samedi 20 avril 2013
The different exchanges, meetings that I have
experienced, here and there, have often sparked my curiosity about how the
Foreigners really see the French? A question with certainly a multitude of
answers and that will necessarily bring to light cultural similarities and differences.
All the different nationalities have in mind some stereotypes about the French
but they don't grant the same importance to certain behaviors or rituals that
characterize them.
First, you should know that there is a difference
between Parisians and the rest of the French. Everything is a matter of nuances
and historical facts. But, in order to simplify the vision of things, we won't
dwell on their specificities and therefore we will not distinguish between
these two populations.
When a stranger arrives in Paris, he's
generally happy to be in the city of light and may say: "It is very
beautiful here. You can feel culture and history through the majestic monuments
and museums. There is entertainment everywhere and I can't wait to see
accordionists and the Parisians in their daily life..."
Ah Paris, France ... what a dream, "quel
enchantement"! But soon, reality takes over and a few surprises, good or
bad, will enrich and spice up your journey. Then, here are some examples of how
France and the French are viewed by foreigners through my little experience.
Naturally, it is more fun to focus on the bad things. And, these will be
enhanced with a subtle and subjective analysis.
1 They reproach, above all, our
chauvinism, our tendency to believe that we are better, more cultivated than
others. In short, a certain arrogance and snobbery. From the strict point of
view of tourism, although the park hotel in the country is much higher in
quantity and quality to that found in neighboring Italy or England, for
example, our services and how to welcome our guests are not always live up to
their expectations. The first criticism that they make is that we don't like
to serve.
In shops, reception is sometimes chilly. In the
terraces of our prestigious cafés, servers are not always friendly and helpful
with tourists. In terms of transport, including taxis, the picture is not
idyllic either. While most European countries have adopted flat fares for
connections airports - city, tourists often feel - true or false - of being
"trimballés" longer than necessary to inflate rates. Our subways are
closing too early, usually around 1am. Paris is a city that has become
excessively expensive when the night is a mere shadow of itself, a capital that
doesn't resonate (more) party, such as Barcelona, Berlin...
The tourism business has never been the subject
of a genuine public policy in France. However, tourism (hotels, cafes and
restaurants, campgrounds, travel agencies, spas and ski resorts) employs 1.8
million people. They represent 6.4% of France's GDP and generate some 44
billion Euros in revenue. All that should be enough to display a wide smile,
right?
2 Smile, let's talk about it. In the
United States, for example, smile is a sign of politeness. I don't know if it
is the same for the other French, but Parisians are well known to often pull a
long face. The French don't consider that to be polite, you need to smile. They
smile only when they really want to do it, not when it is expected. This
explains why, for the French, some social conventions can be seen as
hypocrites.
3 The French are often late. Indeed,
do not expect people with whom you have an appointment to be on time.
Punctuality is treated casually in France. Then, a delay of up to 15 minutes at
a meeting between friends is generally tolerated. We say that we are not late
but almost on time. However, punctuality is still required and even an
obligation when it comes to going to work or business appointments.
4 For those that evoke France in
terms of work, the majority of them think on the disputes, strikes, holidays.
According to them, the French, when they are not on vacation, they are on
strike. Moreover, we still have our RTT (additional days off) to recover from
our weekly 35h of work. Fortunately, the foreigners recognize the skills of
French and they don't see us as lazy as Spanish, Italian, or worse... the
Greek! But, one should work for a living and enjoy life and not live to work.
Some says that we are really lay back, others call it the French art de vivre.
5 Unfortunately, we French have a
reputation that sticks to your skin like old dry dirt: we have a reputation for
being dirty and don't wash every day. Indeed, you may meet dirty and smelly
people every day, but no more than anywhere else. But this reputation is
maintained by two things: the dog poop in the streets, and the Paris metro with
its terrible smell. But, it's still a showcase for France, almost the first
thing seen by foreign tourists. While in Chile, for example, the underground
(French) in Santiago is beautiful, brand new, all clean and even when it's
really crowded, it doesn't smell bad inside ... It is the same with the metro
in Montreal built from French technology.
Some people find rather sexy the body smell.
This cultural difference is relatively old. Henry IV, king of France
(1553-1610) wrote to his mistress: "Madame, I will be with you in a week,
do not take a bath anymore."
Today, it is quite unlikely to meet smelly
French. If it happens to you, do not hang on it and try to hold your breath.
For those who love to dive, this is an excellent exercise.
