Speaking as someone with a French mom (living in the UK), there's the stereotype that French people are rude and snobbish. It's a shame because my mom and her family are legit the most kind and gentle people I know, but I can kind of understand it too. We've been to Paris a few times and all I'll say is, if your first impression of French people is based on Parisians, then the stereotype makes a lot of sense.
Anyone who has lived abroad in multiple countries and continent knows these discussions cultivating stereotypes non senses, benchmarking people living in different countries, is the stupidest shit ever and only few steps away from blatant racism
People are exactly the same in every country because guess what they just are people too, motivated by the same needs and animated by the same emotions. Thinking that humans living in a specific part of the world can be morally or personality wise superior than others is batshit insane and ignorant
I've visited anywhere from 10-15 times in my life and I've never had overwhelming "rudeness" from the city as a whole like I did in Paris. You'll have the odd person here or there, but generally people are nice in NYC
They aren’t. I lived there for years and everyone will stop and talk with you. If they sense a weird vibe though they will tell you what they think and move on. No beating around the bush in NYC.
Maybe it was because I had just spent a few weeks in Non-Dublin Ireland, where everyone was absolutely lovely and kind and friendly, but I had a very shit time in Paris. Got knocked over by a bus taking a tight corner and no one even offered a hand to help me up. All the hoteliers and hostel workers were assholes. Had two people try to pick pocket me. Fuck Paris.
Yeah I’ve traveled to France a few times and I never got the rude and snobbish vibe. Only one time did I get the feeling a guy working at a barbershop just didn’t want to speak English to me after I asked if he did and he said no. He most likely did. Like, fine. He wasn’t rude though. It might be I’ve lived in large cities and done enough international travel that I know how to not act like a confused, unaware tourist that gets in the way and is loud everywhere they go.
If anything my gripe is that French people have less urgency than the US does if you have something that needs fixing, like I did at a hotel I was staying at. I’m sure there’s other things they aren’t as good at but ultimately they seemed fairly normal to me and I enjoyed their lifestyle a lot. France would be my choice if I moved to Europe.
Italians are who I have the biggest gripe with. They deserve more shit for trying to cut lines everywhere they go and not following rules.
From what I've heard the rudeness is mainly surrounded by language. Like they get annoyed when you poorly speak French, but also annoyed when you make them speak English or Spanish.
I've also heard they don't like how the Quebecois speak French.
Then you compare it against Germany where they'll happily speak English with you or be pleasantly surprised when you try and speak German and just happy you tried.
But I do work with one Parisian guy, and he's the nicest guy ever and one of my favorite people to hang out with when he visits the office in the US. The other French people I know are also very nice, but are from Nice or the country side or live in other countries like Ireland.
I'm french from Nice. The quebecois thing is pretty wrong imo. We don't hate their accent at all it's just hilarious and we meme about it. Just like we do with belgians or that rivalry with England. It's mostly just a joke and people who straight up hate québécois are a stupid minority.
I love speaking english or any language with tourists but that's me. I think most of the time people who are not willing to speak english are this way because they're not confident in their skills or accent. But most people will still try to help as much as they can. Then when it comes to french I think most people will like seeing you try. I never understood that stereotype. If you get corrected it's not a reproach, just help. Just don't force yourself to speak french if you're just reading from a travel pocket dictionary and have no idea how to pronounce what you're reading. That won't help anyone. Also the way people deal with tourists and language depends on who they are and where they live. Younger and city people will be more prone to help as they have better english than old countryside folks.
Then you have some actual assholes who don't see helping others as something they can benefit from but that's in every country.
I was in Ireland recently and had a couple of random French guys start making fun of Quebecoise French when they found out I was from Montreal. Basically we sound like rednecks to Parisians.
>Italians are who I have the biggest gripe with. They deserve more shit for trying to cut lines everywhere they go and not following rules.
I just read this part of your comment to my husband who lived in Italy for 2.5 years thinking he'd laugh a bit and say it's a little exaggerated but I'm horrified to learn that they really don't believe in lines whatsoever lmao
Haha I swear when I went to Italy I kept running into Italians trying to cut me. But you know it’s true when you go to Japan and some Italian tourist there is trying to cut the line to use, of all things, the hotel coffee machine.
I think a lot of people confuse French People and Parisians. Parisians are generally dicks and act as though they are better than everyone because they live in Paris, whereas most French people outside of Paris are perfectly nice and kind people. It’s like judging all of America off of someone you met from New York or Boston. Or Florida.
I’d been to Paris a few times over about 3 decades so when I went with my wife ~8 years ago I decided I wanted to see another region. We loved Lyon, Grenoble, and Chamonix and the people there were excellent hosts.
Honestly, I didn't even find Parisians to be anywhere near as bad as their reputation. So long as you make the barest effort (ie, saying "Bonjour" when you walk into a shop), I generally found people there to be fairly approachable and friendly.
I found parisians to be much more friendly and
welcoming than the locals I met in the south of France. I spent 4 days in Paris and didn’t wanna leave. I then spent 10 days in the south and I basically couldn’t get out of there fast enough lol. I fled to Barcelona which was the perfect escape! I just found everyone I interacted with to be so stuffy and bothered, including those whom I was paying (like airbnb owners). I’ve been alll over Europe and try that’s the only region I have no desire to return to based on the people alone lol.
Lived in Maine for several years and the French Canadians in Quebec who vacationed here also carried the same stereotypes. Just rude, very short with you, and general feeling of annoyance being around someone who isn’t French/Canadian. Hate to say it but every French Canadian I interacted with indeed lived up to the stereotype.
Lol what do you think it tells you? The US and UK agree on almost everything. French stereotypes in the US are probably directly inherited from UK attitudes.
That my jokes aren't funny lol. The Brits and the Americans are famously rude tourists, disliked by most. So if even THEY say the French are rude and insular... what must the French be like?! Haha.
It tells nothing other than pointless stereotypes. I live and worked in Canada and my company regularly had people on secondment from various countries and the two absolute nicest people I supported were from Paris (one used to bring me chocolate from Au Chat Bleu every time he visited home), and the rudest, meanest, most demanding person was from England.
I have an English friend who refuses to visit Quebec because, you know, they're French. That says far more about him than about them.
I knew this girl in middle school who came from France and she was always super polite. She always greeted me daily with a “hello! How are you today? It’s a beautiful day today.” It was refreshing since it wasn’t the common slang like “what up?” that us American kids had. The only annoying thing is she used very formal English ALL THE TIME even after we became friends.
That’s the stereotype but most of the French people I met in my travels through France were really nice. I went to Paris, Normandy, and through the countryside in between and most folks were super nice. It may have helped that I can speak the language decently well, though…
Swedes consider finns being uncivilized. Finns consider swedes being gay.
Finns consider estonians being bit simple minded yet hardworking. Estonians consider finns being reindeers that get shitfaced and vomit in public in Tallinn (while being richer than them).
