
We’ve always really had two parties but historically they were not radically different. While I have certain tendencies, I’ve always understood the other party/perspective and sometimes voted for those candidates.
But now I have no clue what half the country is thinking. I don’t understand what happened to let the current crop of criminals attain leadership or get away with so much. Sometime I think it’s the “leopard eating faces” scenario, but sometimes I think it’s the toddler having a tantrum and knocking over the table scenario. Sometimes I think it’s just narcissists who can only think in the current time with no connection to the future. Sometimes I think people have no abstract thinking anymore and sometimes I think they’re all just gullible and easily manipulable. I can’t even have empathy for them because I can’t tell whether they deserve pity or need a scolding or need to stick to their sandbox.
Or if you’re talking about the mechanics of politics, that too. We have ways we’ve done things traditionally, according to laws back to (and even before) the constitution found our country. Apparently that doesn’t matter anymore
Please. Let it diversify.
As a US dweller, I’d love it to be anything but US centric.
I think I know what you mean. When I go on holidays, the last place I want to spend my days is in Irish pubs. The good ones can be lovely, and it’s nice to meet new people from home, but it’s not why I’m there.
Yes!
And also, imagine the loudest bits of your local pubs are Trump, Trump, Trump, 24/7/365.
That’s another good point. That mindset is probably overrepresented online.
I assume its because people love watching train wrecks.
Can confirm. Season 5 is off to a great start. 🍿
I heard a rumor that half way through season 5 there is going to be a surprise change in cast.
Oooh! Switching things up to keep it spicy. Spoilers! Well, there has been some foreshadowing, but still… I mean, the writing is far from stale or boring, but throwing in a plot twist like that mid-season would be a bold move.
Either way, I’m sure the season finale won’t disappoint.
The US is the largest English-speaking country by far and this post is in English. Switch to another language and you’ll see less US stuff.
That has nothing to do with anything. You will obviously not be aware of it, but by far the greater majority of English speakers you encounter on the internet are not actually from an English speaking country, and definitely not from the US. That is because English functions as the lingua franca of the internet, so we have to use English to be mutually understood.
Most of us came from Reddit, and Reddit is predominantly Americans.
and unfortunately a lot of people don’t want to leave the reddit behind
If they’re that addicted to reddit’s way of doing things they can stay.
No, the majority of users on reddit are non-Americans. Americans are just the biggest national group of users, but they are a minority. You are more likely to be talking to a non-American than an American on reddit.
yeah, I want to hear more about which of your former ministers have shit themselves at McDonalds!
My guess is because the US is a dumpster fire that is exploding right now, and let’s be honest: who doesn’t slow down to “rubber neck” a dumpster fire when they’re passing by?
Once we’ve completely fallen on our asses, and worn ourselves out crying like little babies, I’m sure the noise will subside.
Until then you probably want to get a lemmy client that supports keyword filtering and you can at least lessen the noise a little.
~As an American, I don’t know if “rubber necking” is a known colloquialism outside of the US. So, if you don’t know, it’s a term used to refer to the assholes on the road who slow down to gawk at traffic accidents as if they’ve never seen one before; very, very annoying.~
I think only Americans like announcing they are Americans. Working with tourists in Europe spotting Americans was easy because the first thing they would say is “hello, I’m from America”, or “I’m from Califooornia”
Never had this happen with any other nationality.
I need to change that. From now on I’ll loudly announce I’m from Earth
Or whisper it like a secret for extra lols.
or, you know, keep it to yourself unless asked? No one needs to know which planet you come from, why does it matter if I’m from Mars? Will you see me as inferior because I didn’t have a good atmosphere or liquid water in my childhood and my favorite color is red because that’s what we had?
I think its because how people speak in movies, americans speak like a script writer
It makes a whole lot of sense the other way around. Script writers speak like Americans.
Strange. Working with tourists in the US, you can’t get Europeans to NOT tell you where they’re from. Pretty much everyone who speaks English will tell you where they’re from and even the ones who don’t usually still do.
I think its a subconscious need to feel like people are interested in you as you are in them.
As an American, the first thing you spot is my overweight ass asking for a bucket of Mayo.
I never said “I’m an American” or any of that in my life.
