French Culture vs. American Culture: Key mindset differences according to research!
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France vs. USA Culture according to research! Why the French culture and American culture can seem so opposing at times + key cultural differences between US and France in business!
French vs American Culture comparison is a tale as old as time! In this video, I dive into the latest cultural research and data to explain why their behaviours may appear to be so different!
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Do you have experience with French American cultural differences? Any other French culture vs American points you'd like to share? Let us know down below!
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content starts at 2:47
I can’t believe she waste that much time in the beginning! 😡
As a French, studying in Danemark was a nightmare, espcially in groupwork. I knew I loved my debate mais MON DIEU, I found a nation even more into debating that we are !
Dane here.
That's strange 🤨 when i try to have a debate with people here in Denmark, people couldn't bother less. My experience is, that danish people are very closed off, and faceplant their mobile phones. Danish people are not very much into having conversations about different topics and views... it's really sad.
Although Americans like in theory to take risks, the way their health system is set up means that, in practice, lots of them are stuck in jobs they don't dare quit because they would lose what coverage they have. In France (and generally every developed country that isn't the US), since health care access isn't an issue, people have more practical freedom to pursue their professional calling.
You think FRENCH are time flexible? You clearly never been to Brazil...
Farahen Den nor u have been to the Arab world!!!! Lol
ever been to jamaica ?? mexico??? lmao
Italy too!
Vous connaissez la Guadeloupe ou la Martinique ? C’est encore plus fort que ça
kkkkkkk
So if you find the American culture to be very direct, you'll need a whole new scale for Germans ;)
Jr Gilmore Argentines are the same. I felt like I came from an extremely passive and passive-aggressive culture when I moved to Argentina, being American.
And the Russians 😄
@@lyzzochka yeah well Russians even shock me as a German 😂. Whole new scale for them!!
Exactly my thought 😂
Germans are quite direct, I find. Americans most of the time will never tell you what they really think because they fear hurting your feelings. Everything is good and bubbly even when it’s not. There’s a lot of pressure to keep a positive outlook at all times.
There are ALWAYS exceptions to EVERYTHING.
The French are the only ones who go collectively on vacation in August? In Romania everything is closed in August too. With some exceptions nothing moves. Tbh I think it's pretty common in Europe.
Miruna Ioana Manea same in Italy.
well, it's july OR august
@@osez111 yep, you're right. You can't just completely shut down the economy
On vacation time, coming from the perspective of working in the US for 40 years as an engineer for large multi-national US corporations, it's been my experience that it is expected that the work will slow down during certain times of the year, for example, when spring arrives, during summer months (because children are off school) and what are called "the holidays" in the US - Thanksgiving through New Years (Late Nov-Early Jan) but holidays in other countries had to also be taken into account when those locations were involved in certain projects. In the US, not everyone will clear out but it will be harder for teams to function (and impossible during "the holidays"). So deadlines will be set accordingly. The slower times are opportunities to do more individualized work. In other matters, long term relations with employers is largely a thing of the past as well as employers investing in employee training, etc., employees are expected to carry a large burden of risk - if the company or economy-at-large falters, employees must have enough savings to get by without a job (there is some help from government unemployment insurance) and have to pay for training/education to improve skills (generally, but some find it profitable to train some employees and there are state-subsidized schools). Employees who are exceptionally productive tend to have the ear of management as well as perks to keep them too comfortable to leave during boom times and tend to be kept on staff during downturns in profits. Managers do listen carefully to what employees think about productivity, they must compete with other companies and even managers in their own company, but they have to contend with whatever issues plague large organizations. They can't and tolerate negative (showing disrepect) comments and expect employees to create a positive atmosphere for each other and customers as this is very disruptive to business otherwise. There has been a movement of late to "encourage" employees, especially supervisory ones, to create a safer environment, more respect, etc., and I've noted this seems to sometimes create a tendency to be what might be considered "superficial" or even patronizing behavior to avoid risk of failing to support this program, especially in high stress situations, so people seem to sometimes overcompensate or simply avoid discussion. I'm interested to know if this same situation exists in France and if so how it manifests itself but it is a basic human need which is being addressed in any society to various degrees and in various ways.
The Chinese people all have the exact same days off, one week in October, one week in February and a day or two here and there. It's extremely frustrating because it means all train tickets are sold out and if you manage to get a ticket it's really expensive and it will be insanely packed no matter where you go.
I've been watching Emily in Paris and it's made me even more curious about the French cultural differences. I love cultures in general.Just fasinating.Thanks for your informative and entertaining video.🙂
Please as a french I just beg you : Don't put up your mind about France and expecially about Paris according to what you see in that stupid show : there is absolutely nothing accurate in that dumb thing.
I'm sorry and I usually like your site... But this time, argh... I worked for an American company for 22 years, I also studied linguistics in Canada, where I did my PhD, and I worked in England as well. First the implicit/explicit notion is totally bizarre. For a Frenchman, American communication style is full of implicit stuff, which takes for ages to decipher. I remember for instance, the first time some colleagues were fired, the formulation was that they were considered redundant??? An other example is when you propose something and the person responds: "it is interesting", which usually means: it is not worth it. Languages are full of these implicit elements of language, which a native speaker will decipher immediately but will be opaque to a foreigner. The problem is that the kind of book you mention takes Anglo-saxon culture as a reference point and compares the rest of the world to it, and the authors simply overlook the implicit nature of their language, because they speak it. When I was in Canada, I often had conversation with people who would say things such as: we Québécois are much more straightforward and natural than you Europeans, taking their culture as a reference and understanding my own culture as a weird unnatural derivation of theirs.
The last point is: please refrain from stating this old lantern that English has 7 times more words than French, it is totally misleading. The size of the lexicon in both languages is much larger than the number of words that people usually know passively or actively. The English culture puts a lot of emphasis in the size of your vocabulary, and we put more emphasis on the grammar. But, nobody knows every single word in the French language, that would be insane. When you say that English has a lot more words than French, it is a projection of what it means to be cultured in your society onto French. If our vocabulary size was an issue, why are we that obsessed with the "mot juste"? The rules to consider a word to be part of English are different from the one in French. In English, it suffices that a word has been printed once in a book or in an article to make it a word of English. Furthermore, very old words which are no longer used or understood are still part of the official lexicon. In the French tradition, old words are usually kept in separate syllabus (Trésor de la langue française) and trimmed from official dictionaries.
I think that what she means by american are straightforward is more that they go to the point without making "detours" compared to french, but that doesn't mean that they are honest. In facts, it is more difficult for an anglo saxon to tell what they think , the "hard truth". That's why they use word like "redondant" for "fired".. it's a little bit subtle.
@@auroraborealis6398 i don't get the difference between being straightforward and being honest. Probably a probleme of vocabulary
Exactly. Just listen to the US Federal Reserve chairman speaks to the public on TV and most people, even for people working on Wall Street, couldn't understand if he intends to raise or drop interest rates going forward.
@@auroraborealis6398 I do not want to sound rude, but you are contradicting yourself a little bit in the same sentence. You say Americans do not take any detour to tell the truth and then in the same sentence, you say then cannot say things bluntly. Again, she describes the way Americans see themselves, their ideal self. The reality that I experienced for 22 years is laughably different from this description.