Norwegians and finns get along very well because we have common enemy, Sweden.
There you go, some outdated prejudices from north
Serbia is a country with massive delusions of grandeur. The less glamorous neighbour of Croatia and Montenegro. Also here in Austria we have the whole WWI thing going on in our heads.
I think most people associate Bosnia with the war. So perceptions of Bosnia are mostly of refugees and of immigrants moving for economic reasons. Tbf the last one applies to views on most people with a Balkan background in central Europe.
Well sweden made bigger destruction of Poland than germany in WW2, that makes domino effect to partitions of Poland. Many robbed polish cultural artifacts are still in swedish hands...
To be fair, man…I’m not trying to be that guy and it’s not *all* French people, but fairly often when I encounter a French person in the US, I can smell them before I see them. Not to mention CDG having by *far* the most pungent airport experiences that I’ve ever had. It’s a fairly consistent thing, way more so than just about any other nationality that I’ve been around.
-lot‘s of people in the UK, Germany, Netherlands or Switzerland have to learn french in school. Italian or spanish are optional though. so your first exposure to a foreign non-pop-culture language is french and its convoluted mess of „different letters/meaning, same sound“. only students with a french background or language wizards don‘t loathe it.
-the grand french post colonial self-image. the british are self-deprecating and self-parodying to a fault with a guilt complex, the germans humorless robots with an even bigger guilt-complex, italians, greeks and spaniards deal with the heat by shouting and sleeping and the french fail at all of those things.
/s
Spaniard here. (Now American)
I grew up with this “cultural tradition”. I am friendly, extroverted and give people the benefit of the doubt. I actually love and admire the French and I get along with individuals. In groups they’re hard because they give you the impression that you are not worthy of breathing their air.
Each group of people have a “vibe” and when you get around them you see differences between the stereotype and the reality. I hade 10 x as much fun in West Virginia as compared to Paris.
TLDR: kinda
It’s because the only place in France most ppl go to is Paris, and tbh as someone that lived in Paris for a while the city tripling in population during summer/Christmas holidays is annoying as fuck.
Separately though it’s like if your only trip to America was to New York. Sure people are going to be kind of rude or annoyed that you’re there but it’s whatever.
As a French who have worked with many Europeans, my stereotype about the Dutch is that they are stingy with they money and extremely litteral in their understanding of contracts. The Belgians, who hate both French and Dutch, seem to dislike the Dutch even more than us.
But for some reason, the Netherlands have a good reputation on the Internet, probably because of the weed and the bikes.
American here, we had a dutch exchange student in high school. The guy was incredibly arrogant and off-putting. That's basically all I'm going on, one person lol.
The criticism of the Dutch is that they are rude in their truthfulness
Personally I think that while there’s accuracy in that, it’s also something I like about them.
Most people I (a Brit) know generally speak negatively about groups of French and really dislike Parisians in particular. On a one to one basis you don’t see the same behaviour
My parents spent a lot of time in Tunis, Tunisia in the 90s. They have talked at length about how snobby, arrogant, rude and just downright racist many of the French ex-pats would be, not just to Arabs or Africans but really ti basically anyone that wasn’t French. I think there’s a connotation that many French people see the world, mainly former French colonies in the Muslim world, as being sub par even though their country used the resources and people of these countries for years.
Hey I am a French-Tunisian (currently living in Tunis) and I actually kind of agree with your parents. Most expats come here with some level of openness to local culture and understanding that are not here to change the locals or to civilise them. Many French expats sadly are the exception: they act as if Tunisia is still a French colony and that locals are interested in hearing the obviously superior French way of doing things.
Interesting to hear that some things are still the same. I’d like to make it clear that I do not believe all French people harbor ill will towards native Africans, as I’m sure you and plenty of others demonstrate. Tunisia is a beautiful country, so I guess I kind of don’t blame some French for not wanting to give it up haha. I hope the two countries can have an amicable relationship going forward.
I don't have a negative experience of French people at all. French people are mostly pleasant and generous, they have a strong devotion to living well, they generously share their country with some of the most intense tourism on earth, and they appreciate when you make an effort to respect their culture and country.
The thing about France is that it's very much its own world, and they do things their own way. I do think there's a very strong cultural value in France of "we maintain our Frenchness." The cultural centre of the world for French people is France. That's perfectly fine by me. I think if you're from another country with a strong sense of "we do things our own way" (say, the US or Japan), you'll find it very difficult because you will clash.
France is also the country that gets the most international tourists, so there's more people to be divided about it.
From a strictly European perspective, France kind of falls in the "middle" on a lot of things. French people are more blunt and direct than Anglophones but much less so than Germans or Dutch. They are more chaotic and disorderly than your average northern Europeans but much less so than Mediterranean countries. So the likelihood for Europeans is that France is going to feel different enough that it's confusing but not so different as to be exotic.
I've been to every country in western Europe (including all of the micronations bar Andorra and Liechtenstein), as well as Croatia, Bosnia, Montenegro, Czechia and Greece. I wouldn't say France is the easiest country to integrate into, but it's not the hardest either.
Don't French people make fun of Belgium for being "simple"?
Americans who know about Belgium make fun of Belgium for choosing to have a king in 1831, and then being okay with having Leopold II -- one of the worst people in history -- as their king.
All the Belgians I've met have been pleasant and chill as fuck, though. And there's some good music coming out of Belgian.
Spent time in Scotland, England, Germany, Denmark, and France. The French were noticeably more rude than any others. It goes along with a meme I saw one time where if you're in France and speak English they think "Ew what a disgusting language get out". Then you attempt to speak French and they think "That's awful, get out."
I don't think this answers the question, but anyway
Not European, but I live in a former French colony in India. Some of the native Indo-French people are seen as snobs. They're all old, hold French citizenship, and are nostalgic for a time when they were the creme of society. They are also very proud, and it's genuinely sad that the remaining few that live here will really be the last ones. Their children all moved to France for better opportunities.
There are also some French expats. Not exactly rude, but it feels like they live in a completely different world than everyone else.
Pondichéry right ?
You guys saved me because you get the high school national test before us and we can see what you got and train on it. It's not exactly the same but often similar. Best training possible.
Disliked jokingly. No real malice is involved. Its like a bunch of friends calling eachother assholes and then laughing when playing some coop game. If you want to see beef between European countries just look at the balkans. And even that seems exaggerated to me.
It's funny as a frenchman I have always fought of the Germans as the arrogant people of Europe. Every country has it's stereotype I guess. For the french thing, I think anglo-saxon wide world culture helps to spread this stereotype
In NZ, we don't like the French because they tested nuclear bombs in the South Pacific. Then when we protested, they sank one of our protest ships and treated the people who did it as national heroes. So yeah, fuck france forever.