6 I pass on the reputation of French
lover because it doesn't fit with the fact that we stink. And also, because I
personally don't believe in being one. As it is more difficult to assess
whether this is a deserved reputation or not (after all, I've never been
seduced by a French lover, me...). However the famous French kiss, it works
great!
Actually, I fear that the general vision about the French
and scoped by the foreigners under such an angle is endless. The opinions may
differ, change or enhance after one or more visits of the country and therefore
exceed the images conveyed by movies, television, advertising, magazines...
Nevertheless, it is fun to compare a few points
of view: for the Spanish, Italian and South American, we are rather cold and
distant; for the Czech, Russian and Polish (at least those I met) we are too
uninhibited; according Germans, we are trying to be too bright and that really
complicates things when it would be easier to be clear and get to the point.
The Dutch thinks we are terrible for speaking foreign languages and for the
Belgian, we are too... French! More generally, many of us are very, very
pretentious.
Looking back, trying to be objective, I'd say
we're not so cold or unfriendly, but we know how to put some distance, often
for the wrong reasons, like showing one's superiority. It's true that we love
to show off, we are not pretentious - we are just French. France is the country
of the Enlightenment, of Human Rights, the cultural exception... I think it
comes from that time, of the Enlightenment, the 18th century when Paris was
famous for its literary and philosophical salons. Since then, the French have
not stopped "de se la péter" (fart higher than one's ass). Hence, the
reputation to smell.
lundi 1 avril 2013
Just for fun, let’s go on a linguistic adventure. As you will know, English is a language which owes its origins to many other languages, foremost of which are Norse, Germanic and French sources, along with some Celtic additions.
This is why it’s such fun, and absorbingly interesting, to trace the origins of certain words and idiomatic phrases in today’s English. They give you a potted history of the language – and the country, to a certain extent.
Shall we start just across the Channel in France?
Clearly, there are many words which are identically spelt in both languages but you have to be careful; "sensible" in English means to be careful, or logical or commonsensical in your approach to things, but in French, "sensible" means sensitive in English – too easily hurt, or painful to the touch.
Far more interesting, to my mind, are curious rebounds – where a word has come from French in to English, been sent back and reappeared.
A few hundred years ago, the French nobility played a game with ball and bat. When the server was ready to hit the ball, he shouted Tenez! meaning be ready to respond! This came to England, but changed into tennis. And the word tennis in English crossed back to France as "le tennis". Players used to call the page boy to gather the ball by shouting service! And if a player scored no points they called l'œuf which means the or rather an egg. It came to English as love. They still use the French word deuce (deus in ancient French language)
A few hundred year ago, they borrowed the French phrase "double entendre" which literally meant hear double. It refers to a phrase or word which can be understood in two different ways; often the second meaning is risqué, which more or less translates as risky, but in English they use the French word risqué to suggest something rude, especially about sex.
"Double entendre" died out in French – we now say "double entente" but continues happily in English, probably because the English like that type of earthy humour. It’s not to everybody’s taste, but chacun a son goût, as they say, another borrowing from French, meaning we all have different tastes.
There are a thousand more examples, but here is a menu. As you know, menus are sometimes written in French in England, because they sound more tasty in French than in English. Frog’s Legs sounds fairly unpleasant in English but Cuisses de grenouille sounds gastronomically tempting – food for the gods! I gladly let you taste it…
People often laugh the idea of English cooking. There is a good reason for this – it used to be very bad. But those of you who have visited or live in the UK will see that cuisine there has improved remarkably – largely under foreign influences - and the national dish of GB now is surely curry or pizza or Chinese dishes, although fish and chips and roast beef are still of course very popular.
Here are phrases with the word French which are commonly used in English:
- French dressing - sauce for salad
- French leave (or to take French leave) - go absent without permission. The French use "filer à l’anglaise" meaning to slip away in English style!
- French dresser - type of open cupboard used to display ornaments - sorry, it’s not a French lady who helps you to dress, whatever you may have hoped.
- French beans - you eat the beans and the pod they are in.
- French kissing - using the tongue as well as the lips. So, of course, a French kiss.
- French letter - nothing postal. In fact, a condom (but this usage is now dated)
- French window - a full-length door with large glass windows
There are many others. But why don’t you find some for yourselves!
And for hundreds of years, they have imported French phrases and words into their language: Chic, haute couture, cuisine, terrine, par excellence…
Voilà! There you have it! French has played an enormously important part in the formation of English. Most of their legal, clerical and intellectual vocabulary derives from their friends (?) across the English Channel. Who would have believed it ?
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