Talking does nothing.
EXAMPLE is best.
SHOW them how you live. Be such a positive role model.
Revel in appreciation at being American and GRATEFUL to European roots where we, basically, learned our way of life, values, ethics, religion, art, music, culture, language, etc. Italy DID have TWO Renaissances. English IS a dialect of German.
Learn a FEW key phrases in their language and use them when you can.
Treat them and their culture with as much respect as we want them to respect us and our culture.
When they complain about their societal problems, AVOID the urge to agree with them. Sigh heavily and admit that we all have similar problems.
What do you think?
Holding up your nose at them, lecturing them about their faults, criticizing their way of lif/government and rubbing their noses in our prosperity is better? :o)
Thank you for your prompt and thoughtful reply - your ideas are very good and I will implement them. I already speak French, Spanish, Italian and German, and it is because of this that I am looking for ways to describe my feelings that I can have translated in my head before the conversations start - I still have trouble speaking some languages "on the fly". I don't want to lecture anybody, but I would like to find ways to be encouraging to them in pursuit of a more self-reliant system of government.