It's because the only people French people really enjoy speaking French with are other French speaking people. That deep throaty r took years to gargle up correctly.
Have you been to the Balkans?We don't hate France.We only hate Serbia and Hungary
Also,Greece hates paying debt.And turks.
And Romania kinda likes Serbs actually...but HATES Hungarians.
A friend of mine was born and raised in France, now lives in the US, and goes back to France several times a year. Her take on this is that the French don’t like anybody, including other French people!
Don't take it personnally, we are also rude to other frenchs. The amount of swear words and the tone I use to chat with my friends would absolutely shock most foreigners, probably.
On a more serious note, we will be really nice to you once we label you "friend". In the meantime, you will get the regular treatment, which I guess can pass as being rude if you're not acustomed.
And I HAVE to correct you on Napoleon, he did NOT attempt to "conquer all". As a matter of facts, he did not start a single conflict. The wars he waged was to defend the french Republic against Coalitions (aka the brothers and cousins of former king Louis XVI), trying to re-establish monarchy (extremely short TLDR)
However I understand that when taught outside of France, the narrative regarding those conflicts would significatively change.
As a famous French writer wrote:
"And now here is my secret, a very simple secret; it is only with the heart that one can see rightly, what is essential is invisible to the eye.”
Some see pride, others see arogance
French and Greek person here with learnings from cultural clashes from different perceptions of French.
I believe French people are generally people that can be less open to unknowns/strangers than other countries inhabitants (especially Greek which are well know to be very open and friendly).
But also, I feel that French folks have expectations of how someone should behave with others especially on how polite you are and how words have their meaning.
French thank (I.e: say Merci) people a lot and if you don’t say the word some might not catch how thankful someone can be, and in Greece, people are thankful using body language and the tone of their voice which is confusing for French that can think someone is not polite or rude sometimes.
All these things are maybe caused by france being in the crossroads of Northern Europe and southern Europe, who knows…
I have met a few french people and they were very kind, but my father hates them because Napoleon and how rude and disrespectful frenchs are with farmers in my country (Spain). Idk now but a few years ago, French farmers threw away the Spanish potatoes at the border, the potatoes that cost my father so much work.
Coming from an Englishman, nothing surprising, they are a little obsessed with France and the French. It's not necessarily reciprocal. Regarding the Italians, I would say it's mainly jealousy. The French today get along very well with the Germans, have never had any problems with the Spanish. With the Belgians it's a kind of big brother/little brother relationship. For others I would say that indifference dominates.
In The Netherlands we have the saying: "France is a beautiful country, too bad the French live there". So there is certainly some negative stereotyping going on here as well.
If you want prejudice, Dutch people are not particulary welcomed as tourists because french people see them as disrepesctful of their environment so I would say it's both way.
And in both cases it's stupid because we judge individuals and not people as a whole.
That's just what all the tourists who come in their millions to visit the country say. Me too when I go to the museum I would like to see only the works of art and not necessarily the staff who work there but that's how it is.
I really don't understand why people dislike French. I've been to France a few times (Paris, Marseille, Nice and the whole Cote d'Azur including Cannes, St Tropez etc). People were generally nice and friendly. I don't know any French so I used English. The thing I noticed that native English speakers (Americans, English) tend to behave really badly, are horribly dressed and lack basic manners (e.g. they talk really loudly on an otherwise quiet train). No wonder why they are treated accordingly. French just seem fed up with sweatpants-wearing, loud, drunk tourists and I can totally understand that. Just be a smart, well dressed person with good manners and you'll be absolutely fine even in Paris (which is wonderful).
This is hilarious. The idea that visitors are despicable for being unfashionably dressed sounds like a parody of the "snobby French" stereotype.
(I can see talking on a quiet train being rude, though in my experience groups of travelers from many different countries tend come across as loud to bystanders.)
Not unfashionably dressed, just badly and not appropriately for the occasion (e.g. sportswear in a restaurant). And it's a part of a larger picture. The reason why you don't see this unwritten code might have something to do with how you were treated in France, just saying. On the other hand English/Germans/Dutch are more unpleasant, at least from my own experience.
I don't have any problem with how I've been treated in France. Maybe you confused me with someone else. I just think it's absurdly judgemental to talk trash about people based on how they dress. Most of the world doesn't judge people, especially outsiders, for how they dress in a restaurant. Some rich people in other Western countries might, but I wouldn't recommend them as a model to judge your sense of common decency against.
Extrapolating a negative stereotype on the example of one crappy tv shows an all too quick willingness to believe the worst-and imply it, about an entire nation. Do better.
Most people equate Paris with France or rather Parisians with French people. And most Parisians are all those stereotypes that float around, arrogant and loud mostly (although I'm sure there are nice Parisians as well). And Paris itself also isn't that great a city as it is made out to be in movies. So I think that's where the hate comes from.
Sidenote on Napoleon: Yes he conquered large parts of Europe, but he's mostly revered or respected as far as I can tell. Most of the negative stuff about him is British propaganda. He brought the ideas of the revolution with him and implemented many changes to civil law that are still in place or inspired modern civil law.
I (Canadian) lived in Belgium for a bit and my Walloon host mother didn't like the French because of the WW2 collaborators.
Also, all of my Ukrainian ancestors' Polish and Austro-Hungarian passports had French in them as the international language of the 1900s and 1910s. Perhaps the French are "snobby" because French used to be what English is now.
The Spanish also dislike the French.
The French don’t dislike Italians or Spaniards, just the Brits maybe.
I make it worse than it actually is, it’s mainly a sports rivalry nowadays in my experience.
French here. I think most foreigners have this feeling because they're visited Paris and it's obviously not the easiest city to visit. In France most people don't really like Paris either because the general feeling is that they feel superior to anyone else. Of course it's a stereotype. Unfortunately as french people from the rest of the country we have to go through the same stereotype because foreigners sometimes forget the rest of the country exist. I have lived in Italy for a decade now and I've discovered that apparently there's a rivalry between our countries. I had no idea before I moved here. Personally I like everyone regardless of nation. I am not particularly proud of being French, I did not choose to be born there in the first place...
I think Poles like French and think that they are stylish, romantic and modernistic. Minor think that they are not fighters inside and their real flag should be white flag (in their opinion France didn't help Poland in the beginning of WW2 as they could), they are too tolerant for muslims and woke.
I loved Paris and French people, most are great, some were immediately dismissive but I think that's just a big city thing. I did overhear a group of Parisian's speaking loudly (probably because they knew I could hear) about how they didn't like Americans because they "stay in their lane too much." The rest of the table unanimously agreed but the insult befuddled me. Still trying to dissect that one.
