What I have found strange in Anglo-saxon countries is friendship between men and women. In France, it’s totally normal to have friends from the other gender, study, eat, go to a party, share a flat with him/her without implied romantic feelings. In Anglo-saxon countries, genders seem to be more separated ^^"
I think it depends where you live and your circle of friends. I'm an American woman and I've had many male friends and roommates. We used to go to dinner after work because that's when we had free time. That's normal among my friends but I know some women would never go out to dinner with a man unless they're dating or related.
I'm from Brazil and think the same about anglosaxon culture. Even boys and girls schools... I thought that was something left behind. Boys and girls could be friends but they'll walk in different groups
@@jessa5388 I agree with you! I've had dinner 1:1 with a friend's bf (she knew) because we were also friends! It wasn't romantic, just friends! Totally ok.
@@atengku9660 Could be age related? I went to an all girl school and at university I had lots of guy friends, one or two of whom years later I am still close to and the only guy I dated who objected was also, to me, pathologically jealous so he didn't last long. Depends on what you accept or not; I couldn't imagine someone dictating my friendships.
It's illegal for minors under 16 years old to work. Most teenagers in high school would babysit, petsit, wash cars, help in the garden to have money on the side. Between 16 and 18, you can work, but it's highly regulated so employers would tend to not hire minors. However, after 18 years old, lots, lots, lots of students are working part-time jobs, in fast-foods or similar jobs because it has flexible hours.
Don't forget that hollidays are verry long. Summer hollidays between July and August, are often used to have a summer job (in July) to pay hollidays in August. In Ingeneer schools or commercial schools, proportion of upper midle class and upper is verry high. There is not too much need for job as family provide everything. At University, the main cost is house. A small appartment neer university could cost nearly half a full time job. You need monney. And for less rich families, there is no other solution than working as much as possible and fidding a deal between Courses - Learning and working. And keep a little time for pleasure.
@@jilliandreams Your expression "Under the table" is so strange ! As a french, I hear only the litteral meaning. Is it for job in the house, including garden of course or is it only the size of the children ?
@@jazmine9570 @Jillian Dreams Ok. It seems to be similar to the french expression "Dessous-de-table" wich means "money not known from taxe administration". But generaly, it's more connected to corruption. The equivalent for "Under the table" in our context here is "black" or "au noir" (in french the two expressions are used)
When I was studying in the US I found it very weird as a French person to see students coming to class wearing gym clothes or other very casual clothes. I was actually told that I looked “French” because of the way I dressed to come to class, for example wearing a skirt with tights (what would have been super common I France). No judgement here of course, just it surprised me
My daughter's elementary school (K-6th grade) had an exchange program with a french school. The girls were all so impressed with the french boys because they wore nice sweaters and scarves! US boys in that age range (and most girls) don't ever "dress up."
I find it baffling - from our European eyes it appears messy and disrespectful, but it's totally normal there. Even us Brits think they're dressed down :)
@@sarahmichie4382 I am an American and while we are all a bit on the casual side, teens are the worst. Many grow out of that messy stage. My daughter is in it now and it makes me crazy! I also think it depends on where you live in the US. Yes, most wear athletic wear, but in the cities and around cities, we are definitely more put together. I think our weight problem may also play a roll in the horrible clothing choices.
I am a 31 year old French woman but I have grown up abroad and mostly attended American schools. My goodness you have nailed everything... everything!!! Great video
@uta gordon This year (2022) it's really catching on a lot more. Paris is really not made weeks at over 32° (85F?) several times over summer, with many days well over that, too.
I admire the way the French educate their children about good eating habits. The Italians do this as well, a hot lunch provided at school, etc. Interesting point about lunchboxes and inequality, I never had thought about that. I enjoy your channel.
I worked in a daycare center for a bit where the parents had to provide a packed lunch for their kids. What I saw wasn't so much "inequality" as a HUGE difference in parental care. There would be one kid with a home made lunch, another with a vegetarian "health" conscious lunch all tofu, brown rice, cashews and kale , and then there would be the little kid whose parent couldnt be bothered and would just drop a bag from McDonald's on the table and leave. It wasn't a matter of money or social class, it was a matter of giving a damn about your kid.
@@anastasia10017 ...and educational apparence. Sorry. And sorry, but if you say that for high/mid class school, it could be real...but in less uniform school...it makes difference. Then I don't think that vegan menu IS good Idea for kids growing UP, neither tofu in high quantity. And how much cost Kale???? I love lunch box as bento for example...but to be clear it's too much Time for active parents.
@@NotEvenFrench for canteen, it's not the case for everybody. Many kids go home for lunch. Lunch boxes are more regular at work, even if there's some social rights about lunch and hygienic habits or equipment for lunch, that's why there are canteens. And last thing: even if it's better now, canteens in school are awful and disgusting. It's really hard to create tasty meals in collective restauration and rules.
Primary school in Norway we dedicated 1 day a week just hanging around in the forest with a fire and cook different foods on the fire. Two of the moms would always pack into their kid’s lunch box a sweet bread you were supposed to take a tiny bit and wrap around a stick and grill and it was soooo nice. Sometimes we were instructed to build a shelter out of logs and branches and first aid stuff but mostly we just played and wandered around unsupervised.
C'était très intéressant! Ça fait plaisir de voir que vous parlez réellement de ce qui se passe en France et non pas des clichés lourdingues et très caricaturaux (et parfois faux) qu'ont de nombreux étrangers sur nous. J'aime beaucoup découvrir ce que pensent les étrangers de nous. Ce que vous dîtes sur ce qui choque les étrangers sur la France (par exemple le système de santé, les études ou la cantine) moi à l'inverse ça me choque que ça ne soit pas comme ça aussi ailleurs, ça nous paraît tellement normal ici que tout le monde puisse se faire soigner ou faire des études sans que ça ne coûte un bras.
I’m French living in New Zealand. One thing I would add to the list is actually a pet peeve of mine. How people do the dishes here. Basically most people here fill up the sink, throw some dish washing soap in it and lightly scrub the dishes with a brush and pull out the dishes out of that dirty bubbly greasy water and put them on the drying rack without rinsing them, only to be forgotten until they need the item again. The dishes are actually not thoroughly clean and you can even taste the dish washing soap in your next glass of water. I often re wash the things I’m going to use because of that. Growing up I was taught that the brush is used to scrub the main crumbs/stubborn sticky stuff, then you use a non abrasive sponge with a drop of dish washing soap on it to carefully scrub all the surfaces of the dishes. Then you rinse everything with clean water. And only then you can put the dishes on the rack to let them loose most of the moisture, but when you are done, you use a kitchen towel (a separate one than you would use to dry your hands!) to dry everything and put everything away. You don’t really see crowded drying racks in French home, you just put everything away so the dishes don’t catch dust. Another thing I find what the f* in New Zealand is the idea of home insulation. Here ( Wellington) in most homes you find that insulation is "achieved" with carpet everywhere and heavy curtains on the windows. Most homes, even newer ones, don’t have double glazed windows and the only source of heating is an electric heat pump that consumes A LOT of power, adding a tasty power bill in winter on top of already stupidly high rent. Not to mention that those heavy curtains trap the condensation on the windows and create mould;floor carpets catch all the dust and are so hard to be kept hygienic. I was blown away to find out that this is actually normal. In comparison, in France most houses/building have at least double glazed windows and central heating. That way you don’t actually see your breath fog up and keep warm in winter without having to live in your pile of blankets. And you would almost never find carpet flooring. You would get linoleum/tiles/wood that are easy to sweep/vacuum/mop. That said, I absolutely adore living in Wellington and I can’t imagine ever go back to France. You made so many good points in your list that actually reminded me how I love the freedom of not being constantly judged here compared to France. Because most points get back to this: French people tend to be really judgmental and harsh on each other’s. I love how I can express all my little joys, and how people get excited with me for them too. I love how I can go out and about in my comfies if I feel like it and no one will ever judge me for it. Or the other way around, I love that I can dress how sexy I want and not be judged or hassled. I would trade my strict primary school education for the joyful claps anytime and I’m happy that if I have kids one day they will experience the New Zealand way rather than the French way. I was so shy and awkward when I was a kid and I felt judged/bullied/not understood, not only from the other kids but also from the teachers. Which just made my school days a nightmare. The strict eating habits that we are educated with are good and bad. I was feeling extremely guilty every time I would eat something outside the hours, and I ended up with eating disorder. I love that here no one will ever judge you for what and when you eat. You can never possibly know what a person is going through, therefore you can not be the person to judge them. I love you New Zealand.
that dishwashing craziness ? it's the same in Britain and i would guess the british brought it to NZ and Australia. drives me nuts. It is totally an English thing and they have been doing it forever. if you point it out to a brit , they look at you as if you are the crazy one. it's not the just the french that dont get it. NOBODY gets it except the brits.
@Anaïs Rebella I am a natural-born American. Thank you for giving us your personal insight into France and its way-of-life (in English). I'm sure French people talk about the difficulties, all the time ... but in French. I believe I also read that the Québécois also have a different culture than native French people.
Intuitive eating is individualistic. We're social! That's why we all eat at special times, it's to eat together. Intuitive eating means eating alone and we don't want that.
I remember preferring not to eat at all in high-school or feeling deeply depressed if I was eating alone in the cantine. So yes I think eating alone is not common in France or we will think of you as a loner
@@NotEvenFrench There's a point here. Having lunch is a social activity for many. You're not only having lunch at the same time as the people around you, you're having lunch WITH them. Meals don't really stop conversations, that's also one of the reasons why they can go on for so long. Eating and having a meal aren't the same thing, one you're doing alone, ther other you're doing with people. If that makes any sense to you, that's a sign you're undoubtedly frenchified.
@@NotEvenFrench I get the point but partly disagree, I am a French girl and always eat on my own, and some of my friends do the same.. I do practice intuitive eating btw, I love and need to pay attention to the food I'm giving to my body :)
@@NotEvenFrench fake tan 🤮😂. If you're white you're white and if you're naturally tan it's good too. Why do you want to change that? And my question is: why using fake tan when you live in a sunny country? You have just to go outside lol (with solar cream of course)
@@juju_ladouce if you wear a proper sun block you won't become tan as it prevents sun damage. I wear sunblock and will apply a light sun tan so I don't look like I live in the antarctic but also have healthy skin.
Maybe it depends on what part of the US you’re from but I actually feel like a lot of Americans don’t like the fake nails, Kardashian look. Many perceive this to be shallow or even unintelligent to dress that way. Some do like it but it tends to be younger girls like under 25. Obviously, there are exceptions.
I think there seems to be more of "we dress for other people to look at us" culture in France. I'm American, and I don't prefer the Kardashian look with the long nails either, but I also just don't care. If I don't like it, I don't do it. If others like it, let them do it. It doesn't affect my day, and I'm certainly not going to waste energy thinking about it. I'm obviously not saying Americans don't care at all about what other people think, or judge each other, but we definitely get dressed for ourselves first. That's why comfort is king.
I'm French with an Aussie boyfriend - we live in London and go to a farmers market on Saturday which means that we generally have lunch at 2pm. Every week, WITHOUT FAIL, my dad will look surprise and say: 'You're eating now? It's a bit late for lunch' Skipping lunch and waiting for dinner would probably make more sense to him. Sorry dad, I was hungry at 2 🤷♀️
As an introvert in France, I would have liked to have a lunch box and eat wherever I wanted, instead of having to find a group of people to eat with at the cantine, only not to be alone :/
I’m going to add something, but it’s more something that Europeans don’t understand about Americans and Canadians : the fact that taxes are not included in the price of a product in a store. So when you go to the checkout you pay more than what was indicated. The same is for the tips in Northern America in restaurants, because in France waiters are paid normally while in America, they need the tip.
Just for explanation. In the US every single state, county, and even city might have different sales tax laws and “rates” so it would be impossible to have that price added up on the sticker. It doesn’t take long for you to become aware of this and mentally always know you will probably be paying tax in the neighborhood of 8% on items you buy. It becomes normal to mentally calculate that and also the 15% or so you will be tipping at a “sit down” restaurant. Meals in restaurants are generally cheaper, but the wait staff (often working for low wages) is paid additionally for their level of service, which is usually quite good.
Europeans use a VAT system of taxation. Americans do not (can't speak for Canadian system). That's the difference and why the total price isn't indicated until the register.
@@712pin OK, thank you for these explanations. It’s interesting to see how different things work in different places in the world. In Europe (or at least in France), we are not used to pay more than what’s indicated. It’s like the price you see is the price you pay, because taxes are already included. So when you go to the checkout, there’s no “bad surprise” (in French we say “mauvaise surprise”), if you see what I mean. And even if every state, county or city has its own tax system, Europeans would say: “Yeah but why didn’t you write the real price? Whether taxes represent 8, 10, 15 or 50 % more, you can still advise people by rising the price in the store.” So yeah... it’s a bit confusing for Europeans. But anyway, yes we just have to get used to this and then it’s OK. About waiters in restaurants, in France waiters are already paid about 10 € (12 $) per hour anyway whereas I heard 1,5 or 2 $ in the US. So, in America (not just the US), waiters are paid for quantity and quality of service. In Europe, they are just... paid. 😂 We actually just pay for the food, I don’t have the impression the pay the waiter. Once you paid the dishes, you can leave. So yeah, Europeans don’t like to pay more than what’s indicated, and we aren’t used to this I-gotta-pay-10-percent-more mentality. 😂 Maybe more Europeans need to be aware of that. 😆🤷🏾♂️
@@79other Ha ha ! Thanks, I was just wondering if Australia had the same system like in Northern America. So, it’s kinda the same for New Zealand, isn’t it?
Im from Ireland but I had a teacher from New Zealand in primary school and she did that exact clapping rhythm!!! I had completely forgotten about it but all the memories came flooding back as soon as you did it. I always thought it was just something she did but apparently not hahaha
@@Backsoon35 What?? Where? Never in ANY of my school did experience this. I’m from the US and I’ve never heard of this rhythmic clapping. I went to both public and private schools at different times, and I started out in Montessori. The US is a big place. Maybe it’s regional?
@@suzannecooper5323 yea you have a point, but it’s probably not even a regional thing, but more of a “common thing”if you’ve heard it, and “foreign” if u haven’t. And also a thing of, some teachers do it, some don’t. But I can assure you basically everywhere, here and there teachers are clapping that clap.
Feel NO SHAME! Cheese is delicious and fruit roll ups are divine. Enjoy them at ANY time of day 👌❤️ (From a fellow late night, comfort food tub nosher.)
I went to a Catholic school in the US as soon as you are taught cursive handwriting from 1st grade to 8th grade we weren't allowed to use print handwriting. When I went to public high school I was shocked to discover that most public schools don't even bother teaching cursive to children, only a few knew cursive handwriting.
Studies have found real advantages to cursive writing. First of all,you can go much faster. But it's also been found that taking notes in cursive leads to much more thorough retention of the subject at hand. Another plus would be being able to read old documents written that way. Some school systems that had abandoned it reintroduced it later.
In the sixties in the US, we were taught cursive in second grade and then , like you, expected to use it exclusively. Very sad that some schools have dropped it from their curriculum, it is so much faster and also better for learning.
Very interesting video! As a French person I have to admit I agreed with pretty much everything you said! I personally never heard of the “not doing a sport because it’s risky” but it sounds like something French people could say honestly. Thanks for your good work!
As an American I've never heard about the too risky of a sport either, so it was interesting to hear. Perhaps it is the western region that I live in is why I haven't heard of it. Love your videos! 👍
As a french that just finished engineering school working part time at dominos, I'm shared between 2 points of view : yes part time is not that common but when you start working you notice you are not alone at all as a student working part time, just it's hard to find one, places are not unlimited and there is many asks (just in my shop that was more than 3CV per week)...To find one is huge work, especially without experienced! On another side, yes many people get help from the gouvernement as grants and that make things easier, even if, looking at last news about student misery, that's not enough... The point took apart, other points are quiete accurate and I learnt some stuff! :D Ps: sorry about mistakes, i fight against my corrector to wright in english ^^
About the "not getting excited about ordinary things" part. It's not that we don't get excited, but all the time and energy you spend telling everyone how great something is you don't spend enjoying it. Then there's also that cultural thing that despite sometimes lacking humility ourselves showboating is something we really don't like, and turning your emotions into a spectacle can easily be misconstrued in that way. It's not a no-go, it's merely something you don't do around people who don't know you that well because they can't tell if you're just putting on an act or being yourself. Appearances are still extremely important, and the way you behave matters just as much as the way you dress.
