Bonjour,

Vous voyez beaucoup l’Europe à travers l’Union Européenne (UE), ce qui est une vision des choses certes, c’est une des choses qu’on appelle couramment l’Europe nous aussi en France. La monnaie, l’union, et tous les autres éléments à connotation politique que vous donnez me donne l’envie de vous demander ce que vous pensez de l’Union Européenne.
De plus vous avez beaucoup de qualificatifs comme “sophistiqué”, “romantique”, ou même “élitiste”, et je suis curieux de savoir ce qui vous évoque ça en Europe.

Bonjour,

Il est intéressant de remarquer que l’Europe vous évoque le tourisme et la culture, tandis que notre vision en tant que résident européen nous amène à évoquer des termes liés à l’Union Européenne ( union, euro, circulation liée à l’espace Schengen, drapeau étoilé…)

Hello, the differences between the views between the two sides are probably because of the differences in how we’ve gotten our information about Europe. In response to Mattheo’s post, I believe that we Americans may see Europe as “sophicated” or “romantic” because a decent amount of our view of Europe is what is portrayed in the popular films and movies that take place there. As residents of Europe, it would make sense that you would associate it with the European Union and what you see happening around you and directly affecting you, but as Americans, we really only get our knowledge through movies, the media, or tourism.

Hello, I agree with Marissa that most ENSEIRB students would be more exposed to issues concerning the EU and that’s why words such as Brexit, Euro, and Union appear more on the French side than the American side. I believe this disparity reflects the kind of sources of information that most MIT students use. Unless you are following European news actively, you are less likely to associate Europe with its currency and politics but rather to the movies you have watched or the tourist advertisements you have seen.

Hello, I agree with Gianna and Marissa on the possible explanations on why topics like Brexit or politics only come up on the French list. I would also like to highlight that these are somewhat modern issues for Europeans, which I believe is in stark contrast to the American perception of Europe – after all, “history” is one of the most frequent words on the American list. In fact, I am curious to know why this word is missing in the French list.

Bonjour,

Pour répondre à ta question Ricardo, je pense que le mot “histoire” apparaît beaucoup dans votre liste et pas dans la notre, parce que pour nous le mot “Europe” symbolise d’avantage une zone géographique ou un regroupement de pays. En faite je pense que je pourrais associer le mot “histoire” à n’importe quel pays, parce que chaque pays a sa propre histoire, et que personnellement c’est pour l’histoire que j’aime voyager. Après je pense que l’Europe vous évoque beaucoup plus un côté historique, car notre histoire est plus ancienne et que l’histoire des Etats-Unis que l’on connait aujourd’hui, trouve ses racines en Europe.

I think Victor’s point makes sense. Each country really does have her own history but I think that specifically with Europe, it has a lot of presence in the cultures and histories of many other countries, notably through mass colonialism. I think reference to colonialism, power and elitism were also some of the more non-positive comments made by that of the MIT students. I also believe, that perhaps due to the perception of Europe as being a super power of the world(in ancient and both modern times) and its commonality across lots of societies, it presents itself as having a long history. I’m still surprised though that reference to the EU and Brexit were not more common in the MIT lists because its a theme that has been recurring strongly even in American media for the past year.

Do you think people are actively aware of the things happening in European current media and just choose to still hold on to their romantic images?

I agree with tunmi that Victor’s point is logical and that European roots are truly found almost everywhere. I also strongly believe that history is a great motivation to travel and necessary addition to a trip to really give context to why a country is the way that it is today. Do you believe that everyone holds this same view as Victor, both in France and in other European countries? Would others use the words “union,” “currency” over “history,” or is this specifically the result of this group?

This is not on topic, but I recently had the chance to visit the EU parliament in Brussels and I thought it was pretty neat. The way that they need to translate what is said from any language to any other language is a very interesting. They sometimes translate things through an intermediate language before the final one. It does make me wonder how much information is lost in translation, though.

