J'espère que nous savons tous la dernière nouvelle sur la défaite des républicains lors de l'éléction de mi-mandat.
J'aimerais connaitre vos réactions, vos réponses vis à vis de cette question, est-ce que le rôle de Karl ROVE en tant que conseiller principal du Président George W. BUSH a-t-il favorisé la diminution des écarts entre les démocrates et les républicains même si ces-derniers ont perdu?
Puisqu'on peut parler de ce qu'on veut ici, je commence par des toutes petites questions, histoire de mieux vous connaître, ce qui me semble important. Dommage qu'on ne puisse pas vous voir et que vous dormez encore, étant donné le décalage horaire. Ainsi voici la tonne de questions que j'ai pour vousï?Š. Quelle est votre moyenne d'âge ? Pourquoi avoir choisi MIT ? Qu'est ce que cela vous apprend selon vous ? Que voulez vous faire comme métier? Les cours de français sont t'ils obligatoires ? Sinon pourquoi les avoir choisi ? Aimez vous notre langue ? La trouvez vous difficile ? Avez-vous déjà été en France ? Qu'en pensez vous ? Qu'aimeriez vous le plus visiter en France ? Bon j'arrête là"¦je pense que vous avez compris que le but est de vous découvrir un peu plus, pour parler de notre vie quotidienne, de nos amis, de nos séries ou films préférés, bref"¦pour échanger !
Hi Floraine. There is indeed a time difference, but you'll be surprised to know it doesn't change this a lot, considering how odd our sleeping schedules are. Most of us are undergraduate students, so we're generally between 18-21 years old. There are also graduate students who take the course, and they should be around your age. French isn't a requirement to graduate, or any foreign languages for that matter, but we do have to take a certain number of humanities classes. We are also required to do a concentration in one of the humanities field, such as french, theatre arts, or linguistics. If you're interested, here's the link to the list of offerings: http://web.mit.edu/shass/undergraduate/hass-req/concentration/fields/ind... I think many of the undergraduates taking this course are doing their concentration in French. To answer some of the more personal questions, I decided to come to MIT, in part because I was lazy in high school and only applied to two schools. Between MIT and Caltech, I thought MIT would be more exciting because of it's size and location and that's why I chose to come here. I'm a junior majoring in biology and I'm considering medicine and/or biomedical research as possible career paths, although I'm not quite sure yet. I enjoy learning foreign languages, and I also believe that foreign languages are useful tools to understanding different cultures. I've been to France twice when I was too young to remember anything, but I'm planning a trip to Paris with another friend in this class in March 2007 during spring break. I hope this answers most of your question. Now your turn:)
Hi. As Hannah was saying, foreign language courses are not a requirement to graduate in MIT. I really don't know if there are colleges in the US that require you to learn another language; maybe it depends more on what's your major. Is it a requirement to learn foreign languages in your university? I'm taking French because I like the language and because I would like to go to France to study, work or live sometime in the future. Actually I'm planning on spending my second semester of junior year studying in France. I'm a Computer Science major, but I also want to do a minor in French. I'm a Spanish native speaker, so there are some concepts of French that have been easy to learn because French and Spanish have it in common. But as you should imagine, there are also differences to which you should pay attention in order to not get confused. I forgot to say that I have never been to France. I should also say that I'm a fan of Audrey Tautou. I really like her work.
I like to drink coffee, black and without sugar. I've been having problems here at MIT because the coffee they sell is not good compared to my mom's coffee. I'm Julian's brother so Spanish is also my native language. I like all the Romance languages and wish to one day learn them all, including Latin. I'm studying Math, by the way.
Hi, I'm a biology/ biological engineering major here, and I think I want to go into medicine. Ideally I would somehow be able to split my time between practicing medicine and doing medical research. I chose MIT because it's a good school, and my other option was the university where my dad teaches, and my parents threatened to make me live at home :) We do stay up to ridiculous hours at night (2 am is a pretty normal bedtime for me!) but I usually sleep in, so I'm not tooo sleep deprived.
I'm really interested in hearing all of your answers to these same questions too!
Hi. I think i have a very different background from most of the undergraduate students here because I'm an international student from Syria. I lived in Syria all my life until I came here, around two years ago to study. I always get asked why I decided to go to school here, especially since its so far away from my home. I guess its mainly because my family and I believed that I should receive the best quality education we could get :). Since Syria is a developing country, Syrian universities (which are all public) are not exactly great :P. Resources are low, and education is quite substandard... Since I went to an international school I decided to try applying to schools abroad. I basically applied to the best schools that I knew of, and ended up choosing MIT because back then I wanted to be an engineer like my father, and MIT was renowned around the world to be the best engineering school :). And so now I'm a junior studying electrical engineering and computer science. Do any of you come from other countries? What does it feel like to be a foreign student in Paris? I can let you know what it feels like to be an international student at MIT in upcoming messages since this one is getting too long :P
Hello guys, I really like this forum because it allows us to really get to ask the questions we want! First to answer the question with the coffee, I grew up in Bulgaria and I remember going to cafes all the time. People in Bulgaria love coffee and drink it every day(sometimes several times a day). Also they, like Javier, love dark coffee-espresso. When I came here I found it vary strange that such culture does not exist(or at least not as much). There are some cafes but places like Starbucks are more popular. It has become very popular for the last several years(I actually used to work for them) but the culture of Starbucks is quite different from the European cafes. I heard that a Starbucks opened in Paris so you guys might be familiar with their "self-serv" sort of atmosphere. Even though it started as a place where you can sit down and enjoy your coffee with your pastry, now it seems like it is turning into Dunkin Donuts where people run in to get coffee and leave-they even have drive-through Starbuckses now. Can you imagine a drive-through cafe in Paris? I always thought that Parisian cafes are places to sit down, relax and see your friends(it is the same in Bulgaria). Ok, enough about coffee! I actually had another more important question for you guys. I applied for an internship in Paris for this coming summer(I am a third year architecture student) and I am really hoping that I will be able to come. I contacted a few offices among which are Renzo Piano's and Jean Nouvel's!I will be very happy if I get an internship there but I am concerned that my French is not good enough. I have heard that French people are a bit unwelcoming to foreigners which I don't want to believe...Is it true? Is there a different attitude towards people who do not speak French very well? Or does it depend on the person? Here, people are generally friendly, but there are always some who act very rude if you don't speak the language(I speak from personal experience). I would really appreciate your answers! Salut!