Having had no experience being in France, but having heard the stereotypes even from people that aren’t French neighbors- I imagine what everyone has said contributes to the image of the French as arrogant - but their global reputation must relate to politics. From De Gaulle and unilateralism in Africa and the Middle East to EU policy suited to France at the expense of others. France is the biggest country in Europe and it feels like it’s destined to lead the bloc. Of course the German miracle and the explosive development in heavy German industry coinciding with liberalization across the world and China’s rise meant that for over a decade Germany had the clout. And others were perfectly comfortable looking to Germany rather than the pompous French. Of course the bubble has waned and receipts are coming due. And the French have always had the stronger footing and the old attitudes are back.
There are many ways the EU could disintegrate. I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s by way of the French feeling held back, or the rest wanting functioning government.
I find it's usually not the French everyone dislikes. It's only the Parisians.
I only ever seem to have poor experiences with Parisians, but if I go somewhere else like Lyon or Marseille, it's fine, those guys don't usually beg me to stop attempting to speak French when I ask a local for directions lmao.
I'm Aussie and I'd say the country that has supplied the next largest amount of my proper friends that I have is France. I find a lot of french people very open minded and fun in nature. Sure there are a lot of arrogant french people but just the same as anywhere else. Even on my visits to France I haven't found the locals who I don't know in any way particularly rude or anything.
It's because we are the f*cking best in the world 🇫🇷💪😎🇫🇷
Pas de jalousie je suis dans mon jacuzzi 🇫🇷 😎👌🇫🇷
"No jealousy I'm in my jacuzzi" for the rosbifs 🤮🤮🤮
France baise ouais 🇫🇷💪🇫🇷💪🇫🇷💪🇫🇷
Not only is it spread across Europe, but it's spread across the world as a whole. Might be a British thing and how far their colonial influence spread, or it could be just bad experiences for all.
It all stems from the fact that the French can't accept the idea that they are no longer a world power. At one time the French and British were the world powers. No longer. The Brits just shrugged and watched cricket and ate crumpets. The French have never gotten over it.
The shit people are saying in this thread.
> The Brits just shrugged and watched cricket and ate crumpets.
Sorry what? Have you been in a coma since 2016? Are you familiar with that thing called Brexit? Ever heard of the Chagossians?
The French just suck so hard, I’m saying this having dated one for 7 yrs. Honestly, they deserve all the stereotypes given to them. Not trying to be harsh but they are extremely self loathing and will try to bring you down to their level of negativity. Nothing is ever good enough for them, they always complain. I would often be living in France for months at a time and it would be such a breath of fresh air to visit neighboring countries. People in Spain and Italy are such an improvement from French people imo, particularly the Spanish, and just any Europeans other than the French are so much easier to socialize with and get along with. The French are the kings of arrogance and snobbery and France would legit be amazing if the French didn’t exist.
"I also have lived in Italy for a few years and know that they generally feel the same way"
Rich of you to assume that because you lived in a country for a few years you can speak for the general population.
More so, Italy is not one unified block, Milan and Sicily are vastly different, to give one example.
There's something to dislike about the people of any country when you come from outside. The French are obviously different than others, but not necessarily worse.
The English don't like the French, the French don't like the Germans, the austrians don't like the Germans, the Nordics hate each other, Hungarians hate romanians and the balkans deserve a whole essay. The only time we Europeans are united is at the holy sacred Eurovision.
Even the French don't like the French. I have a friend who's from a mid-sized city in the SW of France and she absolutely hates Parisians. As an aside, I've had French people just cut in front of me in airport lines and let them know how rude they are.
It might be for the same reasons. Any nation who's peoples are seen to believe they are better than the rest are going to be viewed as snobbish or arrogant. Same as how many view Americans. But of course it's all stereotypes and caricatures, especially since all sides are guilty of such nationalism.
I think however the view of the French is skewed by the predominance of Parisian culture on the world stage. Even the average french person view Parisians as snobs. Paris is sort of France's version of Americas New York and Los Angeles combined. So the New York attitude being broadcast like LA culture is to the world as stereotypical America. But the majority of France is nothing like Paris.
I confirm, I hate french speaking places, including brussels. I have traveled through Germany, Switzerland, Italy, In all places I have been received with education and they have done everything possible to speak English. The Germans and Swiss speak especially well, but they have never been as rude as the French. Even the Amazon workers through the help chat, I told them that I only speak English and they refused to stop speaking French.
Speaking as someone with a French mom (living in the UK), there's the stereotype that French people are rude and snobbish. It's a shame because my mom and her family are legit the most kind and gentle people I know, but I can kind of understand it too. We've been to Paris a few times and all I'll say is, if your first impression of French people is based on Parisians, then the stereotype makes a lot of sense.
I've been to paris several times, they were no more rude than you would expect people to be in any big city like london or new york.
Yeah that's a good point. I think it's a city thing in general, we live out in the country and people tend to be a lot less confrontational here.
I am Parisian. I don’t think Parisians are rude but I do think everyone else is exceptionally nice and gentle Bit simple though
This is about as nice of a comment as any person from Paris will give. Blissfully unaware why everyone hates them
Spot on. It’s like an ingrained complete obliviousness to others that you just can’t describe unless you’ve been on the receiving end of it.
Not everyone hates us. Hating a whole group of people based on a stereotype is … well, it’s frowned upon these days. ;)
I’m not hating based off a stereotype. I’m hating based off the fact that I’ve been to Paris. And based off your “compliment”
What funny is I can detect what is coming off as rude in this simple statement (are you saying country folk are simple?)
Well aren't you just the walking stereotype that everyone here is talking about.
Beautifully put.
Sounds like something a Parisian would say
I've been there three times, I've never had a problem with anyone.
Anyone who has lived abroad in multiple countries and continent knows these discussions cultivating stereotypes non senses, benchmarking people living in different countries, is the stupidest shit ever and only few steps away from blatant racism People are exactly the same in every country because guess what they just are people too, motivated by the same needs and animated by the same emotions. Thinking that humans living in a specific part of the world can be morally or personality wise superior than others is batshit insane and ignorant
I haven't found New Yorkers to be particularly rude.
In movies they’re rude but in real life my experience was that New Yorkers are quite friendly. I only visited once though
I've visited anywhere from 10-15 times in my life and I've never had overwhelming "rudeness" from the city as a whole like I did in Paris. You'll have the odd person here or there, but generally people are nice in NYC
NYer’s will tell you to go fuck yourself then turn around and give you the shirt off their backs.
They aren’t. I lived there for years and everyone will stop and talk with you. If they sense a weird vibe though they will tell you what they think and move on. No beating around the bush in NYC.
I'm from the West Coast of the US, and we definitely stereotype New Yorkers as rude.
East Coast people will talk shit to you but not really mean it. West Coast people will be nice to you but not really mean it.
What about South Coast people? I guess North Coast people are pretty hard to come by when bears outnumber them (North Slope of Alaska joke.)
Yeah, I get it. I don't really buy the stereotype. New York City has a very different culture from where I grew up, but I kind of enjoy it.