I don’t understand this “putting on an act thing”. Is it something French people (sounds like young people) would do because they care so much about what other people think? It sounds like a subtle thing, but very self-conscious to temper your enthusiasm because someone else couldn’t relate. Wow! Definitely sort of a high school mentality in the US, what seems like a pre-occupation with imagining what others think of you. But being judgmental of others is frowned upon here and being openly critical is too. Definitely a cultural and values difference. Being authentic is pretty highly valued where I am in Northern California. Being phoney is not appreciated particularly.
Yep pretty on point I am french but leaving abroad for the past 15 years and married to an Argentinian. Definitely food is the big difference with every culture. I was trained to eat at certain time of the day for french people eating healthy eating the right food veggies fruits is extremely important and we are taught from a young age by the cantine those rules. Also yes eating outside of eating hours is frowned upon. My wife definitely does not understand that from my culture as an Argentinian and it is just engraved in my brain that is what I believe and the lunch break at work at 12pm-1pm is a must for me I need a proper break and proper food and at least 40min to eat. Very french
Mon copain est aussi Argentin. J'ai toujours de la difficulté après 3 ans quand il me dit qu'il va revenir pour souper et qu'il rentre à la maison à 20h30-21h ou lorsqu'il commence à préparer le souper vers 20h. Ça fait déjà plus d'une heure que j'ai faim moi! Est-ce que vous avez les mêmes défis dans votre maisonnée?
@@anne12876 olala oui pareil !!! cependant j'ai une femme très comprehensible cependant elle est végétarienne (un comble pour une argentine a mon sense!) mais elle c'est habituée a manger a heure fixe meme sinon elle sait que je perds patience
For the air-conditionning, there is also this "green-idea" that we should not put energy in refreshing somewhere. If heat is unstandable to the point that we NEED air-conditionning, it means that we shouldn't live there. I know, we can tell the same thing with cold temperatures in winter but, you know, we are not always logical !
In lycée i had classes until 6pm then a lot of homework, impossible to have a job too. I was only doing babysitting during weekends. But at the university, I had a part time job during the year (10 to 15 hours a week) and a full time job during summer break (who was almost 4 months). And I had a lot of friends who were doing the same.
Eye-opening video. I have not been to France, but have hosted , housed, and tutored French teens. This helps me understand why they often seemed baffled by our lifestyle.
Actually what is funny is that intermittent fasting is slowly coming to France but with french issues like "how am I going to explain to my collegues that i don't go to the cantine with them 😱?" or "which meal will i stop having ?" (because, remember, in France you MUST eat at 8am/midday/4pm/8pm so you "cannot" break your lunch at another time)
Yeah, I so understand! I do intermettent fasting, I skip breakfast but I have to hide it, it's a secret really that I only told one person and then I felt I had to justify myself - very much. Crazy when you think of it.
I have done IF and lunch boxes a few years ago in France quite naturally though and everyone was doing it at my job. Funny thing is be careful with IF, I was later diagnosed with mental anorexia and bulimia and to my doctors IF is one the first steps toward eating disorders. They do advice about intuition eating but definitely not IF 😊
I am French and when I was in high school a long time ago, I had 40 hours of lessons per week , and homework to do... it may be the reason why they don’t take a job. But you’re right, it is not usual...
En vrai on a surtout les études bien moins cher ( pour les écoles publiques comme l'université, le lycée ) et pleins d'aide comme les bourses, APL et compagnie donc bon tu peux te dispenser de travailler contrairement aux US
The more I learn the more I feel like the French and us Germans are very much alike. Apart unfortunately from the frequent occurence of people in trackpants in public. We do have them. And I hate it.
Hello ! Thank you for your nice video! I am French and I fully agree with you. I would add to the list: the concept of dating. Especially to have mutiple dates at the same time. I would say this maybe changes a little bit through dating apps. Usually, in France, either you are single or your have a boy / girl friend. There is no middle way. Once you start to kiss, you are almost automatically together. This dos not prevent to break up a short time after if this relationship does not work though. So if you kiss somebody else few days after you have kissed the first person, this is already cheating. This "I would like to become exclusive?" question is so blow minding for French. Of you course it is exclusive from the very first kiss!! So shocking! :D Do you agree ?
It was like that when I was in high school in Ontario, Canada in the 90s, but it seems things have changed. I get the impression that many young Ontarians now don't even really try to date in any form. It seems the age at which they have their first serious relationship (not to mention when they first start being sexually active) is older than it was during my generation.
When I was 10yrs old I went to a french school in Paris for about a month and LOVED the cantine. I can still remember the delicious french potato salad with vinaigrette and bread with unsalted butter. I adored it!!!
Working under 16 is illegal in France. 16-18 is legal but employers will have obligations etc so they usually always refuse. However almost half of students in university (not écoles) work on the side even if it's 9-10 hours not 20 a week. Student unions try to fight that as the ones who work end up having higher failure rates etc
The worst was the Sunday lunch. We take breakfast later on Sunday, but nevertheless "tout le monde a table" at 1 PM and we had to force down Sunday roast and potatoes without being hungry. After that we spent the afternoon in a haze, digesting the excess food.
I discovered today the concept of Intuitive eating when you are not hungry. It does not make sense at all but as I am French I guess it is normal. And yes, I confirm whatever task I am doing at some point I will stop and go eat around noon. You had me laughing a few times in this cool video!!
I don't think its intuitive eating if you're not hungry. I think intuitive eating is eating when you are hungry, instead of at rigid times. Personally, I have no natural intuition when it comes to hunger, so I think I would thrive somewhere where I'm surrounded by cultural cues for when to eat. Normally I either forget to eat all together, or overeat because I'm afraid I'm going to forget to eat. Not intuitive at all.
That school restaurant is amazing. We recently moved to the countryside and the school canteen is such a big deal here. They don’t use any product that’s not local. It’s an experience my kids wouldn’t have had anywhere else I think, It’s a real education in food and nutrition.
It’s very common in the French speaking parts of Europe for large companies with thousands of workers to have a heavily subsidized company cafeteria within their premises for their employees to eat their lunch. But most small and midsize businesses don’t provide that.
I'm French and I don't (totally) agree with your point on part time work when you're young. I think's it's absolutaly true up until the end of High School (Lycée). But a lot of university students actually need to work part time. True, University is cheap, and there are various financial helps one can get depending on his and his parents income... But still, to pay rent, transports and living (esecpailly in more expensive cities like Paris), a lot of students depend on part time jobs. This has been highlighted by the COVID pandemic, as due to lockdown and the closing of bars, restaurants etc., a lot of students lost their jobs and are still really strugling. Other than that, I really like your videos, you have a very interesting perspective on France and French people, please keep going! :)
The thing is that up until you’re 18 (adult to the society in France), it’s really difficult to find a job due to restrictions on hours, salary, contract etc. (on top of the fact that there isn’t much time to have one). So even if you want to works for “pocket money” or helping out, the only thing you can do is babysitting mostly.
@@puccaland I thought I replied to your comment already, apparently not, my bad. :) So in any case, here it is: I did not mean that young French people work as much as their US/NZ counterpart. I felt like the image of French society one could get from the video is that students having a job while studying is extremely rare, which is not entierly correct. While it is probably true for teenagers under 18, things change for university students. The cost associated with studying (not so much tuition, more like rent, transports, food, etc.) make it so that a lot of them need the income of a job (full-time, part-time or during summer). In my personnal experience, more than half of my friends had a job at some point during university, ranging from "nice pocket money" to "absolutely necesary if I want to eat". If you look at official statistics, 46% of university students have a job (75% if you include summer jobs). Source (official) : www.vie-publique.fr/rapport/276357-lemploi-etudiant (see P6) What we call "précarité étudiante" (i.e students with financial struggles) has become a groing issue, with highly mediatized cases such as that of a student from Lyon self-immolating in front of his university (Source: www.france24.com/en/20191114-french-university-student-s-self-immolation-sparks-anger-over-living-conditions ), or the many stories rising from the COVID-19 pandemic. That's it for me. Also, if you have them, I would be very interested to see precise figures on the situation in the US :)
@@nukata1425 It is not difficult at all. Back in my days we could start working from 15 which I did at McDonald's which hires tones of students under 18 (more flexibility). Internet wasn't yet a tool and nowadays things like babysitting or tutoring are also easy to do. Did them as well but thanks to the word of mouth. Nowadays everything is easier.
@@ppcc5340 I understand where you're getting at. However we have 2 extremes here. The university students have the time to have a job but they aren't all the students in France. So that's actually 25% of the French students who actually work and we're much more talking temporary, part time, seasonal work here. etudiant.lefigaro.fr/article/pres-d-un-quart-des-etudiants-francais-travaillent-pendant-leurs-etudes_d44dd8f0-6322-11e7-a4f6-9cfaeb766eeb/ In the US www.insidehighered.com/news/2019/11/18/most-college-students-work-and-thats-both-good-and-bad Of course there are students who live in precarity in France. But again there is precarity and precarity. The precarity the French students have to face is nowhere near the precarity the American students or in other countries from the Anglosphere are facing. Like right now we are seeing students in France saying that they are having difficulties to buy food because of the Covid crisis. I let you check the help they got in several countries like the UK or the US. What I am saying is that the scales aren't the same and that's what I understood from the video. By the way 10% of the high-school students in France have a job and 30% work sometime during the year.
Hi! My ex who is French worked part-time while he studied law. He was a cook in a restaurant. When we were together he loved to snack on Miss Vickie’s chips - he snacked more than me and I am a Canuck.
I'm french but I do not object to air conditioning as a principle. I just can't get it when one set it lower in the summer than in the winter, I can't see any logic in that... having to wear a sweater inside in the summer and shorts (well I didn't but saw coworkers do) inside in the winter.
@@jazmine9570 I lived a couple of years in the US and that's where I found the AC to be set too cold in the summer and too hot in the winter. In France, when there is AC people usually set it up to more reasonable temperatures (to save energy cost I guess).
people usually set it colder in the summer because it is hotter outside so they need to overcompensate. it is true though that in the winter public places will put excessive heat on.
@@jessicapayne6549Both my elementary and high school had one. We’d get our trays and go down the line. Although, I rarely ate lunch during high school.
The clapping thing is funny. When I was in elementary school here in the US, the teachers would flick the lights off and back on a few times to get the room to quiet down.
The mealtime thing is understandable since meals are much more elaborate and time consuming to prepare (and shop for) so people must be ready (and hungry!) when food is finally ready at the table 👍🏼
I cracked up with grim laughter when you said that people put off going to the dentist because it can cost hundreds of dollars. Here in the states, dentist visits are never that cheap. They cost thousands! My mom spent over five thousand dollars at a single dentist visit last year, and it cost that much because she can't afford the insurance. This place is a nightmare, and I can't wait to get out.
This always sounds so crazy to me (french)... I remember that when I was underage dentist was free once a year so my mom was like "it's time to book your annual dentist appointment sweetie" every year even if I didn't need it. And since then it only costs me a few euros whenever I want to go as an adult.
Or like me, I have dental insurance, but it only covers one cleaning a year, and maxes out at $1500. I needed a root canal and crown and one cavity filling repaired. That was over $4000 and my insurance covered $1500. If my dental insurance was not included on my health insurance I wouldn’t have it because it’s over $200 a month for a cleaning and $1500. It’s absolutely a ripoff.
The only sports I've heard people here in the US talk about as being too risky are things like USA style football, and cheerleading (the kind with "fliers" where they throw you up in the air and crazy stuff). Basically, they have a very high risk of serious head and neck injuries, which can be permanent. There are a very high number of serious injuries associated with these two sports, so I understand parents not wanting their children to get involved.
I’m American and I have never heard anyone speak of sport being “too risky” for healthcare reasons, but like you said for sports like football and cheerleading where the risk of acquiring an injury could severely alter your physical health for the rest of your life, yes. Sounds like a misunderstanding of high injury risk sports and why people avoid them.
Oh boy I have stuff to say about this subject! So I've been living in London for more than a year and now it's been 3 months that I am living in New-Zealand. My partner is a kiwi and we're currently living with his parents. Two things that I can't understand : eating sandwiches all the time and considering this as healthy and normal, while in France we considered that as "manger sur le pouce" (eating on the thumb, litteraly) and for us this is unhealthy and not enough food to last a full day of work. On the same subject, those 15min meal without talking, eating fast together and then when you're done (and the others are not) you just clean your space and go back to your activities. For me it's like... what?! What about sharing and talking and enjoying this food full of flavors that have been made for hours ? haha
Thing is in France, lunch is the biggest meal of the day, so you need time to eat all the food. And it's a key moments to socialize with colleagues, customers etc.
At least in America, in school, we had 20-30 minutes for lunch. That included waiting in a 15 minute line for food if we didn't bring our own food. We also have 30 minute lunches for work unless we work at least 8 hours. We're conditioned to eat quickly and not waste any time so we can get back to work as fast as we can because each minute counts for our paycheck(which likely hardly covers living expenses so we squeeze what we can out of it) Also, when I'm eating, I want to eat and not talk. I'm hungry. Socializing is for after work/school. Now, this isn't everywhere. But if you work somewhere where they serve food, you still have to wait in line, then shovel food in your mouth because it likely took 25 of your thirty minute lunch to get food.
That's partly because we've had a decent breakfast and then we'll be home having a big dinner around 6pm. And depending on the employment law in the country, in NZ for example, a lot of people are only entitled to 15 minute and 30 minute breaks, so that's definitely sandwich territory. ...and if you live and work in a decent sized French city don't pretend you don't line up outside a Paul or La Mie Caline for your little sandwich formules too 🤣 I've seen plenty of working French eat sandwiches for lunch
Oh I can see myself in every points you mentioned ! Particularly the snacking part (why eat when you don't need to ? it feels so unhealthy) and the overly enthusiastic reactions 😂 My sister has an American friend she made while in University. And everytime I see her react to something I can't help but think "How American...".
And we kinda look bad at these overreactions i think ! Also i will never understand how you can eat foot after dinner. I can understand the afternoon if you had a small lunch, but after dinner, what is the point ? You're gonna sleep anyway, you don't need energy, you are just getting fat.
I think Americans are just more bold than most other cultures, and we feel a freedom, even a sense of comfort, knowing we can be ourselves and express our feelings. We really embrace this. Having said that, I feel that all this acting overly enthusiastic about small things may actually be generational. Young people tend to do this a lot right now, and it's annoying. It does seem fake, even to other Americans.
@@pasdenomdegroupe When you know they have dinner at 6 or even 5PM, that leaves some time to fill unless you're in bed before 9PM and up at 4:30AM. Lots of Americans have such ridiculously early hours
Salut! I am from Italy but my mom is english, so I can understand your doubts. The majority of the things French do are the same here in Italy, in facts we call them “cousins” 😉
I must say you were spot on! I was curious about the points you were gonna mention and it makes me realize how French i am even though i haven’t lived in France in a looong time 😂😅
I hope this is not overly topical because it’s a nice easy going channel but I promise is mainly positive: I feel like in the “Anglo” world, it’s important to realise that Instagram / Kardashian look is clearly inspired by a Black Aesthetic, both based on Black women’s features and style. 20 years ago it was considered “trashy” by a lot of white people (big lips, curves, street wear, large costume jewellery, long nails etc ) , but then the Kardashians and Instagram added plastic surgery to it, changed other things around and it became the “baddie” look. I feel like because French style is so timeless it doesn’t really appropriate culture in the same way and it makes it easier for POC in France to adapt this style around their own style culture and features, in a way the more fast pace Anglo style can’t as it’s often designed with white people in mind. Obviously France has a lot of issues when it comes to racial tension and including POC but one positive is, it seems besides white teenage boys using Arab slang or following the French Rap aesthetic (which is heavily influenced by both Sub-Saharan and North Africa), there is a lot less of that copying other styles and aesthetics and it going uncredited. I think that’s a positive, I also feel when French people especially in fashion do get inspired by other cultures, styles and even subcultures they just seem more likely to credit where it comes from than we are (In my humble opinion)
Great comment Sam. I would like to that it seems tat African-American culture is going casual and becoming less elegant. I think it goes back to the 1990s with ganster rap. If you go back to the African American culture of 1950s you''ll see more elegant styles like Jazz.