Hi. I think i have a very different background from most of the undergraduate students here because I'm an international student from Syria. I lived in Syria all my life until I came here, around two years ago to study. I always get asked why I decided to go to school here, especially since its so far away from my home. I guess its mainly because my family and I believed that I should receive the best quality education we could get :). Since Syria is a developing country, Syrian universities (which are all public) are not exactly great :P. Resources are low, and education is quite substandard... Since I went to an international school I decided to try applying to schools abroad. I basically applied to the best schools that I knew of, and ended up choosing MIT because back then I wanted to be an engineer like my father, and MIT was renowned around the world to be the best engineering school :). And so now I'm a junior studying electrical engineering and computer science. Do any of you come from other countries? What does it feel like to be a foreign student in Paris? I can let you know what it feels like to be an international student at MIT in upcoming messages since this one is getting too long :P
Well since everyone seems to be introducing themselves, hello! I am the other classmate with whom Hannah will be going to Paris this coming spring. Interestingly enough, among the elite colleges and universities in the United States, MIT is unique in that it has no foreign language requirement though there are humanities requirements. Foreign language requirements are common among elite colleges and usually consist of two semesters (one year) of foreign language instruction unless one can pass out of taking these classes. Hmmm...for coffee, I guess I just like a regular cup of americano with a bit of creme. :D
Hi everyone. Well, for introductions, I guess I'll just say that I'm a second year undergrad here at MIT, and that I'm studying electrical engineering and computer science. I chose to take French because the last time I took French was three years ago, and I kind of wanted to brush up and see how much I could recall. I find French difficult, but definitely not as bad as Chinese =P. I do want to go to France someday to see if it lives up to its reputation. I'm sure it really is as beautiful as everyone says it is, and I feel obligated to visit the world's most-visited country =) Have any of you ever been to the United States? If yes, what did you think of it?
Awww... Frances and Hannah are going to France? I'm so jealous. Oh well, when I grow up, I will have money to go to Paris. I hear that they are extremely racist, there, no? Sorry for being so blunt in the remarks, but I am a straightforward person. Since we probably wont see each other, I think it's best to talk freely about feelings. Hahaha. I cant believe that no one has tried anything sketchy in here yet... like.. Floriane, how are you doing? Do you have pictures? Hahaha. Sorry.
At any rate, I should introduce myself as well. I'm a sophomore studying mathematics and economics here at MIT. I chose this college because it is the only one that I applied to. I got too lazy to try for other colleges after I got accepted :-p. Drin coffee? Of course, it taste good, but it is so bad for you. It puts me to sleep for some reason. Usually I drink coffee then take a 2 hours nap, and then i can stay awake after that for 24 hours. Strange, no? Oh sorry for blabbing about nothing. What do French students talk about these days?
Salut Dong. Je voulais juste réagir au sujet de ta phrase comme quoi tu as entendu dire que les français étaient racistes. Je trouve ce genre d’affirmations ou même d'interrogations complètement idiotes et dénuées de bon sens. Qu'est ce que ça veut dire être raciste? Est ce que tu pense vraiment que les français veulent tuer les étrangers ou même expulser ceux qui vivent en France depuis des années voir même des générations? Ou bien que les français n’aiment pas telle ou telle personne par ce que elle est bleue, verte ou noire ? Pas du tout, les Français ne sont pas comme ça, aucun, sauf des fous peut-être mais qui ne représentent pas 18% de la population, mais 0.01% au maximum! Ce sont les médias qui créent cette idée de racisme en France et qui en parlent tout le temps. La communauté étrangère en France est de plus en plus nombreuse et certain d'entre eux agitent le thème du racisme pour pouvoir faire ce qu'il veulent. Beaucoup d'étrangers installés en France depuis 10 ans ou plus te diront que même noir, arabe ou rouge, tu peux vivre en France tout à fait normalement pourvu que que tu aimes la France, que tu ais envie de t'insérer, et que tu ais envie de devenir français . Si tu viens habiter en France mais que tu traites les habitants de "sale français" je crois qu'à partir de ce moment là, le racisme ne se situe plus où tu le dis...!!!
En réponse à Yuliya je te rassure, les français savent aussi être très accueillant. Evidemment cela dépend toujours des personnes sur lesquelles tu tombes, mais en général ils ne sont pas plus vulgaires ou inhospitalier qu’ailleurs (sinon la France ne serait pas le pays le plus visité au monde ;-) ! Je suis heureuse d’entendre que tu aimerais faire ton stage en France. Pour ta recherche je te conseille plutôt de rechercher sur internet par exemple sur le site www.kapstages.fr (c’est le site le plus connu et le plus utilisé par les étudiants français) !
Et pour répondre à Dong, la France n’est pas un pays raciste. N’écoute pas tout ce que te dis la Fox ou CNN… (lol) ! Ne t’inquiète pas, si tu viens en France tu seras accueilli dignement et chaleureusement et tu t’apercevras que c’est un pays où se mélangent des personnes qui viennent différentes cultures.
Salut Dong. Je voulais juste réagir au sujet de ta phrase comme quoi tu as entendu dire que les français étaient racistes. Je trouve ce genre d’affirmations ou même d'interrogations complètement idiotes et dénuées de bon sens. Qu'est ce que ça veut dire être raciste? Est ce que tu pense vraiment que les français veulent tuer les étrangers ou même expulser ceux qui vivent en France depuis des années voir même des générations? Ou bien que les français n’aiment pas telle ou telle personne par ce que elle est bleue, verte ou noire ? Pas du tout, les Français ne sont pas comme ça, aucun, sauf des fous peut-être mais qui ne représentent pas 18% de la population, mais 0.01% au maximum! Ce sont les médias qui créent cette idée de racisme en France et qui en parlent tout le temps. La communauté étrangère en France est de plus en plus nombreuse et certain d'entre eux agitent le thème du racisme pour pouvoir faire ce qu'il veulent. Beaucoup d'étrangers installés en France depuis 10 ans ou plus te diront que même noir, arabe ou rouge, tu peux vivre en France tout à fait normalement pourvu que que tu aimes la France, que tu ais envie de t'insérer, et que tu ais envie de devenir français . Si tu viens habiter en France mais que tu traites les habitants de "sale français" je crois qu'à partir de ce moment là, le racisme ne se situe plus où tu le dis...!!!
