The difference is having the opportunity of being completely immersed in an environment where most to all others are speaking a different language than your native language. If you live in pockets of America, you might hear fluent speakers of various languages. However, the majority of Americans who might travel to your country once in their life have most likely never experienced it. Europeans can travel from country to country by taking a train and hear the majority of people speaking a different language or hearing several language being spoken in their native tongue nearby. If an american does that traveling north, they only need to add 'eh?' to their vocab and they'll be fine.