First, managers were moved all the time without any notice, you would start a project and two weeks later the guy you were working with would be replaced by someone new, to whom you'll have to explain the project from scratch all over again. It was impossible during a meeting to question some choices made by the management. Decisions had been made above you, and you could not argue whenever you could see that they meant failure.
When your project would fall behind schedule (they always did), the answer would be to add more people to work on the topic, not a reassessment of your priorities. In that case, people would be debarked into your project from other projects without any ideas of what they should be working on, and the task to find them a job would be an incredible loss of time. Of course, the reverse was true, a manager would consider your project a low priority and would move your people to their project. Teams were so bloated, that nobody knew who was working on what. Since managers were moved on a regular basis (in the place where I used to work almost every six months), no one was responsible for anything. Where in France, we had teams of four to five people on a project, the US would have 10 or 20 people on the same tasks, and of course they would never be on schedule. The reality was that a lot of people would spend long hours at the office without doing any actual jobs.
Actually, when it comes to risk, the US falls far behind most Western countries in terms of business creations and when it comes to climbing the social ladder, they rank last. The gap between mythology and reality is grotesque. Without the constant flow of Europeans and Asians to the US, the country would be unable to sustain any kind of research and development today. This kind of self-congratulating, we are a nation of entrepreneurs, hardworking kind of guys, makes me cringe today.
I would not say that French people do it better, but we do not gloat about our work culture with such a delusion of grandeur.
In that same book, the culture map, they make the difference between two scales : Low/High context and Ease/Difficulty of giving negative feedback, if I remember correctly. While Rosie mentioned the first one, she did not speak about the second one. Americans speak with low context, what they say is explicit and direct... but they are rather positive and have difficulty giving negative feedback, so they will always try to sugarcoat things in that situation "well, we'll think about that". The French will be very comfortable with giving negative feedback (they like complaining, critiquing), but they will tend to do so indirectly by sighing and saying things with implied meaning. This may seem contradictory, but it's quite accurate with my experience with both cultures. And my examples are quite stereotypical, but it's for illustration.
Fully geeked! I'm fascinated by cultural differences and you presented this is such an exciting way. :D
I'm a geek cuz I watched till the end! Thoroughly enjoyed these thoughts on the 2 cultures. As an American, I agree with you that we're about the time is money and getter done mentality. One thing that always puzzles me is that in my experience, the higher ups in the workplace/ company never ask the workers what can we do differently to to support you or to help make your work more efficient. It's as though they think they see it all and know it all and they come up with new ways for the workers to do things that are mostly not helpful but make them feel good, often creating more inefficiency and bog people down with rules and busywork. I'd like to see more teamwork between the stratas in the hierarchy.
@@NotEvenFrench just curious , have yu visited la bretagne like morbihan or whatever ? yu would probably find funny we kept a lot from celt culture xP
Hi Fran how are you doing?
After 14 years working for an American compagny And now back to a French one, I suffer tremendously 😣. It is time consuming doing nothing except ego massage, sorry political way to say it would be “taking care if your network” it is not based on performance but on who likes you..
So frustrating
Ego massage is in France? Sounds exactly like Holland. Work is not about performance. It is not about performance
Sorry it is about being a good person. Who likes you indeed. I really love capitalistic fast passed countries idk
I challenge you to take the Clozemaster 10 languages 10 questions each challenge. Pick any 10 languages video yourself taking the challenge and inspire us. (whether you have studied are familiar with or not). This is a fun opportunity to showcase your talent with a little bit of humility proving you too are human and still a language learner. You can put the flags of the 10 languages you choose for the challenge in both the thumbnail and the title and tag the video as #takingtheclozemaster 10 languages challenge. While also tagging the languages of the challenge. When choosing from a diverse variety of languages consider this, to include some of those you're familiar with, those that you are not, and those that you will later learn. Choosing to include a conlang like Interlingua and an ancient language like Latin will keep the challenge diverse while bringing recognition to these languages (you may surprise yourself). Consider getting a hold of Clozemaster they may be interested in sponsoring the video. We as a community of language Learners need a challenge that we can all appreciate and try together. To get the most out of the video challenge adjust the settings as follows: put the skills to listening, the question count to 10, and the mode to multiple choice. Then you can adjust the account to dark mode (as it's more attractive) and the default speed to 75% for better hearing the questions. Doing a dry run will ensure all the settings are correct. Keep a notepad by your side to keep track of the language scores. Before you end the video it would be nice if you encouraged other polyglots and language Learners to take up the challenge.
Buenas suerte
Carpe Diem
السلام عليكم
This is exactly the kind of information I was looking for, well done! Can you do more like this?
Wonderful presentation and dissecting of these traits ... best of all, the explanation!
Love the scale (visuals) on the bottom of the screen 👍
This was fascinating - thank you !
It may be true that American are more individualistic at work , but I found United States much more collective in their personal lives. For instance, it is very rare to find people that are not part of a community, whether it is a religious one(a particular church), a school (college sweater), a team, a gender, a political group etc.... Status defines people and they tend to stay in their community (except in the military which is actually the biggest melting pot).
Yeah, I thought about it also. Man is always considered as a part of some racial, ideological or class group in US. And explicit/implicit also is ambivalent issue.
Only if it is compare to more individualistic countries
It's a weird statement given the fact there are 1,5 million associations in France, which has probably the strongest associational network in the world.
Yeah, thats part of what I hate about it here. Plus work is kind of life here and I don't like that idea. So what makes me happy isn't as important as this guy making a buck? It's honestly depressing.
Edit- in fact my what I just said is seen as naive here in the US.
@@ogamiitto8627 an association is pretty allways a melting pot : i'm a part of 3 dufferent ones, and except our common interest, ive never seen such melting pots ! We are all differents in color, ages, sex, and social level..
Rosie this is a beautiful summary of many books I've read on the differences. It would drive me absolutely mental to hear a "et voila" and to walk away from the meeting without direct and clear actions! Haha, I don't know how you managed it. And congratulations on cracking the art of the French correspondence; I would create career sabotage! Here in Vancouver the French friends I know and my Parisian ex are MASTERS of creating connection and networking. I'm always amazed and need to take a page from their book. Thanks for explaining why they've been taught that! Gros bisous! x
Very insightful. Thank you for sharing!
As someone taking some communications courses as part of my Bachelor's in Psychology, this was a great lesson, reinforcing a lot of what i learned in Human Communications...thank you
Ah I’ve received the culture map book as a gift, so excited to read it, thank you for a super interesting video, I love culture and culture comparison!
Most interesting thing was the ‘cadre’ v ‘non cadre’, I would have thought the French would have found a way around the rule. Doesn’t seem very ‘egalité’. In the UK I think previous education is seen as significantly less important after you’ve been in the workplace a few years x
Hello Jean Byrne. The Swiss Company I worked for merged with a British one. Based on my experience, one of the major corporate culture gap/clash was around the hierarchy and the management of your staff. As a matter of fact, the Swiss companies, like the Swiss society in general, are rather « egalitarian » and we were not keen on making differences with clear external signs of power between the different ranks and positions on the organigram. For instance, everybody in the firm was clocking in and out. To our surprise, our colleagues from the British working environment wanted to make visible and tangible differences between management and non-management, the new labels for white-collars and blue-collars, as if they wanted the management population to be the members of a very private club with a very restricted access. Therefore, they manage to have new rules established to make differences. Among them, it was decided that only non-managers will be obliged to clock in and out. So, I am not sure the UK society is not looking at your social position to decide if you have a chance to climb the social ladder or not.