Salut Dong. Je voulais juste réagir au sujet de ta phrase comme quoi tu as entendu dire que les français étaient racistes. Je trouve ce genre d’affirmations ou même d'interrogations complètement idiotes et dénuées de bon sens. Qu'est ce que ça veut dire être raciste? Est ce que tu pense vraiment que les français veulent tuer les étrangers ou même expulser ceux qui vivent en France depuis des années voir même des générations? Ou bien que les français n’aiment pas telle ou telle personne par ce que elle est bleue, verte ou noire ? Pas du tout, les Français ne sont pas comme ça, aucun, sauf des fous peut-être mais qui ne représentent pas 18% de la population, mais 0.01% au maximum! Ce sont les médias qui créent cette idée de racisme en France et qui en parlent tout le temps. La communauté étrangère en France est de plus en plus nombreuse et certain d'entre eux agitent le thème du racisme pour pouvoir faire ce qu'il veulent. Beaucoup d'étrangers installés en France depuis 10 ans ou plus te diront que même noir, arabe ou rouge, tu peux vivre en France tout à fait normalement pourvu que que tu aimes la France, que tu ais envie de t'insérer, et que tu ais envie de devenir français . Si tu viens habiter en France mais que tu traites les habitants de "sale français" je crois qu'à partir de ce moment là, le racisme ne se situe plus où tu le dis...!!!
Paris est une ville internationale. Donc les personnes que vous rencontrez ne sont pas représentatifs de la culture francaise. Il faut aller dans les petites villes pour connaitre cela.
Vu qu'on est dans la pause Café, est ce que les filles de votre classes ne font que parler de Wentworth Miller (l'acteur de prison break) comme elles le font ici'? car il commence sérieusement à nous faire de l'ombre :)
Pour commencer, 2 choses merci d’avoir répondu, j’ai vraiment appris des choses intéressantes, et deuxièmement, je m’appelle FLORIANE…please.
Je pensais que vous suiviez tous le même cursus, nous on est tous en IUP (Institut Universitaire Professionnalisant), ce qui veut dire en gros qu’on a des stages, des projets et qu’on est en petit comité (on est 17 cette année), en Management et Nouvelles Technologies. Vous pouvez voir le détails de nos cours sur notre site si ça vous intéresse : http://www.u-paris2.fr/iup/.
Pour ma part, j’ai choisis cette formation car elle apporte des connaissances en informatique et en nouvelles technologies, ce qui et essentiel aujourd’hui selon moi, surtout pour les métiers du « commerce », à prendre au sens très large du terme. Nous faisons tous en fait notre dernière année, puisqu’on va tous valider…sisi, notre dernière année de Master, soit 5 ans d’étude après notre BAC.
Je ne suis jamais allée aux USA, ni même en Angleterre d’ailleurs, qui n’est pourtant pas très loin, mais j’aimerais bien, même si apparemment les américains n’aiment pas beaucoup les français. Est-ce vrai ? Ma sœur a traversé les Etats-Unis (Est/Ouest) pendant 1 mois, donc j’ai pu voir des tas et des tas de photos vraiment très belles et montrant les différentes particularités de l’Amérique. J’aurai bien pris mon sac à dos pour partir moi aussi :)
Quant aux langues, maintenant les petits commencent très tôt à apprendre l’anglais, mais à notre « époque »…on commençait au collège où on apprenait soit allemand/anglais soit anglais/espagnol.
Puis on garde au moins une langue par la suite après le lycée,…l’anglais bien sûr qui est très important à l’heure actuelle, car c’est la langue des échanges (surtout avec la globalisation). Malheureusement, on a encore beaucoup de boulot pour être bilingue !
Concernant le racisme des français, certes on ne peut nier qu’il y en a un, mais il n’est pas plus important qu’ailleurs, étant donné que nous sommes aussi un peuple de mélange (notamment avec les guerres). Ce n’est certainement pas ce qui nous caractérise !
Et alors, il est pas mal Wentworth Miller, non'? :). Et puis bon, c'est sympas de regarder des séries en VO en cours d'anglais, et bon si en plus on a des choses interessantes à voir! Qui s'en plaindrai'?!!!
Ne t'inquiettes pas vincent tu as été elu le meilleur coup de l'IUP l'année dernière...hihihi
My first trip to Paris was about three years ago with my senior class after graduating from high school. I've since returned to Paris and other parts of France (I rode some trains through the south... Nice to Bordeaux) a couple of times, and the favorable impressions I brought home are what compelled me to study the language. Here at MIT, we can satisfy part of our degree requirements by declaring a concentration in a foreign language, involving four semesters of coursework. That's what I plan to do with French, with one more semester to go.
Oh, I;m sure that France would be great, regardless. It is just that most of my friends who have been to France said that the Parisiens did not made it easy for them. They are Asians. Howeverm, thiey said that Provence, Bourdeux, Avignon, and all other places were great. Paris herself is great also, except for several encounters. One day for sure, I will go to France, and perhaps live there. I find the language very easy listening and soothing, and that is why I chose to learn French and make it my Humanities concentration. :-). Vivre La France.
Oh, I;m sure that France would be great, regardless. It is just that most of my friends who have been to France said that the Parisiens did not made it easy for them. They are Asians. Howeverm, thiey said that Provence, Bourdeux, Avignon, and all other places were great. Paris herself is great also, except for several encounters. One day for sure, I will go to France, and perhaps live there. I find the language very easy listening and soothing, and that is why I chose to learn French and make it my Humanities concentration. :-). Vivre La France.
In response to Jean, not many people identify with the characters from Desperate Housewives. It is a tv show made for entertainment, and often presents exaggerated or unrealistic scenarios about life in the suburbs. In fact, life in the suburbs is mostly quiet and normal. Hardly anything that eventful happens. I think it is interesting how we form stereotypes on a culture based on the things we see on tv. For example, French people are often presented as snobbish and domineering here, but I'm sure that's not the case for all French people.
i love desperate housewives, but i definitely don't identify with the characters very much. i think that in general, the characters on tv shows are charicatures of types of people. sure, there are suburban mothers who don't work, and spend tons of time cooking nice food and gossiping with the neighbors, but no one is quite as ridiculous as the characters on DH. (fortuantely!)
i love desperate housewives, but i definitely don't identify with the characters very much. i think that in general, the characters on tv shows are charicatures of types of people. sure, there are suburban mothers who don't work, and spend tons of time cooking nice food and gossiping with the neighbors, but no one is quite as ridiculous as the characters on DH. (fortuantely!)
