Are French people really rude? Or maybe you don’t know about these cultural differences!
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Watch my other Paris videos:
– 12 Things NOT to do in Paris (by a Local)! https://youtu.be/bkwg4Wg9xJk?si=RiLIBflt10w3NhCN
– French Food Tour in PARIS, FRANCE (by a Local)! https://youtu.be/nrDogPTYHM8?si=_MQutKFVhnwtNsZI
– The Best Croissants in Paris, France (by a Local)! https://youtu.be/Wc0INHeMOMs?si=EBW7FowwBoCQmUbC
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@LivingBobby
@brettconti
@frenchguytheo
@FrenchWithElle
#paris #france #french #lifeinparis #byalocal
39 Comments
You definitely nailed Americans correctly. Asking you how you are while not caring about you or the answer and inviting you to places they have no intention of following through with sounds about right.
This sounds like a breath of fresh air, is sounds like you're saying in Paris the locals speak the truth and foreigners are used to being fake and can't read the room! 😂 TRUTH!!
about the "being honest" thing, after working with both Americans and French people (I'm french myself), I noticed that there's a very weird divide in how people interact in a professional setting.
Typically, when working with american people, compliments on your work will come really easy, and they're really uneasy saying someting negative (unless they're a**holes, but that's another subject). So to get the negative message through they will embellish it in between two compliments so that you don't feel too bad : Typically, after you have done a presentation in a meeting, your boss which didn't like it says : "great job on the presentation ! It let the message through, I feel like you could have added a few slides on XX thing, but hey that was a neat presentation !"
In France, the experience is the complete opposite. Compliments are really hars for people to make, and that's especially true coming from superiors / managers which don't want to show any kind of favoritism towards an employee in particular. Criticism are really natural however, and I think people don't take them as personal as someone would in the US. Making a critique on something is generally seen as feedback, even when it isn't. So, if someone wants to make compliments, they will do it the same way americans express issues, but reversed : they will sandwich the compliment in between issues. Typically, if we take the same meeting presentation example : "Yeah your presentation was a little short, that was nice that you talked about thing XX though, next time try to make it a little longer"
After working in both french and american companies, I honestly don't know which one I would prefer over the other, I feel like straight up compliments are much more valued in France though, while they're really natural in the US and can sometimes feel a little shallow.
Seems similar to Portugal, but we are maybe a little more warmer to strangers.
In France don't expect people to speak English. Yes. Same in NY or London, I don't expect them to speak French. Simple. (and I'm pretty sure more French people speak English than English-speakers speak French…)
And I totaly agree, Bonjour, smile and respect are the key. In Paris and everywhere in France. But I suspect it's the same rule in a lot of culturaly developped countries.
If you have to make a video like this, then there's something not right. I'm from US & study French daily. However, my many visits to France were not enjoyable. I was raised to be polite & taught public etiquette. Recently, French president (maybe a different gov.official) had to tell Parisians to be nice to tourist during the 2024 Paris Olympics. A restaurant owner/worker was interviewed & he replied, I'm not going to be nice. I've visited UK, Italy, Japan (lived), Singapore (& more) & unlike France, I never felt like I was "walking on egg shells" or "thin ice" just to communicate with the citizens of those countries. About NYC, I was told they were rude, except when I visited NYC, I met some of the nicest people, each time I visited. Let me ask, Do French people speak the official language of the countries they visit? Do French people follow every cultural etiquette of the countries they visit? I would like to know those answers.
When Americans travel to other countries and get mad because people don’t speak English, It fills me with rage. Americans have a sense of entitlement that is beyond annoying.
To be honest, the French were very nice. Even the Parisians. I have been a few times and it was always a great experience. I was a young US soldier and was stationed in Germany. So idk how much I looked like a tourist.
I’ve lived in the US my whole life and many times I’ve felt perplexed about the overly friendly attitude of waiters and clerks in stores. Also even in the US when I’ve moved or go on vacation, I don’t expect to meet friends in 5-6 days.
It a good city, I know a hundred French words to get by. If I don't understand just "un peu plus doucement, si'l vous plait" and a silly grin always do the job.
I have never found Parisians rude as an English person. I’ve always found them to be polite and helpful. That’s not just hotel staff, but asking someone on the street or on the tube for directions or advice on how to get somewhere. I don’t know if it’s because I attempt to speak in French and don’t assume they speak English. I also think that us English are quite similar. We’re not usually loud (unless we’re drunk)
Parisian ** not french please. It is incredible the confusion
“We don’t have a tipping culture so we dogs have to be nice” So because they get a salary they get to be jerks to customers? Just cause waiters and waitresses get tips here doesn’t mean that’s why they’re being nice. It’s part of the over arching culture here.
This was probably the best explanation for the perceptions and actual traits of French culture that I have ever heard.
I went to Paris years ago and had many of the same experiences and treatment as described here, and then the conclusions I constructed about the French (or at least the Parisians) were exactly what your viewer comments said.