Xaxa Lolo interesting 🧐 thanks for sharing your experiences!
J'ai adoré cette vidéo, super super intéressant !!
That was so interesting ! I agree on most points except on the implicit/explicit part. I work in a technical enviromnent and in e-mails or minutes of meetings we always have bullet points for the actions needed, the person who it is assigned to and when it is due
Yeah, looking at the mails my French boss sent me I don't think she took much time writing it...
Well, I've just decided I must be French and nobody has told me ;)
Super interesting video, especially at the end about the "cadre" positions. As a German I have always found Americans/Australians/etc to be very implicit in their communication though I agree with you that their working style is pretty straightforward
J'aime beaucoup tes vidéos, c'est super intéressant de voir comment notre culture est perçue à travers le monde :)
Old American businessman here. This is one of the best videos I have watched on the differences between the two cultures. I regularly help foreign business people understand how to operate in the US. I am going to recommend to my colleagues and clients that they watch this video. Good job!
I literally love every one of your videos!
Amazingggggg video! I too used to work for L’Oreal(Urban Decay HQ) and would report to some France management... totally get you!
Seing the Hofstede dimensions of culture on TH-cam instead of at university suddenly makes them a lot more fun :D
Thank you Rosie!
Love this kind of content.
I’m pretty surprised about the « cadre » and « non cadre « situation and possibility of carrer evolution in France.
I didn’t know that!
it actually depends a LOT of where you work. The thing she describes is maybe true in big and traditionnal companies but it's absolutely not the case everywhere. In my field of work we call everyone by their name from the lower intern to the biggest boss, and if you show skills you will be offered evolutions opportunities.
Nice to see you are doing well. Watched you for a while. Living in Paris, but originally from Toronto, Canada.
Always interesting to see and share peoples journeys. And how they get on even after Paris :)
It’s all true of course, what you said. I’m still a bit amazed how much the French love their rules.
And for the most part they stick to them ! Whereas for me, and probably other Canadians, bending the rules or making an exception is not a big deal. Here it’s pas possible ! 🙂
Very interesting!
I'd be interested in your comparison of US and NZ cultures as well, since I imagine they're much more similar.
It's interesting to get an idea of some of the differences between these such cultures. I can't say that I had heard much about French culture before watching your videos. I live in Brazil and some of the cultural differences are amusing to me: punctuality, this is not a strong point for many Brazilians, leaving parties, also not a strong point for many Brazilians, talking over one another, this happens frecuently here and it can be viewed as rude if we seem overly quiet, touching, It's common practice here to embrace people, especially new friends here, men normally touch cheeks with women and kiss the air or hug. We New Zealanders are not usually so physical, but this is an aspect of Brazilian culture of which I really adore.
I worked for a large USMNC with large operations in France. I spent enough time to get to know my counterparts and developed great working relationships. It made it so much more efficient.
I come from PR with many of the similar cultural experiences but went to University in the US and have worked in the US my entire career. So although I have the same task driven experience, i believed in developing relationships...so i think that someone who can navigate both work environments fluidly definitely has advantages
Oh yeah my last name is French and starts with “De”... où est mon château. :)
Well, it's a capitalised "D" and not a particule, so you're not a noble. Pas de château pour toi ! :p
Well, I thought Delay was not a noble name, because it sounds rather common : it means _de la haie_ (of the hedge), just like someone else is called Dupuis ( _du puits_ = of the well ) or Dubois ( _du bois_ = of the wood )...
BUT it appears to be a genuine noble name. Not because of _de,_ but because it refers to the name of a village : Laye (meaning _la haie_ indeed). So, a _de Laye_ family originaly owned (some land in) this village and, later, members of this family possessed lands between Burgundy and the Alps, and, at one point, were associated to the old _de Blé_ family (one of the the most renowned members being _Jacques de BLÉ de LAYE, marquis d'Uxelles_ ). It's also likely that some de Laye or Delaye took part in the Norman conquest of England, hence the anglicization of the name, becoming Delay.
So, yes, your ancestors very likely possessed castles in the central-estern part of France. But if you want to assert your rights, I will not hide from you that it's going to be a bit tough. LOL
LeNightHawk could you tell me where I could find this type of information?
@@Evan12346 : Well, I did a quick research on the net (being French, it was easier for me, I guess), but you may try to get in touch with the owner of this page : genealogie.delaye.free.fr/originenormande.html
@@Evan12346 You're welcome.
Great talk, im traveling extensively through France. If i had to sum it all up - know your role and stay in your place 🙂
very interesting, thanks
I can't speak for all of the Americans, but in my industry and my company, we have frequent team building days, team lunches, and coffee breaks together. Meetings always start with some friendly catch up and chit chat, and while things like deadlines and outcomes are important, we really value our company culture and family-like atmosphere. Our CEO also values work-life balance and gives us plenty of PTO, travel benefits, extra floating holidays, flexible working hours, and other benefits like bringing our dogs to work, etc. We have great benefits and are not only allowed to take plenty of vacation, but we are actively encouraged to take it. I think it's hard to nail down a culture like that, especially for a country with over 300 million people and a land area larger than the entirety of Europe. Things are very different here on the West Coast than they are in, say, the Northeast, or the South, or the Midwest, etc. That said, interesting points.
You are so funny & adorable!! I am really enjoying your interesting videos!! And they have made me appreciate my country, America, even more!! Thank you!!
Hi Rosie! I loved this video. I live in the UK and the hierarchical organisation/awareness is striking; I’m planning on reading the book you recommended to see how different Anglo-Saxon cultures compare. Would you have any other recommendations?
Cheers 😉
Great video! My husband is the guy that leaves a voicemail and repeats everything he said before hanging up, doubling the length of the voicemail. 😝 The hierarchical thing made me cringe.
Very Interesting. I have worked for the US federal government - it’s a subset of the US that in many ways works more like French culture than US commercial companies.
Rosie, about the "cadre" and "non cadre", you should also state that the requirement are different.
The "Cadre" category is not under the same regime as the non cadre, with generally more responsabilities associated.
When we talk about the 35 hours/week (or 37), it's only for the non cadre jobs.
Most of the "cadre" are under a "day package", which means that you work 218 days per year, and you are supposed to adapt the working hour to your job. Which mean, basically not paid overtime, but also recovery days for that overtime (basically 11-1days /years), but also more flexibility, you can't be taxed of being late for 5min and so on.
There is also some technical specification about retirement pension and unemployement that are different for cadre and non cadre, since you are not taxed the same way on your income.
In france, you have 2 types (in fact 3 but we'll keep it simple) of jobs contracts. The permanent position contract, and fixed term contract. I've never hear of a cadre with a fixed-term contract.
So the vast majority of cadre would have a permanent job contract (but with a 4 mont max trial period).
