domingo, 7 de agosto de 2016

French stereotypes

FRENCH STEREOTYPES 

Cyprien's video


Watching Cyprien’s video about the stereotypes of Spain, I‘ve decided to write about the stereotypes of France. I’ve been in France so many times that I could say that I know more about French people than from any other people with a different nationality. It’s for this reason that I’m going to write about their stereotypes from a very close point of view.

In relation with food the first stereotype that I realise when I’m in France is that all mornings, even if it rains, they go to the nearest bakery of their neighbourhood to buy a baguette for their breakfast, wearing a kind of beret and usually smoking. Another funny stereotype that I realise when I’m travelling by car in France is that every midday, especially during the holidays, they all park their cars in a service area to have what they call “le midi” (a very relaxing picnic that all the family use to have). And I think that the best known stereotype of French people related with food is that in all their dinners they must eat cheese with a glass of wine before dessert.

Apart from this type of stereotypes, there some others, for instance those which are related to their personality. Friends of mine say that the typical French man or woman is really arrogant, not very sociable and even apathetic, but it’s only because when they “travel to France” they only visit one place… Paris, and I agree with them in this point, because Parisian people can be arrogant and sometimes a bit self-centred, believing to be the centre of the world. However, in fact, the rest of France is extremely different from them, they are usually quite helpful, polite and quite happy, although I find they are not as open-minded as Spanish people are and they use to say that everything is okay when in fact, it’s not. Moreover, another aspect that I notice is that they use to idolatrise their sport players, even if they finish the second or third position (fact that Spanish people don’t do and I really appreciate it).


In conclusion, I think that I have a very different point of view from most of my friends that think they “have visited France”, but I find quite interesting what other people from other nationalities think about France when I’m in “l’Alliance française”, because they have truly visited France. And I reckon that these are the main stereotypes that I’ve confirmed during my stays in France.