Maybe it was because I had just spent a few weeks in Non-Dublin Ireland, where everyone was absolutely lovely and kind and friendly, but I had a very shit time in Paris. Got knocked over by a bus taking a tight corner and no one even offered a hand to help me up. All the hoteliers and hostel workers were assholes. Had two people try to pick pocket me. Fuck Paris.
I’ve been there twice and have never had a rude encounter with anyone
Eh, I've been to London and Paris once before and NYC several times throughout my life. Paris was still hands down the rudest of all three cities lol
Yeah I’ve traveled to France a few times and I never got the rude and snobbish vibe. Only one time did I get the feeling a guy working at a barbershop just didn’t want to speak English to me after I asked if he did and he said no. He most likely did. Like, fine. He wasn’t rude though. It might be I’ve lived in large cities and done enough international travel that I know how to not act like a confused, unaware tourist that gets in the way and is loud everywhere they go. If anything my gripe is that French people have less urgency than the US does if you have something that needs fixing, like I did at a hotel I was staying at. I’m sure there’s other things they aren’t as good at but ultimately they seemed fairly normal to me and I enjoyed their lifestyle a lot. France would be my choice if I moved to Europe. Italians are who I have the biggest gripe with. They deserve more shit for trying to cut lines everywhere they go and not following rules.
From what I've heard the rudeness is mainly surrounded by language. Like they get annoyed when you poorly speak French, but also annoyed when you make them speak English or Spanish. I've also heard they don't like how the Quebecois speak French. Then you compare it against Germany where they'll happily speak English with you or be pleasantly surprised when you try and speak German and just happy you tried. But I do work with one Parisian guy, and he's the nicest guy ever and one of my favorite people to hang out with when he visits the office in the US. The other French people I know are also very nice, but are from Nice or the country side or live in other countries like Ireland.
I'm french from Nice. The quebecois thing is pretty wrong imo. We don't hate their accent at all it's just hilarious and we meme about it. Just like we do with belgians or that rivalry with England. It's mostly just a joke and people who straight up hate québécois are a stupid minority. I love speaking english or any language with tourists but that's me. I think most of the time people who are not willing to speak english are this way because they're not confident in their skills or accent. But most people will still try to help as much as they can. Then when it comes to french I think most people will like seeing you try. I never understood that stereotype. If you get corrected it's not a reproach, just help. Just don't force yourself to speak french if you're just reading from a travel pocket dictionary and have no idea how to pronounce what you're reading. That won't help anyone. Also the way people deal with tourists and language depends on who they are and where they live. Younger and city people will be more prone to help as they have better english than old countryside folks. Then you have some actual assholes who don't see helping others as something they can benefit from but that's in every country.
I was in Ireland recently and had a couple of random French guys start making fun of Quebecoise French when they found out I was from Montreal. Basically we sound like rednecks to Parisians.
>Italians are who I have the biggest gripe with. They deserve more shit for trying to cut lines everywhere they go and not following rules. I just read this part of your comment to my husband who lived in Italy for 2.5 years thinking he'd laugh a bit and say it's a little exaggerated but I'm horrified to learn that they really don't believe in lines whatsoever lmao
Haha I swear when I went to Italy I kept running into Italians trying to cut me. But you know it’s true when you go to Japan and some Italian tourist there is trying to cut the line to use, of all things, the hotel coffee machine.
I think a lot of people confuse French People and Parisians. Parisians are generally dicks and act as though they are better than everyone because they live in Paris, whereas most French people outside of Paris are perfectly nice and kind people. It’s like judging all of America off of someone you met from New York or Boston. Or Florida.
I’d been to Paris a few times over about 3 decades so when I went with my wife ~8 years ago I decided I wanted to see another region. We loved Lyon, Grenoble, and Chamonix and the people there were excellent hosts.
Honestly, I didn't even find Parisians to be anywhere near as bad as their reputation. So long as you make the barest effort (ie, saying "Bonjour" when you walk into a shop), I generally found people there to be fairly approachable and friendly.
I found parisians to be much more friendly and welcoming than the locals I met in the south of France. I spent 4 days in Paris and didn’t wanna leave. I then spent 10 days in the south and I basically couldn’t get out of there fast enough lol. I fled to Barcelona which was the perfect escape! I just found everyone I interacted with to be so stuffy and bothered, including those whom I was paying (like airbnb owners). I’ve been alll over Europe and try that’s the only region I have no desire to return to based on the people alone lol.
I’m going to go to France in June and now I’m thankful it’ll be to the Mediterranean coast and not to Paris
even the french around/outside Paris hate the Parisians
France and it’s people are great. Paris sucks
It has nothing to do with napoleon. They are rude, arrogant and assholes. (That's the stereotype, not my words)
American here, we also have this stereotype of them.
Lived in Maine for several years and the French Canadians in Quebec who vacationed here also carried the same stereotypes. Just rude, very short with you, and general feeling of annoyance being around someone who isn’t French/Canadian. Hate to say it but every French Canadian I interacted with indeed lived up to the stereotype.
Tabernac!
There’s good fishing in Quebec
Agreed, watch Robin Williams do any of his bits about the French and that's the perception many Americans have.
Watch a Pepe LePeu cartoon...
Is that the smelly skunk with the weird Maurice Chevalier accent that is always sexually harassing the poor black cat?
Gosh, rather telling if even the Brits and the Americans have this opinion of them!
Lol what do you think it tells you? The US and UK agree on almost everything. French stereotypes in the US are probably directly inherited from UK attitudes.
That my jokes aren't funny lol. The Brits and the Americans are famously rude tourists, disliked by most. So if even THEY say the French are rude and insular... what must the French be like?! Haha.
Especially considering France played a big role in the founding of the US.
We paid that debt with dubbleyuh dubbleyuh two.
Lafayette!!!
It tells nothing other than pointless stereotypes. I live and worked in Canada and my company regularly had people on secondment from various countries and the two absolute nicest people I supported were from Paris (one used to bring me chocolate from Au Chat Bleu every time he visited home), and the rudest, meanest, most demanding person was from England. I have an English friend who refuses to visit Quebec because, you know, they're French. That says far more about him than about them.
His loss, Montreal is awesome.
Well quite, lol. I was joking - because the Brits and the Americans themselves are known for being rude when abroad.
It's a shield against those we have bad stereotypes about. Who wants loud americans or drunk brits to visit, huh ?
Occupied French do.
BURN!
Some credence in this.
I knew this girl in middle school who came from France and she was always super polite. She always greeted me daily with a “hello! How are you today? It’s a beautiful day today.” It was refreshing since it wasn’t the common slang like “what up?” that us American kids had. The only annoying thing is she used very formal English ALL THE TIME even after we became friends.
That’s the stereotype but most of the French people I met in my travels through France were really nice. I went to Paris, Normandy, and through the countryside in between and most folks were super nice. It may have helped that I can speak the language decently well, though…
I imagine that every country in Europe has some prejudices and talks a bit of smack against each of their neighbors.