Comme Victor et Shelly, j’accorde beaucoup d’importance à l’histoire d’un pays. Celle-ci permet de mieux comprendre comment fonctionne le pays et le point de vue de ses habitants sur différents sujets. Et je pense que beaucoup de personne partagent ce raisonnement que ce soit en France, en Europe mais aussi dans le reste du monde. Concernant l’utilisation de mots tels que “monnaie”, “union” ou bien “histoire”, je pense que c’est ce qui rapproche le plus les européens de l’Europe. En effet, nous n’avons pas les mêmes lois, les mêmes traditions ni même la même langue d’un pays à l’autre. C’est pourquoi selon moi, il est plus difficile de s’identifier en tant qu’européen qu’en tant que français.
Aux États-Unis, étant donné que les états sont plus ou moins indépendants les uns des autres comme dans l’Europe mais à moindre échelle, que ressentez-vous à l’égard des autres états ? Vous considérez-vous différents ou bien vous n’y attachez pas beaucoup d’importance.

Hello,
To answer Mattheo’s question on what we think about the EU, maybe we can direct the discussion to how different citizens feel or what they say about the EU. Europeans, for a US citizen, would usually say: “This person is American” (without having to specify which US state they come from). On the other hand, while introducing themselves, Europeans say: “I’m French, German, Italian, Spanish” etc. without using the word “European” in a similar way that Americans do.
This makes me curious whether you (or even the other interlocutors) feel more European or French? The same question would apply to Europeans in general. Where does this come from?

Hello Tanguy,
Looking at the different perspectives I got from my friends who live here (I’m an international student), it seems like there are certain states whose residents have strong identities associated with state pride, examples including California and Texas. State pride can even boil down to area pride: I learned that there were even talks to make Long Island in New York its own state, which shows us how much importance people place on where they come from with respect to their identity. I believe that it’s because of how long these residents have stayed in their states/areas to the point where it has become an integral part of their identity.

State pride does vary across the United States, though - one of my friends from Connecticut told me that she does not attach importance to the state she is from and sees herself as American.

In response to Tanguy’s question, there are definitely some areas that have a stronger sense of state pride, and I would agree that I have mostly heard of it from Texas and California. This also carries over to some cities, such as DC, New York, and the Bay Area in general? Some places have much stronger senses of identity than others, though it can also depend on closeness to a city, at least from my personal experience: I’d probably guess I have less “state pride” than people from the bigger cities in the state I’m from, at least.

Bonjour fjonap,
Au sein de l’Union Européenne l’identité des pays reste forte. Ainsi nous nous sentons d’abord français puis européen. L’identité passant par la langue, la culture et l’histoire. L’Europe au sens d’union européenne est jeune. Elle a à peine 70 ans si on compte très large car elle s’est imposée lentement à travers tout d’abord des acteurs commerciaux. Effacer une identité millénaire au profit d’une nouvelle identité européenne semble devoir prendre beaucoup de temps.
A propos des Américains il s’avère que l’on dit Américains pour “Etat-Unien” mais nous disons mexicain, canadien ou brésilien. Le mot américain est juste le mot français pour résident des Etats Unis.

Bonjour fjonap,

Pour répondre à ton commentaire je pense que la majorité des français se sentent français avant même de se sentir européen. De mon point de vue, et il peut ne pas être partagé avec tout le monde sur cette plateforme, ce sont surtout les voyages qui te font sentir européen. Je ne sais pas si c’est la même chose dans les autres pays européens ou si la culture rend ça différent dans certains pays mais en France on se sent français et en voyageant dans d’autres pays on apprend à découvrir l’Europe et c’est ainsi que l’on se sent européen. Les grandes différences entre les politiques des pays et leurs histoires font naître une sorte de dissociation entre les pays européens qui fait que l’on a plus de mal à se sentir européen que français. Mais de votre côté s’agit-il du même ressenti vis à vis de Etats ou votre premier ressenti est celui d’être un citoyen Américain ?

Why do people smoke a lot In Europe, specifically In France ? Is smoking a representation of fashion or as a social activity to do? In the United States, it used to be seen as a fashion/cool thing to do but now cigarettes are seen as disgusting and dangerous for the health of citizens. Does the government attempt to advertise a lot about the dangers of smoking?