Why do so many Americans hate French people? (loan, buying)

[Mooseketeer]

Originally Posted by jason1117

I like France.

But French is by no means a beautiful language for a foreigner.And it doesn't seem to be very useful unless you are going to relocate to Montreal.

I have been able to use French in most of Africa,North Africa of course, Eastern Europe ( Russia, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Czech Republic , Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia etc...) , the Middle East , Polynesia, and many other places where they didn't speak English actually. Speaking French has "saven my bacon" on many occasions around the world. And why isn't it a beautiful language?
It also helps a lot with Spanish, Portuguese and Italian as it has the same linguistics base. Remember that until the 19th century , the "Lingua Franca" was French not English and there is a lot of it left.

[Dedalus]

Originally Posted by floridadreamer

The only thing I have heard is the the French are rude and that there's no point even trying to speak french unless you are fluent because they will just ignore you.

Never been to france though. I plan to go, I want to see Paris and Cannes and I have a fascination with french cuisine.

Yes, that talk. I heard it too. It's nonsense. I had a hard time with the language...which was a shame. I got lots of smiles from the French gals.

And the food...it's better. You get served fried eggs, and the yolks are orange, not yellow. French bread...it's worthy of the name.

No, I don't want to go there. Overall, I prefer my own country, the USA. I'm secure in that, so I don't have to go kicking dirt on them. They're great people.

[mrybry]

Hi Mouseketter,
I am an American who studied abroad in Paris my third year in college for seven months. Five years later I visited again for two weeks. During both visits I had very mixed feelings about French (and granted, though I traveled around France, my experience was mostly with Parisians).

From my experiences, I found that I was really sympathetic with the French respect for cultural history and intellectual life. I do believe these aspects are stronger in France than in the US, and I wish US culture was a little more respectful of intellectual life and the joys of reading (not just watching TV).
I am in agreement with many French political beliefs...I wish US had a better health care system, hadn't gone into Iraq, etc.

Despite my strong interest in French society and culture, however, I left France after both of my visits feeling like (if I could avoid it) I never wanted to return.

For one, I find the French to be more overtly racist than the Americans. I think Americans are (on the inside) probably just as racist as the French but, because of stiffer laws, political correctness, or whatever, its just not as tolerated in the US and people don't show it as much.

Though I think you are right that much of Parisians "rudeness" is probably (like Bostonians' or New Yorkers') just an aspect of city life. However, I did find Paris to be worse. When I studied abroad in Paris I was a single woman in my early twenties. I had lived in Chicago and Boston, so I was used to having men occasionally hassle me on city streets, subways, etc. Paris was another ballpark, though. I learned pretty quickly that I did not have freedom to walk alone in a number of seemingly "safe" locations and that, when hassled (on two occasions violently), I should not expect any other French people standing by to offer any assistance or compassion.

When I had other problems in Paris (lost luggage on airlines, confusion with registering for classes, etc.) I also was shocked at the lack of compassion (and seemingly universal indifference) of those I talked to. I know this probably would have been different if I had been dealing with non-Parisians, but I still can't help but think part of it can be chalked up to the different beliefs in "customer service" and politeness between the US and France. I also couldn't help but think part of the lack of compassion was due to the fact that I was American, despite the fact that I always spoke to others in French and followed French social customs.

I know this is just my personal story, but perhaps it helps to explain how some Americans (even those who set out to really love French culture) may end up frustrated, and sometimes even hating France.

[mrybry]

Oh, I should add one more thing. I was in France on and after September 11th, and I will say I was amazed at how warm and caring the French were to me on that day and about a week after. Even in the tabac, if the person behind the counter could tell my accent was American, he would stop to tell me how sorry he was and/or ask if anyone in my family was hurt.

Thanks for all the posts by the way. This is a really interesting discussion!

[Mooseketeer]

Originally Posted by mrybry

Hi Mouseketter,
I am an American who studied abroad in Paris my third year in college for seven months. Five years later I visited again for two weeks. During both visits I had very mixed feelings about French (and granted, though I traveled around France, my experience was mostly with Parisians).

From my experiences, I found that I was really sympathetic with the French respect for cultural history and intellectual life. I do believe these aspects are stronger in France than in the US, and I wish US culture was a little more respectful of intellectual life and the joys of reading (not just watching TV).
I am in agreement with many French political beliefs...I wish US had a better health care system, hadn't gone into Iraq, etc.

Despite my strong interest in French society and culture, however, I left France after both of my visits feeling like (if I could avoid it) I never wanted to return.

For one, I find the French to be more overtly racist than the Americans. I think Americans are (on the inside) probably just as racist as the French but, because of stiffer laws, political correctness, or whatever, its just not as tolerated in the US and people don't show it as much.

Though I think you are right that much of Parisians "rudeness" is probably (like Bostonians' or New Yorkers') just an aspect of city life. However, I did find Paris to be worse. When I studied abroad in Paris I was a single woman in my early twenties. I had lived in Chicago and Boston, so I was used to having men occasionally hassle me on city streets, subways, etc. Paris was another ballpark, though. I learned pretty quickly that I did not have freedom to walk alone in a number of seemingly "safe" locations and that, when hassled (on two occasions violently), I should not expect any other French people standing by to offer any assistance or compassion.