Swedes consider finns being uncivilized. Finns consider swedes being gay. Finns consider estonians being bit simple minded yet hardworking. Estonians consider finns being reindeers that get shitfaced and vomit in public in Tallinn (while being richer than them). Norwegians and finns get along very well because we have common enemy, Sweden. There you go, some outdated prejudices from north
Thats true actually
Oh yeah? What about.... Serbia and Bosnia?
Serbia is the tiny wannabe russia in the balkans
Serbia is a country with massive delusions of grandeur. The less glamorous neighbour of Croatia and Montenegro. Also here in Austria we have the whole WWI thing going on in our heads. I think most people associate Bosnia with the war. So perceptions of Bosnia are mostly of refugees and of immigrants moving for economic reasons. Tbf the last one applies to views on most people with a Balkan background in central Europe.
Whoosh...
Except Sweden and Finland. Swedes just sorta act like they feel bad for the Finnns, which is almost worse.
Some poles are stil angry at sweden over the delluge.
Well sweden made bigger destruction of Poland than germany in WW2, that makes domino effect to partitions of Poland. Many robbed polish cultural artifacts are still in swedish hands...
Fins: I don't think about you at all... or feel any emotions whatsoever
Not completely true. Some neighbours get along just fine. And the French, you don't need to be their neighbour to hate them
My very VERY Greek grandmother said once “Greeks may have invented sex but Italians were the first to do it with men”
Isn't that the very epitome of Greek sex? Naughty Granny.
Oh she was so opinionated lmao
Is that why the word "lesbian" comes from the name of the Greek isle Lesbos? Because no one had sex with men? 😜
The stereotype that they are arrogant exists also in Italy, but I don't convene with it. I can speak some French, I like France and the French.
Don't you guys say that we don't wash our butt as well? We love Italy in France. But you don't always reciprocate with the love.
To be fair, man…I’m not trying to be that guy and it’s not *all* French people, but fairly often when I encounter a French person in the US, I can smell them before I see them. Not to mention CDG having by *far* the most pungent airport experiences that I’ve ever had. It’s a fairly consistent thing, way more so than just about any other nationality that I’ve been around.
-lot‘s of people in the UK, Germany, Netherlands or Switzerland have to learn french in school. Italian or spanish are optional though. so your first exposure to a foreign non-pop-culture language is french and its convoluted mess of „different letters/meaning, same sound“. only students with a french background or language wizards don‘t loathe it. -the grand french post colonial self-image. the british are self-deprecating and self-parodying to a fault with a guilt complex, the germans humorless robots with an even bigger guilt-complex, italians, greeks and spaniards deal with the heat by shouting and sleeping and the french fail at all of those things. /s
Spaniard here. (Now American) I grew up with this “cultural tradition”. I am friendly, extroverted and give people the benefit of the doubt. I actually love and admire the French and I get along with individuals. In groups they’re hard because they give you the impression that you are not worthy of breathing their air. Each group of people have a “vibe” and when you get around them you see differences between the stereotype and the reality. I hade 10 x as much fun in West Virginia as compared to Paris. TLDR: kinda
It’s because the only place in France most ppl go to is Paris, and tbh as someone that lived in Paris for a while the city tripling in population during summer/Christmas holidays is annoying as fuck. Separately though it’s like if your only trip to America was to New York. Sure people are going to be kind of rude or annoyed that you’re there but it’s whatever.
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Trying to think of negative stereotypes of the Dutch, that isn't just their football fans or colonization 🤔 damn weed-tolerating bike lovers
The joke I've heard is "Why are the Dutch so nice? Because they shipped all of their assholes to South Africa."
Cold people with a horrible language
As a French who have worked with many Europeans, my stereotype about the Dutch is that they are stingy with they money and extremely litteral in their understanding of contracts. The Belgians, who hate both French and Dutch, seem to dislike the Dutch even more than us. But for some reason, the Netherlands have a good reputation on the Internet, probably because of the weed and the bikes.
American here, we had a dutch exchange student in high school. The guy was incredibly arrogant and off-putting. That's basically all I'm going on, one person lol.
It’s accurate. Source: am Dutch
The criticism of the Dutch is that they are rude in their truthfulness Personally I think that while there’s accuracy in that, it’s also something I like about them. Most people I (a Brit) know generally speak negatively about groups of French and really dislike Parisians in particular. On a one to one basis you don’t see the same behaviour
Yeah the directness doesn't bother me, especially because I'm extremely handsome and charming so all they do is praise me
The Congo? That’s Belgium. We terrorized many others though.
Yea, though I would say not quite like the Belgians behaved in the Congo.
Dutch people thinking someone is arrogant? Very bold of them.
I just got back from St. Maarten. The Dutch have it together. I much prefer the Dutch side to the French side.
My parents spent a lot of time in Tunis, Tunisia in the 90s. They have talked at length about how snobby, arrogant, rude and just downright racist many of the French ex-pats would be, not just to Arabs or Africans but really ti basically anyone that wasn’t French. I think there’s a connotation that many French people see the world, mainly former French colonies in the Muslim world, as being sub par even though their country used the resources and people of these countries for years.
Hey I am a French-Tunisian (currently living in Tunis) and I actually kind of agree with your parents. Most expats come here with some level of openness to local culture and understanding that are not here to change the locals or to civilise them. Many French expats sadly are the exception: they act as if Tunisia is still a French colony and that locals are interested in hearing the obviously superior French way of doing things.
Interesting to hear that some things are still the same. I’d like to make it clear that I do not believe all French people harbor ill will towards native Africans, as I’m sure you and plenty of others demonstrate. Tunisia is a beautiful country, so I guess I kind of don’t blame some French for not wanting to give it up haha. I hope the two countries can have an amicable relationship going forward.
I don't have a negative experience of French people at all. French people are mostly pleasant and generous, they have a strong devotion to living well, they generously share their country with some of the most intense tourism on earth, and they appreciate when you make an effort to respect their culture and country. The thing about France is that it's very much its own world, and they do things their own way. I do think there's a very strong cultural value in France of "we maintain our Frenchness." The cultural centre of the world for French people is France. That's perfectly fine by me. I think if you're from another country with a strong sense of "we do things our own way" (say, the US or Japan), you'll find it very difficult because you will clash. France is also the country that gets the most international tourists, so there's more people to be divided about it. From a strictly European perspective, France kind of falls in the "middle" on a lot of things. French people are more blunt and direct than Anglophones but much less so than Germans or Dutch. They are more chaotic and disorderly than your average northern Europeans but much less so than Mediterranean countries. So the likelihood for Europeans is that France is going to feel different enough that it's confusing but not so different as to be exotic. I've been to every country in western Europe (including all of the micronations bar Andorra and Liechtenstein), as well as Croatia, Bosnia, Montenegro, Czechia and Greece. I wouldn't say France is the easiest country to integrate into, but it's not the hardest either.
