Unsurprisingly, most of the responses about "family" were very positive. Some similarities included love and the mention of various family members. I am a little confused though why someone used the word "transmission" in the French responses. What does it mean in this context? Similarly, what do you think about the choice of "nucleus" on the American side?

Both the French and American responses had very positive connotations. The same words were even repeated multiple times by both sides, but I thought that the French had more words about the actual people in a family and what it is (bonds and ties between people), while the Americans had a lot of words like support and comfort which were more about what being in a family sould be. Almost tangible versus intangible. Is this actually a clear difference and what does that say about each side?

While the responses from both sides had many common threads (especially "love" and "parents"), the vibe on each side was certainly different. Like Amanda said, the French wrote more concrete words, more solid ideas of what comes from a family. The American students, on the other hand, wrote more abstract ideas that *ideally* come from family. 

It seems like the French view family as a solid base - necessary, tangible. The Americans do, too, but we tended to focus on the experiences we get from being in a family. Many French students mention links/ties/support/strength, but what are some feelings/experiences/emotions/expectations that come to mind when thinking of the word "family"? 

It was also interesting to note that some American students wrote "friends" as well - in French culture, is family just the unit of blood relatives, or does family encompass the idea of closeness/familiarity?  

As noted by Meera and Amanda above, americans tend to associate family more with the feelings that the term family evokes in them. The french on the other hand focus more on the specific members in a family. 

It is interesting that while nearly all americans say "love", nearly all of the french say "parents". What does this say about the culture of both countries and how people relate to each other? 

My question is pretty much the same as Brigitte's. I notice that in the American side, love is common, but on the French side, "parents" or "mère et père" are common. Would you say that in France the emphasis of the family is on the physical members rather than the bond between them?

la chose qui m'avait marqué c'est la simultanité dans les réponses en France et aux Etats-Unis, malgré la différence culturelle entre les deux peubles et le fait qu'il y a des resortissants des différents pays dans les deux équipes la famille reste une valeur importante, caracterisé par l'amour et le respet

la chose qui m'avait marqué c'est la simultanité dans les réponses en France et aux Etats-Unis, malgré la différence culturelle entre les deux peubles et le fait qu'il y a des resortissants des différents pays dans les deux équipes la famille reste une valeur importante, caracterisé par l'amour et le respet

 Ah, Tayo Falase,

Oui, le sujet sur "la famille" est un problème qui attire l'attention à tout le monde dans toute la société. Pourtant, le concept est tout à fait différent entre les pays, les générations et les époques.

Dans notre pays (pas en france), la tranmission est influencée par la tradition familiale, elle va de la génération en génération. Alors, le père est très important dans la famille et aussi autoritaire

 I find Ba Thuy Trang Nguyen's response really interesting. Is the father always the authoritarian figure? In the U.S., I think it varies for each family. More and more, the authority is shared by both parents. 

Thank you, Ba, for clearing that up for me.

I am actually not too surprised that tradition didn't show up on the American side. America is known as a melting pot, which is basically a blend of different cultures. It would make sense that people would assimilate to other cultures and lose some of their traditions. For example, my parents immigrated here, but neither I nor my siblings can speak their native tongue.

I could also see it going the opposite way though. I think it varies from family to family. Just how important is the keeping of traditions in France? 

I agree with Tayo's response.

I feel Americans have to stick to the ideas and feelings that they associate with family, rather than only focusing on the the actual members. Many people have broken families and therefore, many times, rely on people outside of their blood relatives to become their new family. For example, my group of friends refer to ourselves as "The Fam" because the love and respect we have for each other is on the level that you would expect for people who are related by blood.

As many families are reconstructed, it's hard to keep traditions alive and they fall by the wayside.

I agree with Mai Nour that the overall feeling of the word is similar between France and the U.S., despite the different focuses of meaning in each country. But I wonder if there is another French term that is used to describe the feeling of being in a family?

Coming from a Mexican background, the family is extremely important in my culture.  Family is always first and I can see why many French would think of parents when they hear the word famille.