I have to say, about the Arab slang, where I live everyone use it. As there were/is a higher number of North African/Arab people in cités (hood) their way of speaking spread in those places (and some words everywhere in France). Most of the people (almost everyone) know where it's from and it's not seen as a "racial appropriation" I think
My ex (French) used to make fun of me whenever I get very "enthusiastic". When I say "awww those flowers are sooo prettyyy" or "awww it's so cuuute!" or the like, he would smirk and say awwww with a bit of an eye roll. Didn't know it was a French thing 😆
It's just that we feel you's not leave enough headroom of enthousiasm and expletive for a "once in a lifetime" experience ;-) But I sometimes say something similar to my colleagues: I'm not very sensitive to cold and I can walk the 200m to the cafeteria when it's 10°C ouside with a T shirt, they tell me "how can you do that, it's freezing!" and I answer back that they should keep aside some adjectives for time it's going to be actually -10°C !
@@abcxyz-cx4mr I still say it. I am not going to change something that is a part of me that I like. Just like my boyfriend doesn’t hardly smile and he would never do it to a stranger. Apparently it’s a French thing. I use to to think it was off putting and cold. But now just accept that is part of him. He now accepts that my awww cute.... comes with me. I think living in France and now Spain my awww cute has been toned down as when I hear it on some of the North American Influencers on UA-cam it can really sound fake and annoying. Lol
Here's another one (coming from an American perspective): I don't think French people appreciate the "rags-to-riches" stories like we do. We really laud a person who started poor and worked their way up to success and wealth. I think that (a), that exists less in France since there is much less social mobility, and (b) even if you did work your way up to wealth you shouldn't talk about it in France! 😄
I will add that I think our love of the rags-to-riches narrative has actually prevented us from supporting our poor the way we should, because there's the belief that everyone should be able to achieve success with enough hard work and so if you haven't, it was because you're lazy.
@@Rachel-rs7jn I completely disagree with that. most people who are very well off that I know give generously to charities. Look at the Gates foundation and I know people in my family who donate all the time. I think you're talking about the government which does provide quite a bit. Most poor people in the United States that I know of have TVs, often have a car, definitely a smartphone. If they choose to spend their money that they get from the government on things like that instead of food; come on the government is not the babysitter for us.
@@caciliawhy5195 sooo american, yeah poor people do have money, they just don't spend it correctly. Actually being poor does not mean not having money, that is not the definition!
Je suis française et cette vidéo est si vraie. Je me souviens avoir lu le livre d'un enfant américain qui était maltraité par ses parents (David Pelzer) et à l'école il était le seul à ne pas avoir de "lunch box" donc il ne mangeait tou simplement pas ou volait dans les boites de ses amis et je m'étais dit qu'en France, ça n'aurait jamais pu arriver car tout lemonde va à la cantine et mange ce qu'il veut.
Techniquement, les parents ne sont pas obligés d'inscrire les enfants à la cantine (qui est payante d'ailleurs), certains font le choix de faire rentrer les enfants manger à la maison (les "externes" comme on les appelle). Et dans ces cas là, s'il n'y a rien à manger, bah ça revient un peu au même (l'humiliation publique en moins, certes, mais avec aussi moins de chance pour que la maltraitance soit repérée).
@@iyzabel oui je sais bien, mais ça dépend vraiment de la zone géographique et de l'établissement concerné (maternelle, primaire, collège et lycée). De plus, la maltraitance ne dépend pas du niveau de revenus.
I am French-Canadian and one thing I noticed amongst my English-Canadian or American neighbours is that they never stick to the name they’ll name their child. I always scratch my head when I hear someone say « her name is Catherine, but it’s Kate » or « his name is William, but it’s Bill ». I find that puzzling - if you intend to always call your daughter Kate, then why not register her name as such? This is something that French people rarely do. 🤔
When you said "the dentist may be in the Hundreds of Dollars!" I ruefully chuckled in American, as someone with a $16,000 estimate on all the work my teeth need done as a result of not being able to access dental care At All for a decade. 😖
In the early 20th century, workers in industrial factories had lunch boxes. In french it is called "une gamelle" It was currently made in aluminum to warm it. Some people have lunch boxes now in France, but very rarely children at school. Many students have part time jobs in low social classes whereas it's not the case in upper middle classes.
Love this, and your other movies too, they’re all so true! I moved from the U.K. to Paris last year and I’m still trying to navigate the cultural differences. However I will say I don’t regret it for a moment, France is an incredible place to live. Thanks for your super insights Rosie 🤗❤️
So I’m not French 😊 I grew up in Russia, and a lot of the things you mention about the French are very common in Russia as well. We had a canteen in school, no lunch boxes. Ever. We did have strict teachers , even in primary school and normal type classes, with dictations and math tests. And sometimes our teachers yelled at us. I live in the US and raised my kids here, and here behavior like that would warrant termination, or worse yet a law suit. I’m sure things have changed in Russia as well since I graduated in the nineties, but it’s kind of creepy how similar some French and Russian cultural idiosyncrasies are. We had health care completely free, so no one had to put off going to the dentist. And school kids or uni students did not work, not even part time. It was just not a thing to do. Uni education was free, and the government even paid a stipend to some. I did not get any because I lived at home with my parents. So there was kind of no need to work. All I had to do was get good grades. And we ate at very similar times. Even Russian shops and businesses closed down to lunch at the same time. And snacks did not exist either, not the chips and all that processed crap. But it wasn’t as “religious “ as for the French I guess. If we got hungry between meals we would make an open face sandwich with butter and salami or smth like that. It wasn’t as strict I guess.
@@agnieszkabatyra4332 Hahaha maybe. When I moved to the US, I thought a closed sandwich had too much bread, you had to stuff it really fat to even taste the meat. Never really liked those and after 26 years of living here, I still don’t eat them. I think they have open face sandwiches in Sweden and other Scandi countries.
I'm American, and we absolutely approach sandwiches as whole meals. Meat and a salad on that thing. We should definitely be more open to open sandwiches as a snack, though. Its super easy and probably less processed (depending on what you buy) then prepackaged snacks. I know I just never think about it. Its like, if you never see something then you don't realize it's an option.
Hello Rosie. For the climatisation, there is two things to consider as a French personne : the electrical cost of having 24/7 the climatisator on ; and the thermical choc, we are told is a bad thing, and we are not used to. Image, in summer, it's 35°C outside. You go inside a shop with climatisation, the temperature drop to 25°C. And when we go outside, the temperature return to 35°C. The same in winter, outside it's 5°C, inside it's 20°C. The termical choc, going from hot to cold, to hot, is not a thing we like. It's exausting, and bad for the health we think. Plus, I don't know Newzealands, or USA, but we can propably also think about thermical isolation. French building have globaly a good isolation from the cold or the hot from the outside, so the climatisation is less necessary in general.
When I worked as an au pair in the south of France, my host mother/employer (who was actually an Australian ex-pat) taught me that the correct wardrobe for going to the supermarket is: never sweatpants, ALWAYS a belt with your trousers. I wanted to deny it, but looking around me, she was correct. Now I live in a mountain town in Canada where people walk around all day in technical clothes with gear hanging off them, and I long for a little political correctness around wardrobe choice.
As a former teacher, I totally did the clapping thing to get my students' attention. At my daughter's school, it's clapping with the teacher saying, "1-2-3, eyes on me." Students respond with clapping, "1-2, eyes on you."
I am an Afrikaner from South Africa and our heritage partly comes from the French Huegenots, so I pick up little French aspects of our culture when I listen to your videos.
I'm Canadian and the school lunch culture here is kind of a mix of cafeteria and self-made lunches. We don't get the cafeteria lunch option in school until highschool, (there's the pizza and milk program but most people are that along with the lunch they brought from home) and even once we have the cafeteria lunch option, we still have the choice of whether we want to take it or still make our own lunches
As a french, the habbit that strikes me the most is the anglo saxon way of being very enthusiastic about everything. It's not just that we find it weird, but also most of us find it annoying (We find weird most of the other things you talked about, but they're ok to us). I thnik we find that kind of enthusiasm annoying not only because it sounds hypocritical to us (weither it actually is or it's not) like you said, but also because it's LOUD, and we don't like loud people. We're taught not to be loud from our chilhood, you will rarely see even a little child crying at a super market cash register, teacher shout SILENCE because being lound for pupils is a mark of disrespect to their teacher, etc... so when we see adults being loud, or even shouting in a public place for no obvious reason, we can't help but thnik "what a poor education"... There are places meant to make noise : concerts, stadiums... and strikes protests of course ^^
I'm American and feel much the same way, it's one of the things I so appreciate about the French. I went there on a class trip in secondary school and was so embarrassed by how a lot of the other students were behaving. I'm sure I do it too, but I agree the overly loud enthusiastic thing is just grating
My experience of French school children is opposite to that. Very loud, boisterous and quite rude. The teachers tend to ignore their behaviour as well.
So true about the air conditioning ! I'm french and I love the air conditioning, but my friends and family don't understand ! They always think they will get sick (not especially because of the germs, but more because of the cold), and I always tell them that millions of people live with it every single day (in south east Asia where I live), and they don't get sick :D
So funny to think that! Air conditioning units actually filter air nowadays! They’re great for people with allergies for example. What they’re not good for - is the environment, so I am with French folks on this one 😉
I've been to Singapore a few times, and everyone is always a bit sick there. The constant switching from 35°C outside to 18°C inside building and cars made me get a permanent runny nose as well..
French lives in U.K. first time I arrived there, people don’t shake hands or kisses, I felt like all my education on politeness out of the window. I used to it but miss it!! Useful when a man wants to kiss you because you are french and so proud to say « voulez-vous coucher avec moi ».
French here : We don't work before the age of 18, mainly because it's forbidden haha (except if it's through the school with apprentissage) and yes we have more than 35 hours of class per week + a lot of homework so we don't really have time. There are some things which are not so true, at least for me and my relatives, example the lunch boxes, we don't do it at school, but in the company which provide the tickets and do not have a canteen, we bring lunch boxes (mainly in big cities where there is no space for the canteen). We do eat food just to comfort ourselves, or when watching a movie even when we are not hungry, but I think this is true mainly for the young generation, our parents didn't do that. It's so true that we are not enthousiasthic enough !
Here's one thing the French and Anglo-Saxons do have in common (but that the rest of Europe/the world finds very strange): the confidence that EVERYBODY understands french/english. I have been to international events in almost every country in Europe and you'd always see a french person being completely helpless when there was no one around to help them in french or translate for them. And this applies to all ages. I've sat next to a 25 year old journalist (you know, someone you'd expect to know their languages) on a plane and he was so grateful that I helped him order his drink. The catch is: english will get you quite far in many regions of the world, but french as an international language is useless, except for certain regions in Africa. Also very french: having no clue what's happening in neighbouring countries. Their press and educational system don't seem to care about what happens in Italy, Spain, Germany,... and so the people of France have very little knowledge about their european neigbours. I'll give an example: last week, some french town on the border with Belgium wanted to tell their belgian neighbours that the lockdown is over and that belgians are welcome in their shops again, so they put up a big sign. There were, however, two issues: - They didn't realise that the end of the french "confinement" does not mean that Belgians can come over. The Belgian government still does not allow "non-essential" border crossings. - They made the sign in german. The nearest german speaking place would be about 300 kilometers away. The part in Belgium where this French town was next to is part of the Flanders region, where the language is dutch, not german.
The catch is : Most of the new generations have a bad English, they don't care, to compare 30 years ago ...New technologies has killing the taste of the effort ....
I am French student (from the Caribbean) and we learned at school the history of the countries bordering France such as the conquest of Spain from 711 to 736 and the “reconquista” from 722. Then the history of Belgium before and after 1830. Also on the italy “Risorgimento” or the Italian unification. And also on our island (Martinique) and the Caribbean in general (colonization, slavery, triangular trade, the slave trade, the black code etc ...). In addition, in French newspapers (especially the television news) we often talk about other countries (we talk too much about them by the way). Without forgetting that we are obliged to choose a foreign language apart from English in LV2 and we are necessarily obliged to learn the history of the country which goes with the language we have chosen. And I think that the French who invited the Belgians to come to their shops believed as you said that the confinement was over for them too. Because in previous lockdowns we were deconfined at the same time but as someone else mentioned we knew they weren't deconfined it was on the news. And in my opinion (even if you haven't asked me), it has absolutely nothing to do with our education in general, it is just some people who have not acquired the education that we have tried to give them. If I am left ALONE in an English-speaking country, I assure you that I will be able to manage. ;) PS: *The United Nations Secretariat has two working languages: English and French. The Council of Europe has two working languages: English and French. NATO has two working languages: English and French. The OECD has two working languages: English and French. So yes French is an important language.* Furthermore, French is the 2nd language spoken on all continents after English, it is not only in Europe and Africa that it is spoken in : - *North America* therefore _Canada (Québec, Montréal, New Brunswick) A little bit in Louisiana(Cajun) and Maine._ - *In the Caribbean/Central America* _(Martinique, Guadeloupe, Haiti, Saint-Pierre and Miquelon, Saint-Martin, Marie-Galante etc..)_ - *In South America* _(French Guyana),_ - *Indian Ocean* _(Reunion, Mayotte),_ *Africa East* _(Madagascar, Seychelles, Djibouti etc ...),_ - *Central Africa* _(RDC / Congo),_ - *North Africa / Middle East* _(Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia),_ - *West Africa* _(Benin, Ivory Coast, Guinea, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal)_ (Not counting the African countries originally non-French speaking members of the OIF) - *Oceania* _(New Caledonia, Wallis and Futuna and the 5 archipelagos of French Polynesia:_ _• The Society Islands: Windward Islands: Tahiti, Moorea, Tetiaora._ _• Leeward Islands: Huahine, Raiatea, Taha'a, Bora Bora, Maupiti._ _• Tuamotu Islands: Rangiroa, Tikehau, Manihi, Fakavara etc ..._ _• The Gambier Islands: Mangareva._ _• The Marquesas Islands_ and the _• Austral Islands._ - In *French Antartic* _(TAAF)_ and in *ASIA* _(Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam)_ ; these three countries formed French Indochina but the French language still resisted thanks to small communities in its countries and in _Lebanon._
Very good and well thought out observations Rosie. Thanks for another interesting video. Also interesting are the comments from other people. If I ever get to go to France again I will have a better understanding of the culture.
"Have you no pride?" - No, no I don't. Haha. It's interesting because in the US the people that are most likely to dress up for university classes and stuff like that (although not necessarily a Wal-Mart run :) ) are people from the South. And pride is a big part of their culture.
What? On the contrary I find most southern people don’t dress, and not well at all. Well Caucasians at least. When I leave NYC I have to dress down, or stand out too much the generic mall clothes they wear. They don’t dress for anything, church, weddings, theatre, or even dinner.
@@Msboochie2 I'm in Texas, and I get made fun of if I dress nice for anything. "Oooh, who you looking pretty for?" and "Aw you dressed up nice for us!" No, I want to look presentable. Good lord. I dress comfortably at home and friend's houses, but when I'm OUT out, I'd like to not have people think poorly of me.
I'm from Maryland, and went to a college in North Carolina. I was absolutely shocked to see girls with full makeup and perfectly curled hair (hot rollers, btw) for 8am lectures!!! Yeah, it may have been pride, but it also could've been vanity!
I literally laughed when you said dentistry etc was really expensive in the hundreds of dollars. Can you guess what country I get my Healthcare from? Lol 😆🤣😂😢 I want out of here
@@sct4040 It's just another system, trust me so many people abuse of french system's we have way way way way way way more taxes it's unrealistic how taxed we are especially when you start getting a lill bit of money (that's why rich people get out), people hardwork and just pay for people that just take advantage of the system
When the French noticed that Africans, like Senegalese and North Africans eating with their fingers, they said: these people are premitive, it is not done, it is not hygienic. But when the Finger Food fashion came from the United States, the French changed their point of view: Oh, it's beautiful, it's organic, it's progressive!
first sorry if i misunderstood you. i don't think it's true, i'm french myself and yes i can't talk for every french, but i think french have their way of eating,(like "etiquette" and such... ) it's not a matter of "africans / senegalese and north africans" but a matter of way of eating.(i mean you seems to say that it's a racial problematic, but it's not). it's cultural. and yes i think that eating directly with finger is not very hygienic. it's a common logic (microbes, viruses, disease) and when you talk about "finger food fashion " do you mean fast food for exemple ? personnally i don't like it , it's not healthy but it's just my point of view and a lot of french also think this way . so maybe that "the finger food fashion from the united states" that you were talking about don't have many fan. once again sorry if i misunderstood your comment. french takes pride in their food eating habits, and way of eating. for the french it's almost an art, there is a saying "l'art de la table" the art of the table .( if you look into it , it's associated with meals shared, presentation and serving the dishes, conversation and civility, decoration of furniture, utensils and places for gastronomic or wine-making pleasures. ways to receive guests, etiquette, table manners, service, menus and of course for the meals in themselves...)each culture is unique and different, each has its own values :) peace on earth XD
Bazambi N'Kongo I'm sorry but it's true that eating with forks or sticks is more hygienic than eating with the fingers. The French are not the only one who use forks you know. And Asia use sticks certainly for hygienic reason too.
