Vacations in US & Asturias - vacaciones en Asturias y US

[Art]

A topic Terechu raised in another thread got me wondering....

Do most Asturians vacation in August? What do they tend to do for a vacation?

I'll describe my experience of vacations in America. If other Americans have a different experience, feel free to add to what I've said.

As you may know, most Americans don't get as many vacation days as Europeans. In many jobs you have to wait a year before you can take any vacation. Entry level jobs frequently give workers just one week of vacation per year, but professional jobs usually offer more time, perhaps two weeks. To get four weeks of vacation, you usually have to have worked in a job for many years. Many workers will never have that much vacation unless they retire. (Of course, there are exceptions, like school teachers.)

Some of Americans don't go anywhere for vacation, perhaps because they can't afford to go somewhere for a vacation or because don't like to travel. And some Americans would rather keep working. Really! With the arrival of laptop computers, cell phones and email, there's also a trend to take work with you on your vacation.

The favorite time of the year for Americans to take a vacation is probably July or August because school is out mid June through most of August, but we don't have a tradition of everyone taking vacation at the same time. Many Americans take their vacation at other times, too, especially if they don't have children or they're retired.

--------------------------

Un asunto que Terechu planteó en otro hilo me dio que pensar….

¿La mayoría de asturianos irse de vacaciones en agosto? ¿Qué hacen por sus vacaciones?

Describiré mi experiencia de vacaciones en América. Si otro americano tienes una experiencia distinta, póngala aquí.

Como quizás sepas, la mayoría de americanos no reciben tantos días de vacación como los europeos. En muchos puestos de trabajo tienes que esperar un año antes de que puedes hacer cualquier vacación. En los trabajos del nivel de entrada con frecuencia solamente reciben los trabajadores una semana de vacaciones por año, pero los puestos profesionales ofrecen generalmente más tiempo, quizás dos semanas. Para ganar cuatro semanas de vacaciones, generalmente tienes que haber trabajado en un trabajo por muchos años. Muchos trabajadores nunca tendrán que un tiempo largo de vacación a menos que se retiren. (Claro, hay excepciones, como los profesores.)

Algunos americanos no van dondequiera para las vacaciones, quizás porque no tienen el dinero para hacer vacaciones o porque no tienen gusto de viajar. Y algunos americanos preferirían seguir trabajando. ¡De verdad! Con la llegada de computadoras portátil, móviles y correo electrónico, hay también una tendencia de llevar el trabajo con nosotros en las vacaciones.

Para los americanos, la época del año preferida para hacer vacaciones es probablemente julio o agosto porque en general las escuelas están cerradas los mediados de junio hasta casi el fin de agosto, pero no tenemos una tradición en que todos hacen vacaciones al mismo tiempo. Muchos americanos toman sus vacaciones en otras épocas, especialmente si no tienen niños o están jubilados.

[Eli]

That is all true of the United States, not so much of America. For instance in Peru people usually get three weeks vacation and it goes up to five after several years, several other American nations have similar or offer even greater benefits to their employees.

---------

Aunque eso es todo cierto de los EE.UU., no asi de America. Por ejemplo en el Peru los empleados generalmente reciben tres semanas de vacaciones y de alli sube hasta las cinco semanas despues de unos años, varias otras naciones Americanas ofrecen vacaciones similares o aun mejores y mayores beneficios a los empleados.

[Art]

Yeah, the US may be the worst in terms of benefits for workers, at least for those who aren't executives.

-----------------

Sí, debe ser los EE.UU. lo peor en cuanto a los beneficios extrasalarial para trabajadores, al menos para los que no son ejecutivos.

[Betty]

Art's comment concerning Americans taking their laptops & work with them on vacation caught my attention. I have been retired since 2001 but for several years prior it was pretty much expected that one would "stay in touch" via e-mail at least while on vacation. Most of my colleagues did just that and few took all of their vacation days and or personal days. One of the reasons is everyone wanted to make sure they did not miss opportunities of any type. Business today, especially service industries, move so fast and the expectation is "24/7." So, to take a couple of weeks and be "out of the loop" could have disastrous results; a missed career opportunity, knowledge of the newest program etc. I was not one of those who took her laptop with her. But then I had my retirement date on my calendar and was not looking for another move. I had a wonderful manager early in my career, he was Spanish too . He brought to my attention that I had a lot of vacation time left and the year was slipping by. When I told him I just could not find time to take it he responded: "It is a very poor manager who cannot manage to take her vacation." I passed that along to all of my managers too... some made the decision to be poor managers.

[Art]

Wow, Betty, your experience shows that the situation is worse than I realized!

¡Vaya, Betty, tu experiencia muestra que la situación está peor que sabía!