Most of the higher education diploma (like engineer for instance) only let you work under the cadre regime.
That does not mean that all higher education degree work under the cadre regime.
Many lawyer and MD are like entrepeneur (we call it "profession libérale") and have a very different tax regime from regular employee.
Just by re-reading what i've said, my god, this look complicated...
Tu as raison, c'est rare que les cadres soient en CDD (Contrat à durée déterminée) ils sont le plus souvent en CDI (Contrat à durée Indéterminée)
Yes, totally agree, and I would add that the "non cadres" can be transferred far from their place of life ...
@@witness8570 on voit de plus en plus de cadre en interim au début. J'en ai fait les frais 3 ans avant de trouver un CDI en temps qu'ingénieur.
Bon d'un côté c'était de l'intérim reconduit systématiquement, j'ai jamais eu de trou, du coup je cherchais pas trop le cdi puisque les indemnités de fins de missions etaient très bonnes, et ça me permettait de ne pas avoir d'accroches dans ces boîtes que je n'aimais pas trop.
Et les périodes d'essais c'est 4mois, reconduit 4 mois supplémentaires de facon systématique dans beaucoup de boite
Nice explanation
Love this video !! This is very consistent from what I've personnally noticed and experienced so it's nice to see that it's back by research 😉 thank you for taking the time to make that one
Rosie dear, I definitely see a book possibility based on your experience working in Paris as a Kiwi. So many people would enjoy all of your stories immensely! Definitely include the story of the Madame Connard because I was dying when you posted that. Also I know you're running your consultancy business but the insights you have are so valuable to Americans working in France; maybe position yourself with a separate simple website to offer this to corporations who blend the two cultures? Just some thoughts! x
Merci super video.
In the Arab world, even when a dead line is coming up in a project , they’d be like : What’s the rush for ?!!!! 🤣
Hi Rosie, a book that might be very interesting for you is one written by an American professor, David Fischer, comparing New Zealand and the US. He unpicks a lot of the WHYs for NZ and the US's differences, which will add depth to your understanding of NZ (being 'native'), France (having lived there) and the US. APA Citation is below, and your Uni should have a copy, or be able to get one for you on interloan:
Fischer, D. H. (2012). Fairness and freedom: a history of two open societies, New Zealand and the United States. New York, USA: Oxford University Press.
When I move from NZ to Paris, is there any mandatory things I need to sort out? Registering as a citizen or apartments, do you have any tips for me? (I leave next month)
America is a big country with big regional differences. Having lived in the deep south, I didn't find Southern people to be direct at all. I tended to come off as too direct to Southerners.
You say that France is the only country to go on holiday as a nation, but their neighbours to the south do the exact same thing. In Italy there is ‘ferragosto’, where the whole country shuts down and goes on holiday. I’d also be very surprised if other neighbouring countries, especially Catholic ones, don’t also do the same.
I previously learned while doing psychological research on the the commonly occurring mental characteristics of males who have anorexia/bulimia/OCD/GAD that it’s UNBELIEVABLE how much of our (all people’s) various personality traits & behavioral dispositions are essentially already determined at the moment of our conception, and then develop extremely predictably according to age & environmental influences - just like we’re robots who think & act precisely & highly predictably according to the certain “program” (genetic/biochemical influences) installed into our tête
It’s literally mind-blowing
But my point in saying this is that I find it to be very interesting how many of my mental, behavioral, and physical characteristics clearly mostly take after my grandmother - who is French (that side of my family came to the US from Lille, then my other half is Irish)
AND
(1) my personality traits almost exclusively/without exception fit PERFECTLY with basically all the commonly known/discussed (as in your other videos, + that of other TH-camrs) “French langue d’oïl areas” (French Occitan areas towards the south seem to be slightly different, based on my understanding) stereotypical thinking & behavioral characteristics of common French people
(2) I’ve always felt (+ observed it as an objective reality) and even often am directly told by many European & Asian friends from various countries that my personality & overall demeanor is “not at all like like common stereotypical Americans” - friends I met abroad would even joke that they don’t believe that I’m a true American... lol
Up until very recently, I (as well as others) always found it quite difficult to describe where exactly I’m “not American”, or why my personal demeanor is so different from typical homegrown US citizens, but now - after consciously making efforts to learn my primary ethnic languages (French, Irish Gaelic) & learn more about the culture, suddenly things - quite shockingly - seem to make much more sense...
As a basic fundamental “law” of psychology, all aspects of one’s individual brain psychology (including thinking patterns, personality traits, behavioral dispositions due to thoughts, etc) are always determined by an individual’s (A) genetics & (B) environmental influences (both of which directly impact/alter/determine certain biochemical processes in the brain)
What is especially curious to me is that I never expected - or vastly underestimated - the immense magnitude that genes have on such psychological characteristics (ie personality, thinking style, etc), since we often simply believe such things to be primarily just the product of unique individual environmental influences exposed to or attained while growing up. But--contrary to popular (overly simplistic) perception--both through my studies on “anorexia & bulimia males” (using myself as a case study, plus of course researching & collecting data in mass online) as well as this recent 🤯😱🤯 discovery (which has much less hard supporting evidence then the former, at least momentarily 😂) genetics evidently also play a HUGE role in personality development (this actually should not come as top much of a surprise, though, for people who are aware of basic human-psychology-related concepts & principles)
Also, its important to be noted that I didn’t have the opportunity to often interact with my Grandmother growing up, and most people around me (including siblings, cousins, classmates, etc) were all - more or less - “typical Americans”, so this “very French” aspect of my personality & demeanor seemingly could not possibly be due to environmental influences. And among my various siblings & cousins, my physical phenotype also clearly looks to most resemble this maternal grandmother - thus also showing that my genotypic makeup is also very likely to be “French-leaning” in nature
Coincidentally, I will be moving to Brittany 🇫🇷 later this week, where I plan on improving my Parisian (standard Metropolitan) French at University of Rennes, then after a relatively high degree of fluency is attained, learn Breton (a Celtic language closely related to Cornish & Welsh, deriving from Brittonic) & Irish Gaelic (+ maybe even Gaulish😁) in an official undergraduate degree program at the university✌🏼I love languages and currently also have native-like fluency in Mandarin Chinese (but I’m still a dopey dumbass in most areas of life 😅 not trying to sound cocky)
But anyway, - not to digress... - I just thought this recent discovery of mine was quite interesting and worth sharing lol
Props to anyone who actually read all of this 👍🏼🙏🏼😆😃
Are there any other ethnic French people reading this who grew up in the Anglosphere and whom have similar conditions or experiences??? I’m very curious
Really looking forward to moving (at least temporarily) to a place where people **actually** (generally) think & act like me 😬😭😊 To be (awkwardly) honest, ever since I was a kid, I always felt like I didn’t really “fit in” here in many ways.... (although I never had trouble making friends + being widely accepted by my American peers) I’ve just always felt that my personality was very different from the vast majority of other Americans, and that it’s always quite difficult to find other peers who think & behave similarly to me
So I’ll be very curious to see whether or not Northern France truly is the part of the world naturally suited / most fitting for me 😂
灋蘭西、布列塔尼、愛爾蘭 萬歲！
I have a frustrating experience. Not knowing where to begin or hitting a plateau can feel demoralizing and make it hard to hit the books and study like you know you should…Having friends from other cultures makes me more creative. In fresh ways about space and how people create their own world and environment. It is best way to connect between creative thinking and cross-cultural relationships
Sooo interesting! I’m curious.... now that you’ve left France and the French workplace and culture, are you seeing France as less inclusive?