Eating between meals is indeed really weird. When I was living in Copenhagen, my kiwi neighbor kept giving his daughter snacks and was surprised she wasn't hungry at mealtime... Going out in workout clothes is definitely a big no no. I don't know how covid affected provinces but here in Paris people still dress normally and even though when we work from home we dress very casually, the days we are allowed to be in the office, most people wear proper work clothing.
Salut . I love your videos. It is right : I hate seing foreigners eating or drinking while they are walking in the streets of Paris in the afternoon and also I hate the vulgar Kardashian look.
On oeut quand même boire dans la rue, genre notre reste de soda du fast food si on en sort ou un café qu'on a pris a emporter (surtout en ce moment les restos sont fermées) .... faut pas exagérer
Having a “to go” cup of coffee is inappropriate too. Went to Paris for a visit and the friends we went with HAD to stop by Starbucks every morning and sip their coffee on the metro, while walking down the street, etc. They definitely got some looks from the Parisians. 🤷♀️
I actually love the American enthusiasm for little things. High school sports, carnivals, parades, the smallest of holidays to huge deals like Thanksgiving - it gives us a lot to look forward to throughout the year! And smiling, laughing, shrieking with happiness at good news - I love it! Doesn't the world need more happiness?
Living here in America, tons of people (especially young students) do sports. The concerns about health aren't so much about health care, but more about the risk of brain injuries. There's apparently been a drop in student involvement in football since peopled learned about CTE and all that.
Australian here. I hosted a French student years ago when I was in high school. She was shocked to see that we treat our teachers like peers and was disgusted at how we dressed up and celebrated our sports carnivals (she called the French students who joined in "an embarrassment to France")
@@romulusthemainecoon3047 it was! During the fun races at the swimming carnival, students would jump into the pool and race each other in inflatable pirate ships. During the fun races at the athlètics carnival, students backhandsprung or cartwheeled down the 100metre track, or participated in the sack races, egg and spoon races or the obstacle courses. We would cross-dress, spray-paint and have massive dance parties. And yes, we were sorted into Houses and earned points towards a House Cup like Harry Potter - good costumes or dancing earned your House points
I was nodding at every points you made. Quebecers are definitely Anglo-Saxons who speak French. The more I watch your videos about the differences between the New Zealand and the French culture, the more I realise that we are more alike than different.
Well unfortunately, Quebec is inside of an anglo-saxon country, so they were forced to accept many cultural practices because of the federal government. In order to fund something like a cantine at all of the schools, they would need to put the taxes up higher in Quebec, and the taxes in Quebec are already the highest in Canada.
@@pierren___ Sorry but we're not French, we just speak French. Like Belgians and Roman Swiss are not French either. Ask any French who spent enough time in QC and they will tell you that there are many differences between the customs and the way of thinking of French and Quebecers.
After watching this, I've decided the French are now my favourite people. In spite of my "anglo" upbringing, I pretty much agreed with every single French peeve, from cursive writing and pointless snacking at 11.00 pm to phony (and sorry - but it DOES come across as phony) excessive expressions of ecstasy over everyday experiences. Vive la France! And lucky you to be over there.
you're speaking about wealthy french people. poor people in france can't afford dentist, work at 18 instead of going to the university... most of us don't go skiing : / and many poor girls want to look like the kardashians.... i guess you're just talking about RICH french people here.
That's mostly a matter of eduction rather than just money. I'm french, I'm not rich at all, I come from a low-middle class family, and we all had the chance to go to the university (because it's free, if we're talking about la fac) I guess that most "poor people" just idetifies themselves to people like the Kardashians because they are, in fact, rich. So it becomes attractive to them.
There is no real poor in France. The system guarantees a minimum RSA income, as well as free access to all CMU care. France has the richest poor in the world, but they don't know it.
@@NotEvenFrench i 've lived in france quite my whole life (i m 45) and am fond of sociology, so i really don't know if your assumptions are rooted in a statistic reality. Things have changed in france. In the past, it is true that many people could afford to go to the university, even very poor people - and that social ascending mobility was a thing/ it's almost not any more. Now it's very different, and you just have to check you comment section from french people to see that most of them say they've been working as teenagers ....
@@NotEvenFrench je pense que les pauvres en france sont plus "americanisés", dans les banlieues les filles ont des standards de beauté proches de ce qu'on trouve sur instagram.
Bonjour Rosie, Il y a certaines choses avec lesquelles je ne suis pas d'accord. Les "petits boulots" d'étudiants existent bel et bien (mais légalement à partir de 16 ans). A cause de la pandémie, certains étudiants ne peuvent plus travailler et crèvent de faim. Les aides sociales sont acceptées selon les revenus des parents. C'est très réglementé. Pour les écoles, tu as observé combien de classes quand tu étais en France ? Je suis professeur dans une école primaire et je "crie" seulement dans les cas extrêmes. La pédagogie et la façon de faire classe ont beaucoup évolué.
Have you been to Quebec, Canada? It's really interesting to see the difference with european culture because we speak french in a mostly english country and our neighbors are the United States so we are kind of a...nice strange mix. 😂
As a French person I think a part of the "active wear" thing comes from the fact that active wear worn on a regular basis is a mark of lower-class / poorer suburb fashion. The more you dress "up", the higher your social status, and the more people take your seriously. I'm not saying that it should be like this at all because everyone is entitled yo wear whatever they like but, I think this stereotype plays a big part in this...
Interesting that people want to be viewed (by their style of dress) as belonging to a higher social class, while at the same time, it is very much frowned upon to brag or show off your home, possessions, salary, car, etc. I am American, and I do wish some of us would dress more neatly in public, though! I hate that so many people leave the house looking like slobs!
Yeah. I'm french. I never use any superlative adjectif UNLESS it's needed. And it's kinda piss me off every time someone use one. If everything is "INCREDIBLE !", there is only three option : either you live in a fairy tale, which is great for you, but I'd rather think you're a bit naive, or you are just really discovering the world, and I guess you're 10, or it is also possible you don't know the meaning of the word INCREDIBLE. Cause for me, when something is INCREDIBLE, then it is really INCREDIBLE. Which means it really takes me a strong effort to believe it. Gradation is important in France. Because if everything is AWESOME, INCREDIBLE, SO CUUUUUUUUUUTE, then nothing is. That's just the norm. And so you have to find other words to describe such things when they really occurs. Because they do. Watching your channel for so long just make me thinks, French people are rational people in a crazy world xD. And being a very (very, very) rationnal french (I'm pissed when a french says "MEC ! C'ETAIT ENORME !"), I might just be a robot.
@@NotEvenFrench Haha. I'm not a Sea dude, I prefer a beautiful moutain with ice cap, rocky cliffs and an endless blue sky so blue that you feel like it's blinding you. However, I would probably just sit in the snow and watch it quietly and silently for half an hour or more ^^. For me something that deserve that kind of adjectives needs to be really breathtaking, or it has to speak to me deeply in a very powerful and shaking way. Btw I realize now that my previous message might seem a bit agressive. That was not my point at all (the "you" is impersonal in my mind please). Sorry about that.
@@NotEvenFrench something amazing is for instance someone saving a baby that fall from a balcony just in time, something cute is when a tiger take care or another animal specie. A beautiful bag is just beautiful.
Hello I’m French lived in France my entire life. It’s interesting to see your opinions on the french culture. It’s illegal to work before the age of 18. After the age of 18 a lot of student at university work on Saturdays in restaurants (before the pandemic...) or give out private lessons with platforms like complétude or acadomia. during my university studies I used to give math lessons. As for eating when not hungry I can assure you that most of us do eat sweats and chocolates or crisps when we feel the need emotionally. Even if its not good for your health 😅.
I live in france and grew up in two different countries; the netherlands and france. Nothing from all this seems weird to me since I've experienced both cultures. Living in a city/society feels really strange to me actually since last september. And since november I rarely get out of the lost paradise where I live since november. When I'm in town I feel like a stranger, an alien because I do not feel like I belong there and of course. Going to the doctors is something that I am not doing anymore either. Been wearing the same glasses for ages and if I get sick, wich doesn't happen I'll just stay at home. Risky sports? Yeah... In my experience going hiking with strong winds on narrow mountain paths is equally risky, furthermore if you are doing it alone, so everything is relative. It all depends on what kind of sports you like. Now for a finishing note, I've been feeling like the whole bloody society is an open asylum where we are not allowed to live if we do not agree with its values. I've lived in a camper, in a tent, an abandoned school and in houses and I must say that I enjoy way more the calm of the countryside than the lively cities. Greetings, from a traveling soul
I absolutely love your videos! So interesting and informative 🙌 but the more i learn about france/french people the more i am so greatful to be born and raised kiwi 🥰
The “clapping trick” is very common in France as well with young children (à la Maternelle). I just think it stops working when the children get older ;)
Thanks for reminding me I need to go to the dentist. I live in Canada and I have been putting it off for months now be cause it's sooooo expensive (500$ for one tooth here). I can't understand why we have to pay for something as basic as that. It's a need. In France it's a no-brainer, my teeth hurt, I go see the dentist. Teeth are part of the human body, why is it not considered as such. It can hurt so bad as well. I mean I'll never understand that ever. Free healthcare should be the norm.
@@carlablizard8514 Nope. At least not in Quebec, I don't know about other provinces. Mental health is not really included either I think. But it's definitly better here than in the US of course. It's just that from a french perspective I don't understand why dentistry is not considered as important as the rest of the body.
@@carlablizard8514 Healthcare in Ontario does not include dental care and a few other things such as physiotherapy. Pharmacare is also not guaranteed with some medicines covered, but most not or not fully. Eye glasses aren't covered. But many employers have benefit plans to cover those things not covered by the government and many dentists will provide discounts to those without an employer dental plan. Also, you can claim some expenses on your taxes, so even though you paid up front, you might get a bit back depending on your salary, etc.
Bonjour :) Your video made me smile 😅 I’m french - from Paris. I agree that from childhood I’ve been eating proper meals sitting at a table with other people three times a day, and it’s something I enjoy, I wouldn’t snack at random times if I’m not REALLY hungry. Like there must be kind of a rhythm... x) I mean there’s something reassuring and “self-care” with our link to food. I mean a bed or the street isn’t a place to eat your meal no ?? lol Concerning school it can be very strict and disciplined, that’s true. But then when you get to work hard as an adult, you’ve done it for so many years you’re well prepared right ? I got a mail from Sécurité Sociale on my 24th birthday to tell me I had a free dentist appointment until the next month, and I should go just in case, even though my teeth are perfect. Isn’t that awesome ? Thanks Carte Vitale :P I didn’t work until university at the age of 18 in the summer, just as an extra to pay for my future trips, car gas and going out with friends. Not to pay for the University obviously because it was like 150€ a year, so I could afford it with one week babysitting... and I don’t even have CAF or bourse. All the Americans shouting how “omg Paris is sooo beautiful” and “oooh sir thank you soooo much for showing us the direction can we get you something ?” Like lady if you do this for everyone all day all night how do you still have your voice at the end of the day ?? Haha and how can you honestly smile THAT MUCH to someone random ?? I’m currently writing this on my couch with “casual-city-clothes” and I wouldn’t have to change my outfit to go out, just put on my shoes and go. I mean unless you’re in bed, or sick, or do exercise why would you transform yourself in a pink-candy-like British grandma with ugly sweaters just because you’re cosy on your couch x) haha And phone-wise I’ve had the same number since my first phone ten years ago, with the same operator ^^’ that way we get a new phone for super cheap with the “fidélité” when you need it :D never got a SIM card. Love your videos, makes me practice my English ;)
Wait, so you don’t wear loungewear clothes at home? Clothes such as tracksuit bottoms and t shirts or even pyjamas? I don’t wear these clothes outside but I do wear them at home
About lunchbox, when I started to work in a factory .... long time ago ( I am retired now; it was in the late seventies ) My mother was used to prepare a meal for lunch, simply because I was working in an isolated place under construction. I suppose it is still possible today ( to work in an isolated place with nothing around ) , but there is more services to have something delivered. Lunchbox for school .... nope.
What I have found strange in Anglo-saxon countries is friendship between men and women. In France, it’s totally normal to have friends from the other gender, study, eat, go to a party, share a flat with him/her without implied romantic feelings. In Anglo-saxon countries, genders seem to be more separated ^^"
I think it depends where you live and your circle of friends. I'm an American woman and I've had many male friends and roommates. We used to go to dinner after work because that's when we had free time. That's normal among my friends but I know some women would never go out to dinner with a man unless they're dating or related.
@@jessa5388 No. It's still a problem. Gf/bf will become uneasy if their partner has friends of opposite gender.
I'm from Brazil and think the same about anglosaxon culture. Even boys and girls schools... I thought that was something left behind. Boys and girls could be friends but they'll walk in different groups
@@jessa5388 I agree with you! I've had dinner 1:1 with a friend's bf (she knew) because we were also friends! It wasn't romantic, just friends! Totally ok.
@@atengku9660 Could be age related? I went to an all girl school and at university I had lots of guy friends, one or two of whom years later I am still close to and the only guy I dated who objected was also, to me, pathologically jealous so he didn't last long. Depends on what you accept or not; I couldn't imagine someone dictating my friendships.
It's illegal for minors under 16 years old to work. Most teenagers in high school would babysit, petsit, wash cars, help in the garden to have money on the side. Between 16 and 18, you can work, but it's highly regulated so employers would tend to not hire minors. However, after 18 years old, lots, lots, lots of students are working part-time jobs, in fast-foods or similar jobs because it has flexible hours.
Don't forget that hollidays are verry long. Summer hollidays between July and August, are often used to have a summer job (in July) to pay hollidays in August.
In Ingeneer schools or commercial schools, proportion of upper midle class and upper is verry high. There is not too much need for job as family provide everything. At University, the main cost is house. A small appartment neer university could cost nearly half a full time job. You need monney. And for less rich families, there is no other solution than working as much as possible and fidding a deal between Courses - Learning and working. And keep a little time for pleasure.
Yes it's not because French children are lazy, it's just that it's very difficult to find a job before 18
In the US it’s common to work “under-the-table” at a young age. I started landscaping at 13 as my first job.
@@jilliandreams Your expression "Under the table" is so strange ! As a french, I hear only the litteral meaning. Is it for job in the house, including garden of course or is it only the size of the children ?
@@jazmine9570 @Jillian Dreams Ok. It seems to be similar to the french expression "Dessous-de-table" wich means "money not known from taxe administration". But generaly, it's more connected to corruption. The equivalent for "Under the table" in our context here is "black" or "au noir" (in french the two expressions are used)
When I was studying in the US I found it very weird as a French person to see students coming to class wearing gym clothes or other very casual clothes. I was actually told that I looked “French” because of the way I dressed to come to class, for example wearing a skirt with tights (what would have been super common I France). No judgement here of course, just it surprised me
Some of them take it to the extreme. I do wish that Americans’s would fix themselves up a bit more.
My daughter's elementary school (K-6th grade) had an exchange program with a french school. The girls were all so impressed with the french boys because they wore nice sweaters and scarves! US boys in that age range (and most girls) don't ever "dress up."
@@jtrav2025 The French do love their scarves.
I find it baffling - from our European eyes it appears messy and disrespectful, but it's totally normal there. Even us Brits think they're dressed down :)
@@sarahmichie4382 I am an American and while we are all a bit on the casual side, teens are the worst. Many grow out of that messy stage. My daughter is in it now and it makes me crazy! I also think it depends on where you live in the US. Yes, most wear athletic wear, but in the cities and around cities, we are definitely more put together. I think our weight problem may also play a roll in the horrible clothing choices.
I am a 31 year old French woman but I have grown up abroad and mostly attended American schools. My goodness you have nailed everything... everything!!! Great video
@uta gordon This year (2022) it's really catching on a lot more. Paris is really not made weeks at over 32° (85F?) several times over summer, with many days well over that, too.
I admire the way the French educate their children about good eating habits. The Italians do this as well, a hot lunch provided at school, etc. Interesting point about lunchboxes and inequality, I never had thought about that. I enjoy your channel.
It also forces you to be social during lunch time.