When I had other problems in Paris (lost luggage on airlines, confusion with registering for classes, etc.) I also was shocked at the lack of compassion (and seemingly universal indifference) of those I talked to. I know this probably would have been different if I had been dealing with non-Parisians, but I still can't help but think part of it can be chalked up to the different beliefs in "customer service" and politeness between the US and France. I also couldn't help but think part of the lack of compassion was due to the fact that I was American, despite the fact that I always spoke to others in French and followed French social customs.

I know this is just my personal story, but perhaps it helps to explain how some Americans (even those who set out to really love French culture) may end up frustrated, and sometimes even hating France.

I am sorry to hear of your experiences but sadly I have had the same experience in the UK for example ( I've lived here for 18 years) and Italy. I honestly don't believe French people are more antagonistic towards Americans than other people but to the Bush government.
France is getting better with racism though there is still a long way to go , but the UK isn't better believe me.
And I have been really shocked at the racism and hatred on this forum for example so I think America is sadly the same too.
I am disabled and believe me I have not noticed any more compassion in the UK or the US. Nobody helps or shows any compassion in big cities. I find as soon as you go in rural areas ( everywhere) all of a sudden people become helpful and a lot nicer.

[kristy3737]

I must say that I just have made positive experiences with French people so far. I have studied in Australia for a while and met lots of French there. I am still friends with many of them.

Some of you have made bad experiences with the French but I guess you always have to be aware that you should generalize. Just because you made a bad experience not all French are bad people!!!!

[mrybry]

As I said before, I think many Americans may be just as racist as the French at heart, but by and large I think it is much less acceptible to show it in public. (Believe me, this is something I paid a lot of attention to in both the US and Paris and I am not saying this lightly.)

I also am very surprised that you have not found America to be more accessible for people with disabilities. Everything I have ever heard has been just the opposite...due to the Americans with Disabilities act, I think America is pretty much number one for accessibility. How many elevators in Paris could a person in a wheelchair actually fit into? How many national sites in France could a person in a wheelchair visit compared to sites in the US sites?

Anyway, don't get me wrong...I think France is a beautiful country and I admire many aspects of its culture. I just thought I'd point out some of the problems I had with it that go beyond the typical stereotypes of the French being snooty and smelly.

I also just thought I'd mention that I almost never hear anyone say anything bad about the French in the US. Granted, I live in Southern California where there's more cultural exchange going East than West.

Though I do hear people say French movies are boring...

[Mooseketeer]

[quote=mrybry;1084001]As I said before, I think many Americans may be just as racist as the French at heart, but by and large I think it is much less acceptible to show it in public. (Believe me, this is something I paid a lot of attention to in both the US and Paris and I am not saying this lightly.)

I also am very surprised that you have not found America to be more accessible for people with disabilities. Everything I have ever heard has been just the opposite...due to the Americans with Disabilities act, I think America is pretty much number one for accessibility. How many elevators in Paris could a person in a wheelchair actually fit into? How many national sites in France could a person in a wheelchair visit compared to sites in the US sites?


Anyway, don't get me wrong...I think France is a beautiful country and I admire many aspects of its culture. I just thought I'd point out some of the problems I had with it that go beyond the typical stereotypes of the French being snooty and smelly.

I also just thought I'd mention that I almost never hear anyone say anything bad about the French in the US. Granted, I live in Southern California where there's more cultural





I wasn't talking about disabled access, I was talking about people's attitude. I have found that nobody will stand up and give me a seat or help me if I drop my walking stick pretty much anywhere in any big western cities and nobody tries to help generally. Americans are just as bad . Actually the most helpful people are in the third world.

Being French maybe I have had difference experiences to you but when I lived in the US , people who had otherwise been really friendly to me became very chilly and sometimes downright rude when I mentioned I was French ( I sound British and they loved me until then). I lived in the US for 3 years and I heard so many really negative and incredibly critical things about France, the majority from Americans who had never even been there which I thought was a bit rich. I did also get fed up of hearing jokes about the French being lazy, cowardly and dirty as well as arrogant etc...

Movie wise there are some excellent American movies but a heck of a lot of rubbish too ! I prefer foreign "art "movies anyway, not necessarily French but I prefer small budget films as they tend to be have slightly more of a plot.

I do love America ( my paternal Grand-Father was American and I studied in the US) and Americans but I think America is no different than Europe in terms of its shortcomings.

[Mooseketeer]

Mrybry, I apologise your text was cut off when I pressed quote and it didn't work as usual. I had no idea how to remedy to it. Oops.

[Jzer21]

When visiting France, Americans generally only go to Paris. Paris' Unité Urbain is slightly more populous than Chicagoland (according to Wikipedia). However, in the US, you'd never expect every Chicagoan to be friendly and exhibit perfect customer service and respect. You wouldn't walk up to a complete strange on Michigan Avenue and expect him/her to understand and answer your questions in a foreign language. However, for some reason, Americans don't transfer their knowledge of big American cities to foreign cities. They think that different rules apply or something, so when Parisians get a little snooty about it, Americans cannot understand why. So, in a nutshell, I think ignorance and an ethnocentric attitude are the main reasons.