I would say that inclusivity is approached differently: It seems to me that in the american culture the groups are expected to be inclusive, to adapt to the individual, whereas in france it is expected of the individual to adapt, to "prove themselves" to the group, hence the importance of networking.
@Laura Marcu I haven't been in your situation but in my (admittedly very short) experience, doing your work well and a few conversations with your coworkers goes a long way!
If you're less extroverted than introverted - like me - listening during group conversations and expressing your thoughts in one to one conversations is (in my opinion) the easiest thing to do. The rest comes with time and experience ;).
Another thing to consider is that, once you feel accepted, you can almost be sure that it is genuine, which I think is arguably a better feeling than beeing included but not knowing if you're really accepted.
Not Even French again, look at it the other way around now that you’re back in NZ. How many French do you meet « naturally » on a regular basis, although, even in that case, this would be somewhat biased as you’re married to a French guy. Hence, what would a French guy living in NZ say about the inclusivity of the NZ culture ? Don’t misunderstand me, just coming back from there, reminded me how instantly more cheerful, and friendlier people are in general in Auckland. Still, this first impression. (btw better than any other place) does not equate with genuine inclusivity for a simple reason : in NZ, where you grew up, you have your local friends and never felt the need to go out of your way to make new friends, seeking specifically foreigners. Same thing the other way around in France and everywhere else.
Arthur Becker if the group makes you conform to them, that’s not inclusive.
@@kimc555 In that sense no society is inclusive because criminals are punished by the law. There is some kind of conformity in every group. Most don't expect you to "conform" other than beeing respectful of the others and their points of view. When joining a group, people look for things they have in common; In a work environment it is simply working at the same place.
15:58:
I guess I’m a geek! 😆
Fantastic, in Toulouse they arrive late and laugh saying it's "le quart heure Toulousain" ( Toulouse's quarter hour )😭😭😭 but your video was really nice to see as I thought I was weird, no it's just the culture 😉
We all have our "quarter hour" and we all think it's typical from our city or region. Maybe we should just call it the "French Quarter of hour" ! :-)
@@joh-anne8219 yes but every region of France have his proud and this cliché is more attached for South of France. For Paris it's the current delay on public transport
Could you do a video on the flash mobs that included French lawyers doing a haka? As someone who lived there and as a New Zealander, maybe you could maybe explain what they were thinking.
There seems to be a dichotomy that has me scratching my head:
On the one hand, you mentioned that in France there is an increase in the subtextual use of language, importance of relationships, and the attitude of there being more than one way of doing things. Then when it comes to risk taking and rules, it’s like the script has been flipped.
How do these two opposites interact?
When it comes to customs in airports in US vs Australia or New Zealand, then Australia and New Zealand has clear bullet points of what you may take with you and what is forbidden or pohibited. In US it is more confusing and unclear what is prohibited for food to take in or not.
I think the important point (but it's only what I think, cause I never worked in an american company and got insights from friends) is that in France we have a VERY strong sense of loyalty. That doesn't mean that it doesn't exist in the US, but that in France, it is a prerequisite for anything. If you are the boss, and you arrive in a new team, with new coworkers, you will still have to prove worthy of them. They will never give you the respect and obedience you deserve because of your function, but because of your competence, and ability to give to everyone the place they expect to have. Same thing goes the other way : if your new in a team, and your boss does not give you meaningfull task, that's probably because he expects first to trust you. And he will trust you if he feels that you have some sense of loyalty towards him. It is not only professionnal trust and confidence in your competences, but also something more political. We expect our everyday coworkers to stand with us in professionnal conflicts. If the conflicts is between two services, we expect the entire team to team up together, to defend our arguments. If the conflicts is between coworkers, we expect the people we are used to work with to stand with us and help us in that conflict. (Conflict does not mean here that they are violent). In one sentence : Autority and legitimacy is nothing you have by nature. It's something you earn.
Ahhh this is such a great point and I can totally see this after having worked in Paris for a year and a half! Never could quite put my finger on it, but you made everything so clear lol.
Hi !
French student talking here !
I do not quite agree with your implicit/explicit divide here :
Americans do tend to speak directly at a "functionnal" or "practical" level but they will NOT talk explicitly about anything that could hurt someone's feelings - i'm not so sure how it translates in the workplace, but this is what i've noticed in everyday life- because the emphasis is on the individual : his work is his worth and if you're not that guy you have no business trying to help him.
Whereas in France, we can and will give you feedback, because the emphasis is on the group and not the individal, and by making the individual improve, we can make the group stronger.
That feedback can be quite harsh too..
And then there's the language usage that's completely different, like : "the vase fell". Basic sentence in english, BUT implicit meaning "I/you/(s)he broke the vase". You wouldn't be able to say that in French : "le vase est tombé" wouldn't fly (even if grammaticaly correct, mind you) but "J'ai fait tomber le vase"- litterally "I made the vase fall"- would be what you'd hear.