How do you guys feel about the possibility of having a woman as President? How realistic is this possibility? How did you vote? The presidential voter turnout in America is very embarrassing (I'm not sure about the exact number, but it's only around 50% I believe). How about France?
Thanks,
Yi
Man, I've never watched Desperate Housewives and have no idea what it's about. I'm pretty sure it's a TV show, though. I don't understand why people follow these shows and get so invested in them. :-) Are these TV series a big phenomenon in France too?
Floriane, Americans only dislike the French insofar as they believe themselves to be hated. There is little root cause for antagonism between the cultures so long as visitors and natives alike afford some measure of humility for that which they do not understand. By all means, visit the United States. Each country has its idiots. And i hope that ours may not exert too disproportionate an influence on your decision to visit!
hmm...i guess it is a little embarrassing when one is asked whether or not one can identify oneself with a character from a TV sitcom such as desperate housewives, that is in itself made from the extreme stereotypes that americans themselves hold about suburbian life. Living in such a large country, americans cannot help stereotyping the lives of americans living in different regions of the US. These stereotypes are often condensed into certain images, a few examples of which might be the hick, redneck, california beach girl, manhattanite, etc. Do the french also have stereotypical views for the different people living in the many different regions of france?
En réponse à Yi, les taux d’abstention en France sont de l’ordre de 35%. Mais à certains moments les français ont su faire preuve d’un grand civisme, comme par exemple lors des dernières élections présidentielles où on a eu une surprise au 1er tour et du coup les français ont voté massivement au 2ème tour.
Je voulais aussi savoir si vous étiez au courant qu’en France nous préparons nos élections présidentielles qui auront lieu l’année prochaine. Savez-vous quels sont les candidats qui apparaissent favoris dans nos sondages ? Etes-vous au courant de ce qui se passe dans l’actualité internationale ou êtes-vous plus tournés vers votre propre actualité nationale ? En tous les cas sachez qu’en France en ce moment une femme politique nommée Ségolène Royale fait partie des favoris pour cette élection. C’est une nouvelle tendance qui caractérise le monde politique à l’échelle mondiale. Les femmes semblent avoir le vent en poupe dans le milieu politique et en particulier dans le domaine de la gouvernance étatique. Si Ségolène Royale était élue en France ça sera la première femme politique à être élue chef de l’Etat dans notre pays. En tout les cas cela révèle au moins une chose : les français ne sont peut-être pas aussi sexistes ou machos qu’ils peuvent en avoir l’air ( ;-) lol). Pensez-vous que cette tendance politique mondiale peut arriver aux Etats-Unis ? Au regard de la société civile pensez-vous que les américains sont prêts à accepter l’idée qu’une femme soit à la tête d’un Etat aussi puissant que celui des Etats-Unis ? Pensez-vous que des femmes telles que Hillary Clinton ou Nancy Pelosi ont des chances d’être candidates et à fortiori élues présidentes des Etats-Unis ?
Pour répondre à Javier, nous écrivons beaucoup parce que nous sommes des littéraires lol (nos examens sont pratiquement tous des dissertations) lol et nous avons beaucoup de choses à dire ;).
Hi Fatima, I will try to answer most of your questions :) So, to start with the question about current events, I think in general most of the US channels show US news. From what I have noticed, there are a lot of news channels but most of them show only what happens in the states-and unfortunately mostly bad news. Sometimes it is frustrating to watch news channels because they only tell you how many murders happened and what else went wrong. However, cable TVs have some channels that only show international news. Also, some of us who live in dorms have the opportunity to watch MIT cable which had a lot of intenational channels. They have DWTV, TV5, EVE and many others. I personally try to watch TV5 and DW as much as possible to practice my french :) and also to stay informed about what's going on in the rest of the world. I really like both of these channels because they show a lot of interesting shows-about fashion, architecture, cars...etc...I will answer one more question and leave the rest for my fellow classmates :) About having women for presidents, I personally like the idea a lot! I think that men and women are equally capable of handling such positions in power. Perhaps Hillary Clinton and Nancy Pelosi can have success in presidential elections. Even though a lot of people here(US) can't imagine a woman president, I think that it is possible to change that opinion in the next year. And maybe Segolene Royale can set an example for the rest of the world :)
Hi, sorry for not responding here earlier. I'd like to say that although I really don't like coffee, I like Dominican and Cuban coffee the best. But, if I don't have that, then I'll take half coffee and half milk with some sugar. But, what I really like drinking is tea with milk instead of water, especially peppermint, b/c I like it with cold milk and with warm milk. Um, as far as languages goes, I love romance languages, which is why I'm taking both Spanish and French this semester. Sadly, I haven't taken either language since junior year in highschool, and I don't know that many people who speak either fluently, so I'm really rusty in both languages, and often mix the grammar and vocabulary. To make it worse, I visited Italy last Christmas, so now I'm really confused. Moving on the TV shows, I'm not a big fan of Desparate Housewives, because like Sex and the City, I think it's a bit over the top, but at least in Sex and the City, there's Samantha (the oldest main character), who has some traits I actually respect in people. I've only seen the first few episodes of Prison Break, becase at MIT, very rarely does your schedule allow watching TV regularly. A lot of shows in America, however, are very dramatic. With advancing technology, and the increasing availability of information via the Internet, we're going through almost a sensory overload. As a result, a lot of American TV shows exaggerate situations and "realities", that seem to be required in this era. Hardly any of it represents actual life in America. We're just entertaining ourselves with senarios that we know are improbable or impossible in real life.
I have a question for Vincent. In something you wrote in the statistics forum you laughed "hahahaha". Is this the way people laugh in France? Because in Spanish we laugh "jajajaja", since our "h" is mute and our "j" sounds like the English "h". But in French the "h" is mute and the "j" sounds differently, so what is the deal? How do you guys laugh? Also, to Sonia: when you say nous sommes des littéraires, do you mean that you study literature or just that you know about literature, writing and expressing yourself? Either way, i would recommend you to read "Funes el memorioso" by Borges (i'm sure a translation to French exists) because it shows an interesting perspective of "littéraires".
Discussion
J'espère que nous savons tous la dernière nouvelle sur la défaite des républicains lors de l'éléction de mi-mandat.
J'aimerais connaitre vos réactions, vos réponses vis à vis de cette question, est-ce que le rôle de Karl ROVE en tant que conseiller principal du Président George W. BUSH a-t-il favorisé la diminution des écarts entre les démocrates et les républicains même si ces-derniers ont perdu?