I worked in a daycare center for a bit where the parents had to provide a packed lunch for their kids. What I saw wasn't so much "inequality" as a HUGE difference in parental care. There would be one kid with a home made lunch, another with a vegetarian "health" conscious lunch all tofu, brown rice, cashews and kale , and then there would be the little kid whose parent couldnt be bothered and would just drop a bag from McDonald's on the table and leave. It wasn't a matter of money or social class, it was a matter of giving a damn about your kid.
@@anastasia10017 ...and educational apparence. Sorry. And sorry, but if you say that for high/mid class school, it could be real...but in less uniform school...it makes difference. Then I don't think that vegan menu IS good Idea for kids growing UP, neither tofu in high quantity. And how much cost Kale???? I love lunch box as bento for example...but to be clear it's too much Time for active parents.
@@NotEvenFrench for canteen, it's not the case for everybody. Many kids go home for lunch. Lunch boxes are more regular at work, even if there's some social rights about lunch and hygienic habits or equipment for lunch, that's why there are canteens. And last thing: even if it's better now, canteens in school are awful and disgusting. It's really hard to create tasty meals in collective restauration and rules.
In America we let a large part of our child population starve. Shameful
Primary school in Norway we dedicated 1 day a week just hanging around in the forest with a fire and cook different foods on the fire. Two of the moms would always pack into their kid’s lunch box a sweet bread you were supposed to take a tiny bit and wrap around a stick and grill and it was soooo nice. Sometimes we were instructed to build a shelter out of logs and branches and first aid stuff but mostly we just played and wandered around unsupervised.
C'était très intéressant! Ça fait plaisir de voir que vous parlez réellement de ce qui se passe en France et non pas des clichés lourdingues et très caricaturaux (et parfois faux) qu'ont de nombreux étrangers sur nous. J'aime beaucoup découvrir ce que pensent les étrangers de nous. Ce que vous dîtes sur ce qui choque les étrangers sur la France (par exemple le système de santé, les études ou la cantine) moi à l'inverse ça me choque que ça ne soit pas comme ça aussi ailleurs, ça nous paraît tellement normal ici que tout le monde puisse se faire soigner ou faire des études sans que ça ne coûte un bras.
I’m French living in New Zealand. One thing I would add to the list is actually a pet peeve of mine.
How people do the dishes here.
Basically most people here fill up the sink, throw some dish washing soap in it and lightly scrub the dishes with a brush and pull out the dishes out of that dirty bubbly greasy water and put them on the drying rack without rinsing them, only to be forgotten until they need the item again.
The dishes are actually not thoroughly clean and you can even taste the dish washing soap in your next glass of water. I often re wash the things I’m going to use because of that.
Growing up I was taught that the brush is used to scrub the main crumbs/stubborn sticky stuff, then you use a non abrasive sponge with a drop of dish washing soap on it to carefully scrub all the surfaces of the dishes. Then you rinse everything with clean water. And only then you can put the dishes on the rack to let them loose most of the moisture, but when you are done, you use a kitchen towel (a separate one than you would use to dry your hands!) to dry everything and put everything away. You don’t really see crowded drying racks in French home, you just put everything away so the dishes don’t catch dust.
Another thing I find what the f* in New Zealand is the idea of home insulation.
Here ( Wellington) in most homes you find that insulation is "achieved" with carpet everywhere and heavy curtains on the windows.
Most homes, even newer ones, don’t have double glazed windows and the only source of heating is an electric heat pump that consumes A LOT of power, adding a tasty power bill in winter on top of already stupidly high rent.
Not to mention that those heavy curtains trap the condensation on the windows and create mould;floor carpets catch all the dust and are so hard to be kept hygienic.
I was blown away to find out that this is actually normal.
In comparison, in France most houses/building have at least double glazed windows and central heating. That way you don’t actually see your breath fog up and keep warm in winter without having to live in your pile of blankets.
And you would almost never find carpet flooring. You would get linoleum/tiles/wood that are easy to sweep/vacuum/mop.
That said, I absolutely adore living in Wellington and I can’t imagine ever go back to France.
You made so many good points in your list that actually reminded me how I love the freedom of not being constantly judged here compared to France.
Because most points get back to this: French people tend to be really judgmental and harsh on each other’s.
I love how I can express all my little joys, and how people get excited with me for them too.
I love how I can go out and about in my comfies if I feel like it and no one will ever judge me for it.
Or the other way around, I love that I can dress how sexy I want and not be judged or hassled.
I would trade my strict primary school education for the joyful claps anytime and I’m happy that if I have kids one day they will experience the New Zealand way rather than the French way. I was so shy and awkward when I was a kid and I felt judged/bullied/not understood, not only from the other kids but also from the teachers. Which just made my school days a nightmare.
The strict eating habits that we are educated with are good and bad. I was feeling extremely guilty every time I would eat something outside the hours, and I ended up with eating disorder.
I love that here no one will ever judge you for what and when you eat.
You can never possibly know what a person is going through, therefore you can not be the person to judge them.
I love you New Zealand.
that dishwashing craziness ? it's the same in Britain and i would guess the british brought it to NZ and Australia. drives me nuts. It is totally an English thing and they have been doing it forever. if you point it out to a brit , they look at you as if you are the crazy one. it's not the just the french that dont get it. NOBODY gets it except the brits.
Not how we wash dishes in my house im from America tho and blk smh at rhe dish washing lol
I wash my dishes the way you do, except I don't wipe them. I let them air dry and put them away the next time.
@Anaïs Rebella
I am a natural-born American.
Thank you for giving us your personal insight into France and its way-of-life (in English).
I'm sure French people talk about the difficulties, all the time ... but in French.
I believe I also read that the Québécois also have a different culture than native French people.
@@jenniferpearce1052 🙌🏻 glad to hear some people do it the more hygienic way.
Intuitive eating is individualistic. We're social! That's why we all eat at special times, it's to eat together. Intuitive eating means eating alone and we don't want that.
I remember preferring not to eat at all in high-school or feeling deeply depressed if I was eating alone in the cantine. So yes I think eating alone is not common in France or we will think of you as a loner
@@NotEvenFrench There's a point here. Having lunch is a social activity for many. You're not only having lunch at the same time as the people around you, you're having lunch WITH them. Meals don't really stop conversations, that's also one of the reasons why they can go on for so long. Eating and having a meal aren't the same thing, one you're doing alone, ther other you're doing with people. If that makes any sense to you, that's a sign you're undoubtedly frenchified.
@@NotEvenFrench I get the point but partly disagree, I am a French girl and always eat on my own, and some of my friends do the same.. I do practice intuitive eating btw, I love and need to pay attention to the food I'm giving to my body :)
@@reinana8441 and what's wrong with that?
@@a.l.7337 there is no right or wrong with that. It's just a feeling
I'm french and I hate the fashion of super long fake fingernails, I think it's horrible so you're pretty right :D
@@NotEvenFrench fake tan 🤮😂. If you're white you're white and if you're naturally tan it's good too. Why do you want to change that? And my question is: why using fake tan when you live in a sunny country? You have just to go outside lol (with solar cream of course)
@@juju_ladouce if you wear a proper sun block you won't become tan as it prevents sun damage. I wear sunblock and will apply a light sun tan so I don't look like I live in the antarctic but also have healthy skin.
Maybe it depends on what part of the US you’re from but I actually feel like a lot of Americans don’t like the fake nails, Kardashian look. Many perceive this to be shallow or even unintelligent to dress that way. Some do like it but it tends to be younger girls like under 25. Obviously, there are exceptions.
I think there seems to be more of "we dress for other people to look at us" culture in France. I'm American, and I don't prefer the Kardashian look with the long nails either, but I also just don't care. If I don't like it, I don't do it. If others like it, let them do it. It doesn't affect my day, and I'm certainly not going to waste energy thinking about it. I'm obviously not saying Americans don't care at all about what other people think, or judge each other, but we definitely get dressed for ourselves first. That's why comfort is king.
Many Americans hate this look too, and still find it pretty trashy.
I'm French with an Aussie boyfriend - we live in London and go to a farmers market on Saturday which means that we generally have lunch at 2pm. Every week, WITHOUT FAIL, my dad will look surprise and say: 'You're eating now? It's a bit late for lunch'
Skipping lunch and waiting for dinner would probably make more sense to him. Sorry dad, I was hungry at 2 🤷♀️
😂😂
Lol
As an introvert in France, I would have liked to have a lunch box and eat wherever I wanted, instead of having to find a group of people to eat with at the cantine, only not to be alone :/
I’m going to add something, but it’s more something that Europeans don’t understand about Americans and Canadians : the fact that taxes are not included in the price of a product in a store. So when you go to the checkout you pay more than what was indicated. The same is for the tips in Northern America in restaurants, because in France waiters are paid normally while in America, they need the tip.
Just for explanation. In the US every single state, county, and even city might have different sales tax laws and “rates” so it would be impossible to have that price added up on the sticker. It doesn’t take long for you to become aware of this and mentally always know you will probably be paying tax in the neighborhood of 8% on items you buy. It becomes normal to mentally calculate that and also the 15% or so you will be tipping at a “sit down” restaurant. Meals in restaurants are generally cheaper, but the wait staff (often working for low wages) is paid additionally for their level of service, which is usually quite good.
Europeans use a VAT system of taxation. Americans do not (can't speak for Canadian system). That's the difference and why the total price isn't indicated until the register.
@@712pin OK, thank you for these explanations. It’s interesting to see how different things work in different places in the world.
In Europe (or at least in France), we are not used to pay more than what’s indicated. It’s like the price you see is the price you pay, because taxes are already included. So when you go to the checkout, there’s no “bad surprise” (in French we say “mauvaise surprise”), if you see what I mean. And even if every state, county or city has its own tax system, Europeans would say: “Yeah but why didn’t you write the real price? Whether taxes represent 8, 10, 15 or 50 % more, you can still advise people by rising the price in the store.” So yeah... it’s a bit confusing for Europeans. But anyway, yes we just have to get used to this and then it’s OK.
About waiters in restaurants, in France waiters are already paid about 10 € (12 $) per hour anyway whereas I heard 1,5 or 2 $ in the US. So, in America (not just the US), waiters are paid for quantity and quality of service. In Europe, they are just... paid. 😂 We actually just pay for the food, I don’t have the impression the pay the waiter. Once you paid the dishes, you can leave.
So yeah, Europeans don’t like to pay more than what’s indicated, and we aren’t used to this I-gotta-pay-10-percent-more mentality. 😂 Maybe more Europeans need to be aware of that. 😆🤷🏾♂️
Australia is the same. “Hidden costs”. The tax is always the same in that store, so why not put it on the label.
@@79other Ha ha ! Thanks, I was just wondering if Australia had the same system like in Northern America. So, it’s kinda the same for New Zealand, isn’t it?
Im from Ireland but I had a teacher from New Zealand in primary school and she did that exact clapping rhythm!!! I had completely forgotten about it but all the memories came flooding back as soon as you did it. I always thought it was just something she did but apparently not hahaha
America too we do that clapping rhythm, in every school basically
@@Backsoon35 What?? Where? Never in ANY of my school did experience this. I’m from the US and I’ve never heard of this rhythmic clapping. I went to both public and private schools at different times, and I started out in Montessori. The US is a big place. Maybe it’s regional?
@@suzannecooper5323 yea you have a point, but it’s probably not even a regional thing, but more of a “common thing”if you’ve heard it, and “foreign” if u haven’t. And also a thing of, some teachers do it, some don’t. But I can assure you basically everywhere, here and there teachers are clapping that clap.
I'm French and for me it is Paris football supporters rhythm ( you have to yell Paris at the two last claps)
@@suzannecooper5323 My son had a teacher who did that clapping, and we're in Ohio. I didn't hear it growing up in Kentucky.
Literally watching this from my bathtub whilst eating cheese and a fruit roll up at 11 PM in shame. 🤣
You are my spirit animal lololololol
Feel NO SHAME! Cheese is delicious and fruit roll ups are divine. Enjoy them at ANY time of day 👌❤️ (From a fellow late night, comfort food tub nosher.)
LOL why don’t I know you? This was the awesomest comment I’ve read in a while.
LOL
@Sally
... "sarcastic shame" since I am sure that you could care less what regimented French people think about your eating habits.
LOL
I went to a Catholic school in the US as soon as you are taught cursive handwriting from 1st grade to 8th grade we weren't allowed to use print handwriting. When I went to public high school I was shocked to discover that most public schools don't even bother teaching cursive to children, only a few knew cursive handwriting.
Studies have found real advantages to cursive writing. First of all,you can go much faster. But it's also been found that taking notes in cursive leads to much more thorough retention of the subject at hand. Another plus would be being able to read old documents written that way. Some school systems that had abandoned it reintroduced it later.
In the sixties in the US, we were taught cursive in second grade and then , like you, expected to use it exclusively. Very sad that some schools have dropped it from their curriculum, it is so much faster and also better for learning.
apparently things have changed a bit in france, we used to be reuqired to buy a fountain pen, but not anymore
Very interesting video! As a French person I have to admit I agreed with pretty much everything you said! I personally never heard of the “not doing a sport because it’s risky” but it sounds like something French people could say honestly. Thanks for your good work!
As an American I've never heard about the too risky of a sport either, so it was interesting to hear. Perhaps it is the western region that I live in is why I haven't heard of it. Love your videos! 👍
oui je l'ai entendu souvent en France. Faire du sport, c'est avant tout prendre le risque de se casser quelque chose.
As a french that just finished engineering school working part time at dominos, I'm shared between 2 points of view : yes part time is not that common but when you start working you notice you are not alone at all as a student working part time, just it's hard to find one, places are not unlimited and there is many asks (just in my shop that was more than 3CV per week)...To find one is huge work, especially without experienced!
On another side, yes many people get help from the gouvernement as grants and that make things easier, even if, looking at last news about student misery, that's not enough...
The point took apart, other points are quiete accurate and I learnt some stuff! :D
Ps: sorry about mistakes, i fight against my corrector to wright in english ^^
About the "not getting excited about ordinary things" part. It's not that we don't get excited, but all the time and energy you spend telling everyone how great something is you don't spend enjoying it. Then there's also that cultural thing that despite sometimes lacking humility ourselves showboating is something we really don't like, and turning your emotions into a spectacle can easily be misconstrued in that way. It's not a no-go, it's merely something you don't do around people who don't know you that well because they can't tell if you're just putting on an act or being yourself. Appearances are still extremely important, and the way you behave matters just as much as the way you dress.
I don’t understand this “putting on an act thing”. Is it something French people (sounds like young people) would do because they care so much about what other people think? It sounds like a subtle thing, but very self-conscious to temper your enthusiasm because someone else couldn’t relate. Wow! Definitely sort of a high school mentality in the US, what seems like a pre-occupation with imagining what others think of you.
But being judgmental of others is frowned upon here and being openly critical is too. Definitely a cultural and values difference.
Being authentic is pretty highly valued where I am in Northern California. Being phoney is not appreciated particularly.
I'm from Latvia and there are no lunchboxes either. Meals cooked and provided by school's canteen.
But having watched American TV many kids think lunchboxes are cool.
Yep pretty on point I am french but leaving abroad for the past 15 years and married to an Argentinian. Definitely food is the big difference with every culture. I was trained to eat at certain time of the day for french people eating healthy eating the right food veggies fruits is extremely important and we are taught from a young age by the cantine those rules. Also yes eating outside of eating hours is frowned upon. My wife definitely does not understand that from my culture as an Argentinian and it is just engraved in my brain that is what I believe and the lunch break at work at 12pm-1pm is a must for me I need a proper break and proper food and at least 40min to eat. Very french
Mon copain est aussi Argentin. J'ai toujours de la difficulté après 3 ans quand il me dit qu'il va revenir pour souper et qu'il rentre à la maison à 20h30-21h ou lorsqu'il commence à préparer le souper vers 20h. Ça fait déjà plus d'une heure que j'ai faim moi! Est-ce que vous avez les mêmes défis dans votre maisonnée?
@@anne12876 olala oui pareil !!! cependant j'ai une femme très comprehensible cependant elle est végétarienne (un comble pour une argentine a mon sense!) mais elle c'est habituée a manger a heure fixe meme sinon elle sait que je perds patience
@@nico_dudu913 Ma belle-mère et ma belle-soeur sont veganes!
For the air-conditionning, there is also this "green-idea" that we should not put energy in refreshing somewhere. If heat is unstandable to the point that we NEED air-conditionning, it means that we shouldn't live there. I know, we can tell the same thing with cold temperatures in winter but, you know, we are not always logical !
@KeaTiki it's not hard to open a window or close your curtains so the heat won't get in though.