I'd be interested in knowing which States the American responders are from  because some parts of the US hold more traditional views of familly than others. Being from California, it's not odd to see single parent families, same-sex couples with children, or people that associate their friends as family more than any biological relative. My extended family in North Dakota, however ,would find any of the above examples as extremely odd definitions of family.

Il est effectivement intéressant de se pencher sur la différence parents/amour. Personnellement je ne fais pas partie de ceux qui ont mis parents mais amour. Cependant, cela vient peut être du fait qu'en France (ou alors ce n'est que dans ma famille ?), on ne se dit pas souvent, voire même jamais, qu'on s'aime. Cet amour est implicite, et ce n'est donc pas à cela qu'on pense en premier quand on dit famille. C'est une notion qu'on souhaite garder pour soi, qu'on ne montre pas forcément.

@Tayo : je pense que le choix de nucleus est très visuel. On dit aussi "noyau familial" en français. C'est très juste, la famille est le noyau, on commence par là. Puis ensuite on élargie son entourage. Je pense d'ailleurs que le fait que du côté français on cite autant de membres de la famille, ça fait partie de ce concept de noyau.

@Meera : bien sûr, le terme famille, en France, peut être associé aux amis proches. Ca nous arrive souvent de dire à nos amis "tu fais partie de la famille" alors qu'ils n'ont pas de liens de sang avec nous. Et en parallèle, on peut dire aussi de sa famille qu'ils sont ses amis. Par exemple, je dis souvent à ma soeur qu'elle est ma meilleure amie. Elle est celle qui me connaît le mieux et qui compte le plus à mes yeux. Et puis il y a cette notion de famille qu'on ne choisit pas, et d'amis qu'on choisit. Ma soeur, je ne l'ai pas choisie car elle fait partie de ma famille, mais je l'ai choisie pour être ma confidente, pour être ma véritable amie.

Interesting comment, Caroline, about how families in France don't necessarily state their love for each other out loud. In America, I don't think we can generalize about that...since we are a melting pot, there are some families whose cultures manifest as something similar to what you said, whereas other families express affection more readily and often.

What are the familiy dynamics like? Do some members command more authority than others? Do moms and dads split most of the work nowadays, or are the roles more traditional (say, the dad goes out and works, and the mom stays at home to cook/clean/take care of kids)?

Je pense aussi, que dans toutes les cultures, en ce qui concerne la famille, même avec des différences de considération tout le monde se rejoint en ce qui concerne les liens du sang, en tout cas la petite famille, parceque même si on vit loin d'eux, qu'on ne se voit pas souvent, l'amour partagé et inconditionnel entre nous est une grande certitude.

Maintenant si on considère quelques amis comme membre de la famille, ceci est relatif je pense, et dépend vraiment du cas personnel et non de la culture du pays! Je ne sais pas si vous serez d'accord avec moi?

In response to Insaf, I agree that extending the word 'family' to include friends is done more on an individual basis than by country. That doesn't explain why it was a fairly common response on the American side and not noted at all on the French side, however. Perhaps because at MIT, many of us are away from home and therefore get the support that we would normally get from a family from our friends.

I think that people might have responded with the word friends not because they consider their friends to be a part of their family, but rather because their family members are their friends. My brother for instance, isn't just guy that happens to be realted to me, but rather a person who I hang out with a lot and who I always have fun with it - just like a friend.

Agreeing with Kieran.  I hold a very close relationship with my brother and I can always confide in him.  Repeating what some of the French students have said, I realized that I have never explictly told my parents that I love them.  There was never any need to tell them that as it has always been implied between us.

It is very interesting that there is such a difference with the word "love" in both countries.

Amanda, oui je te comprends, mais je vais aller plus loin et dire que peut être vous, les étudiants américains, en faisant les associations de mots, inconsciement avez voulu représenter ce qu'un américain aurait répondu! et peut être que c'est l'image qui est donnée et véhiculé par les médias (films & séries) du coup, peut être que cela pourrait expliquer cette réponse en commun! mais vraiment au fond, celà reste dépendant de la personne.