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I have seen many situations where
Americans are upset, just because they dont KNOW why something
happened. If you understand why people act a certain way, then
you are of course free to disagree but if you don't understand,
you may be very wrong when you express an opinion ! Here are
a few examples :
- Children - Many Americans say : "The French don't
like children : we were in a restaurant and they kept glaring
at our kids, etc...". You have to know that :
- American children generally
make much more noise than French children
- In France, you don't go to a
restaurant because you're hungry, but because you want to enjoy
a meal and talk with your friends
- If they are noisy or agitated,
your children are ruining the other diners' pleasure
- CONCLUSION : if you want to
enjoy a real French meal, don't take your children with you and
if you're just hungry, go to the next McDonalds, a children-friendly
place
- Rudeness - Many Americans have stories like "In a café
ordered a Screwdriver and they refused to serve me and they
looked at me with hate. Same thing with a wodka with cranberry
juice" (this is a true story)
- Screwdrivers and cranberry are
totally unknown in France
- The order was in English : in
France people understand French better than English and smile
is less natural, especially when you're in trouble
- If you want to see what it's
like (seen by the French), go to a bar in Kansas City and order
(in French) "Donnez moi un Perroquet ou sinon un Picon
grenadine" and tell me what happened...
- CONCLUSION : why not try what
people drink in this country? It could be a nice experience. More about French rudeness.
- Renting an apartment - Many
(young) Americans say : "it's impossible to rent an apartment
: owners are ridiculously demanding". They want guarantees,
proof of income, etc... Why are they such bureaucratic sharks
? To understand it, you have to know that :
- in France, by law, the tenant
has much more rights thant the owner and all provisions tend
toward protecting the tenant
- if you do not pay your rent,
you can stay in the apartment for months and even years : if
you are jobless or handicapped, you case is good and your owner's
bad
- by law, nobody can be expelled
from an apartment, whatever the reason, between October and April
- CONCLUSION : if you own an apartment
and don't need the money, your interest is to leave it empty...
If you rent it, your favorite rentor is a middle-aged couple
of civil servants (without
children) . More about renting
an apartment.
- Religion : unlike the US where the forming of the nation is based on people fighting for religious freedom, the history of France is, largely, the history of a democratic regime built against a dominant religion and "laïcité" (secularism) is almost unanimously considered a factor of peace. Read more about religion and see my column "American expats : remember it's another country!".
- To test how much you know on France and the French, try my French Quiz !
- More anecdotes : see a few DOs and DONTs,
see a few questions about the French, visit the page on French
attitudes and read French Toast !
- More to come...
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Many foreigners think that Americans
do not know enough about the rest of the world and that this
insularity weakens their leadership. How insular are you ?
For each of the following statements, please answer YES if you
consider it "Absolutely True ", NO for "Absolutely
False " or MB for " Maybe/ it depends ".
- " What's good for America
is good for the world " : YES-MB -NO
- "Our country is so big and beautiful that I don't need a passport" : YES-MB-NO (this question counts double)
- " Our friends are those
who agree with us " : YES-MB -NO
- " We have everything in
America and we don't need anything from abroad except oil"
: YES-MB -NO
- " Europe does not count
as a power : their only choice is to be with us or against us
" : YES-MB -NO
- " Everybody in the world
envies us and wants to live in a society like ours " : YES-MB
-NO
- " To understand a country,
you don't need to speak its language : they speak ours"
: YES-MB -NO
- " In an advanced society,
the State should never interfere in people's life " : YES-MB-NO
- " I watch Fox News and
I think it's a good TV channel" (this question counts double)
: YES-MB-NO
- " The French hate us "
: YES-MB-NO
- " It is absurd to call
soccer : 'foot-ball'" : YES-MB-NO
- " I don't understand this
fuss about the French language in Quebec : it would be much easier
if everyone spoke English " : YES-MB-NO
- "In France, they have socialized medicine" : YES-MB-NO
- How many languages do you speak
(other than English) : count 2 if "none", 1 if "one"
and 0 if "more" (this question counts double)
- "There is no more French literature because there are no more French writers (count 2)" or "because US publisher publish less translations (count 0)"
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Count your score with YES=2, MB=1 and NO=0. If your score is :
Above 20 : you could have had
a career in George W.Bush's team
Between 10 and 20 : spend one
hour a day visiting this site for a whole week
Less than 10 : talk more to your
neighbors : they have a lot to learn from you
About American insularity
as seen by the French :
- On NBC (Oct.6,2008) : a journalist
reports on the huge losses of European stock markets : anchorman
Chris Mathews cuts him with : " I don't care : let's go
back to Wall Street "
- The number of US flags everywhere
is astonishing for any foreign visitor : it looks more chauvinist
than patriotic
- Why call foot-ball a purely
American game and soccer a game that is called worldwide "football",
futbol, fussbal, etc...
- Remember that US importers
and distributors give a very biased image of foreign cultures
: a French novel must be self-centered and superficial, a Swedish
movie must be black and boring, etc... See an example about French movies.
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