In lycée i had classes until 6pm then a lot of homework, impossible to have a job too. I was only doing babysitting during weekends. But at the university, I had a part time job during the year (10 to 15 hours a week) and a full time job during summer break (who was almost 4 months). And I had a lot of friends who were doing the same.
Eye-opening video. I have not been to France, but have hosted , housed, and tutored French teens. This helps me understand why they often seemed baffled by our lifestyle.
Actually what is funny is that intermittent fasting is slowly coming to France but with french issues like "how am I going to explain to my collegues that i don't go to the cantine with them 😱?" or "which meal will i stop having ?" (because, remember, in France you MUST eat at 8am/midday/4pm/8pm so you "cannot" break your lunch at another time)
Yeah, I so understand! I do intermettent fasting, I skip breakfast but I have to hide it, it's a secret really that I only told one person and then I felt I had to justify myself - very much. Crazy when you think of it.
I have done IF and lunch boxes a few years ago in France quite naturally though and everyone was doing it at my job. Funny thing is be careful with IF, I was later diagnosed with mental anorexia and bulimia and to my doctors IF is one the first steps toward eating disorders. They do advice about intuition eating but definitely not IF 😊
@@littlewoofey Thank you for that piece of advice, I have been doing it for a while, maybe I should stop now... to be on the safe side...
@@sarahmetaireau1564 I think that as long as you know it and it does not turn into an obsession it is fine :)
I am French and when I was in high school a long time ago, I had 40 hours of lessons per week , and homework to do... it may be the reason why they don’t take a job. But you’re right, it is not usual...
And also, enjoying their teenager years. Teen years are for studying and making friends, not working
En vrai on a surtout les études bien moins cher ( pour les écoles publiques comme l'université, le lycée ) et pleins d'aide comme les bourses, APL et compagnie donc bon tu peux te dispenser de travailler contrairement aux US
I am American and had that much school work too but I still worked full time in high school. A forty hour work week.
40 hours of school and about 15h of homework were enough for me ! I’m probably a little bit lazy!
Les 35 heures, c'est dès l'école primaire. De la folie quand jy pense
The more I learn the more I feel like the French and us Germans are very much alike.
Apart unfortunately from the frequent occurence of people in trackpants in public. We do have them. And I hate it.
Trackpants are more and more common in F unfortunately...
Yes. This is what is funny. As an American I couldn't care less if someone is wearing track pants! Why should I care? How does it affect me??
I would give track pants a pass if children would stop shooting children!
Hello ! Thank you for your nice video! I am French and I fully agree with you. I would add to the list: the concept of dating. Especially to have mutiple dates at the same time. I would say this maybe changes a little bit through dating apps. Usually, in France, either you are single or your have a boy / girl friend. There is no middle way. Once you start to kiss, you are almost automatically together. This dos not prevent to break up a short time after if this relationship does not work though. So if you kiss somebody else few days after you have kissed the first person, this is already cheating. This "I would like to become exclusive?" question is so blow minding for French. Of you course it is exclusive from the very first kiss!! So shocking! :D Do you agree ?
It was like that when I was in high school in Ontario, Canada in the 90s, but it seems things have changed. I get the impression that many young Ontarians now don't even really try to date in any form. It seems the age at which they have their first serious relationship (not to mention when they first start being sexually active) is older than it was during my generation.
When I was 10yrs old I went to a french school in Paris for about a month and LOVED the cantine. I can still remember the delicious french potato salad with vinaigrette and bread with unsalted butter. I adored it!!!
Working under 16 is illegal in France. 16-18 is legal but employers will have obligations etc so they usually always refuse. However almost half of students in university (not écoles) work on the side even if it's 9-10 hours not 20 a week. Student unions try to fight that as the ones who work end up having higher failure rates etc
My parents were French, and you’re right eating was very regimented. Breakfast, lunch and dinner. We had to come home from school for lunch.
The worst was the Sunday lunch. We take breakfast later on Sunday, but nevertheless "tout le monde a table" at 1 PM and we had to force down Sunday roast and potatoes without being hungry. After that we spent the afternoon in a haze, digesting the excess food.
I discovered today the concept of Intuitive eating when you are not hungry. It does not make sense at all but as I am French I guess it is normal. And yes, I confirm whatever task I am doing at some point I will stop and go eat around noon.
You had me laughing a few times in this cool video!!
I don't think its intuitive eating if you're not hungry. I think intuitive eating is eating when you are hungry, instead of at rigid times.
Personally, I have no natural intuition when it comes to hunger, so I think I would thrive somewhere where I'm surrounded by cultural cues for when to eat.
Normally I either forget to eat all together, or overeat because I'm afraid I'm going to forget to eat. Not intuitive at all.
That school restaurant is amazing. We recently moved to the countryside and the school canteen is such a big deal here. They don’t use any product that’s not local. It’s an experience my kids wouldn’t have had anywhere else I think, It’s a real education in food and nutrition.
School cafeteria friendly feedback; not a restaurant
It’s very common in the French speaking parts of Europe for large companies with thousands of workers to have a heavily subsidized company cafeteria within their premises for their employees to eat their lunch. But most small and midsize businesses don’t provide that.
"French speaking parts of Europe" aka France
I'm French and I don't (totally) agree with your point on part time work when you're young. I think's it's absolutaly true up until the end of High School (Lycée). But a lot of university students actually need to work part time. True, University is cheap, and there are various financial helps one can get depending on his and his parents income... But still, to pay rent, transports and living (esecpailly in more expensive cities like Paris), a lot of students depend on part time jobs. This has been highlighted by the COVID pandemic, as due to lockdown and the closing of bars, restaurants etc., a lot of students lost their jobs and are still really strugling.
Other than that, I really like your videos, you have a very interesting perspective on France and French people, please keep going! :)
In the US for example that's 85% of the students who have a full time job if I recall correctly. That's not even remotely the same in France.
The thing is that up until you’re 18 (adult to the society in France), it’s really difficult to find a job due to restrictions on hours, salary, contract etc. (on top of the fact that there isn’t much time to have one). So even if you want to works for “pocket money” or helping out, the only thing you can do is babysitting mostly.
@@puccaland I thought I replied to your comment already, apparently not, my bad. :) So in any case, here it is:
I did not mean that young French people work as much as their US/NZ counterpart. I felt like the image of French society one could get from the video is that students having a job while studying is extremely rare, which is not entierly correct.
While it is probably true for teenagers under 18, things change for university students. The cost associated with studying (not so much tuition, more like rent, transports, food, etc.) make it so that a lot of them need the income of a job (full-time, part-time or during summer).
In my personnal experience, more than half of my friends had a job at some point during university, ranging from "nice pocket money" to "absolutely necesary if I want to eat". If you look at official statistics, 46% of university students have a job (75% if you include summer jobs). Source (official) : www.vie-publique.fr/rapport/276357-lemploi-etudiant (see P6)
What we call "précarité étudiante" (i.e students with financial struggles) has become a groing issue, with highly mediatized cases such as that of a student from Lyon self-immolating in front of his university (Source: www.france24.com/en/20191114-french-university-student-s-self-immolation-sparks-anger-over-living-conditions ), or the many stories rising from the COVID-19 pandemic.
That's it for me. Also, if you have them, I would be very interested to see precise figures on the situation in the US :)
@@nukata1425 It is not difficult at all. Back in my days we could start working from 15 which I did at McDonald's which hires tones of students under 18 (more flexibility). Internet wasn't yet a tool and nowadays things like babysitting or tutoring are also easy to do. Did them as well but thanks to the word of mouth. Nowadays everything is easier.
@@ppcc5340 I understand where you're getting at.
However we have 2 extremes here. The university students have the time to have a job but they aren't all the students in France. So that's actually 25% of the French students who actually work and we're much more talking temporary, part time, seasonal work here.
etudiant.lefigaro.fr/article/pres-d-un-quart-des-etudiants-francais-travaillent-pendant-leurs-etudes_d44dd8f0-6322-11e7-a4f6-9cfaeb766eeb/
In the US
www.insidehighered.com/news/2019/11/18/most-college-students-work-and-thats-both-good-and-bad
Of course there are students who live in precarity in France. But again there is precarity and precarity. The precarity the French students have to face is nowhere near the precarity the American students or in other countries from the Anglosphere are facing. Like right now we are seeing students in France saying that they are having difficulties to buy food because of the Covid crisis. I let you check the help they got in several countries like the UK or the US. What I am saying is that the scales aren't the same and that's what I understood from the video.
By the way 10% of the high-school students in France have a job and 30% work sometime during the year.
Hi! My ex who is French worked part-time while he studied law. He was a cook in a restaurant. When we were together he loved to snack on Miss Vickie’s chips - he snacked more than me and I am a Canuck.
My french fiance snacks big time in the states. He says Americans know how to do junk food. But when we are in France he does not snack. 🤷♀️
I'm french but I do not object to air conditioning as a principle. I just can't get it when one set it lower in the summer than in the winter, I can't see any logic in that... having to wear a sweater inside in the summer and shorts (well I didn't but saw coworkers do) inside in the winter.
@@jazmine9570 I lived a couple of years in the US and that's where I found the AC to be set too cold in the summer and too hot in the winter. In France, when there is AC people usually set it up to more reasonable temperatures (to save energy cost I guess).
people usually set it colder in the summer because it is hotter outside so they need to overcompensate. it is true though that in the winter public places will put excessive heat on.
Living in Louisiana, USA, have never had a lunch box. Every school here has a cafeteria where we ate at for lunch. Lunchboxes always seemed fun.
Really? My old school never had one 😅
@@jessicapayne6549Both my elementary and high school had one. We’d get our trays and go down the line. Although, I rarely ate lunch during high school.
@@dreamdisturber Oh cool, in my old school we all ate our lunches in the classroom bc we had no where else to eat 😅
The clapping thing is funny. When I was in elementary school here in the US, the teachers would flick the lights off and back on a few times to get the room to quiet down.
The mealtime thing is understandable since meals are much more elaborate and time consuming to prepare (and shop for) so people must be ready (and hungry!) when food is finally ready at the table 👍🏼
yeah that enthousiasm is tiring and does seem fake for us. on the other hand i m fond of saying things like :" it isn't so bad"when i m enthusiastic
I cracked up with grim laughter when you said that people put off going to the dentist because it can cost hundreds of dollars. Here in the states, dentist visits are never that cheap. They cost thousands! My mom spent over five thousand dollars at a single dentist visit last year, and it cost that much because she can't afford the insurance. This place is a nightmare, and I can't wait to get out.
This always sounds so crazy to me (french)... I remember that when I was underage dentist was free once a year so my mom was like "it's time to book your annual dentist appointment sweetie" every year even if I didn't need it. And since then it only costs me a few euros whenever I want to go as an adult.
It's the same here in Scotland
Or like me, I have dental insurance, but it only covers one cleaning a year, and maxes out at $1500. I needed a root canal and crown and one cavity filling repaired. That was over $4000 and my insurance covered $1500. If my dental insurance was not included on my health insurance I wouldn’t have it because it’s over $200 a month for a cleaning and $1500. It’s absolutely a ripoff.
You're lucky you get to leave. I'm happy for you!(Texan)
I disagree 100%. We do have dental insurance and visit the dentist twice per year.
I regularly follow your videos as I plan to study in France ..... admirer from India. Best wishes for your future endeavours
The only sports I've heard people here in the US talk about as being too risky are things like USA style football, and cheerleading (the kind with "fliers" where they throw you up in the air and crazy stuff). Basically, they have a very high risk of serious head and neck injuries, which can be permanent. There are a very high number of serious injuries associated with these two sports, so I understand parents not wanting their children to get involved.
I’m American and I have never heard anyone speak of sport being “too risky” for healthcare reasons, but like you said for sports like football and cheerleading where the risk of acquiring an injury could severely alter your physical health for the rest of your life, yes.
Sounds like a misunderstanding of high injury risk sports and why people avoid them.
thank for your video. I'm French and I love doing my self introspection by watching your videos
Oh boy I have stuff to say about this subject! So I've been living in London for more than a year and now it's been 3 months that I am living in New-Zealand. My partner is a kiwi and we're currently living with his parents. Two things that I can't understand : eating sandwiches all the time and considering this as healthy and normal, while in France we considered that as "manger sur le pouce" (eating on the thumb, litteraly) and for us this is unhealthy and not enough food to last a full day of work. On the same subject, those 15min meal without talking, eating fast together and then when you're done (and the others are not) you just clean your space and go back to your activities. For me it's like... what?! What about sharing and talking and enjoying this food full of flavors that have been made for hours ? haha
Thing is in France, lunch is the biggest meal of the day, so you need time to eat all the food. And it's a key moments to socialize with colleagues, customers etc.
At least in America, in school, we had 20-30 minutes for lunch. That included waiting in a 15 minute line for food if we didn't bring our own food. We also have 30 minute lunches for work unless we work at least 8 hours. We're conditioned to eat quickly and not waste any time so we can get back to work as fast as we can because each minute counts for our paycheck(which likely hardly covers living expenses so we squeeze what we can out of it) Also, when I'm eating, I want to eat and not talk. I'm hungry. Socializing is for after work/school. Now, this isn't everywhere. But if you work somewhere where they serve food, you still have to wait in line, then shovel food in your mouth because it likely took 25 of your thirty minute lunch to get food.
That's partly because we've had a decent breakfast and then we'll be home having a big dinner around 6pm. And depending on the employment law in the country, in NZ for example, a lot of people are only entitled to 15 minute and 30 minute breaks, so that's definitely sandwich territory. ...and if you live and work in a decent sized French city don't pretend you don't line up outside a Paul or La Mie Caline for your little sandwich formules too 🤣 I've seen plenty of working French eat sandwiches for lunch
Oh I can see myself in every points you mentioned ! Particularly the snacking part (why eat when you don't need to ? it feels so unhealthy) and the overly enthusiastic reactions 😂
My sister has an American friend she made while in University. And everytime I see her react to something I can't help but think "How American...".
And we kinda look bad at these overreactions i think !
Also i will never understand how you can eat foot after dinner. I can understand the afternoon if you had a small lunch, but after dinner, what is the point ? You're gonna sleep anyway, you don't need energy, you are just getting fat.
Gotta find joy in the little things.
@@pasdenomdegroupe -
Some fruit to refresh you (unless you have that for dessert in your dinner).
I think Americans are just more bold than most other cultures, and we feel a freedom, even a sense of comfort, knowing we can be ourselves and express our feelings. We really embrace this. Having said that, I feel that all this acting overly enthusiastic about small things may actually be generational. Young people tend to do this a lot right now, and it's annoying. It does seem fake, even to other Americans.
@@pasdenomdegroupe When you know they have dinner at 6 or even 5PM, that leaves some time to fill unless you're in bed before 9PM and up at 4:30AM. Lots of Americans have such ridiculously early hours
Salut!
I am from Italy but my mom is english, so I can understand your doubts.
The majority of the things French do are the same here in Italy, in facts we call them “cousins” 😉
We are cousins. We argue like siblings, we compete like siblings but we definitely behave like family 🤣🤣.
I love you Italian cousins. From France.
I must say you were spot on! I was curious about the points you were gonna mention and it makes me realize how French i am even though i haven’t lived in France in a looong time 😂😅
@@NotEvenFrench thank you! 😊😊😊✨
I hope this is not overly topical because it’s a nice easy going channel but I promise is mainly positive: I feel like in the “Anglo” world, it’s important to realise that Instagram / Kardashian look is clearly inspired by a Black Aesthetic, both based on Black women’s features and style. 20 years ago it was considered “trashy” by a lot of white people (big lips, curves, street wear, large costume jewellery, long nails etc ) , but then the Kardashians and Instagram added plastic surgery to it, changed other things around and it became the “baddie” look. I feel like because French style is so timeless it doesn’t really appropriate culture in the same way and it makes it easier for POC in France to adapt this style around their own style culture and features, in a way the more fast pace Anglo style can’t as it’s often designed with white people in mind. Obviously France has a lot of issues when it comes to racial tension and including POC but one positive is, it seems besides white teenage boys using Arab slang or following the French Rap aesthetic (which is heavily influenced by both Sub-Saharan and North Africa), there is a lot less of that copying other styles and aesthetics and it going uncredited. I think that’s a positive, I also feel when French people especially in fashion do get inspired by other cultures, styles and even subcultures they just seem more likely to credit where it comes from than we are (In my humble opinion)
Cultures are supposed to be like that, to have structure, like the French. Otherwise, it is not "culture".