Being American, I agree with the first part of this. Not having lived or worked in France or for a French company/client other than a week or so in the suburbs of Paris about 35 years ago, not much, but I was startled at how bluntly people in authority seemed to treat subordinates, and how polite and friendly my French colleagues were. I remember one supervisor calling someone on the phone, which took a while to be answered... he was quite impatient while waiting and when the phone was answered I heard him say a bit loudly "Young man, did I wake you??? I found that to be pretty funny at the time. In another case, I had complained that I could not get work done we were testing computer communications equipment - a predecessor to the internet, because the government packet-switching network, Transpac, had not processed our setup information. Our contact at our company's French subsidiary greeted me very cordially, shaking my hand, and when I mentioned this, he picked up the phone, called them, and started yelling at someone on the other end of the line (maybe it was an act?). He hung up and said they'd have it fixed shortly and it was. While in the cafeteria, I enjoyed the company of French employees who were happy to chat and make us feel at home - the food was amazing, all pure as though it were cooked by Mom at home! And we had wine in the company cafeteria? I can't remember for sure. Also, we had espresso coffee machines in the hallways, which I made very good use of, I think it was one franc for a demitasse, and continental breakfast delivered outside our doors in the hotel, they just put the tray with coffee and croissant, all covered, right on the carpet next to our doors. Outside, I could see a man digging a ditch doing road work and wearing an old tweed dress jacket! Everywhere were cranes erecting new buildings and the metro took us from a station under a suburban mall (Cergy-Pontoise) to Paris which we used to do sight-seeing (I especially loved the Pompidou Center). We also had a rental car and the drivers seemed pretty crazy, lining up five abreast at the lights in order to "drag race" when it changed! We were young and I took a swig out of a bottle of cognac while riding in our rental car in traffic in Paris - a taxi driver called to us from his car and said to put the bottle away or we would get into trouble... very nice! I am ignorant of French culture so I can't comment on the second part of the above comment. But I have to say, I don't see much difference in what motivates people as human beings which we all are, it may be that history and culture affect things but it is often just misunderstanding and if fundamentals are respected then you get by. You will find good and bad behavior anywhere. Also, you will find that cultures evolve over time. So, you may have seen more "collectivism" generally in the US 40-50 years ago, when I grew up in a small city in eastern Pennsylvania and first started work, there were echos of the colonial past white Anglo-Saxon Protestant culture and the New Deal and WWII collectivism, but two centuries of immigration and economic development, as well as de-industrialization as the developing world industrializes, have today made the US a very diverse country, culturally and ecomomically, covering a vast territory, compared with France and other European countries who were long the colonial masters, have become rebuilt from WWII as social-democracies with strong state-backed education and workforce training and state-backed industries, coming late to the game of mass immigration on their sacred soil (but no strangers to mass invasion by force over the centuries). Very different histories. So I can imagine that collectivism is a more natural form, the older the country, the more conservative are its people of keeping its cultural heritage, therefore the need to critique and keep insiders in line with the "correct" way. But seemingly ironic, Europeans seem averse to open displays of patriotism as are seen in the US, perhaps because of the horrors, fading but still there, from WWI and WWII - they see the EU as an important collectivism to protect against economic conflict once again rising hostilities between the relatively compact nations of Europe with their history of conflict with each other. I see Europeans now feeling that they are in "crisis" over an immigration threat, just as poorer Americans do here who have lost well-paying jobs to internationalization, and a new nationalism being exploited by politicians who scapegoat immigrants. So I have to wonder how much French culture is changing with the influx of immigrants and the rise of nationalism but maybe that is too far off this topic or controversial? Hopefully not - perhaps it doe not matter from where you are an expat or immigrant, as long as you work to fit in? I suppose, like the US, it depends on the circumstances.
7 time more words in french than there are in english that explains the seek of the right word ^^ So many differences between those two cultures, that must be so hard to find balance at work. Oh and about meetings: it's just a way for managers to justify their wages, most french workers hate that and think it's a waste of time, because has you rightly say they are useless. But manager's decision so you act !
Anyway, I watched until the end and wish you good luck for the future, miss not even french (but still a little) !
For the Cadre vs Non-Cadre (Cadre = executive in English I think), there's something that must be mention as well, is that you can easily get an education in France, and you can easily have a certificate of your "acquired knowledge through work" when you're a non-cadre to become one! In France, to climb up the hierarchy you need a higher education degree... but university is free, easily accessible, can be done on the evenings and weekends for people working, if you've work for a few years you can join university without an high-school degree, you can also pass an exam to certify your knowledge and skills... So for example, a non-cadre worker can, because of its work experience, get a degree that is equivalent to a BA and then move on to doing a Ms on its free time for a couple years and after that become a cadre and climb up the ladder! There's plenty of example of people who started working without any degree and were at the bottom of the ladder who ended up much higher up!
In US it will depends on your performance, but then mostly on whether your boss will promote you or not, while in France you'll need a higher education degree, which, since it's free, is pretty equitable!
oh, I forgot to mention, in France, companies must, by law, offer formations to their employees! So, if you want to make a Ms at university which is relevant for your job it is very likely that your company will have to support you in doing it and that you'll be able to work on it (partly) during work hours.
All together, having a degree is more of an absolute proof that you are capable, it's something that will stay with you that no-one will ever took away! If you move cities and job you'll still be able to show your degree. What happen in the US in such case? You have no degree but you were so good at your job in startup XYZ that you got promoted to a management position. Now XYZ close and you apply to startup ABC, a bigger one. What happen? How ABC will know that you were that good? They will have to trust you and they will need to ask your former boss at XYZ if that was true! But maybe XYZ's boss was a friend of you and got you a promotion out of friendliness... ABC can perfectly make you start again from the bottom! If you have a degree, then you have an official document as a proof of your worth!
Having the mentality to allow talented workers to climb up the ladder without a degree is a quick fix to a broken system... those talented workers should never have been without a good degree to start with! But maybe they are since in the US it is so expensive to get one! Free education and promotion based on education is much more equalitarian imho!
In the US it’s also very common to get a degree in something (you’re very pressured to apply for colleges/your degree at 16, which has a bit to do with this), then work a job that has nothing to do with that degree, at all. So essentially, you waste years of your life and are placed deeply in debt to enter a market you may or may not get anything in. It’s odd, because college and higher education has social weight (especially by family members and the school system) but not work weight. But, I’ve never been in that system (I’m in the States but I’m still a minor) so there could very well be flaws to what I’m saying.
implicit/explicit is wrong. It's just that the people who made these studies are mostly anglo-saxons and are unaware of their own implicit behaviors.
And you're identifying yourself with Vladimir Putin?I didn't know that he was an Anglo......is he?Does he want to be one?
@@brucemarsico6 No I don't identify myself to Putin. It's just for fun, to make people cringe. But that doesn't change anything to my argument.
I don't cringe seeing his image. I think, physically, he's like a nearMongol god blazing through the steppes. Not wimpy and simpy likeObama.….seeing Vladimir without a shirt on, riding a horse....what a guy.....physically, only......
@@brucemarsico6 no homo
@@EverlastGX Ha, Ha! You punk bitch....you're not man enough to write your true name.....you're no everlast...but you'll come in 'last'. Always.
It’s so interesting to hear your examples since you have lots of experience in business/HR! I’m an American student and haven’t seen that part of either culture yet, so I love hearing your stories! One of my favorite examples of French risk-aversion is that young kids rarely draw a picture without first being given a modèle, whereas American kids love being given the option to make whatever they want :) thanks for this fun, well-presented video!
I miss you on YT Rosie, I hope you're doing well! :)
I do as well, I hope Rosie comes back and makes videos on this channel
Interesting comparison between France and USA culture. As a Mexican, despite the influences of USA/Canada, I identify myself more with the French than the Americans, especially with time punctuality. Whenever we have parties, we always tell people to come at a certain time, but when the time comes, we're not even ready.
But it's okay because people start to arrive an hour later. 😂 And we greet people with a kiss, just like the French.
Peux tu mettre des sous titres pour ceux qui ne comprennent pas tout à l'anglais ?
Merci
Very interesting. I lived in Asia for five years and return there soon. Asians seem to be more like the French than the Americans. If course not the same but American and Asian are very different.
Aren't you from Australia/NZ? Have you ever lived in the US?
I agree with you the poise for communication is certainly better among the Americans than among the French. The American assertive style of communicating is often more efficient than the implicit French style to convince an audience. On the other hand, this can lead a US presenter to be blowing smoke in an attempt to remain convincing at the cost of changing the reality of facts, reinterpreting figures, etc. For instance, the recent events with the Boeing 737 MAX is showing the limit of their approach to communication. Based on my experience, Americans believe communicating is selling and they often promote a nice pleasant story rather than sticking to the true unpleasant data facts. They can be seriously misleading their listeners or readers at a very high cost. The words « infox » and « to bluff » have no equivalent in French, therefore we use the American ones. According to me it is a sign...