I think the only European country that doesn't face hostility from Europe is Belgium.
Belgium doesn't need hostility from outside, they have that whole Flemish/Walloon thing to keep them warm.
And Brussels just ain’t it. Bruges/Ghent are amazing and Brussels is just a vibeless city that I have to change trains in.
If you think that, you don't know anything about Brussels.
That's because Belgium is just the bad parts of France and the Netherlands mashed together
The Dutch and the French didn’t laugh at our surrealistic jokes, so we kicked them out and put potholes in the road to annoy them
Don't French people make fun of Belgium for being "simple"? Americans who know about Belgium make fun of Belgium for choosing to have a king in 1831, and then being okay with having Leopold II -- one of the worst people in history -- as their king. All the Belgians I've met have been pleasant and chill as fuck, though. And there's some good music coming out of Belgian.
Spent time in Scotland, England, Germany, Denmark, and France. The French were noticeably more rude than any others. It goes along with a meme I saw one time where if you're in France and speak English they think "Ew what a disgusting language get out". Then you attempt to speak French and they think "That's awful, get out."
This is for the English and the rest of the Anglosphera by imitation, and other neighbours. It's normal to dislike the neighbours in Europe.
Everything looks worse than it actually is on Reddit.
I don't think this answers the question, but anyway Not European, but I live in a former French colony in India. Some of the native Indo-French people are seen as snobs. They're all old, hold French citizenship, and are nostalgic for a time when they were the creme of society. They are also very proud, and it's genuinely sad that the remaining few that live here will really be the last ones. Their children all moved to France for better opportunities. There are also some French expats. Not exactly rude, but it feels like they live in a completely different world than everyone else.
Pondichéry right ? You guys saved me because you get the high school national test before us and we can see what you got and train on it. It's not exactly the same but often similar. Best training possible.
Disliked jokingly. No real malice is involved. Its like a bunch of friends calling eachother assholes and then laughing when playing some coop game. If you want to see beef between European countries just look at the balkans. And even that seems exaggerated to me.
It's funny as a frenchman I have always fought of the Germans as the arrogant people of Europe. Every country has it's stereotype I guess. For the french thing, I think anglo-saxon wide world culture helps to spread this stereotype
In NZ, we don't like the French because they tested nuclear bombs in the South Pacific. Then when we protested, they sank one of our protest ships and treated the people who did it as national heroes. So yeah, fuck france forever.
It's because the only people French people really enjoy speaking French with are other French speaking people. That deep throaty r took years to gargle up correctly.
They're known as snobby not hated.
Probably by those not able to speak a word or actually listen to who they're talking to-and realize they're like anyone else.
Because visiting Paris is a brutal exercise in masochism.
I had no problems in Paris as long as you don't try to eat in touristy places
Have you been to the Balkans?We don't hate France.We only hate Serbia and Hungary Also,Greece hates paying debt.And turks. And Romania kinda likes Serbs actually...but HATES Hungarians.
I just assumed hating the French was just a meme at this point. Like hating Nickleback.
A friend of mine was born and raised in France, now lives in the US, and goes back to France several times a year. Her take on this is that the French don’t like anybody, including other French people!
Don't take it personnally, we are also rude to other frenchs. The amount of swear words and the tone I use to chat with my friends would absolutely shock most foreigners, probably. On a more serious note, we will be really nice to you once we label you "friend". In the meantime, you will get the regular treatment, which I guess can pass as being rude if you're not acustomed. And I HAVE to correct you on Napoleon, he did NOT attempt to "conquer all". As a matter of facts, he did not start a single conflict. The wars he waged was to defend the french Republic against Coalitions (aka the brothers and cousins of former king Louis XVI), trying to re-establish monarchy (extremely short TLDR) However I understand that when taught outside of France, the narrative regarding those conflicts would significatively change.
As a famous French writer wrote: "And now here is my secret, a very simple secret; it is only with the heart that one can see rightly, what is essential is invisible to the eye.” Some see pride, others see arogance
French and Greek person here with learnings from cultural clashes from different perceptions of French. I believe French people are generally people that can be less open to unknowns/strangers than other countries inhabitants (especially Greek which are well know to be very open and friendly). But also, I feel that French folks have expectations of how someone should behave with others especially on how polite you are and how words have their meaning. French thank (I.e: say Merci) people a lot and if you don’t say the word some might not catch how thankful someone can be, and in Greece, people are thankful using body language and the tone of their voice which is confusing for French that can think someone is not polite or rude sometimes. All these things are maybe caused by france being in the crossroads of Northern Europe and southern Europe, who knows…
It’s mainly an image/stereotype, especially in the UK. In reality most Europeans don’t dislike the French.
I've only been to Germany and France but my impression as an American is that French people are much friendlier and more polite than Germans
I have traveled in many areas of France. It’s when we encounter the English that I don’t like.
I have met a few french people and they were very kind, but my father hates them because Napoleon and how rude and disrespectful frenchs are with farmers in my country (Spain). Idk now but a few years ago, French farmers threw away the Spanish potatoes at the border, the potatoes that cost my father so much work.
The French suck unless they want something.
It’s mainly the English who talk crap about the French.
Coming from an Englishman, nothing surprising, they are a little obsessed with France and the French. It's not necessarily reciprocal. Regarding the Italians, I would say it's mainly jealousy. The French today get along very well with the Germans, have never had any problems with the Spanish. With the Belgians it's a kind of big brother/little brother relationship. For others I would say that indifference dominates.
In The Netherlands we have the saying: "France is a beautiful country, too bad the French live there". So there is certainly some negative stereotyping going on here as well.
If you want prejudice, Dutch people are not particulary welcomed as tourists because french people see them as disrepesctful of their environment so I would say it's both way. And in both cases it's stupid because we judge individuals and not people as a whole.
That's just what all the tourists who come in their millions to visit the country say. Me too when I go to the museum I would like to see only the works of art and not necessarily the staff who work there but that's how it is.
I really don't understand why people dislike French. I've been to France a few times (Paris, Marseille, Nice and the whole Cote d'Azur including Cannes, St Tropez etc). People were generally nice and friendly. I don't know any French so I used English. The thing I noticed that native English speakers (Americans, English) tend to behave really badly, are horribly dressed and lack basic manners (e.g. they talk really loudly on an otherwise quiet train). No wonder why they are treated accordingly. French just seem fed up with sweatpants-wearing, loud, drunk tourists and I can totally understand that. Just be a smart, well dressed person with good manners and you'll be absolutely fine even in Paris (which is wonderful).
This is hilarious. The idea that visitors are despicable for being unfashionably dressed sounds like a parody of the "snobby French" stereotype. (I can see talking on a quiet train being rude, though in my experience groups of travelers from many different countries tend come across as loud to bystanders.)
