Success

Réussite

achieve, win, get, attain, exciting
comfort, addictive
confidence, acknowledgement, hard work
desirable, pursue, goal
earn, work
earned
exams, graduation, job
excellent, Faust
goals, happiness
happiness, respect
happiness, respect
joy, drive, power
MIT, content with life, financially stable
mit, school, work
money, fame, work
money, happiness
money, happy, electronics
money, power
money, power, proudness
power, money
president, election
prosperous, wealthy, happy
triumph, money
wealth
young, money, happiness

accomplissement, argent, joie
argent,pouvoir, ascension sociale,
bonheur, sourire
but à atteindre
carrière, travail
devoir; solidarité
familiale, professionnelle
épanouissement
l'argent, une famille, un travail
liberté
louche, jalousie, argent
mérité, chance
Objectif, Stratégie
opportunisme
opportunisme
personnelle, satisfaction, réalisation de projets

persévérance, travail
position sociale, famille
pouvoir, argent
promotion canapé, hypocrisie, argent, leurre

sociale
sociale, familliale, bonheur
sociale, personnelle
solitaire
souhaitée,
succès, résultat d'un bon travail
travail; argent

Discussion

Hello, everyone! I noticed that several of the French students listed words like "famille" and "sociale." In France, does success have more of a social connotation? Does someone need to have a family to be considered successful? Other than that, the American and French responses appear similar -- money, work, power, etc.

The French responses seem to have a little more negative connotation entwined in them. Examples include "opportunisme" and "jalousie" and "leurre". I don't really understand why they associated these words with "reussite". Does this word have a slightly different meaning in French? Or are they just associating other things with this word and getting their responses from those associations, like possibly "argent"?

Hey everyone. I think the French response for success is interesting when you compare it to the response for elite. There were a few negative associations with success which is also true for elite. It's worthy to note that although elite is associated with high society and the French have a negative view of the elite, they relate success to social position. Do the French not associate high society with the elite like Americans do? Or are the associations just a little contradictory? Other than that, I agree with Anne that our definitions of success are very similar. Christine

I made the same observation as Anne did about the frequent appearance of the word "sociale" in case of the French responses. However, I would interpret that in a little bit different way. I don't think that it means that you have to have a family to be successful. According to me, it just says that success is often associated to the fact of how well one is accepted by others or how well he/she is able to handle human relationships.

--Lilla

In terms of success, I was wondering if the differences between the US and French governments have something to do with this. It seems to me that because France has a strong socialist government people would tend to culturally accept more socialist ideas and thus value success in more social, rather than individual terms. I am not sure if this concept is accurate and would like it if the French folks give me their feedback.