Great comment Sam. I would like to that it seems tat African-American culture is going casual and becoming less elegant. I think it goes back to the 1990s with ganster rap. If you go back to the African American culture of 1950s you''ll see more elegant styles like Jazz.
I have to say, about the Arab slang, where I live everyone use it. As there were/is a higher number of North African/Arab people in cités (hood) their way of speaking spread in those places (and some words everywhere in France). Most of the people (almost everyone) know where it's from and it's not seen as a "racial appropriation" I think
My ex (French) used to make fun of me whenever I get very "enthusiastic". When I say "awww those flowers are sooo prettyyy" or "awww it's so cuuute!" or the like, he would smirk and say awwww with a bit of an eye roll. Didn't know it was a French thing 😆
Yes my French boyfriend does the same. Less now.
@@heatherheaney4060 -
So we shouldn’t saw awww a lot when dating French men? I’m kinda dating a French guy right now so I’m curious
It's just that we feel you's not leave enough headroom of enthousiasm and expletive for a "once in a lifetime" experience ;-) But I sometimes say something similar to my colleagues: I'm not very sensitive to cold and I can walk the 200m to the cafeteria when it's 10°C ouside with a T shirt, they tell me "how can you do that, it's freezing!" and I answer back that they should keep aside some adjectives for time it's going to be actually -10°C !
@@abcxyz-cx4mr I still say it. I am not going to change something that is a part of me that I like. Just like my boyfriend doesn’t hardly smile and he would never do it to a stranger. Apparently it’s a French thing. I use to to think it was off putting and cold. But now just accept that is part of him. He now accepts that my awww cute.... comes with me. I think living in France and now Spain my awww cute has been toned down as when I hear it on some of the North American Influencers on UA-cam it can really sound fake and annoying. Lol
@@abcxyz-cx4mr just be yourself, our differences actually make us alike ;-)
Here's another one (coming from an American perspective): I don't think French people appreciate the "rags-to-riches" stories like we do. We really laud a person who started poor and worked their way up to success and wealth. I think that (a), that exists less in France since there is much less social mobility, and (b) even if you did work your way up to wealth you shouldn't talk about it in France! 😄
I will add that I think our love of the rags-to-riches narrative has actually prevented us from supporting our poor the way we should, because there's the belief that everyone should be able to achieve success with enough hard work and so if you haven't, it was because you're lazy.
@@Rachel-rs7jn I completely disagree with that. most people who are very well off that I know give generously to charities. Look at the Gates foundation and I know people in my family who donate all the time. I think you're talking about the government which does provide quite a bit. Most poor people in the United States that I know of have TVs, often have a car, definitely a smartphone. If they choose to spend their money that they get from the government on things like that instead of food; come on the government is not the babysitter for us.
@@NotEvenFrench Thank you! 😊
@@Rachel-rs7jn Frenchie here, very accurate statements Rachel.
@@caciliawhy5195 sooo american, yeah poor people do have money, they just don't spend it correctly. Actually being poor does not mean not having money, that is not the definition!
Je suis française et cette vidéo est si vraie. Je me souviens avoir lu le livre d'un enfant américain qui était maltraité par ses parents (David Pelzer) et à l'école il était le seul à ne pas avoir de "lunch box" donc il ne mangeait tou simplement pas ou volait dans les boites de ses amis et je m'étais dit qu'en France, ça n'aurait jamais pu arriver car tout lemonde va à la cantine et mange ce qu'il veut.
Techniquement, les parents ne sont pas obligés d'inscrire les enfants à la cantine (qui est payante d'ailleurs), certains font le choix de faire rentrer les enfants manger à la maison (les "externes" comme on les appelle). Et dans ces cas là, s'il n'y a rien à manger, bah ça revient un peu au même (l'humiliation publique en moins, certes, mais avec aussi moins de chance pour que la maltraitance soit repérée).
@@Elfian66 la cantine est payante en fonction de ses revenus. Beaucoup de familles paient 0 euros pour la cantine.
@@iyzabel oui je sais bien, mais ça dépend vraiment de la zone géographique et de l'établissement concerné (maternelle, primaire, collège et lycée). De plus, la maltraitance ne dépend pas du niveau de revenus.
I am French-Canadian and one thing I noticed amongst my English-Canadian or American neighbours is that they never stick to the name they’ll name their child. I always scratch my head when I hear someone say « her name is Catherine, but it’s Kate » or « his name is William, but it’s Bill ». I find that puzzling - if you intend to always call your daughter Kate, then why not register her name as such? This is something that French people rarely do. 🤔
When you said "the dentist may be in the Hundreds of Dollars!" I ruefully chuckled in American, as someone with a $16,000 estimate on all the work my teeth need done as a result of not being able to access dental care At All for a decade. 😖
In the early 20th century, workers in industrial factories had lunch boxes. In french it is called "une gamelle" It was currently made in aluminum to warm it. Some people have lunch boxes now in France, but very rarely children at school. Many students have part time jobs in low social classes whereas it's not the case in upper middle classes.
Love this, and your other movies too, they’re all so true! I moved from the U.K. to Paris last year and I’m still trying to navigate the cultural differences. However I will say I don’t regret it for a moment, France is an incredible place to live. Thanks for your super insights Rosie 🤗❤️
Great video ! Thank you.
So I’m not French 😊 I grew up in Russia, and a lot of the things you mention about the French are very common in Russia as well. We had a canteen in school, no lunch boxes. Ever. We did have strict teachers , even in primary school and normal type classes, with dictations and math tests. And sometimes our teachers yelled at us. I live in the US and raised my kids here, and here behavior like that would warrant termination, or worse yet a law suit. I’m sure things have changed in Russia as well since I graduated in the nineties, but it’s kind of creepy how similar some French and Russian cultural idiosyncrasies are. We had health care completely free, so no one had to put off going to the dentist. And school kids or uni students did not work, not even part time. It was just not a thing to do. Uni education was free, and the government even paid a stipend to some. I did not get any because I lived at home with my parents. So there was kind of no need to work. All I had to do was get good grades. And we ate at very similar times. Even Russian shops and businesses closed down to lunch at the same time. And snacks did not exist either, not the chips and all that processed crap. But it wasn’t as “religious “ as for the French I guess. If we got hungry between meals we would make an open face sandwich with butter and salami or smth like that. It wasn’t as strict I guess.
I wonder if open faced sandwiches are a Slavic thing, it's the only way we eat them in Poland, except fast foods ;)
@@agnieszkabatyra4332 Hahaha maybe. When I moved to the US, I thought a closed sandwich had too much bread, you had to stuff it really fat to even taste the meat. Never really liked those and after 26 years of living here, I still don’t eat them. I think they have open face sandwiches in Sweden and other Scandi countries.
@@agnieszkabatyra4332 Big in Sweden, too.
I'm American, and we absolutely approach sandwiches as whole meals. Meat and a salad on that thing.
We should definitely be more open to open sandwiches as a snack, though. Its super easy and probably less processed (depending on what you buy) then prepackaged snacks. I know I just never think about it. Its like, if you never see something then you don't realize it's an option.
@@agnieszkabatyra4332 I def think it’s an Eastern European thing for sure.
Hello Rosie.
For the climatisation, there is two things to consider as a French personne : the electrical cost of having 24/7 the climatisator on ; and the thermical choc, we are told is a bad thing, and we are not used to. Image, in summer, it's 35°C outside. You go inside a shop with climatisation, the temperature drop to 25°C. And when we go outside, the temperature return to 35°C. The same in winter, outside it's 5°C, inside it's 20°C. The termical choc, going from hot to cold, to hot, is not a thing we like. It's exausting, and bad for the health we think.
Plus, I don't know Newzealands, or USA, but we can propably also think about thermical isolation. French building have globaly a good isolation from the cold or the hot from the outside, so the climatisation is less necessary in general.
When I worked as an au pair in the south of France, my host mother/employer (who was actually an Australian ex-pat) taught me that the correct wardrobe for going to the supermarket is: never sweatpants, ALWAYS a belt with your trousers. I wanted to deny it, but looking around me, she was correct. Now I live in a mountain town in Canada where people walk around all day in technical clothes with gear hanging off them, and I long for a little political correctness around wardrobe choice.
As a former teacher, I totally did the clapping thing to get my students' attention. At my daughter's school, it's clapping with the teacher saying, "1-2-3, eyes on me." Students respond with clapping, "1-2, eyes on you."
Exactly the same in my son's school!!! (I'm in Maryland :)
I am an Afrikaner from South Africa and our heritage partly comes from the French Huegenots, so I pick up little French aspects of our culture when I listen to your videos.
I'm Canadian and the school lunch culture here is kind of a mix of cafeteria and self-made lunches. We don't get the cafeteria lunch option in school until highschool, (there's the pizza and milk program but most people are that along with the lunch they brought from home) and even once we have the cafeteria lunch option, we still have the choice of whether we want to take it or still make our own lunches
As a french, the habbit that strikes me the most is the anglo saxon way of being very enthusiastic about everything. It's not just that we find it weird, but also most of us find it annoying (We find weird most of the other things you talked about, but they're ok to us). I thnik we find that kind of enthusiasm annoying not only because it sounds hypocritical to us (weither it actually is or it's not) like you said, but also because it's LOUD, and we don't like loud people. We're taught not to be loud from our chilhood, you will rarely see even a little child crying at a super market cash register, teacher shout SILENCE because being lound for pupils is a mark of disrespect to their teacher, etc... so when we see adults being loud, or even shouting in a public place for no obvious reason, we can't help but thnik "what a poor education"... There are places meant to make noise : concerts, stadiums... and strikes protests of course ^^
Sounds very ... oppressive. And yes, some people are poorly educated. So .... what? If you’re not elitist - that shouldn’t bother you ;)
I'm American and feel much the same way, it's one of the things I so appreciate about the French. I went there on a class trip in secondary school and was so embarrassed by how a lot of the other students were behaving. I'm sure I do it too, but I agree the overly loud enthusiastic thing is just grating
My experience of French school children is opposite to that. Very loud, boisterous and quite rude. The teachers tend to ignore their behaviour as well.
So true about the air conditioning ! I'm french and I love the air conditioning, but my friends and family don't understand ! They always think they will get sick (not especially because of the germs, but more because of the cold), and I always tell them that millions of people live with it every single day (in south east Asia where I live), and they don't get sick :D
So funny to think that! Air conditioning units actually filter air nowadays! They’re great for people with allergies for example. What they’re not good for - is the environment, so I am with French folks on this one 😉
I've been to Singapore a few times, and everyone is always a bit sick there.
The constant switching from 35°C outside to 18°C inside building and cars made me get a permanent runny nose as well..
French lives in U.K. first time I arrived there, people don’t shake hands or kisses, I felt like all my education on politeness out of the window. I used to it but miss it!! Useful when a man wants to kiss you because you are french and so proud to say « voulez-vous coucher avec moi ».
French here : We don't work before the age of 18, mainly because it's forbidden haha (except if it's through the school with apprentissage) and yes we have more than 35 hours of class per week + a lot of homework so we don't really have time.
There are some things which are not so true, at least for me and my relatives, example the lunch boxes, we don't do it at school, but in the company which provide the tickets and do not have a canteen, we bring lunch boxes (mainly in big cities where there is no space for the canteen).
We do eat food just to comfort ourselves, or when watching a movie even when we are not hungry, but I think this is true mainly for the young generation, our parents didn't do that.
It's so true that we are not enthousiasthic enough !
Here's one thing the French and Anglo-Saxons do have in common (but that the rest of Europe/the world finds very strange): the confidence that EVERYBODY understands french/english. I have been to international events in almost every country in Europe and you'd always see a french person being completely helpless when there was no one around to help them in french or translate for them.
And this applies to all ages. I've sat next to a 25 year old journalist (you know, someone you'd expect to know their languages) on a plane and he was so grateful that I helped him order his drink.
The catch is: english will get you quite far in many regions of the world, but french as an international language is useless, except for certain regions in Africa.
Also very french: having no clue what's happening in neighbouring countries. Their press and educational system don't seem to care about what happens in Italy, Spain, Germany,... and so the people of France have very little knowledge about their european neigbours.
I'll give an example: last week, some french town on the border with Belgium wanted to tell their belgian neighbours that the lockdown is over and that belgians are welcome in their shops again, so they put up a big sign. There were, however, two issues:
- They didn't realise that the end of the french "confinement" does not mean that Belgians can come over. The Belgian government still does not allow "non-essential" border crossings.
- They made the sign in german. The nearest german speaking place would be about 300 kilometers away. The part in Belgium where this French town was next to is part of the Flanders region, where the language is dutch, not german.
Do you have an article about that? I want to read more! That's kind of hilarious!
I agree
The catch is : Most of the new generations have a bad English, they don't care, to compare 30 years ago ...New technologies has killing the taste of the effort ....
I live in Nice and I knew Belgians couldn't leave their country: it was in the news.
I am French student (from the Caribbean) and we learned at school the history of the countries bordering France such as the conquest of Spain from 711 to 736 and the “reconquista” from 722. Then the history of Belgium before and after 1830. Also on the italy “Risorgimento” or the Italian unification. And also on our island (Martinique) and the Caribbean in general (colonization, slavery, triangular trade, the slave trade, the black code etc ...). In addition, in French newspapers (especially the television news) we often talk about other countries (we talk too much about them by the way). Without forgetting that we are obliged to choose a foreign language apart from English in LV2 and we are necessarily obliged to learn the history of the country which goes with the language we have chosen. And I think that the French who invited the Belgians to come to their shops believed as you said that the confinement was over for them too. Because in previous lockdowns we were deconfined at the same time but as someone else mentioned we knew they weren't deconfined it was on the news. And in my opinion (even if you haven't asked me), it has absolutely nothing to do with our education in general, it is just some people who have not acquired the education that we have tried to give them. If I am left ALONE in an English-speaking country, I assure you that I will be able to manage. ;)
PS: *The United Nations Secretariat has two working languages: English and French. The Council of Europe has two working languages: English and French. NATO has two working languages: English and French. The OECD has two working languages: English and French. So yes French is an important language.* Furthermore, French is the 2nd language spoken on all continents after English, it is not only in Europe and Africa that it is spoken in :
- *North America* therefore _Canada (Québec, Montréal, New Brunswick) A little bit in Louisiana(Cajun) and Maine._
- *In the Caribbean/Central America* _(Martinique, Guadeloupe, Haiti, Saint-Pierre and Miquelon, Saint-Martin, Marie-Galante etc..)_
- *In South America* _(French Guyana),_
- *Indian Ocean* _(Reunion, Mayotte),_
*Africa East* _(Madagascar, Seychelles, Djibouti etc ...),_
- *Central Africa* _(RDC / Congo),_
- *North Africa / Middle East* _(Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia),_
- *West Africa* _(Benin, Ivory Coast, Guinea, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal)_ (Not counting the African countries originally non-French speaking members of the OIF)
- *Oceania* _(New Caledonia, Wallis and Futuna and the 5 archipelagos of French Polynesia:_
_• The Society Islands: Windward Islands: Tahiti, Moorea, Tetiaora._
_• Leeward Islands: Huahine, Raiatea, Taha'a, Bora Bora, Maupiti._
_• Tuamotu Islands: Rangiroa, Tikehau, Manihi, Fakavara etc ..._
_• The Gambier Islands: Mangareva._
_• The Marquesas Islands_ and the
_• Austral Islands._
- In *French Antartic* _(TAAF)_ and in *ASIA* _(Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam)_ ; these three countries formed French Indochina but the French language still resisted thanks to small communities in its countries and in _Lebanon._
That clapping thing is exactly the thing that is done and hockey games in Canada!! Interesting...Thanks!
Well observed, and the explanations are so logical. I was so surprised to get the food vouchers.
Really enjoying your information about French culture.Thanks.
Oh Rosie! I completely forgot about that clapping rhythm! So many primary school memories just came flooding back...
Its funny because pretty much all this stuff from New Zealand applies to America too, whether that is good or bad 🤣
Well they're both Anglosphere countries
Very good and well thought out observations Rosie. Thanks for another interesting video. Also interesting are the comments from other people. If I ever get to go to France again I will have a better understanding of the culture.
"Have you no pride?" - No, no I don't. Haha. It's interesting because in the US the people that are most likely to dress up for university classes and stuff like that (although not necessarily a Wal-Mart run :) ) are people from the South. And pride is a big part of their culture.
What? On the contrary I find most southern people don’t dress, and not well at all. Well Caucasians at least. When I leave NYC I have to dress down, or stand out too much the generic mall clothes they wear. They don’t dress for anything, church, weddings, theatre, or even dinner.
