by skwalker15, March 4, 2014, 7:41 AM
Americans seem to have a more negative opinion of work, seeing it as something difficult, stressful, and tedious that has to be done. On the other hand, the French seem to have a more positive opinion of it — it is something they are motivated to do in order to make money. It seems as though working is an accomplishment to the French, not an obligation, as it is to Americans.

by jfrancoisgaleazzi, March 4, 2014,3:32 PM
Visiblement la notion du travail est vue très différemment que nous soyons français ou américains avec cependant un point commun; l’argent. Les français semblent attendre de travail des améliorations d’eux mêmes. Alors que, peut-être, les américains ne semblent voir que l’aspect négatif du travail.

by jraynal, March 4, 2014 ,3:45 PM
Il semble effectivement que le travail soit un problème, une obligation du point de vue américain. Trop peu le voient comme l’oeuvre d’une vie, un accomplissement personnel, le moyen de meubler sa vie. Tandis qu’en France, on l’associe au devoir, une obligation due à notre système social qui ne pourrait pas marcher sans travailleurs. Néanmoins, on retrouve de chaque côté l’importance de la rémunération.

by wandujar, March 4, 2014,4:11 PM
Pour vous les Américains, la finalité du travail est-elle plutôt la rémunération ou l’accomplissement de soi ?

Sarah W, March 6, 2014, 4:36 AM
I think Americans are more concerned with the salary they get from working, rather than the self-improving aspect. Maybe part of the American dream is reaching that point of success so that you don’t have to work anymore. Do people in France really value their work? Do you get a lot out of it?

by adamsk2014, March 6, 2014, 5:29 AM
I would agree that many Americans want to work to the point where they don’t have to anymore. All Americans want to enjoy the work they do but if forced to make a choice, most would go with money over self-fulfillment. It also seemed to me that a few of the people on the American side were thinking more about schoolwork than a job. Is salary a main concern for people in France?

by mbennaim, March 6, 2014,7:23 AM
I think that a lot of the responses on the American side were about work in college like classwork and homework. In college, work like this is generally viewed as being a “necessary evil” that is generally difficult and/or unpleasant, although occasionally rewarding. The French side seemed to focus more on actual jobs/money. In French, is the word “travail” applicable for classwork? or is the word “devoir” more appropriate.

by esparrs, March 6, 2014, 3:01 PM
I think that the Americans have a biased opinion because of our experience at MIT. We can see this when all of the MIT students think about hard work and how stressful it is in contrast to the French who think more about work as a career. Is this because we have differing experiences in college?

by esparrs, March 6, 2014,3:03 PM
Students at MIT are always working towards the idea of success, which often times is in the form of work/career. We try to work hard in school in order to get a good job in order to be “successful” as touched upon before.

by dengxinyue0420, March 7, 2014, 5:16 AM
The most common words that americans mention are “hard” and “busy” or “stressful”, but French mention more about “argent”. I don’t know if the difference comes from the different culture, or it is because most of problems are answered by MIT students. As a MIT student, we might take our work ver serious, not only for money, but for a future. I think this is why we feel work is hard and stressful. Also, I heard that French have a better working schedule, and they have many vacations, so I think that’s why they don’t think work is hard and stressful.

by Sarah W, March 7, 2014, 6:20 AM
Going slightly off-topic, what is homework like at your school? Do you find it tedious and unnecessary? Or do you think of it as self-improving? Also, do students at your school tend to do jobs on the side, just for some extra spending money?

by mbennaim, March 7, 2014, 6:57 AM
I agree with people’s comments about how the words here stem from the fact that we are MIT students. They associate work with stress and being hard. This is mostly because MIT’s culture pushes students to work very hard and also complain a fair amount about it. It is very common at MIT for people to commiserate about how much work they have, so I think this is reflected in the words people chose – “hard,” “stressful,” but also things like “persistence” and “satisfying.”

by wandujar, March 10, 2014, 7:49 PM
@mbennaim oui le mot “travail” est synonyme de “devoir” en France.
Je vous rassure le travail en France doit être aussi stressant et occupant que le travail aux Etats-Unis, tout dépend de votre fonction. C’est vrai qu’en France, on a tendance à rester dans la même entreprise toute sa vie, “faire carrière” mais cela ne signifie pas que le travail est plus facile.

by esparrs, March 11, 2014, 12:44 AM
It’s interesting to connect this conversation with “bon emploi/good job.” We were discussing how the French tended to stay at the same jobs for their whole lives in contrast to their American counterparts who tend to may look to be frequently changing careers. Could this be attributed to how our cultures look at work?

by wandujar, March 11, 2014, 3:10 PM
Je ne sais pas si c’est lié à notre culture mais en tout cas, il est vrai que la majorité des travailleurs en France cherchent à rester dans la même entreprise toute leur vie. Bien évidemment, il y a des personnes qui cherchent la mobilité et certains emplois sont synonymes de mobilité. Il s’agît plutôt des employés dans les grandes entreprises industrielles qui sont concernés par les carrières.

by meinew, March 11, 2014,  3:59 PM
@ dengxinyue0420
J’ai du mal à comprendre en quoi la présence de congé en quantité plus élevée et un emploi du temps moins étalé permettrait de rendre le travail moins stressant et plus facile.
En effet la quantité exigée n’est pas pour autant réduite. Par conséquent, le temps de travail est plus rempli devenant ainsi plus favorable au stress.

by mpeysale, March 11, 2014, 3:59 PM
@mbennaim Je pense qu’en France on insiste beaucoup sur l’importance de s’épanouir par le travail, mais il n’en reste pas moins que le travail peut être éprouvant et source de stress.

by plefebvre91, March 11, 2014, 7:27 PM
@Sarah W “I think Americans are more concerned with the salary they get from working” – Nous sommes aussi préoccupés que vous par notre futur salaire. L’argent est d’ailleurs une motivation pour beaucoup d’entre nous. Cependant c’est un sujet un peu tabou en France. Il est par exemple difficile de savoir combien gagne un proche (famille ou ami), et considéré comme très indiscret de poser la question. Quand il s’agit du travail, pour éviter le sujet de l’argent, on préfère se retrancher derrière des sujets comme “l’épanouissement de soi”.

by ymentagui, March 13, 2014, 12:40 PM
il est clair que la notion de travail chez les américains signifie quelque chose de pénible et difficile contrairement aux français qui voient le travail comme étant un prestige et une source de l’argent conduisant à la stabilité de la vie.