Est ce que dans un pause café, vou buvez du café ? Vous aimez le café ?
Puisqu'on peut parler de ce qu'on veut ici, je commence par des toutes petites questions, histoire de mieux vous connaître, ce qui me semble important. Dommage qu'on ne puisse pas vous voir et que vous dormez encore, étant donné le décalage horaire. Ainsi voici la tonne de questions que j'ai pour vousï?Š. Quelle est votre moyenne d'âge ? Pourquoi avoir choisi MIT ? Qu'est ce que cela vous apprend selon vous ? Que voulez vous faire comme métier? Les cours de français sont t'ils obligatoires ? Sinon pourquoi les avoir choisi ? Aimez vous notre langue ? La trouvez vous difficile ? Avez-vous déjà été en France ? Qu'en pensez vous ? Qu'aimeriez vous le plus visiter en France ? Bon j'arrête là"¦je pense que vous avez compris que le but est de vous découvrir un peu plus, pour parler de notre vie quotidienne, de nos amis, de nos séries ou films préférés, bref"¦pour échanger !
Hi Floraine. There is indeed a time difference, but you'll be surprised to know it doesn't change this a lot, considering how odd our sleeping schedules are. Most of us are undergraduate students, so we're generally between 18-21 years old. There are also graduate students who take the course, and they should be around your age. French isn't a requirement to graduate, or any foreign languages for that matter, but we do have to take a certain number of humanities classes. We are also required to do a concentration in one of the humanities field, such as french, theatre arts, or linguistics. If you're interested, here's the link to the list of offerings:
http://web.mit.edu/shass/undergraduate/hass-req/concentration/fields/ind... I think many of the undergraduates taking this course are doing their concentration in French. To answer some of the more personal questions, I decided to come to MIT, in part because I was lazy in high school and only applied to two schools. Between MIT and Caltech, I thought MIT would be more exciting because of it's size and location and that's why I chose to come here. I'm a junior majoring in biology and I'm considering medicine and/or biomedical research as possible career paths, although I'm not quite sure yet. I enjoy learning foreign languages, and I also believe that foreign languages are useful tools to understanding different cultures. I've been to France twice when I was too young to remember anything, but I'm planning a trip to Paris with another friend in this class in March 2007 during spring break. I hope this answers most of your question. Now your turn:)
Hi. As Hannah was saying, foreign language courses are not a requirement to graduate in MIT. I really don't know if there are colleges in the US that require you to learn another language; maybe it depends more on what's your major. Is it a requirement to learn foreign languages in your university? I'm taking French because I like the language and because I would like to go to France to study, work or live sometime in the future. Actually I'm planning on spending my second semester of junior year studying in France. I'm a Computer Science major, but I also want to do a minor in French. I'm a Spanish native speaker, so there are some concepts of French that have been easy to learn because French and Spanish have it in common. But as you should imagine, there are also differences to which you should pay attention in order to not get confused. I forgot to say that I have never been to France. I should also say that I'm a fan of Audrey Tautou. I really like her work.
I like to drink coffee, black and without sugar. I've been having problems here at MIT because the coffee they sell is not good compared to my mom's coffee. I'm Julian's brother so Spanish is also my native language. I like all the Romance languages and wish to one day learn them all, including Latin. I'm studying Math, by the way.
Hi, I'm a biology/ biological engineering major here, and I think I want to go into medicine. Ideally I would somehow be able to split my time between practicing medicine and doing medical research. I chose MIT because it's a good school, and my other option was the university where my dad teaches, and my parents threatened to make me live at home :) We do stay up to ridiculous hours at night (2 am is a pretty normal bedtime for me!) but I usually sleep in, so I'm not tooo sleep deprived.
I'm really interested in hearing all of your answers to these same questions too!
Hi. I think i have a very different background from most of the undergraduate students here because I'm an international student from Syria. I lived in Syria all my life until I came here, around two years ago to study. I always get asked why I decided to go to school here, especially since its so far away from my home. I guess its mainly because my family and I believed that I should receive the best quality education we could get :). Since Syria is a developing country, Syrian universities (which are all public) are not exactly great :P. Resources are low, and education is quite substandard... Since I went to an international school I decided to try applying to schools abroad. I basically applied to the best schools that I knew of, and ended up choosing MIT because back then I wanted to be an engineer like my father, and MIT was renowned around the world to be the best engineering school :). And so now I'm a junior studying electrical engineering and computer science. Do any of you come from other countries? What does it feel like to be a foreign student in Paris? I can let you know what it feels like to be an international student at MIT in upcoming messages since this one is getting too long :P
Hello guys, I really like this forum because it allows us to really get to ask the questions we want! First to answer the question with the coffee, I grew up in Bulgaria and I remember going to cafes all the time. People in Bulgaria love coffee and drink it every day(sometimes several times a day). Also they, like Javier, love dark coffee-espresso. When I came here I found it vary strange that such culture does not exist(or at least not as much). There are some cafes but places like Starbucks are more popular. It has become very popular for the last several years(I actually used to work for them) but the culture of Starbucks is quite different from the European cafes. I heard that a Starbucks opened in Paris so you guys might be familiar with their "self-serv" sort of atmosphere. Even though it started as a place where you can sit down and enjoy your coffee with your pastry, now it seems like it is turning into Dunkin Donuts where people run in to get coffee and leave-they even have drive-through Starbuckses now. Can you imagine a drive-through cafe in Paris? I always thought that Parisian cafes are places to sit down, relax and see your friends(it is the same in Bulgaria). Ok, enough about coffee! I actually had another more important question for you guys. I applied for an internship in Paris for this coming summer(I am a third year architecture student) and I am really hoping that I will be able to come. I contacted a few offices among which are Renzo Piano's and Jean Nouvel's!I will be very happy if I get an internship there but I am concerned that my French is not good enough. I have heard that French people are a bit unwelcoming to foreigners which I don't want to believe...Is it true? Is there a different attitude towards people who do not speak French very well? Or does it depend on the person? Here, people are generally friendly, but there are always some who act very rude if you don't speak the language(I speak from personal experience). I would really appreciate your answers! Salut!
