jamie1984

Having lived in France before I never found the French to be any ruder than Americans. And whenever one of them found out I was American they were really excited to talk to me. Believe it or not, most dream about visting the U.S. the way we dream about visiting their country.

LoveItaly

Funny thread. One can find a few rude and crabby people in Italy also. In fact those kind of people are everywhere, but fortunatly they are not the majority.

hopingtotravel

FWIW, when we were totally lost whirling around the Paris Peripherique, we pulled into a closed (Sunday) truckstop. A trucker pulled in and came over to help us. He spoke limited English and I spoke limited French, but he asked us to follow him and drove through SEVERAL exits to get us on the A13 headed the direction we needed.

cigalechanta

hopingtotravel that is so typical of the French. Here in the states they usually say I don't know.

AnthonyGA

In France as anywhere else you get what you expect. Some people are nice, some aren't, most are on the nice side. In years of dealing with the French I can count instances of rudeness on one hand. I've seen more rudeness among visitors than among the locals.

The reputation for rudeness that the French have dates from decades ago during a brief period of anti-American sentiment encouraged by de Gaulle. Most of those people are dead or in retirement homes today, and today's French have no such chips on their shoulders. France is the most profitable market for McDonald's, in fact, and Starbucks is doing extremely well despite its price gouging.

Intrepid1

It's always easier to whip up disdain for people and their outlook, political policies, etc., if you can "demonize" them first.

I'll be in France day after tomorrow; I don't go expecting any particular behavior; I go expecting to enjoy myself.

SAnParis

I have had only one instance of rudeness & it was by a waiter in a restaurant near the Eiffel Tower. One would think they would be accommodating to tourists. That has been more than made up for by all the other French tolerating me & my butchering of their language, offering me their seat on the Metro (because I had my young daughter w/me) or stopping to chat w/me as I waited for my wife. There is something to be said for you 'reap what you sow'.

AnthonyGA

The stress of dealing with a large number of tourists can get to a lot of people. Your waiter was probably tired of dealing with tourists all day. It's the job, not the nationality. (Or he could have been just a nasty person, but my guess is that it had just been a long day.)

jenabeat

My friend lives in Paris and explained certain "rules" during my visit. Not greeting the shop keeper when entering the store is considered rude. Also, the American sense of personal space is larger than the Parisian. One should never put a bag next to them on a bus or subway. I made this mistake while taking the subway to the airport. I had my bags with me, and I must have been taking up too much space (although it wasn't my intention). One large bag was in my lap and the other was at my feet. An older lady had sat next to me and when we came to her stop, she got up to exit, turned around and began yelling loudly at me in French (which I didn't understand a word of). It really took me by surprise. I can only think that I was taking up too much space. Perhaps there was another reason, but I am still confused by it. Other than that, my experience was very positive and people were polite. I especially love the French habit of sitting for hours over dinner and the restaurants don't rush you in the least. In American restaurants, I have been asked to move to the bar if I ordered another drink after dinner. Now that's RUDE!!

parisnow

Yes I am back. Chapter Thirty: Nice spring day in May of 2005. I did what every American female does in Paris. Went Shopping! Was in a store looking at what else, purses, when a man came over and started showing me merchandise and speaking in broken English. I naturally thought he was a sales clerk. I eventually left the store and he followed me out and down the street. I went into another store and he followed me in and asked me to have coffee with him. I tried to politely get rid of this guy but he wouldn't get the "I'm not interested, I have someone waiting for me back at the apartment" hint. He again followed me out of the store and down the street. I finally told him very firmly to leave me alone. He kept following. Near my friend's apartment, I went into another store in an effort to ditch him. I began getting looks from the sales person. I explained the situation to her. She informed a male co-worker and he politely walked me to my apartment around the corner. Home safe, right? My friend was ill so about two hours later I left the apartment to pick up some food and medicine. As I rounded the corner, there he was! Began following me again. Now I was becoming irritated. I'm not one to scare easy. Went into a lingerie shop. Had to explain again to the sales person why I was just hanging around in the store. I pointed out the man still waiting outside. She excused herself and made a phone call. A few minutes later, a beat officer came into the store and the stalker took off. The officer than walked me to the pharmacy, grocery store, and back to the apartment. Rude French? Try and get that service from an American Cop.
Footnote: This was not posted to alarm anyone. I have been to Paris more times than I can count and have never had a problem like this. I walk down the Champs at midnight alone. And this little event did not stop me from getting a France rail pass on that same trip and making day trips alone all over France.

katya_NY

I have been to France, and had a good time there. My French is poor at best, but I speak Spanish so I can usually make myself understood, and understand what is being said.

