Hello,

I think an interested result is that there were a couple of Statue of Liberty mentions from us. On the other side there were a ton of mentions of New York City, but no mentions of the Statue of Liberty. This is interesting given that this monument is in New York and that it was a gift from the French to the U. S.
From a French point of view, what comes to mind when you think about the Statue of Liberty.

I notice that the French students mentioned a lot of places and cities. I think that is because these cities are the settings of a lot of American movies and there are lots of pictures of things like Times Square, the Statue of Liberty, and the Hollywood sign. They also mentioned Obama a lot.

Nous avons beaucoup parlé d’Obama c’est vrai, surement parce qu’en 2 008, les journaux ont énormément parlé de lui en France. On connait aussi beaucoup de villes et de lieux touristiques aux USA mais je ne sais pas si c’est lié avec les films ou séries …
J’ai vu que deux étudiants américains ont parlé de la Statue de la Liberté mais est-ce que vous saviez qu’il y a aussi une Statue de la Liberté à Paris et à Colmar ?

Americans seemed to mention a lot about home, which was not mentioned very much by the French students in their associations with the word “France”. I thought it was interesting that many of the things mentioned in the French responses here were related to Hollywood and movies, or politics. I was surprised at how often Obama was mentioned, as he wasn’t mentioned at all by the American students.

Hello,

I noticed many French students mentioned Hollywood and films. Do many French people watch movies produced in the U. S.? And if so, what percentage of movies are in English? Regards

Sandrilene, on mentionne souvent Obama parce qu’il est le représentant le plus médiatisé de l’Amérique, c’est tout d’abord son image qu’on associe à ce pays. Et c’est bien normal que ce n’était pas le cas dans la liste américaine, moi, je n’associerais pas la Russie, mon pays natal, à Poutine, alors que la plupart des Français le feraient, non?)
Concernant le mot”home”, j’ai l’impression que ce mot a un sens beaucoup plus large en anglais qu’en français (les Français l’ont associé plutôt à la famille). Quelqu’un de vous pourrait-il me dire ce qu’il entend par ce mot?

Bonjour, il serait intéressant de savoir si tous ces qualificatifs que les Français ont donnés par rapport aux Etats-Unis sont spécifiques aux Français.
Ont-ils un caractère universel?

Marie, I think for many of us, “home” is used about equally in a couple senses. It refers to a house in some contexts, a place or position in which we’re comfortable (as in the expression “make yourself at home”), or an actual region. It would be pretty natural to say, “Michigan is my home,” to say that I’m from Michigan. But of course, we also commonly connect it with “family.”

In response to Corinne, I’d say that the stereotypes Americans make of themselves are somewhat based on what the French and others think. Since we joke about these so often, they come to mind pretty easily when prompted with “America” or “the United States.” My discussion with foreign exchange (from Korea, Sweden, the Netherlands, and Spain) students at my high school have proven to me that much of the developed world views America in this way. It’s rather funny to me although there is truth in some of them (e. g. there is a real problem with obesity, capitalism is pretty central, and lots of Americans eat fast food).

Marie, I think for many of us, “home” is used about equally in a couple senses. It refers to a house in some contexts, a place or position in which we’re comfortable (as in the expression “make yourself at home”), or an actual region. It would be pretty natural to say, “Michigan is my home,” to say that I’m from Michigan. But of course, we also commonly connect it with “family.”

In response to Corinne, I’d say that the stereotypes Americans make of themselves are somewhat based on what the French and others think. Since we joke about these so often, they come to mind pretty easily when prompted with “America” or “the United States.” My discussion with foreign exchange (from Korea, Sweden, the Netherlands, and Spain) students at my high school have proven to me that much of the developed world views America in this way. It’s rather funny to me although there is truth in some of them (e. g. there is a real problem with obesity, capitalism is pretty central, and lots of Americans eat fast food).

