Europe

Europe

BMW, antiques
classy, expensive, historical
culture, history
culture, soccer
culture, socialism, enjoy life
cultured, small
eloquence, class, liberal
EU, trains, history
euro, medeterranean,
Euros, European Union
full of culture, laid back
historic, sophisticated
Italy, European Union, diverse
Mediterranean, euro
Mountains, caucasians, England
old school, culture, churches
old, classical, cold
order, community, coalition
peugeot, royalty, confusing (what is it?)
problems, france, socialism
small, divided, undecided
the euro, vacation spots
Vacation, History, Architecture
white, old

avenir
avenir
avenir, elargissement ,euro, pas la Turquie
CE, les pays de l'est, la constitution europèenne
civilisation
developpement
euro, non a la turquie
euro, parlement, puissance, richesse
euro, puissance, parlement
euros, ouverture
froid ,calme, beauté naturelle
liberté
Ligue des Champions, Union Européenne
money
moyen
pauvreté
union
union
union européenne
Union européenne, Euro, Vieux continent, Démocratie
unité, diversité,
utopie, pas la turquie
échange, mixité, liberté
économie, échange, ouverture
élargissement, Turquie

Discussion

J'ai pu remarquer que lorsqu'on parle de l'Europe, on a une vision
différente. Vous avez mis en avant la culture, le poids de l'histoire
alors que nous, nous avons parlé de l'avenir. Est ce que vous nous voyez
vraiment comme un vieux continent fini? Il est vrai que notre histoire
est plus ancienne que la votre mais il faut dire que depuis toujours
nous avons connu la guerre. De 1870 à 1945 nous avons connu trois
grandes guerres dont deux guerres mondiales! D'ailleurs, c'est pour
cette raison qu'en Europe, nous étions contre la guerre en Irak. Notre
passé nous pousse à s'en méfier davantage. Si nous parlons d'avenir
c'est parce que nous avons l'espoir de ne plus se faire la guerre entre
nous et de prospérer ensemble. J'ai été très surpris de savoir que vous
connaissez peugeot! WAW! Comment ça se fait ? Que pensez vous de nos
petites voitures ?

I understand completely why no one in Europe would not like another
world war - not everyone in the U.S. wants war, you know. It can
definitely be said that most people in the U.S. would prefer to not
create war amongst each other, rather prosper together, as you have
said. Just because our president wants war, it does not reflect the
nation's feeling about it.

The peugeot and many other European cars are very popular in the U.S. -
maybe its a respectively recent wave of interest in European cars, but
your small cars do appeal to us a lot. Recent movies like The Fast and
the Furious and The Italian Job can attest to this.

I always thought that the Europeans were very proud of their history,
and was very suprised to find the word "future" occur so frequently in
the French column. In fact, it must be an American misconception of the
Europeans being snobby about their history.

It's good to hear that the Europeans now oppose war because of their
history. I wish our President had paid attention in history class.

Your small cars are awesome, particularly because they are so much more
fuel efficient than our cars.

I've never actually seen a French car here in the states - you've
actually seen Peugeots? Plus, the MiniCooper is British, and the Beetle
is a Volkswagen..

But I think the most striking difference between European and American
cars is that there are no automatic cars in Europe - I think it's a
combination of liking the old fashioned way of driving and the high gas
prices, but maybe our French friends could comment on that?

The coolest small car I've seen in France is called a Smart Car, and
apparently it's as long as a regular car is wide, so in order to
parallel park it, all you have to do is pull it into the curb headfirst.
Pretty cool.

I thought it was interesting that Americans mentioned culture and
history, whereas the French talked about currency (the euro) and the
future. Maybe Americans tend to think of the Old Europe and all of its
rich cultual history, whereas the French think about the future of
Europe and the newly formed European Union. Americans also seem to think
that Europe isn't diverse, unlike the French who mention diversity.

Aparna, Brian et les autres, je voulais avoir votre avis sur
l'intégration de la Turquie dans l'Union Européenne. Comme vous l'avez
vu, cette question est devenue polémique ici. Je voudrais avoir votre
point de vue. Croyez vous que si 75% des français sont contre l'entrée
de la Turquie c'est parce que : a) 75% des français sont racistes. (je
ne crois pas!!) b) 75% des français ont peur de voir arriver une
population à majorité musulmane dans l'UE. c) C'est pour la question des
droits de l'homme en Turquie. d) Par ce que les gens considèrent que la
Turquie ne fait pas partie de l'Europe.

Adil, your question is an interesting one, and I think that if we step
back to look at it, it's difficult to choose just one of your options. I
think it's a little bit of all four, although hopefully smaller
proportions of a and b.

Brian J Mullins, je suis d'accord avec toi. Il y a un peu de tou ça.
Mais l'intégration de la Turquie se fera de toute façon...

Je vais réagir par rapport aux mots unité / diversité et le rapprocher à
la question de l'intégration de la turquie. Nous concevons plus l'Europe
"unie" tandis que vous la percevez très diversifiée.

L'europe, malgré ces diversités culturelles tend théoriquement vers une
certaine unité tant au niveau de ces valeurs qu'au niveau économique. En
effet chaque pays membre de l'Europe prone la libérté la démocratie et
essaie de respecter un certain nombre de critères concernant leurs
économies. En pratique les pays membres ne sont pas toujours conformes
aux règles de l'Europe. Cela engendre certaines tensions. Ces tensions
seront d'autant plus importantes si la Turquie venait à s'intégrer en
Europe. Mais quelle est votre opinion sur l'avenir de l'Europe et son
influence dans le monde ?

I am glad to hear that Europeans and Europe look to the future. When I
read articles about different European countries, i.e. National
Geographic, everyone seems to be optimistic about the future of their
country. Perhaps I always associate Europe with the past and history
because Europeans have always preserved their history so well.

I'd also like to say that I think Europe and the European Union will
play a great role in the future of the world, including politics and
art. It seems to me that although the United States is very
"take-charge" when it comes to global politics, we will always look to
Europe for guidance from past incidents. I don't know why I feel like
this, but I still sometimes think the U.S. is the younger cousin of Europe?

What do Americans think of the European Union? As a tourist, I would
oppose it because it makes traveling to Europe very expensive.

effectivement, je pense aussi que l'Europe joue un rôle important au
niveau mondial en politique et dans le domaine artististique.

"the U.S. is the younger cousin of Europe" notre degré de parenté est
lié à notre histoire à nos guerres communes!!!!!!et effectivement les
USA sont plus jeunes, vous avez toujours un pas d'avance devant nous.
Beaucoup de brevets d'inventions (venant de tous les pays) sont réalisés
aux USA, car les conditions sont plus intéressantes.

In general do the French think that the European Union has improved
their lives? According to a 2003 Harris Poll, only 36% of Europeans
believe that their lives have improved in the last 5 years compared to
57% of Americans. I understand that Europe is extremely diverse and that
responses could greatly vary from region to region. Are the French
satisfied with the European Union in general?

According to a Gallup pole,
http://www.gallup.com/poll/content/login.aspx?ci=12106, residents of EU
member states trust the EU more than their national governments. Is this
the case in France? With your emphasis on tradition, how do you
reconcile the fact that the EU is not necessarily representative of your
heritage, culture, and religion?

engage