If I say France and french people, what comes to your mind ?
In this thread I'll tell you which assertions about France and french people are true and which ones are false.
/!\ First, I'd like to say : let's play it cool, no insults will be tolerated in the answers. We're here to share parts of our culture with cool, open-minded people.
So ?
I'll start with a few ones I've heard or seen on Tv in foreign movies.
1)In many movies French men wear a moustache and a black béret :
Well, sorry to break the beauty of the myth but this is a fashion that you'll rarely see nowadays. At the best if you go to a village in the countryside maybe you'll have the occasion to meet an old man wearing a beret and a moustache.
2)French people have a problem with everything related to...bathroom :
Here, well, there must be a good reason for that, when I find it I'll tell you. It's true, I can confirm it, and for that I'll take the example of public transportations in the morning when going to school or work, you have a bouquet of odors that can make you sick if you're not used to it (because after a while using public transportations that is something you have to do with).
3)France is number one when it comes to go down in the street and protest about something :
Number one no, we're not. But it's true that when we're against a new measure taken by our government the most efficient way to be heard appears to be protest marchs. And of course, in complement strikes in public services(school, common tranportation), that paralyzes the part of the population that use them.
4)French people are ill mannered, foul-mouthed, hot-tempered and etc...
Yes and no. It just depends on the situation and the person, as everywhere I assume there are some things you can't normally stand, so you react. If someone bumps into you there's 50% chances he will apologize like there is 50% he won't. Also, I will add that education is not a cultural matter, rude people can be of any nationality.
5)French culture is sophisticated :
You think of philosophers Les lumières, our Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (1789), acknowledged authors in literature (Rimbaud, Verlaine, Victor Hugo etc...), our food (sometimes but not always accompanied by a slice of bread (baguette), and a glass of wine etc...). What else can I add to that, well, this said it doesn't help the fact that we're interested in what is outside our country. At least if it's not all the population, a part of it is.
One last thing about my country :
At the moment, France is a country where you'll get to meet different cultures. People you'll call french are black, white, asian, from arabic descent. France is now all about diversity.
Note : If you have questions feel free to ask ;)
/!\ First, I'd like to say : let's play it cool, no insults will be tolerated in the answers. We're here to share parts of our culture with cool, open-minded people.
So ?
I'll start with a few ones I've heard or seen on Tv in foreign movies.
1)In many movies French men wear a moustache and a black béret :
Well, sorry to break the beauty of the myth but this is a fashion that you'll rarely see nowadays. At the best if you go to a village in the countryside maybe you'll have the occasion to meet an old man wearing a beret and a moustache.
2)French people have a problem with everything related to...bathroom :
Here, well, there must be a good reason for that, when I find it I'll tell you. It's true, I can confirm it, and for that I'll take the example of public transportations in the morning when going to school or work, you have a bouquet of odors that can make you sick if you're not used to it (because after a while using public transportations that is something you have to do with).
3)France is number one when it comes to go down in the street and protest about something :
Number one no, we're not. But it's true that when we're against a new measure taken by our government the most efficient way to be heard appears to be protest marchs. And of course, in complement strikes in public services(school, common tranportation), that paralyzes the part of the population that use them.
4)French people are ill mannered, foul-mouthed, hot-tempered and etc...
Yes and no. It just depends on the situation and the person, as everywhere I assume there are some things you can't normally stand, so you react. If someone bumps into you there's 50% chances he will apologize like there is 50% he won't. Also, I will add that education is not a cultural matter, rude people can be of any nationality.
5)French culture is sophisticated :
You think of philosophers Les lumières, our Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (1789), acknowledged authors in literature (Rimbaud, Verlaine, Victor Hugo etc...), our food (sometimes but not always accompanied by a slice of bread (baguette), and a glass of wine etc...). What else can I add to that, well, this said it doesn't help the fact that we're interested in what is outside our country. At least if it's not all the population, a part of it is.
One last thing about my country :
At the moment, France is a country where you'll get to meet different cultures. People you'll call french are black, white, asian, from arabic descent. France is now all about diversity.
Note : If you have questions feel free to ask ;)
Tags: france, french, frenchness, people
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Derek on -
Bon Jour!