Hi. I think i have a very different background from most of the undergraduate students here because I'm an international student from Syria. I lived in Syria all my life until I came here, around two years ago to study. I always get asked why I decided to go to school here, especially since its so far away from my home. I guess its mainly because my family and I believed that I should receive the best quality education we could get :). Since Syria is a developing country, Syrian universities (which are all public) are not exactly great :P. Resources are low, and education is quite substandard... Since I went to an international school I decided to try applying to schools abroad. I basically applied to the best schools that I knew of, and ended up choosing MIT because back then I wanted to be an engineer like my father, and MIT was renowned around the world to be the best engineering school :). And so now I'm a junior studying electrical engineering and computer science. Do any of you come from other countries? What does it feel like to be a foreign student in Paris? I can let you know what it feels like to be an international student at MIT in upcoming messages since this one is getting too long :P
oops sorry.. i have no idea why my message got sent twice. lol
Well since everyone seems to be introducing themselves, hello! I am the other classmate with whom Hannah will be going to Paris this coming spring. Interestingly enough, among the elite colleges and universities in the United States, MIT is unique in that it has no foreign language requirement though there are humanities requirements. Foreign language requirements are common among elite colleges and usually consist of two semesters (one year) of foreign language instruction unless one can pass out of taking these classes. Hmmm...for coffee, I guess I just like a regular cup of americano with a bit of creme. :D
Hi everyone. Well, for introductions, I guess I'll just say that I'm a second year undergrad here at MIT, and that I'm studying electrical engineering and computer science. I chose to take French because the last time I took French was three years ago, and I kind of wanted to brush up and see how much I could recall. I find French difficult, but definitely not as bad as Chinese =P. I do want to go to France someday to see if it lives up to its reputation. I'm sure it really is as beautiful as everyone says it is, and I feel obligated to visit the world's most-visited country =) Have any of you ever been to the United States? If yes, what did you think of it?
Awww... Frances and Hannah are going to France? I'm so jealous. Oh well, when I grow up, I will have money to go to Paris. I hear that they are extremely racist, there, no? Sorry for being so blunt in the remarks, but I am a straightforward person. Since we probably wont see each other, I think it's best to talk freely about feelings. Hahaha. I cant believe that no one has tried anything sketchy in here yet... like.. Floriane, how are you doing? Do you have pictures? Hahaha. Sorry.
At any rate, I should introduce myself as well. I'm a sophomore studying mathematics and economics here at MIT. I chose this college because it is the only one that I applied to. I got too lazy to try for other colleges after I got accepted :-p. Drin coffee? Of course, it taste good, but it is so bad for you. It puts me to sleep for some reason. Usually I drink coffee then take a 2 hours nap, and then i can stay awake after that for 24 hours. Strange, no? Oh sorry for blabbing about nothing. What do French students talk about these days?
Salut Dong. Je voulais juste réagir au sujet de ta phrase comme quoi tu as entendu dire que les français étaient racistes. Je trouve ce genre d’affirmations ou même d'interrogations complètement idiotes et dénuées de bon sens. Qu'est ce que ça veut dire être raciste? Est ce que tu pense vraiment que les français veulent tuer les étrangers ou même expulser ceux qui vivent en France depuis des années voir même des générations? Ou bien que les français n’aiment pas telle ou telle personne par ce que elle est bleue, verte ou noire ? Pas du tout, les Français ne sont pas comme ça, aucun, sauf des fous peut-être mais qui ne représentent pas 18% de la population, mais 0.01% au maximum! Ce sont les médias qui créent cette idée de racisme en France et qui en parlent tout le temps. La communauté étrangère en France est de plus en plus nombreuse et certain d'entre eux agitent le thème du racisme pour pouvoir faire ce qu'il veulent. Beaucoup d'étrangers installés en France depuis 10 ans ou plus te diront que même noir, arabe ou rouge, tu peux vivre en France tout à fait normalement pourvu que que tu aimes la France, que tu ais envie de t'insérer, et que tu ais envie de devenir français . Si tu viens habiter en France mais que tu traites les habitants de "sale français" je crois qu'à partir de ce moment là, le racisme ne se situe plus où tu le dis...!!!
En réponse à Yuliya je te rassure, les français savent aussi être très accueillant. Evidemment cela dépend toujours des personnes sur lesquelles tu tombes, mais en général ils ne sont pas plus vulgaires ou inhospitalier qu’ailleurs (sinon la France ne serait pas le pays le plus visité au monde ;-) ! Je suis heureuse d’entendre que tu aimerais faire ton stage en France. Pour ta recherche je te conseille plutôt de rechercher sur internet par exemple sur le site www.kapstages.fr (c’est le site le plus connu et le plus utilisé par les étudiants français) !
Et pour répondre à Dong, la France n’est pas un pays raciste. N’écoute pas tout ce que te dis la Fox ou CNN… (lol) ! Ne t’inquiète pas, si tu viens en France tu seras accueilli dignement et chaleureusement et tu t’apercevras que c’est un pays où se mélangent des personnes qui viennent différentes cultures.
Salut Dong. Je voulais juste réagir au sujet de ta phrase comme quoi tu as entendu dire que les français étaient racistes. Je trouve ce genre d’affirmations ou même d'interrogations complètement idiotes et dénuées de bon sens. Qu'est ce que ça veut dire être raciste? Est ce que tu pense vraiment que les français veulent tuer les étrangers ou même expulser ceux qui vivent en France depuis des années voir même des générations? Ou bien que les français n’aiment pas telle ou telle personne par ce que elle est bleue, verte ou noire ? Pas du tout, les Français ne sont pas comme ça, aucun, sauf des fous peut-être mais qui ne représentent pas 18% de la population, mais 0.01% au maximum! Ce sont les médias qui créent cette idée de racisme en France et qui en parlent tout le temps. La communauté étrangère en France est de plus en plus nombreuse et certain d'entre eux agitent le thème du racisme pour pouvoir faire ce qu'il veulent. Beaucoup d'étrangers installés en France depuis 10 ans ou plus te diront que même noir, arabe ou rouge, tu peux vivre en France tout à fait normalement pourvu que que tu aimes la France, que tu ais envie de t'insérer, et que tu ais envie de devenir français . Si tu viens habiter en France mais que tu traites les habitants de "sale français" je crois qu'à partir de ce moment là, le racisme ne se situe plus où tu le dis...!!!