So… THANK YOU for your little tips, your 'rules' of polite engagement; and this helping heap of insight to hopefully allow a real understanding of French culture and France in the future. I wish I knew all this BEFORE visiting your gorgeous country.
Cheers!
Moi regardant cette vidéo après avoir vécu dix ans en province…mdrrr
If people value their personal space, why are the tables in restaurants and cafés so close together ? 😂
wow this was really insightful and encouraging, thank you for taking the time to be honest as well as empathetic and providing these tips for when in France. I actually resonate with some of these experiences around making friends – I’ve been living in Spain for two years now (originally from the US) and it also takes time to build true friendships with spanish locals as well. I am also practicing french and plan to visit again next year so I will definitely do my best to apply these rules when im there
Je n’ai pas visité la France depuis 40 ans, mais mon expérience c’était que les gens étaient très polis. J’ai habité en France avec des familles françaises comme étudiante d’échange quand j’avais 17 ans quand j’ai appris comment être polite en français. Savoir dire “Bonjour madame/monsieur” est tellement important pour parler poliment avec les français.
Hi Lucile, thanks for the videos and recommendations especially Bullion, Boulom, Jarden de Luxemburg and Monmacht.. Our trip in Paris has been very easy and nice as per your recommendations. Iff you ever want to visit Birmingham then pls do let me knoe, would love to recommend and guide you as well.😀
There are unspoken Metro rules, perhaps in every city. Kyiv has it's own unspoken Metro riding rules.
So, in essence, you're saying that the fox the Little Prince encountered, was French? No?
Why are you so hot?
One time I was at Gere d Austerlitz moving through a crowd and someone said "je m'excuse" as they walked past some people. 😂 "I excuse myself" LoL
I was born and raised in NYC and we are rude, I hate it. I was in the military for 20 years and lived all over the country and that’s when I realized how rude we are. I’ve been to France twice, Paris once, and I found more people nice people than I expected.
As an authentic parsian I can tell you that I am a real "fils de pute"
Or maybe, hear me out, Paris is just full of assholes. 😊
Interestingly enough, I was born and brought up in New York City with no French ancestry to my knowledge, and what you describe as the French way of interacting with people is what I'm comfortable with. I hate the "how are you" parrot-chatter routine, the hypocrisy of small talk, the general intrusiveness, and the smiling for no reason. To me, being polite is keeping a courteous reserve and a respectful distance from others until and unless you get to know them fairly well. Not trying to talk to strangers for no reason, and definitely not asking personal questions or feigning friendliness. Boundaries. And so many Americans do not respect them. When I was in France, almost everyone I encountered was polite to me and encouraging of my fair-to-middling command of French even though I didn't think I spoke the language that well; I had no idea where the reputation of "French rudeness" came from, because that was not my experience.
whitewash
It reminds me when I worked in Japan and there was that Japanese-American customer coming to do small talk while I was working. Always thought he was weird (small talk isn't a thing in Japan especially with clerks) but after sometime I realized he was just horribly lonely. It must be really hard for American going from a country where you can easily have a conversation to another place where it's not the norm, they must feel so lonely. He thought he would have been okay because his parents were Japanese but really it didn't matter, the social codes and way of being aren't passed down through blood
If someone doesn’t understand English it doesn’t matter how many times you ask for five more minutes IN ENGLISH. They aren’t going to understand what you want.
Not everyone can speak french , tourists can range from anywhere I don't think you need to get rude if they don't use your language.What kind of narrow-minded thing is this , are french people unaware of other cultures etc , that's quite self centered though.
12 million people is an excuse? That is an average town in China and they are way nicer people!!
Everyone around there actually verbalizes a bonjour for every interaction?
You'd be schocked at how willing the French are to speak English, if you just attempt in French first.
Most of my experience of France comes from the time I studied in Lyon while I was in uni, but even my few experiences of Paris were fine. I guess it helps that I've only been to France as someone who speaks French (even before I became fluent in it) and that I'm from one of the more reserved Nordic countries 😂
Imagine someone speaking loudly to you in french while in the US for example and imagine they get mad at you because you don't understand what they are saying, that's pretty much the feeling
From a Frenchman. If i am right, you born and raised in France. But your boyfriend was born in the US, hence your english and the accent?
Good job. But i agree we, in France, have work on the way we treat tourists (wether rich or not), in most public places. We just can't afford to put tourists off from spending some quality time in France.
I don't know if I am sufficiently qualified, but if you know of people looking to spend some time in France, I'll try to help.
Au plaisir.
3:57 I will always remember this during my studies working as hotel reception, those Indian couple called 2 times to ask Iron I could holdback I had to remind them there's no servant here nicely, and I reminded them how to behave with house keepers.
You have to understand that in France, nearly no one actually wears "FRENCH HATS". So in paris, french people will instantly spot tourists when they wear it. It’s ok to wear that but you have to know that you will be 100% identified as a tourist. It’s just like if parisians came to new york wearing cowboy hats. It’s so far of the actual culture that we can see that you are seeking for a fake version of the actual city/country. Hope that helps to understand 😊