I visited France in 1998. I came in via the Chunnel and left (however that was) going to Switzerland. My first impression was coming out of the Chunnel on the Eurostar and accelerating to 186 mph.
Not up on the French history - other than it is VAST - I knew this much: It's old. It's been fought over. The guillotine. The Lourve, Eiffel Tower, Versailles. And - WITH understanding - France gave up when Germany came thru in WWII.
I've never seen many French movies - only American movies shot in France (or Paris). I don't speak French - although it was offered in my schools. Since I grew up in Texas, I concluded that SPANISH might be a better language to learn.
Now, that out the way - I LOVED FRANCE! I spent four days - Paris, Dijon, Lyon, St. Etienne. France seemed like a head on collision between old of life and modern conveniences. Loved the Metro with it's rubber wheels. Loved the fact that you could walk all over Paris. Loved the SIZE of Versailles - wow.
Since I didn't speak French - this scared the crap out of me. I did NOT want to get lost, so I stayed with the group I was with. Saw the Lourve, Eiffel Tower, Bastille, Museo du Orsay, Notre Dame (dark in there - wouldn't want to be there at night), and the Sacred-Heart (Montmartre).
Missed: the modern stuff of Paris, any other major city, and any waterfront towns (beaches).
Scariest time - trying to get from Arch du Triumphe to Versailles. Me and two girls took the Metro and a bus. Only one of us knew a little bit of French, but the maps are well made. The Metro stopped and everyone got off, and an announcement was made over the loudspeakers - we didn't know what it said and didn't know what to do. Finally, someone came by and told us to get off.
That was scariest because I was NOT going anywhere that the tour was NOT going. Near the end of the trip in France, I was feeling more at ease.
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Permalink Reply by Derek on
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I bought this beret JUST to stick out. I didn't see ANYONE wearing one (I still have it - uh, somewhere)
The trip came from England - in comparison, France did seem more modern (in culture). And, people were thinner (?) - although I didn't see EVERYONE. I could NOT find anyone (or any feature of anyone) that was absolutely "FRENCH" - other than the accent.
I've watched "RATATOUILLE" and "Beauty and the Beast"- which was based in Paris, and I still didn't see any "FRENCH" looking facial features (maybe the noses?).
And, in the morning, instead of our Big American Breakfast - consisting of eggs, bacon, sausage, hash browns, ham slices, pancakes, toast and jam - I only had baguettes and coffee. Mmm.....
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Permalink Reply by Moka on -
It seems that you had a good time in our country, that's good to hear. By the way it's a nice beret that you have ;)
In Ratatouille (that I haven't seen yet) they may have not used the whole stereotyped image of the frenchman, but I can assure you that in some movies I've seen, we have the whole moustache, beret french guy, and I'm not the only one to have that opinion, you can check this article on a blog I've found. It's a fifty-fifty exchange of view on american people in movies and french people in movies. Pretty interesting.
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Permalink Reply by Derek on
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I did have a tremendous amount of fun. I will be back, but i have kids and I would need things for them to see.
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Permalink Reply by Tomito Montainge on -
When I think of France.................lots of things come to mind..................like...............bread, super hard but good bread, wine, walking, eating, eating pizza if you dont have money for restaurant, salsa dancing with all kinds of people of all different nationality's, concerts, good music, running to catch a bus, running to catch the metro, if respectful very good people that go out of the way to help you out, the sun in Nice go down at 9pm, drinking rum with 52% alcohol from the French colonies, football, a lot of talking in french, english, spanish.........taking bunch of pictures and having all and all a good time.
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Permalink Reply by Markie on -
Interesting Post, i speak lousy French but i do get the idea of whats being spoken to me, first thing that comes to mind is food, most places are really good places, Derek i bet you didn't know but its not uncommon for French schools to have give Spanish classes, they would have spoken like a Spaniard and you probably like a Mexican since you grew up in Texas. but you could get along, and understand each other.
Ohh and French women have the secret of always staying thin while living in the country so rich in culinary arts.
Im hoping if i get the chance to pass threw Marseille during the next year, i've been wanting to see Nasri and Djibril. (i would asume Moka knows who im talking about, i'm a OM fan)
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