My question is with an earlier post, regarding the fact that some people feel French is a "dying language". As a foreign language teacher, I am concerned to hear that from a person who (one would assume) is well traveled.

If this is the case, what would you say about Russian- the language I teach? Most people are shocked to hear that we teach Russian in junior high. In reality, at my school more students are studying Russian and German this year than are studying French. This may have something to do with "freedom fries" and other anti-French nonsense, but who knows.

Do people really think French is a dying language?

ira

Good for you, Paris.

May I make one suggestion? If you are being followed, do not go home.

Do as you eventually did, go to a store and ask someone to call the police.

walkinaround

The *ignorant* fodorite - "the french are all rude and don't like americans."

The *enlightened* fodorite - "the french are delightful people who are only rude when stupid americans are rude first. anyone who would dare say anything negative about the french are just rednecks who don't understand anything about europe"

Actually the truth is somewhere in between. Frankly, the knee-jerk responses that the french are all wonderful are just as trite and boring as the negative stereotypes. from a non-french perspective (by this i don't just mean american) a lot of their behaviours can be rude...and as stated over and over here much of their perceived "rudeness" is brought on by their own perceived "rudeness" of the visitor.

The french IMO are more intolerant of people who do not completely follow their "rules". I am not talking about being a total rude jack*ss, just little things like not saying "bonjour" when entering a shop. in most countries, this sort of very minor breach of local etiquette would be more readily overlooked...especially when the offender is clearly a foreigner.

All of this does not bother me. i work part time in paris and really enjoy it. it's just how the french are.

some people just prefer to travel to places where they don't need to have a 10 week course on french etiquette to be treated decently. to enforce my point...there are more posts here about how to act, how to dress, etc about france than anywhere else.

Fustigator

I found the French to be like everybody else, no better no worse. If you show them the same respect you wish to be shown you won't go wrong.
As for expecting people to adhear to rules, the US really isn't any different from France.

Cara, That was really strange! What did you do?

Katya, Zdravstvutche!

katya_NY

Zdravstvui!

AnthonyGA

The most consistent rule is that people tend to encounter the same attitudes they hold themselves, no matter where they are. So visitors to a country will find rudeness if they are naturally rude themselves, and visitors who are naturally nice themselves will encounter nice locals. People who complain loudly about rudeness tend to be very rude and irritating themselves, in my experience (indeed, that's one reason why they <i>complain loudly</i>&mdash;they tend to do that about everything).

Logically it doesn't make sense that the entire population of an entire nation could be consistently rude or nice. They are all individuals. You tend to find what you are looking for, or what you expect. Sometimes you find people like yourself, so if you're naturally mean and hateful you'll find that everywhere you go.

parisnow

ttt-for chasinmydream

lyb

Rudeness can happen, but one of my favorite quotes is:

&quot;The world is good natured to people who are good natured&quot; - William Thackeray

Grandma

I'm a kind, polite person who's lived in New York City for 45 years. I love to assist tourists who approach and ask for help... but I don't (often) approach people if I think they're looking for directions.
In Paris this Fall my husband (who'd hate to hear himself described as elderly) was hampered by a back injury and using a cane. A guard came up to us at the D'Orsay and pulled us out of hte line and escorted us inside. At St. Chapelle we were escorted to an elevator by a charming woman...etc. Despite the fact that I love New York... I wonder if that would happen here.

hopingtotravel

Mimi, I just got back to this thread and saw your response to my truck driver story. I meant he WAS being helpful. We were a long way around the Peripherique from where we were meant to be by the time we had our traffic meltdown. Oddly enough it was also a truck driver who pulled over to help 6 years ago when we were confused in England.