USPS First Class Postal Rates Going Up Today [12-Jul-2026]

English is the universal language. Belgians can speak to Finn's in English. Iraqis can speak to Canadians in English. You get the picture. You can try and make it a virtue signal to embrace other languages as equal but it is disingenuous at best and completely devoid of any reality at worst. Rick Steves (PBS)

The increase that really hurts is the 4 cent jump in the postcard rate, percentage wise, that's a bigger hit than the letter rate. Mailings for shows just got a lot more expensive.

It doesn't concern me how the people in other countries communicate. Whatever works is fine by me.

That, only, is partly true. Educated Belgians can speak with educated Fins in English. These are the people you observe. Yet quite a lot of people (small minorities but still many people) there do not speak English. The further southeast you go in Europe, the bigger the problem.

Even on this site, we had members who did not master English.

There are a lot of places in Spain, but also in Germany, where I would have a hard time talking English with the locals. Not that it bothers me, I do not speak English with them but their own languages. In the Balkans, you might find yourself in places where you can speak German but not English with the locals.

I support a women's hockey team that signed an Argentinian Olympian. When she first played for the team, she did not understand English at all. She learned it online after she had come to the Netherlands. Up to that time, a Spanish player and I could communicate with her.

If you go to the (former) French colonies in Africa, you may not be able to speak English with the majority of people outside the capitals.

In a lot of countries, English is only spoken by people who have a job with international relations or work in places that attract many tourists that only speak English.

Most Dutch people speak better English than most English people, of course!

I once worked with a woman from El Salvador. One day she told me that she met a woman
from Chili and they both spoke Spanish, but couldn't understand each other. Go figure.....

Back on topic, as the rate goes up it makes it harder to use the lower face value postage. But when I am using lower face value postage, I do not worry about being exact so I may over pay.

It's Chile. Chili is food. Irony is a wonderful thing.

Try asking for directions to the "estación de guaguas" in peninsular Spain.

Saying "I speak Spanish" in Spain is not very clear. I got into trouble with a Colombian ex girlfriend because in Castillan, words meant the opposite from what they meant in Colombia.