Yea that's the thing with public transport in Sydney.... if you have to get a bus and a train, then its always going to be more expensive than a private vehicle, even when you factor in registration and maintenance costs!

However, If your just getting a train or a bus on its own, not both, then its cheaper.

When i say private vehicle, i mean a 'small' vehicle with engine under 1800cc - the average family tank gas guzzler is a totally different story - when will people learn? People who are used to owning larger cars always seem to think they are not bad on fuel, but that's total bulshit.... I had a Susuki Ignis which i could get 700km out of a 30 litre tank of fuel.... City driving!

As an italian I can say that none of them are close enought to understand a conversation.
Sure I can understand some Spanish words... like I can understand some French words (even without the knowledge of that language), while to understand English I had to study. But Spanish and French influenced more our dialects (French influenced Piedmont and Valle d'Aosta dialect), than our language, like austrian influenced the Lombard and Trento dialect.

If we look at the italian language comes from the Tuscan dialect (thanks to Dante) and the Sicilian dialect, and of course from the Latin language from which the language has evolved (italian usually don't undestand latin at all if they don't study it).

there are lots of dialects here in Italy, but only some region still usually know their original dialects... for example lots of people in Turin only know italian.

Anyway I think the reason why most italians think Spanish is easier than French is because French use a different rhythm.

For me it is easier to understand english since I use it every day. Also I can understand some french since I used it some years ago... But I only understand some words in Spanish.
I don't understand German at all.

From the Spanish point of view, Portuguese is the closest tongue to Spanish. Then Italian, and then, at a significantly longer distance, French. But French remains far closer and easier to learn than any non-romance language.

Question to Swedes (or "Swedeners" as they are generally called where I come from):

So you just had elections, and in the news I learned something that I personally found quite surprising about your elections. In order to vote for someone in certain party, you need to pick that party's voting card from a display, where everyone can see you picking it, ie. others can see for which party you are going to vote even before you go inside the voting booth.

I just... wow. I mean... come on? Right?

What's wrong with you just taking a generic empty voting card, to which you write the number of the candidate you want to vote? If you don't remember the number, all the candidates are also listed in a big poster inside the voting booth, on the wall. So even if you haven't made up your mind which candidate exactly you want to pick but have an idea of the party, you can also pick any candidate's number for that party from that list too.

I've heard that you can pick the party card elsewhere already beforehand in order to smuggle it inside the voting booth so no one else sees it, but then one would have to remember to pick one and bring it with them when they are going to vote. At least I generally just pop in to vote on my lunch break or while buying groceries, without making much of planning ahead.

Also, some have pointed out that you can pick one of each party's card from the display and then just discard the one's you are not going to use... but that just sounds silly and cumbersome. Also, others seeing you picking all cards is a signal in itself, like "Ahha! You are going to vote for the nationalistic SD party, aren't you?!? No one else picks several cards in order to hide who they are going to vote!".

I am just trying to understand, WHY does there have to be separate cards for different parties? I see only downsides with it, compared to how it works e.g. here across the pond. Like, the case that in one voting place one party's voting cards were missing altogether (somehow I feel someone had deliberately discarded them so that no one could vote for that party).

Tsk tsk. Fix this, now!

I read about that as well, shocking.
But Sweden seems to be a very conformist place in general, I guess people there regard that level of social control as normal.

I'm going to Madrid next week.
Anything I should know beforehand?
Such as the weather, the food, places where locals shop in Madrid, etc.
Any advice is welcome.

They speak Spanish over there. :D

Actually, they speak Castilian :p

Born and raised in Madrid here. Ask me anything!

Weather is being warmer than usual. For the next days temperatures will range from 9 °C in the night to 25 °C in the afternoon, so pack accordingly. We don't Fahrenheit. It won't probably rain, but check the forecast just before you are leaving.

If you plan renting a car, be aware the local government just approved some traffic restrictions. My recommendation is to use the train and/or metro. They arrive to literally everywhere (including the airport). The price of the ticket changes depending on how many zones you cross, but I believe you can buy a tourist pass. Find and save the train and metro maps in your phone, or download an app.

The hottest places to shop are in Preciados, Castellana, Goya and Gran Vía. Depending on what you want to buy you will get recommendations at the hotel (or are yoy staying in an AirBnB?). International tourists can get the VAT reimbursed.

If you want to use cash, you will need euros. However, credit cards are acceptes virtually everywhere.

The farther you go from the most touristic places, the less likely it will be to find people who speak English, so don't rely on that. However, most people under 40 will have at least basic knowledge, and the youngsters under 25 are more or less proficient thanks to the regional bilingual education program. Print the name of the locations you want to go to and the address in case you have a language barrier with a taxi driver.

Some restaurants will have an English menu, but most won't. Download a dictionary to understand the menu. Waiters will love you if you try to order in Spanish. Tipping is not mandatory or even expected, but you can tip 1-2 € for a good service.

Learn how to pronounce the Ñ. It sounds like "gn" in lasagna.

Drinking alcohol in the street is not allowed.

Tap water is extremely good.

You will probably need a plug adapter.

If you like art don't miss the Triangle of Art (Museums of El Prado, Thyssen and Reina Sofía).

The city is enough to keep you occupied, but there are also amazing places in range of a one-day trip: Toledo, Ávila, Segovia, Alcalá de Henares and the national park of Sierra de Guadarrama.

And now food!

Breakfast in Spain is usually sweet. But most hotels will have an international buffet. Have churros or porras at least once. You can find them in most bars in the early morning and eat them with coffee or hot chocolate.

For lunch you can have a "menú del día" at any bar or restaurant. For 10-12 € you will have two dishes and dessert. This is what most locals eat on work daya.

For dinner I recommend you to have tapas on some bars while you drink cañas (beers). La Latina and Huertas are the typical zones while the locals have tapas. You can also try Sol and Plaza Mayor, but it's more expensive.

For a more gourmet experience you can try many restaurants. Spanish gastronomy is extremely rich and you will find restaurants specialized in all the regional gastronomies: Galician, Asturian, Basque, Valencian, Andalusian and of course Castillian (Castille is the historical region where Madrid is located). All of them are worth trying. If you feel adventurous or homesick there are many international restaurants as well.

You can buy excellent fruit at good prices in any market.

Also, pork is everywhere. Try jamón ibérico. You're welcome.

What about Spanish GOG?

Spain has the Southern Europe regional prices. When a regionsl price exists, it is never more advantageous than the base price in USD. :( We get wallet funds back to make up the difference.

FYI, I'm German, if anyone can think of anything to ask, I'll do my best

And chorizo ibérico! and lomo ibérico! with queso manchego (manchego cheese)! Well, except if he is islamic. In that case, forget about pork. A good dish with "ibéricos", a bit of bread and olive oil plus a glass of red wine is mandatory if you can!

Here's one thing I've been wondering for a while:

If you look at my forum title, you might notice that I put my pronouns ("she/her/") there. This works in English (because English has gendered pronouns), but what about other languages? In particular, what is the corresponding convention for a language that doesn't have gendered pronouns?

(It's rather interesting how languages differ in this sort of thing, particularly if the languages aren't in the same language family. I note, for example, that formal Japanese seems to be very not gendered, in contrast to formal English.)

There is no such convention as putting a pronoun after one's forum title in my country. Yeah, pronouns are non-gendered and I constantly mix these up when I try to speak English. Not because I don't know, but because I'm just not used to be thinking about the gender of whatever I'm referring to.