- 08:42am
Oct 10, 2001

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Apparemment, les américains sont beaucoup moins critiques par rapport à la France que les français ne le sont vis-à-vis des USA. Merci beaucoup pour tous ces compliments. Je pense que les critiques sont elles aussi totalement justifiées.
Il est intéressant de constater que la France est encore associée à la nourriture, notamment au vin rouge. relax... we're not ALWAYS drunk...
De plus, le mot "europe" revient aussi souvent dans les associations des étudiants français que dans celles des américains, et il apparaît plus souvent que les années précédent. Donc, peu à peu, l'idée européenne fait son chemin...

- 07:26pm Oct
10, 2001

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En ajout à ce qu'écrit Olivier, je me permets de vous poser une question sur l'Europe. Comment est-elle vue depuis les Etats-Unis, et surtout comment la voyez-vous, vous ?

- 03:59am
Oct 11, 2001

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Il est intereesant de voir que même pour les français, la France est liée à la gastronomie. Nous semblons également très proche de notre culture de nos traditions et de notre langue. Le problème de la protection de notre langue et de notre culture reste une question d'actualité avec l'introduction des langues régionales dans les programmes scolaires. Beaucoup craignent l'invasion de la cuture anglo-saxon.
Les étudiants Americains font restortir la beauté des paysages et de Paris. Mais ne vous y tromper pas, la France c'est aussi les banlieues, la povreté et l'insécurité. Mais ces aspects ne sont généralement pas montrés aux touristes étrangers.

- 02:31pm Oct
11, 2001

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Most Americans find France beautiful and rich with culture, which is true. Walk into any museum and you find an abundance of French art, especially from the Impressionist period. And of course the food, is Ummm.. Delicious, and the wine... what can I say.

Paris is the most beautiful city I have been to. It is very romantic, in a melancholic sort of way - a kind of sad beauty with flashes of joy.

- 03:11pm Oct
11, 2001

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Etant moi-même presque parisien, je trouve que vous avez trouvé exactement les bons-et les beaux- mots pour définir Paris telle que je la vois.Bravo!

- 11:26pm Oct
11, 2001

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The image of French people is interesting, though: "selfobsessed" "snobs", "perpetual complainers" (:)), of the more ticklish ones.
Is this a common stereotype, and do you think there's some truth in it?

- 11:55pm Oct
11, 2001

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Oliver, I am totally agreeing with you. Finally the word European is moving into the common vocabulary. I might add to your comment that even in american newspapers I am starting to see more and more references to the EU rather than to individual states. Let's hope this trend won't change.

-Claudio

- 12:00am Oct
12, 2001

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It is fairly interesting to notice that very few americans associate with the term France the ideals of democracy. Very different story of course for the french counterpart. Why do you think this is the case?

-Claudio

- 06:59am
Oct 12, 2001

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En réponse à Ivana, je voudrais confirmer que je vois également les français comme de perpétuels raleurs. Il ne se passe pas une semaine sans qu'il y ait une grève. Je pense que c'est dans notre culture. La grève est ici très utlisée pour faire progresser les lois sociales. C'est grâce à ces mouvements qu'on a tant de congés payés ou une bonne couverture sociale, ce qui n'est pas le cas aux Etats-Unis. Par contre, dès que le gouvernement veut mettre en place une réforme necessaire au développement du pays, les gens sont tellement attachés à leurs avantages acquis que cela provoque immédiatement un mouvement de grève. Il est très difficile ici de faire changer les habitudes.

- 01:09pm Oct
14, 2001

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I tend to associate France with Africa as well as Europe. It seems to me that it is the melting-pot of the majority of African immigrants in Europe, because of the large number of African countries where it is spoken.

Do any of the French students see such a link with Africa?

By the way, I suppose then that there is a large Arabic community in France. How are they reacting to the attacks on Afghanistan?

- 01:12pm Oct
14, 2001

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Do any French students feel any regrets towards the Euro? Do you feel that it will result at all in a loss of identity by losing your national currency?

- 03:52pm Oct
14, 2001

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A mon avis, beaucoup de français craignent l'euro, non à cause d'une pseudo perte d'identité (le franc n'a jamais vraiment été une monnaie forte) mais plutôt à cause des problèmes qu'il va engendré (et qu'il engendre deja): conversion, informatique...

- 04:00pm Oct
14, 2001

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La réaction de l'immense majorité de la communauté musulmane de France a été à la mesure de celle de la majorité des musulmans du monde: la condamnation totale et sans concession de la politique de terrorisme d'etat menée par les talibans et leurs alliés. Par contre, la guerre engagée par les USA ne semble pas avoir recueilli tous les suffrages (ce qui est très compréhensible).