What comes to mind when I think about the Statue of Liberty ? Pour ma part, j’associe la Statue de la Liberté avec Ellis Island. La statue représente alors les espoirs fous de tous ces migrants à leur arrivée en Amérique, pays de la liberté. Je nuancerais ce propos en citant les mots d’un migrant au sujet de son expérience : “I came to America because I heard the streets were paved with gold. When I got here, I found out 3 things : First, the streets weren’t paved with gold. Second, they weren’t paved at all. And third, I was expected to pave them.” Bien amicalement, Carine

I thought it was really interesting that so many French students wrote New York. Similarly, on the France page, most of the American students listed Paris. As an American who has visited NY a few times but isn’t from there, I certainly don’t think New York represents everything there is to know about America. That being said, a lot of Americans really don’t know much about France outside of Paris. To the French students–do any other specific cities come to mind when you think of America?

To ab11 016: I think the french also associate the US with cities like Chicago, Las Vegas and places like Hollywood, but I would also like to know what other cities are thought of when the US comes to mind.

Yeah, I would agree with what the french students are saying about Obama. When he was elected, it was a big thing around the world. I bet students from other countries in the world would mention his name when they think of the United States.

Mikeem95 : Je pense qu’en France nous connaissons un bon nombre de villes américaines, surtout grâce aux séries (enfin, pour ma part). Par exemple, San Francisco, Seattle, Buffalo, Miami, San Diego, Detroit, Denver…. Étonnement, on ne pense pas en priorité à Washington quand on pense aux Etats-Unis, alors que vous vous pensez directement à Paris. Connaissez-vous d’autres villes françaises ?

Romane, strange enough, I am definitely having a hard time coming up with names of French cities. The only French cities that come to my mind are Paris, Lyon, Strasbourg, and Cannes. I think that there is a lot of truth to what ab11 016 said. Even in my past French classes, we only studied Parisian neighborhoods rather than larger regions in France. It is interesting that the French know a lot more American cities. Why do you think this is; is it possibly due to the relative size of the countries or how these places are portrayed in international media?

I would say the media does do a lot. And also Hollywood. People watch  Hollywood movies all over the world, often before the movies even come out here in the U. S. People are naturally pretty bad at remembering names, but not so bad at remembering stories. So when there is a story attached to the name of a place, people will much more likely to remember it. When I think of cities in France, for example, usually I remember the ones that, in my mind, are attached to some story in a movie or to the city’s soccer team. So when I think of Lyon, I think of the Olympique Lyonnais.

Comme vous avez dit, à mon avis, pour la plupart des étrangers, la première ville américaine qu’on se souvient est New York. J’ai vu un film chinois qui s’appelle « American Dreams in China » (fin, le titre traduit ). Ce film reflète un phénomène dans les années 70s et 80s en Chine: un grand nombre d’étudiants chinois voulaient continuer leurs études aux Etats-Unis. Et la ville qui les attirait le plus, c’était New York. Quand le héros a reçu son visa, il était totalement enthousiaste, en criant, « New York city, here I come!» Autrefois, lorsqu’on ne connaissait pas très bien les Etats-Unis, New York représente la prospérité et la richesse. Au fur et à mesure, grâce aux médias, on a obtenu plus d’informations sur les Etats-Unis, mais la première impression n’est pas encore changée.

The US has been the land of “prosperity” for centuries, but I don’t know if this is necessarily true. It’s not like the 1 800s when you could easily find a job working in a mill or factory. Jobs are more competitive now, and it is harder to just up and move to the United States. I do think that New York City is the most famous city in the United States, and I do think this is because of the media. Often in movies, they take place in NYC, or feature it in some way. This is especially true with apocalyptic films. They always want to show something happening to the Statue of Liberty. Personally, I think Boston is a better city, but it isn’t as widely known as NYC.

Solshine, je pense plutôt que l’on connait les villes américaines pour moi et françaises pour toi grâce aux médias. Je pense que tu connais Cannes grâce au festival, non ? Ce n’est pas une très grande ville mais qui pourtant est très connue. C’est aussi grâce aux médias que l’on connait plus New York que d’autres villes. Par exemple, certaines personnes pensent que la capitale des Etats-Unis est New-York : je pense que c’est parce que l’on parle beaucoup plus de New-York que de Washington.
528cultura, je suis d’accord avec toi, il est plus simple de se souvenir d’une ville quand une histoire y est rattachée, comme tu l’as expliqué pour toi Lyon est connu grâce à l’OL (comme dans beaucoup d’autres pays!). Est-ce que vous saviez que Lyon est aussi la ville où le cinématographe a été inventé ?