Salut Dong. Je voulais juste réagir au sujet de ta phrase comme quoi tu as entendu dire que les français étaient racistes. Je trouve ce genre d’affirmations ou même d'interrogations complètement idiotes et dénuées de bon sens. Qu'est ce que ça veut dire être raciste? Est ce que tu pense vraiment que les français veulent tuer les étrangers ou même expulser ceux qui vivent en France depuis des années voir même des générations? Ou bien que les français n’aiment pas telle ou telle personne par ce que elle est bleue, verte ou noire ? Pas du tout, les Français ne sont pas comme ça, aucun, sauf des fous peut-être mais qui ne représentent pas 18% de la population, mais 0.01% au maximum! Ce sont les médias qui créent cette idée de racisme en France et qui en parlent tout le temps. La communauté étrangère en France est de plus en plus nombreuse et certain d'entre eux agitent le thème du racisme pour pouvoir faire ce qu'il veulent. Beaucoup d'étrangers installés en France depuis 10 ans ou plus te diront que même noir, arabe ou rouge, tu peux vivre en France tout à fait normalement pourvu que que tu aimes la France, que tu ais envie de t'insérer, et que tu ais envie de devenir français . Si tu viens habiter en France mais que tu traites les habitants de "sale français" je crois qu'à partir de ce moment là, le racisme ne se situe plus où tu le dis...!!!
je crois que certains chez nous ont un peu de mal avec l'informatique ;) n'est ce pas Cyrille'?
Paris est une ville internationale. Donc les personnes que vous rencontrez ne sont pas représentatifs de la culture francaise. Il faut aller dans les petites villes pour connaitre cela.
Vu qu'on est dans la pause Café, est ce que les filles de votre classes ne font que parler de Wentworth Miller (l'acteur de prison break) comme elles le font ici'? car il commence sérieusement à nous faire de l'ombre :)
Pour commencer, 2 choses merci d’avoir répondu, j’ai vraiment appris des choses intéressantes, et deuxièmement, je m’appelle FLORIANE…please.
Je pensais que vous suiviez tous le même cursus, nous on est tous en IUP (Institut Universitaire Professionnalisant), ce qui veut dire en gros qu’on a des stages, des projets et qu’on est en petit comité (on est 17 cette année), en Management et Nouvelles Technologies. Vous pouvez voir le détails de nos cours sur notre site si ça vous intéresse : http://www.u-paris2.fr/iup/.
Pour ma part, j’ai choisis cette formation car elle apporte des connaissances en informatique et en nouvelles technologies, ce qui et essentiel aujourd’hui selon moi, surtout pour les métiers du « commerce », à prendre au sens très large du terme. Nous faisons tous en fait notre dernière année, puisqu’on va tous valider…sisi, notre dernière année de Master, soit 5 ans d’étude après notre BAC.
Je ne suis jamais allée aux USA, ni même en Angleterre d’ailleurs, qui n’est pourtant pas très loin, mais j’aimerais bien, même si apparemment les américains n’aiment pas beaucoup les français. Est-ce vrai ? Ma sœur a traversé les Etats-Unis (Est/Ouest) pendant 1 mois, donc j’ai pu voir des tas et des tas de photos vraiment très belles et montrant les différentes particularités de l’Amérique. J’aurai bien pris mon sac à dos pour partir moi aussi :)
Quant aux langues, maintenant les petits commencent très tôt à apprendre l’anglais, mais à notre « époque »…on commençait au collège où on apprenait soit allemand/anglais soit anglais/espagnol.
Puis on garde au moins une langue par la suite après le lycée,…l’anglais bien sûr qui est très important à l’heure actuelle, car c’est la langue des échanges (surtout avec la globalisation). Malheureusement, on a encore beaucoup de boulot pour être bilingue !
Concernant le racisme des français, certes on ne peut nier qu’il y en a un, mais il n’est pas plus important qu’ailleurs, étant donné que nous sommes aussi un peuple de mélange (notamment avec les guerres). Ce n’est certainement pas ce qui nous caractérise !
Et alors, il est pas mal Wentworth Miller, non'? :). Et puis bon, c'est sympas de regarder des séries en VO en cours d'anglais, et bon si en plus on a des choses interessantes à voir! Qui s'en plaindrai'?!!!
Ne t'inquiettes pas vincent tu as été elu le meilleur coup de l'IUP l'année dernière...hihihi
My first trip to Paris was about three years ago with my senior class after graduating from high school. I've since returned to Paris and other parts of France (I rode some trains through the south... Nice to Bordeaux) a couple of times, and the favorable impressions I brought home are what compelled me to study the language. Here at MIT, we can satisfy part of our degree requirements by declaring a concentration in a foreign language, involving four semesters of coursework. That's what I plan to do with French, with one more semester to go.
Vous identifiez-vous aux personnages de la série Desperate Houswives? Est-ce que la série représente de façon fidèle la banlieue américaine aisée?
Oh, I;m sure that France would be great, regardless. It is just that most of my friends who have been to France said that the Parisiens did not made it easy for them. They are Asians. Howeverm, thiey said that Provence, Bourdeux, Avignon, and all other places were great. Paris herself is great also, except for several encounters. One day for sure, I will go to France, and perhaps live there. I find the language very easy listening and soothing, and that is why I chose to learn French and make it my Humanities concentration. :-). Vivre La France.
Oh, I;m sure that France would be great, regardless. It is just that most of my friends who have been to France said that the Parisiens did not made it easy for them. They are Asians. Howeverm, thiey said that Provence, Bourdeux, Avignon, and all other places were great. Paris herself is great also, except for several encounters. One day for sure, I will go to France, and perhaps live there. I find the language very easy listening and soothing, and that is why I chose to learn French and make it my Humanities concentration. :-). Vivre La France.
In response to Jean, not many people identify with the characters from Desperate Housewives. It is a tv show made for entertainment, and often presents exaggerated or unrealistic scenarios about life in the suburbs. In fact, life in the suburbs is mostly quiet and normal. Hardly anything that eventful happens. I think it is interesting how we form stereotypes on a culture based on the things we see on tv. For example, French people are often presented as snobbish and domineering here, but I'm sure that's not the case for all French people.
i love desperate housewives, but i definitely don't identify with the characters very much. i think that in general, the characters on tv shows are charicatures of types of people. sure, there are suburban mothers who don't work, and spend tons of time cooking nice food and gossiping with the neighbors, but no one is quite as ridiculous as the characters on DH. (fortuantely!)
i love desperate housewives, but i definitely don't identify with the characters very much. i think that in general, the characters on tv shows are charicatures of types of people. sure, there are suburban mothers who don't work, and spend tons of time cooking nice food and gossiping with the neighbors, but no one is quite as ridiculous as the characters on DH. (fortuantely!)