In the US, often the cover of the book is nice looking and attractive but the content is weak, without any consistency.
Thanks for this good video and keep on the good job. Happy New Year 🎉🎉🎉
Nice work... so, regarding the possibilities of career evolution in a french company, my experience matches your observations : no matter my IQ or the depth of my cultural knowledge, or my skills or my results, I have been grounded from start, because I don't have any degree. And, more important, I lack social skills. Some people make their way up, but it's always thanks to their political abilities, not their competence at work. And this is sadly true in each an every level in the hierarchy. Cadres are at war, litterally. They spend more time emphasizing to the boss their accomplishment than anything else. They built "cases" against each others so they can blackmail one another. Personnal relationships, good or bad, are always decisive. As I am on the asperger spectrum... listen how much people complain about this guy having a promotion although everybody knows he's really bad at his job, execpt the boss, who promote him. Anyway... nice piece of knowledge on your part...
As an American, specifically United States, citizen born & raised I can certainly agree that you have it down pretty well on the American side. I don't assume or know anything about France or the people, but I can't help being surprised by some of the comparisons. Not in a bad way, just that it's unexpected. I don't know what the French truly think of America or the people (in the US), but I know quite a large number of Americans genuinely admire France and the people there. Though I couldn't tell you how many do so based on stereotypes as opposed to genuine experience & understanding, I suspect the former is higher. Love your video, warm regards.
nice
I am French but I lived in the US and I really want to say that I also met the most disingenuous people I have ever met there.
Explicit or implicit does not necessarily mean that things are going to be said at all. And that is something that is not really clear in the video
I think that French people tend to say the things they have on their minds and have much more critical thinking than Americans, even though it is going to be said implicitly. It can be seen as rude, but when you are used to it, it is actually something great to try and be a better person.
Then, of course, I have a bias so I would love to read others' thoughts on this. And also, please do not take me for another America haters, I loved my time there and I have kept some great friendships.
I loved this video btw, really interesting and besides that point, I can totally agree with what was said.
I'm sorry you had some negative experiences while living in my country. And I'm thankful it didn't make you into a hater. Perhaps it was the region or even city you were in. We're such a large nation that our culture can have pronounced variations depending on the area.
@@KimberlyGreen Ahah it's OK. I mean it's also another way to do things/ another culture and getting used to it is not always easy. So maybe I just chose the wrong people.
Being honest is something that I value a lot and yeah I had the bad experience to meet some dishonest people at a higher rate than in France. But again, that doesn't mean everyone is like that.
I still chat nearly every day with some friends from there because they are truly genuine people.
And I would love to go back there!
I lived in NYC. Maybe it's people from there. I don't know.
But I grew up in Paris in a pretty wealthy area so I am used to the pompous people and stuff from the city life 😅
I'm an American and I've interacted with french people and been to france before. I do love French culture and appreciate aspects of it but I think what rubbed me off the most was how critical the French are with everything. I understand the viewpoint where they believe in perfection and always finding a reason to improve on something, but as an American, it gets exhausting to be around that kind of constant negativity. Americans are motivated by optimism. When people are cheering someone on and giving positive reinforcement, it tends to make people feel better about themselves and able to work harder and accomplish more.
The French thrive on negative reinforcement and constantly having to prove why someone is wrong or right about something. A typical American would interpret this as being a buzzkill, overly stiff, or just plain unlikable or difficult to work with.
As far as the being disingenuous is concerned, it honestly really depends where in the US you live. People in New York probably have a more similar attitude as the French whereas in the South or in California, you're more likely to meet more "superficially nice yet fake" people.
@@Tornadospring Ah, I suspected you were in NYC. That particular city is known for being fairly cut-throat. The saying goes "If you can make it there, you can make it anywhere." By extension, many people will do or say whatever it takes to 'make it'.
However, in the South where I live, you _can_ encounter a different kind of disingenuous behavior. A kind of surface-level friendliness with backstabbing. Not all the time, of course. Very often, in the South, that overt friendliness is genuine and caring.
Please, do come back for another visit sometime. Hopefully you will be able to visit other parts too. We have a lot to offer. 😊
@@knucklehoagies I totally understand what you mean and how it can be difficult to get along with.
And I get why that critical approach can be seen as "negative reinforcement", but it really depends on the point of view.
Because for French people, it is usually seen as constructive criticism where things that were done well will be quickly mentioned and the things that can be improved will be focused on. Because they are the interesting bit.
If people only point out the things that were done badly without ever mentioning the good, they are just being asses. Simple as that.
That optimism is something that I really love with Americans and that French people definitely lack.
I think that we, French people, could use a bit of that American optimism to make good things shine a bit more so that, constructive criticism does not only come up as rude and negative.
That's actually also why I really believe in a multicultural work environment. Because you can try and take what is the best out of every culture.
I'm really curious where NZ falls on all of these too! I'm assuming generally closer to the US side than the French side, but I may be wrong.
But you were correct about relationships part and all.
I know this video is like 4 years old... but a huge problem in american culture revolving relationships is that it's never about relationships.... it's about networking. like you only ever seem to matter to others if you have something to give them in regards to networking.
I find it interesting that a country so concerned with rules has a communication style that is implicit. However, if that is their style, they must have established rules in order to continue to communicate in that fashion. It seems there are assumptions made about the listeners knowledge of the rules.
I teach English to French people online and I have had trouble understanding the excessive formality in emails with colleagues and students. I knew that already in a way from when I lived in France and from studying it in college, but sometimes I feel a bit taken aback by their formality even when (for me, I guess) it seems uncalled for. It's taken quite a while to stop my automatic defensiveness to my perception of people's tone sometimes.
I just watched the part about the implicit and explicity and also the cadre/non candre employees and my student seems to think some of this is generational. Neither of us could really think of any good examples of the implicit/explicit communication though. I know it's true but it's really hard to put your finger on. I would love to see some scenes from movies or skits or something which can be compared for this communication issue. I think it'd be helpful. Not sure if you or anyone reading has any good examples or videos to direct me to. if so that would be wonderful! Just make sure the @ tag is working or it won't notify me when you comment. :) Thanks
I met this girl whose from France and I want to know how different she is from what I live in (if that makes sense)
that was so interesting about the hierarchy stuff. ive lived in france a total of about 3 years and it was always something i knew was there and was a subtext but being american i was pretty blasé about it.
Ahh, moi aussi! Fellow American living abroad in Paris! I've been living here for a little over 2 years now and can totally relate.
All the country going on holidays in August? Have you never heard about "juilletistes" and "Aoutiens"? Apparently not. August is the month when industries and constructions works are halted., hence a large part of the workforce (to some extend the part with lower education, but that has tend to evolve in the last decades) is on holidays. In a sort of cultural and sociological opposition, July is a month favoured by intellectual or "encadrement" position in an attempt to avoid the Aoûtiens' rush. These lines have tended to blur in the past 2 decades with the society in general being less'industrial and the development of jobs where it is easier to have an individual decision as to when people can take their holidays.
Augustins, pas "aoutiens"
Being American I really hate the hierarchy thing. I like to think of myself as unique--not convetional, not a typical American. Yes, I know, how American that attitude is. Lol.
seeing USA as a young country is a bit overrated. Their constitution is older than the french constitution. Most of our laws and rules were written after the creation of the USA.
