Vive la France!

This world is in danger of becoming unipolar, and - for all their glaring faults - only the French IMO have the 'savoir faire' to counterbalance the English.

Category:

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• france
• french
• iraq
• algeria
• francophilia
• francophobia
• new
• world
• order
• chirac
• sarkozy
• canada
• quebec

[MsOneiroi77]

my friends mother is French Canadian and hates speaking English from what i gather most English Canadians against french culture would they be against French Canadian culture? Things like they call restaurants like PFK which are called KFC everywhere else including France. Also the French people I've met are quite critical of French Canadians and their language as they pronounce the language wrong probably with a Canadian accent. I dunno I'm European and neither french nor french canadian.

[Anekantavad]

@MsOneiroi77 The French spoken in Canada is older and more "peasant-like" than that of urban France, and IMO there is a much greater divide between the French Canadian and the people of France than (say) between the USA and the UK. Having said that, they usually get along very well.

In addition, English and French Canadians often fight it out in the press, but on a personal level relations are excellent.

[pragmaticUtopists]

VIVE LA FRANCE also from berlin, germany!

we germans should also chill back more and enjoy life - so hopefully they influence us to do so more, we in opposite could show you how to work/produce perfectly :-)

let's just get married again after adenauer-de-gaulle did - just to make clear, how much germany and france love and need each other in these crisis-days.

[Anekantavad]

@pragmaticUtopists Very well put.

France and Germany in partnership is exactly what Europe (and the world, really) need right now. In spite of what some people think I believe that Europe is in the process of re-inventing itself, and France + Germany is the way it is going to happen :-)

[MaxRWF]

Thank you Anekantavad to resist against the anti-French propaganda occuring in North America. I think the main reason of this organised francophobia is that France is the only country to propose an alternative to the Anglo-saxon way of life

The answer to your 0:20 question is yes, there's a strong popular anti-French sentiment in the UK, but it's not especially related to the Irak war, it's just basic jealousy...

[Anekantavad]

Hi There! I have noticed in the last 3-4 years that francophobia is less and less in vogue, and even as some people were pouring (superb) French wine into the gutters in 2003, many Americans were shocked and embarassed by it, but that's TV for you!, non? As a matter of fact, France seems to be regaining its chic even in the eyes of the more thoughtful conservatives, and for the reasons you give: English society is not perfect, and France offers a tempting alternative.

a la prochaine!

[VictorianFuturist]

I think that this is more of a north/south European difference than just a French/British difference with the British, Irish, Dutch, Germans, Danes, Norwegians, and Swedes having a more "industrious" nature and the French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italians, and Greeks having a more "relaxed" nature

[MsOneiroi77]

@Anekantavad I also spoke to a guy from Nova Scotia who said when he tried to speak french to the French they also got a bit dismissive and said his accent and French was ridiculous. He said he didn't pronounce it in a French manner and they looked down on that. Perhaps he met some French who were picky? Trust the press to make mountains out of mole hills.

[TheWisemonkey8]

@Anekantavad Ah...

[Anekantavad]

Quite. One thing the French (and Italians, Greeks etc) have is the capacity to 'switch off' and relax. The French are every bit as industrious as we are, but they seem to have the capacity to keep 'business' and 'pleasure' in totally separate mental compartments, and the one doesn't seem to interfere with the other, or at least as much as it does to us :-)