@@Msboochie2 I'm in Texas, and I get made fun of if I dress nice for anything. "Oooh, who you looking pretty for?" and "Aw you dressed up nice for us!" No, I want to look presentable. Good lord. I dress comfortably at home and friend's houses, but when I'm OUT out, I'd like to not have people think poorly of me.
I'm from Maryland, and went to a college in North Carolina. I was absolutely shocked to see girls with full makeup and perfectly curled hair (hot rollers, btw) for 8am lectures!!! Yeah, it may have been pride, but it also could've been vanity!
totally agree specially black fpls in the real south like alabama mississippi louisiana
@@soulfire900 maybe it is only me but texas is just a southern state not the real south the real thing starts in louisiana ahahahah
I literally laughed when you said dentistry etc was really expensive in the hundreds of dollars. Can you guess what country I get my Healthcare from? Lol 😆🤣😂😢 I want out of here
We are Americans, my husband paid $17,000 for 2 implants, 2 crowns and a bridge. Now, that's expensive.
@@sct4040 It's just another system, trust me so many people abuse of french system's we have way way way way way way more taxes it's unrealistic how taxed we are especially when you start getting a lill bit of money (that's why rich people get out), people hardwork and just pay for people that just take advantage of the system
When the French noticed that Africans, like Senegalese and North Africans eating with their fingers, they said: these people are premitive, it is not done, it is not hygienic. But when the Finger Food fashion came from the United States, the French changed their point of view: Oh, it's beautiful, it's organic, it's progressive!
In France, we are pretty judgmental with the americans eating with their fingers on the contrary
first sorry if i misunderstood you. i don't think it's true, i'm french myself and yes i can't talk for every french, but i think french have their way of eating,(like "etiquette" and such... ) it's not a matter of "africans / senegalese and north africans" but a matter of way of eating.(i mean you seems to say that it's a racial problematic, but it's not). it's cultural. and yes i think that eating directly with finger is not very hygienic. it's a common logic (microbes, viruses, disease) and when you talk about "finger food fashion " do you mean fast food for exemple ? personnally i don't like it , it's not healthy but it's just my point of view and a lot of french also think this way . so maybe that "the finger food fashion from the united states" that you were talking about don't have many fan. once again sorry if i misunderstood your comment. french takes pride in their food eating habits, and way of eating. for the french it's almost an art, there is a saying "l'art de la table" the art of the table .( if you look into it , it's associated with meals shared, presentation and serving the dishes, conversation and civility, decoration of furniture, utensils and places for gastronomic or wine-making pleasures. ways to receive guests, etiquette, table manners, service, menus and of course for the meals in themselves...)each culture is unique and different, each has its own values :) peace on earth XD
Bazambi N'Kongo I'm sorry but it's true that eating with forks or sticks is more hygienic than eating with the fingers. The French are not the only one who use forks you know. And Asia use sticks certainly for hygienic reason too.
@@helenedevys2498 -
In India and other South-Asian countries they eat rice and curry with their hands/fingers.
@@norbertfontaine8524 -
East Asia does, in South Asia they don’t.
Eating between meals is indeed really weird. When I was living in Copenhagen, my kiwi neighbor kept giving his daughter snacks and was surprised she wasn't hungry at mealtime...
Going out in workout clothes is definitely a big no no. I don't know how covid affected provinces but here in Paris people still dress normally and even though when we work from home we dress very casually, the days we are allowed to be in the office, most people wear proper work clothing.
Salut . I love your videos. It is right : I hate seing foreigners eating or drinking while they are walking in the streets of Paris in the afternoon and also I hate the vulgar Kardashian look.
On oeut quand même boire dans la rue, genre notre reste de soda du fast food si on en sort ou un café qu'on a pris a emporter (surtout en ce moment les restos sont fermées) .... faut pas exagérer
@@lylyn5038 Non c'est vulgaire
@@jrr3558 C'est vulgaire de boire une boisson emportée ? Haha il t'en faut peu
Having a “to go” cup of coffee is inappropriate too. Went to Paris for a visit and the friends we went with HAD to stop by Starbucks every morning and sip their coffee on the metro, while walking down the street, etc. They definitely got some looks from the Parisians. 🤷♀️
@@lylyn5038 Dans la rue, oui. Ca ne se fait pas en France.
I actually love the American enthusiasm for little things. High school sports, carnivals, parades, the smallest of holidays to huge deals like Thanksgiving - it gives us a lot to look forward to throughout the year! And smiling, laughing, shrieking with happiness at good news - I love it! Doesn't the world need more happiness?
We appreciate the little things!
Living here in America, tons of people (especially young students) do sports. The concerns about health aren't so much about health care, but more about the risk of brain injuries. There's apparently been a drop in student involvement in football since peopled learned about CTE and all that.
Australian here. I hosted a French student years ago when I was in high school. She was shocked to see that we treat our teachers like peers and was disgusted at how we dressed up and celebrated our sports carnivals (she called the French students who joined in "an embarrassment to France")
@@NotEvenFrench yup. Paint, wigs, egg and spoon races, sack races, the works 😂
@@friendlyneighbourhoodbridg1354 That sounds so fun and festive!!
@@romulusthemainecoon3047 it was! During the fun races at the swimming carnival, students would jump into the pool and race each other in inflatable pirate ships. During the fun races at the athlètics carnival, students backhandsprung or cartwheeled down the 100metre track, or participated in the sack races, egg and spoon races or the obstacle courses. We would cross-dress, spray-paint and have massive dance parties. And yes, we were sorted into Houses and earned points towards a House Cup like Harry Potter - good costumes or dancing earned your House points
Its weird because under the King, there were some carnavals too !
The expectation for someone else to act French in another country.. and be disappointed. Ha
I was nodding at every points you made. Quebecers are definitely Anglo-Saxons who speak French.
The more I watch your videos about the differences between the New Zealand and the French culture, the more I realise that we are more alike than different.
Well unfortunately, Quebec is inside of an anglo-saxon country, so they were forced to accept many cultural practices because of the federal government. In order to fund something like a cantine at all of the schools, they would need to put the taxes up higher in Quebec, and the taxes in Quebec are already the highest in Canada.
No wtf, they are culturally and ethnically french. Québec state =/= people
@@pierren___ Sorry but we're not French, we just speak French. Like Belgians and Roman Swiss are not French either. Ask any French who spent enough time in QC and they will tell you that there are many differences between the customs and the way of thinking of French and Quebecers.
After watching this, I've decided the French are now my favourite people. In spite of my "anglo" upbringing, I pretty much agreed with every single French peeve, from cursive writing and pointless snacking at 11.00 pm to phony (and sorry - but it DOES come across as phony) excessive expressions of ecstasy over everyday experiences.
Vive la France!
And lucky you to be over there.
Excessive expressions of ecstasy over everyday experiences. ...lol
you're speaking about wealthy french people. poor people in france can't afford dentist, work at 18 instead of going to the university... most of us don't go skiing : / and many poor girls want to look like the kardashians.... i guess you're just talking about RICH french people here.
That's mostly a matter of eduction rather than just money. I'm french, I'm not rich at all, I come from a low-middle class family, and we all had the chance to go to the university (because it's free, if we're talking about la fac)
I guess that most "poor people" just idetifies themselves to people like the Kardashians because they are, in fact, rich. So it becomes attractive to them.
There is no real poor in France. The system guarantees a minimum RSA income, as well as free access to all CMU care. France has the richest poor in the world, but they don't know it.
@@NotEvenFrench i 've lived in france quite my whole life (i m 45) and am fond of sociology, so i really don't know if your assumptions are rooted in a statistic reality. Things have changed in france. In the past, it is true that many people could afford to go to the university, even very poor people - and that social ascending mobility was a thing/ it's almost not any more. Now it's very different, and you just have to check you comment section from french people to see that most of them say they've been working as teenagers ....
@@NotEvenFrench je pense que les pauvres en france sont plus "americanisés", dans les banlieues les filles ont des standards de beauté proches de ce qu'on trouve sur instagram.
Bonjour Rosie,
Il y a certaines choses avec lesquelles je ne suis pas d'accord.
Les "petits boulots" d'étudiants existent bel et bien (mais légalement à partir de 16 ans). A cause de la pandémie, certains étudiants ne peuvent plus travailler et crèvent de faim. Les aides sociales sont acceptées selon les revenus des parents. C'est très réglementé.
Pour les écoles, tu as observé combien de classes quand tu étais en France ? Je suis professeur dans une école primaire et je "crie" seulement dans les cas extrêmes. La pédagogie et la façon de faire classe ont beaucoup évolué.
Have you been to Quebec, Canada? It's really interesting to see the difference with european culture because we speak french in a mostly english country and our neighbors are the United States so we are kind of a...nice strange mix. 😂
C’est pour ça qu’on vous aime les québécois 😂
As a French person I think a part of the "active wear" thing comes from the fact that active wear worn on a regular basis is a mark of lower-class / poorer suburb fashion. The more you dress "up", the higher your social status, and the more people take your seriously. I'm not saying that it should be like this at all because everyone is entitled yo wear whatever they like but, I think this stereotype plays a big part in this...
I agree with you
Interesting that people want to be viewed (by their style of dress) as belonging to a higher social class, while at the same time, it is very much frowned upon to brag or show off your home, possessions, salary, car, etc.
I am American, and I do wish some of us would dress more neatly in public, though! I hate that so many people leave the house looking like slobs!
Yeah. I'm french. I never use any superlative adjectif UNLESS it's needed. And it's kinda piss me off every time someone use one. If everything is "INCREDIBLE !", there is only three option : either you live in a fairy tale, which is great for you, but I'd rather think you're a bit naive, or you are just really discovering the world, and I guess you're 10, or it is also possible you don't know the meaning of the word INCREDIBLE. Cause for me, when something is INCREDIBLE, then it is really INCREDIBLE. Which means it really takes me a strong effort to believe it.
Gradation is important in France. Because if everything is AWESOME, INCREDIBLE, SO CUUUUUUUUUUTE, then nothing is. That's just the norm. And so you have to find other words to describe such things when they really occurs. Because they do.
Watching your channel for so long just make me thinks, French people are rational people in a crazy world xD. And being a very (very, very) rationnal french (I'm pissed when a french says "MEC ! C'ETAIT ENORME !"), I might just be a robot.
@@NotEvenFrench Haha. I'm not a Sea dude, I prefer a beautiful moutain with ice cap, rocky cliffs and an endless blue sky so blue that you feel like it's blinding you. However, I would probably just sit in the snow and watch it quietly and silently for half an hour or more ^^. For me something that deserve that kind of adjectives needs to be really breathtaking, or it has to speak to me deeply in a very powerful and shaking way.
Btw I realize now that my previous message might seem a bit agressive. That was not my point at all (the "you" is impersonal in my mind please). Sorry about that.
@@NotEvenFrench something amazing is for instance someone saving a baby that fall from a balcony just in time, something cute is when a tiger take care or another animal specie. A beautiful bag is just beautiful.
I'm British and I also don't like over enthusiastic responses from people, it does seem very fake. I fit in more with the 'pas mal' mindset :P
The words awesome and amazing are very much over-used in the U.S.
I’m married to a Frenchman……and just one word Christmas! He likes a British Christmas but thinks it’s totally over the top in every way !!!
Hello I’m French lived in France my entire life.
It’s interesting to see your opinions on the french culture.
It’s illegal to work before the age of 18. After the age of 18 a lot of student at university work on Saturdays in restaurants (before the pandemic...) or give out private lessons with platforms like complétude or acadomia. during my university studies I used to give math lessons.
As for eating when not hungry I can assure you that most of us do eat sweats and chocolates or crisps when we feel the need emotionally. Even if its not good for your health 😅.
Isn’t it 16 ? But yeah I agree, so many student have a day job.
I live in france and grew up in two different countries; the netherlands and france. Nothing from all this seems weird to me since I've experienced both cultures. Living in a city/society feels really strange to me actually since last september. And since november I rarely get out of the lost paradise where I live since november. When I'm in town I feel like a stranger, an alien because I do not feel like I belong there and of course.
Going to the doctors is something that I am not doing anymore either. Been wearing the same glasses for ages and if I get sick, wich doesn't happen I'll just stay at home.
Risky sports? Yeah... In my experience going hiking with strong winds on narrow mountain paths is equally risky, furthermore if you are doing it alone, so everything is relative. It all depends on what kind of sports you like.
Now for a finishing note, I've been feeling like the whole bloody society is an open asylum where we are not allowed to live if we do not agree with its values. I've lived in a camper, in a tent, an abandoned school and in houses and I must say that I enjoy way more the calm of the countryside than the lively cities.
Greetings, from a traveling soul
I absolutely love your videos! So interesting and informative 🙌 but the more i learn about france/french people the more i am so greatful to be born and raised kiwi 🥰
The “clapping trick” is very common in France as well with young children (à la Maternelle). I just think it stops working when the children get older ;)
Thanks for reminding me I need to go to the dentist. I live in Canada and I have been putting it off for months now be cause it's sooooo expensive (500$ for one tooth here). I can't understand why we have to pay for something as basic as that. It's a need. In France it's a no-brainer, my teeth hurt, I go see the dentist. Teeth are part of the human body, why is it not considered as such. It can hurt so bad as well. I mean I'll never understand that ever. Free healthcare should be the norm.
I thought canada had universal healthcare? Doesn't include dentistry?
@@carlablizard8514 Nope. At least not in Quebec, I don't know about other provinces. Mental health is not really included either I think. But it's definitly better here than in the US of course. It's just that from a french perspective I don't understand why dentistry is not considered as important as the rest of the body.
@@carlablizard8514 Healthcare in Ontario does not include dental care and a few other things such as physiotherapy. Pharmacare is also not guaranteed with some medicines covered, but most not or not fully. Eye glasses aren't covered. But many employers have benefit plans to cover those things not covered by the government and many dentists will provide discounts to those without an employer dental plan. Also, you can claim some expenses on your taxes, so even though you paid up front, you might get a bit back depending on your salary, etc.
They even make fun of cursive signatures like mine because it was too readable. I started elaborating it since living in Paris
In the States, the administration made me change my signature to something readable or they wouldn't give me my papers.
Bonjour :)
Your video made me smile 😅
I’m french - from Paris.
I agree that from childhood I’ve been eating proper meals sitting at a table with other people three times a day, and it’s something I enjoy, I wouldn’t snack at random times if I’m not REALLY hungry. Like there must be kind of a rhythm... x) I mean there’s something reassuring and “self-care” with our link to food.
I mean a bed or the street isn’t a place to eat your meal no ?? lol
Concerning school it can be very strict and disciplined, that’s true. But then when you get to work hard as an adult, you’ve done it for so many years you’re well prepared right ?
I got a mail from Sécurité Sociale on my 24th birthday to tell me I had a free dentist appointment until the next month, and I should go just in case, even though my teeth are perfect. Isn’t that awesome ? Thanks Carte Vitale :P
I didn’t work until university at the age of 18 in the summer, just as an extra to pay for my future trips, car gas and going out with friends. Not to pay for the University obviously because it was like 150€ a year, so I could afford it with one week babysitting... and I don’t even have CAF or bourse.
All the Americans shouting how “omg Paris is sooo beautiful” and “oooh sir thank you soooo much for showing us the direction can we get you something ?” Like lady if you do this for everyone all day all night how do you still have your voice at the end of the day ?? Haha and how can you honestly smile THAT MUCH to someone random ??
I’m currently writing this on my couch with “casual-city-clothes” and I wouldn’t have to change my outfit to go out, just put on my shoes and go. I mean unless you’re in bed, or sick, or do exercise why would you transform yourself in a pink-candy-like British grandma with ugly sweaters just because you’re cosy on your couch x) haha
And phone-wise I’ve had the same number since my first phone ten years ago, with the same operator ^^’ that way we get a new phone for super cheap with the “fidélité” when you need it :D never got a SIM card.
Love your videos, makes me practice my English ;)
Wait, so you don’t wear loungewear clothes at home? Clothes such as tracksuit bottoms and t shirts or even pyjamas? I don’t wear these clothes outside but I do wear them at home
@@abcxyz-cx4mr WE absolutely do, just very rarelly outside. Depends on the social class, too, naturally.
About lunchbox, when I started to work in a factory .... long time ago ( I am retired now; it was in the late seventies ) My mother was used to prepare a meal for lunch, simply because I was working in an isolated place under construction. I suppose it is still possible today ( to work in an isolated place with nothing around ) , but there is more services to have something delivered. Lunchbox for school .... nope.