How do you guys feel about the possibility of having a woman as President? How realistic is this possibility? How did you vote? The presidential voter turnout in America is very embarrassing (I'm not sure about the exact number, but it's only around 50% I believe). How about France?
Thanks,
Yi
Man, I've never watched Desperate Housewives and have no idea what it's about. I'm pretty sure it's a TV show, though. I don't understand why people follow these shows and get so invested in them. :-) Are these TV series a big phenomenon in France too?
Umm. 50% sounds a little too high, I think. I heard somewhere that the percentage is around 26-30%.
Floriane, Americans only dislike the French insofar as they believe themselves to be hated. There is little root cause for antagonism between the cultures so long as visitors and natives alike afford some measure of humility for that which they do not understand. By all means, visit the United States. Each country has its idiots. And i hope that ours may not exert too disproportionate an influence on your decision to visit!
hmm...i guess it is a little embarrassing when one is asked whether or not one can identify oneself with a character from a TV sitcom such as desperate housewives, that is in itself made from the extreme stereotypes that americans themselves hold about suburbian life. Living in such a large country, americans cannot help stereotyping the lives of americans living in different regions of the US. These stereotypes are often condensed into certain images, a few examples of which might be the hick, redneck, california beach girl, manhattanite, etc. Do the french also have stereotypical views for the different people living in the many different regions of france?
i've noticed that in general, students from IUP write longer posts on the forum than us from MIT.
i think you're right, javier.
En réponse à Yi, les taux d’abstention en France sont de l’ordre de 35%. Mais à certains moments les français ont su faire preuve d’un grand civisme, comme par exemple lors des dernières élections présidentielles où on a eu une surprise au 1er tour et du coup les français ont voté massivement au 2ème tour.
Je voulais aussi savoir si vous étiez au courant qu’en France nous préparons nos élections présidentielles qui auront lieu l’année prochaine. Savez-vous quels sont les candidats qui apparaissent favoris dans nos sondages ? Etes-vous au courant de ce qui se passe dans l’actualité internationale ou êtes-vous plus tournés vers votre propre actualité nationale ? En tous les cas sachez qu’en France en ce moment une femme politique nommée Ségolène Royale fait partie des favoris pour cette élection. C’est une nouvelle tendance qui caractérise le monde politique à l’échelle mondiale. Les femmes semblent avoir le vent en poupe dans le milieu politique et en particulier dans le domaine de la gouvernance étatique. Si Ségolène Royale était élue en France ça sera la première femme politique à être élue chef de l’Etat dans notre pays. En tout les cas cela révèle au moins une chose : les français ne sont peut-être pas aussi sexistes ou machos qu’ils peuvent en avoir l’air ( ;-) lol). Pensez-vous que cette tendance politique mondiale peut arriver aux Etats-Unis ? Au regard de la société civile pensez-vous que les américains sont prêts à accepter l’idée qu’une femme soit à la tête d’un Etat aussi puissant que celui des Etats-Unis ? Pensez-vous que des femmes telles que Hillary Clinton ou Nancy Pelosi ont des chances d’être candidates et à fortiori élues présidentes des Etats-Unis ?
Pour répondre à Javier, nous écrivons beaucoup parce que nous sommes des littéraires lol (nos examens sont pratiquement tous des dissertations) lol et nous avons beaucoup de choses à dire ;).
Hi Fatima, I will try to answer most of your questions :) So, to start with the question about current events, I think in general most of the US channels show US news. From what I have noticed, there are a lot of news channels but most of them show only what happens in the states-and unfortunately mostly bad news. Sometimes it is frustrating to watch news channels because they only tell you how many murders happened and what else went wrong. However, cable TVs have some channels that only show international news. Also, some of us who live in dorms have the opportunity to watch MIT cable which had a lot of intenational channels. They have DWTV, TV5, EVE and many others. I personally try to watch TV5 and DW as much as possible to practice my french :) and also to stay informed about what's going on in the rest of the world. I really like both of these channels because they show a lot of interesting shows-about fashion, architecture, cars...etc...I will answer one more question and leave the rest for my fellow classmates :) About having women for presidents, I personally like the idea a lot! I think that men and women are equally capable of handling such positions in power. Perhaps Hillary Clinton and Nancy Pelosi can have success in presidential elections. Even though a lot of people here(US) can't imagine a woman president, I think that it is possible to change that opinion in the next year. And maybe Segolene Royale can set an example for the rest of the world :)
Hi, sorry for not responding here earlier. I'd like to say that although I really don't like coffee, I like Dominican and Cuban coffee the best. But, if I don't have that, then I'll take half coffee and half milk with some sugar. But, what I really like drinking is tea with milk instead of water, especially peppermint, b/c I like it with cold milk and with warm milk. Um, as far as languages goes, I love romance languages, which is why I'm taking both Spanish and French this semester. Sadly, I haven't taken either language since junior year in highschool, and I don't know that many people who speak either fluently, so I'm really rusty in both languages, and often mix the grammar and vocabulary. To make it worse, I visited Italy last Christmas, so now I'm really confused. Moving on the TV shows, I'm not a big fan of Desparate Housewives, because like Sex and the City, I think it's a bit over the top, but at least in Sex and the City, there's Samantha (the oldest main character), who has some traits I actually respect in people. I've only seen the first few episodes of Prison Break, becase at MIT, very rarely does your schedule allow watching TV regularly. A lot of shows in America, however, are very dramatic. With advancing technology, and the increasing availability of information via the Internet, we're going through almost a sensory overload. As a result, a lot of American TV shows exaggerate situations and "realities", that seem to be required in this era. Hardly any of it represents actual life in America. We're just entertaining ourselves with senarios that we know are improbable or impossible in real life.
I have a question for Vincent. In something you wrote in the statistics forum you laughed "hahahaha". Is this the way people laugh in France? Because in Spanish we laugh "jajajaja", since our "h" is mute and our "j" sounds like the English "h". But in French the "h" is mute and the "j" sounds differently, so what is the deal? How do you guys laugh? Also, to Sonia: when you say nous sommes des littéraires, do you mean that you study literature or just that you know about literature, writing and expressing yourself? Either way, i would recommend you to read "Funes el memorioso" by Borges (i'm sure a translation to French exists) because it shows an interesting perspective of "littéraires".
This post was also mine....