- 04:04pm Oct
14, 2001

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Gerardo mentioned the loss of currency and Capucine said something about the pressure of foreign cultures. Are there any other misgivings that you feel the French popluation have about the unification of Europe?

- 04:44pm Oct
14, 2001

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It is said that French are for European unification, especially creation of an European army as a counterweight to the US. France wants to punch above its weight in the world, and given its poetential, it can only do so through the EU. Do you think this is a correct prescription?

Also, given that one of the first motives for forming the EU was to bind France and Germany closer together to prevent more wars, does France feel uncomfortable with the rising importance of Germany in the EU and the world. Also it is builing closer relationships with Britain and the US. Does that bother the French?

- 09:03pm Oct
14, 2001

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Somebody put down Marianne as a word association. Who is she please?

- 11:18pm Oct
14, 2001

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Hello!

Before going to live in Paris, I had a very positive conception of
France and Parisian society (based upon my own preconceptions, as well as brief visits), and many of the word-associations reflect these preconceived notions. After living in Paris, I decided that most of my optimistic preconceptions were true -- life in Paris is truly delicious, beautiful, enriching, etc. From an American's point-of-view, most of the shortcomings would fall into the comparitively trivial domain of "consumer convenience" -- shortcomings that were of course easy to excuse, and posed no significant trouble at all. (For example, many Americans would consider it extraordinary that if one opens a bank account in one branch office of BNP, then one has to do business with the same branch office always, and that in order to deactivate your account, the teller might ask for your card and clip it with a pair of scissors.)

I am often dismayed that many Americans find that Parisians treat them rudely. Luckily, I never had this problem. At least a couple of words on the American side of the word-list reflect this attitude.
(And some foreigners are so intimidated by this stereotype that they are too anxious to pose questions in English using entire sentences! An American woman once asked me: "Eiffel Tower?" pointing aimlessly into the sky -- suggesting a question about where to find the Eiffel Tower -- naturally, she was embarrassed when I answered in plain English.) I wonder if Parisians have the same attitude about New Yorkers -- a lot of Americans do.

There are many other amusing preconceptions that surface from time to time. One of them is that Paris is "dirty" (witness the models of Paris in the new film "Moulin Rouge", which are many times more filthy than Paris is in real life -- in real life, it's not really dirty at all -- certainly not by world standards!)

Another misconception is that the French do not enjoy the same "standard of living." Even if this were true in some sense, then what one relinquishes in terms of "standard-of-living," one certainly recovers in "quality of life." (At the cafeteria in the university where I was working as a scientist, wine was served at lunch, and one is charged for the cost of water. The hors d'oeuvres are plentiful, the desserts are superb, the student meals are subsidized! This alone is totally unthinkable in Lobdell at MIT, where I'm often left guessing what kind of meat has been served.)

Wes

- 02:02am Oct
15, 2001

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"La grève est ici très utlisée pour faire progresser les lois sociales. C'est grâce à ces mouvements qu'on a tant de congés payés ou une bonne couverture
sociale, ce qui n'est pas le cas aux Etats-Unis. Par contre, dès que le gouvernement veut mettre en place une réforme necessaire au développement du pays, les gens sont
tellement attachés à leurs avantages acquis que cela provoque immédiatement un mouvement de grève. Il est très difficile ici de faire changer les habitudes."

Being from Europe, I also have an impression that in its bureaucratic societies it is hard to make a change, and it's always very slow. It could be a reason for the attitudes of the French.
When I came to the US, I was shocked by how faster the pace here is, by how many changes one encounters within a short time, and by how people here adapt to them so quickly. On an individual level, for example, everyone here changes three or four careers, whereas at home people are "stuck" with their first choice for the rest of their lives, and usually never change a company they work for (although this might be a bit untrue lately).
Such a difference makes people here more relaxed about their decisions and open to new things, very active and hard-working, doers rather than talkers, very adaptable. There is something modern and exciting about such attitude and I can't help admiring it.
Do you think that now in the process of globalization such trend is spreading or will spread?

- 10:12am
Oct 15, 2001

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Je ne pense pas que les français deviennent un jour très flexible. Mais tout dépend à quelle classe sociale on appartient. Je pense que les cadres supérieurs sont plutôt flexibles. Il sont evidemment prêt pour la plupart à changer de travail pour avoir une promotion. Le problème vient des gens peu qualifiés qui ont énormément de difficultés à trouver du travail. Ce sont eux qui sont le plus touchés par le chômage et qui se battent pour garder le peu de privilèges qu'ils ont. Ce n'est pas facile pour eux de dire comme ça, je vais changer de travail car ils risquent simplement de ne pas en retrouver.