And the rules and laws are what protect us from living like in the middle-age. In the USA there are many families who get bankrupted because one of them had a cancer. This is not what I call modernity. To me it's obscurantism. This can't happen in France. Not to mention their units of measurement or their outdated gun policy.
@@sophieanjuli4616 I don't understand the link between my comment and your answer. I didn't speak about job.
Camembert d'Alembert hmm how strange, I was replying to a totally different comment which I now can’t find. No idea what happened here!! Perhaps the comment was removed. I deleted my comment, as it was in the wrong place.
Hello mam, i am learning French and preparing for TEF/TCF. Is it possible for a non-french speaker to learn the language within 1 year and score B2 level in exam?
Try to immerse yourself in the french language the more you can. Watch TV shows and movies in french with french subtitles if possible, it does help a lot to learn a new language. Try to read the news in french even if you do not understand everything (on website like lemonde, lefigaro, courrierinternational,...)
Eh bien bravo, si vous avez réussi cet exploit. Because I started to learn english when I was 11 today at almost 54 I intend to have evening lessons at university for the next autumn, for improving my level. For a french like me, believe me it is necessary to have a good ear for understanding a conversation.
@@loustic59vda Vous avez surement commencé à apprendre l'anglais à l'école. Et malheureusement en France on est bien trop concentré sur la grammaire et l'écrit en général. Attention, ca donne d'excellentes bases et permet de progresser plus vite le jour où on se retrouve qu'en contact avec des anglophones. Cependant, je vois avec les plus jeunes que les séries les jeux vidéos etc leur donne de meilleures bases en ce qui concerne compréhension orale et communication verbale. Je vous souhaite d'atteindre vos objectifs dans cette langue :) C'est vraiment très intéressant d'être bilingue.
@@auroreamiami - You said, "It is really very interesting to be bilingual". It's funny cause being Indian, I know 4 languages at proficiency level. Bengali - My mother tongue. Hindi - National language. English - Official Language. Tamil - Regional language, where i work. & trust me all 4 languages are totally different and dont't think i am kind of "linguistics" geeks, i am an ordinary Software Developer & Data Scientist.
For Immigration purpose, I am trying to learn French.
@@kalyandey5195 That is very good! I do myself speak 3 (french english and spanish) but would love to learn more! Being able to think, imagine and communicate in multiple languages is just magic and benefits the brain in so many ways. If you are proficient in multiple languages already, you should be able to reach your goals in French, I wish you tons of success in your project :)
I disagree that the Aussie/NZ/USA style is more explicit, I find it is ONLY more explicit in a work context in relation to a task. In any other context particularly friendships or social life, it is implicit and very hard to read with no consistency or continuity. There are also a lot of promises made like "Let's do this again I will ring you" with no intention of following up at all, which is implicit as it's not honest feedback on the evening or a shallow interaction. I am fully bilingual in both, having grown up in a Francophone country with a French-speaking family but having lived in Australia all my adult life. I will take Francophone communication as my emotional preference but the Anglo style for my task-related preference.
All of this felt so true. As an American working in France, my very existence insulted many people at the company. My favorite moment was when a colleague insisted on having a meeting in French because he wanted to be "more precise."
Wait, a meeting in french in France ? That's weird.
swannmercury can’t blame ur colleague. U live in France, why should the meeting be in English?!🤔
Somer Du Trieux to be precise 🤣
Objectively speaking, with 7 times more words in English, it's probably more likely to be "precise" in that language. Holistically speaking, though, he probably felt that his command of his native language would give him a better chance of expressing his ideas in more precise alignment with his words.
1. seven times more words in English... I would like to have the source of that one. Anyway you can express with a lot of nuance in French, that’s for sure!
2. For people with French mother tongue, a meeting in French will be more precise, Off Course!
Aren’t you more precise in your own mother tongue 🤨?
That was interesting to know as Italy is similar.
No, they are not so similar.
Southern countries like italy, spain or greece have more in common in the way they behave than the rest of europe
@@rolflin Not the way the behave, the way the culture is and the mentality and approaches in life.
@@MetaMM perhaps but it's not universal, even inside France or Italy or even Spain ( I am Basque) northeners and Southerners behave and live slightly different in the same country.
But it's true that we are pretty similar.
Just don't say it XD
@@rolflin "Just don't say it" that's funny. Good lol
Filipinos have a very similar work attitude with the French. It must be the Latin/Catholic influence. While we do not take a vacation collectively in August, we have holidays sprinkled all throughout the year and Christmas season in the Philippines starts in September when productivity just drops significantly because the entire country is already in holiday mode. Just like the French, Filipinos NEVER SKIP LUNCH. If you go and try to hail a cab at 12pm, cabs will just ignore you because they are about to take their lunch break. Just like the French, Filipinos are implicit with their language. You have to read between the lines to see what’s not being said. If you are not familiar with the culture and speak the language, you’ll easily get left out.
French, and Latin culture in general, is something I’m interested in due to the amount of details and similarities I resonate with.
Funny, am French and my husband is américain,iam a lot more conscious of time ,my husband is always late ,it does not bother him in the least,It drives me absolutely crazy, also iam a lot more direct than he is ,I find he can talk for ever to explain a point where I just state it and be done.
The focus on the task in the US is a problem for them to work with more Latin European country
Rosie,
This was fascinating!!!
I am impressed by your analysis and understanding, as I think career counseling for the US is (probably) much different from other countries.
There are so many subtleties to successful interactions!
To me, as a an older adult re-entering the formal workplace a few years ago (with a brand-new master’s degree), success (even just getting hired!) seemed unpredictable. It frequently seemed very much connected to being liked by a boss (so random!) , rather than a person’s ability/education/innovation/cooperation/evaluations and reviews.
I also think my age was a huge detriment - in the US it’s hard to prove age discrimination, but it is rampant.
Best of luck to you in your new endeavors!!!!☺️
What is your master thesis?
As an American, no, people do not often say what they mean. They're more likely to drop hints as to what they mean and then count on you to pick up the clues. It's one of the most frustrating things about our culture.
Same in UK. I find it frustrating too
3:57 Lol. *Walt Disney France. Emily in Paris syndrome.* Go work in the French industry, don't deliver on time in order to chat and improve your relationship with coleagues, and you'll soon learn how bad you relationship with your employer can get.
There is just a little more room for relationship in the french world compared to the USA, to improve competitiveness, but relationship is *definitely not the top priority of the french industry.*
I loved this video! French culture is fascinating to me... Mostly because, even though I’m American, I don’t really relate to most Americans ideals... But, the French culture seems to match me to a T
Do French guys (or French people in general) take more than a month to reply back to texts? Asking cuz I know a French guy who is doing this now that he moved back to France. He didn’t do that in the USA. I understand that French men are blunt and to the point if he’s interested in a girl, he won’t sugar coat things thou.
Also is it true that French guys go with the flow and aren’t planners? Im frustrated I want to visit a guy in France but he’s taking his time telling me where he’s gonna work and when he will be free. I gotta plan cuz I come from far away, I’d be more relaxed if I lived in France