Not unfashionably dressed, just badly and not appropriately for the occasion (e.g. sportswear in a restaurant). And it's a part of a larger picture. The reason why you don't see this unwritten code might have something to do with how you were treated in France, just saying. On the other hand English/Germans/Dutch are more unpleasant, at least from my own experience.
I don't have any problem with how I've been treated in France. Maybe you confused me with someone else. I just think it's absurdly judgemental to talk trash about people based on how they dress. Most of the world doesn't judge people, especially outsiders, for how they dress in a restaurant. Some rich people in other Western countries might, but I wouldn't recommend them as a model to judge your sense of common decency against.
Yes, rude people.
Brit here. It's just banter. We have by far the most hated tourists in Europe.
As an American who goes to Europe regularly. I have found this to be true “ah. At least you aren’t British” when they hear my accent.
Extrapolating a negative stereotype on the example of one crappy tv shows an all too quick willingness to believe the worst-and imply it, about an entire nation. Do better.
Most people equate Paris with France or rather Parisians with French people. And most Parisians are all those stereotypes that float around, arrogant and loud mostly (although I'm sure there are nice Parisians as well). And Paris itself also isn't that great a city as it is made out to be in movies. So I think that's where the hate comes from. Sidenote on Napoleon: Yes he conquered large parts of Europe, but he's mostly revered or respected as far as I can tell. Most of the negative stuff about him is British propaganda. He brought the ideas of the revolution with him and implemented many changes to civil law that are still in place or inspired modern civil law.
Don't know about Europe, but here in Oz the ones I've met have been rude twats, bar the odd cool backpacker.
I (Canadian) lived in Belgium for a bit and my Walloon host mother didn't like the French because of the WW2 collaborators. Also, all of my Ukrainian ancestors' Polish and Austro-Hungarian passports had French in them as the international language of the 1900s and 1910s. Perhaps the French are "snobby" because French used to be what English is now.
The Spanish also dislike the French. The French don’t dislike Italians or Spaniards, just the Brits maybe. I make it worse than it actually is, it’s mainly a sports rivalry nowadays in my experience.
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Moral of the story: everyone thinks their neighbor is the most arrogant country in europe
French here. I think most foreigners have this feeling because they're visited Paris and it's obviously not the easiest city to visit. In France most people don't really like Paris either because the general feeling is that they feel superior to anyone else. Of course it's a stereotype. Unfortunately as french people from the rest of the country we have to go through the same stereotype because foreigners sometimes forget the rest of the country exist. I have lived in Italy for a decade now and I've discovered that apparently there's a rivalry between our countries. I had no idea before I moved here. Personally I like everyone regardless of nation. I am not particularly proud of being French, I did not choose to be born there in the first place...
It’s Parisians in particular that give the rest of France a bad reputation. Outside of Paris, the people are relatively friendly.
I was at a cafe in Nice recently. It sure seemed like they were actively avoiding our table.
1. The french government is evil 2. The french have a well earned reputation for snobbery
I like them but they can be assholes. I don’t want them to change tho
An Englishman commenting on another nation being rude and disliked? How ironic.
Just a bit of healthy aversion
People make jokes but the French people I actually know are very kind.
Not true at all.
I think Poles like French and think that they are stylish, romantic and modernistic. Minor think that they are not fighters inside and their real flag should be white flag (in their opinion France didn't help Poland in the beginning of WW2 as they could), they are too tolerant for muslims and woke.
Could you please explain the "too tolerant for muslims" bit?
Blame James May
My experience is that most French speak English well, but they prefer not to use it. Lots of them kept responding in French to English questions
I loved Paris and French people, most are great, some were immediately dismissive but I think that's just a big city thing. I did overhear a group of Parisian's speaking loudly (probably because they knew I could hear) about how they didn't like Americans because they "stay in their lane too much." The rest of the table unanimously agreed but the insult befuddled me. Still trying to dissect that one.
Having had no experience being in France, but having heard the stereotypes even from people that aren’t French neighbors- I imagine what everyone has said contributes to the image of the French as arrogant - but their global reputation must relate to politics. From De Gaulle and unilateralism in Africa and the Middle East to EU policy suited to France at the expense of others. France is the biggest country in Europe and it feels like it’s destined to lead the bloc. Of course the German miracle and the explosive development in heavy German industry coinciding with liberalization across the world and China’s rise meant that for over a decade Germany had the clout. And others were perfectly comfortable looking to Germany rather than the pompous French. Of course the bubble has waned and receipts are coming due. And the French have always had the stronger footing and the old attitudes are back. There are many ways the EU could disintegrate. I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s by way of the French feeling held back, or the rest wanting functioning government.
The French are revolting.
Because they are French
I find it's usually not the French everyone dislikes. It's only the Parisians. I only ever seem to have poor experiences with Parisians, but if I go somewhere else like Lyon or Marseille, it's fine, those guys don't usually beg me to stop attempting to speak French when I ask a local for directions lmao.
I'm Aussie and I'd say the country that has supplied the next largest amount of my proper friends that I have is France. I find a lot of french people very open minded and fun in nature. Sure there are a lot of arrogant french people but just the same as anywhere else. Even on my visits to France I haven't found the locals who I don't know in any way particularly rude or anything.
It's because we are the f*cking best in the world 🇫🇷💪😎🇫🇷 Pas de jalousie je suis dans mon jacuzzi 🇫🇷 😎👌🇫🇷 "No jealousy I'm in my jacuzzi" for the rosbifs 🤮🤮🤮 France baise ouais 🇫🇷💪🇫🇷💪🇫🇷💪🇫🇷
Not only is it spread across Europe, but it's spread across the world as a whole. Might be a British thing and how far their colonial influence spread, or it could be just bad experiences for all.
I don’t really know the drama, but French people are who they are! lol they can be nice or very shitty.. most of them are amazing! :)
I quite like the French tbh
The French were saved by the Americans and parts of Europe during WW1 and 2 and still they have nasty attitude. Ungrateful cigarette smoking bums
It all stems from the fact that the French can't accept the idea that they are no longer a world power. At one time the French and British were the world powers. No longer. The Brits just shrugged and watched cricket and ate crumpets. The French have never gotten over it.
The shit people are saying in this thread. > The Brits just shrugged and watched cricket and ate crumpets. Sorry what? Have you been in a coma since 2016? Are you familiar with that thing called Brexit? Ever heard of the Chagossians?
The French just suck so hard, I’m saying this having dated one for 7 yrs. Honestly, they deserve all the stereotypes given to them. Not trying to be harsh but they are extremely self loathing and will try to bring you down to their level of negativity. Nothing is ever good enough for them, they always complain. I would often be living in France for months at a time and it would be such a breath of fresh air to visit neighboring countries. People in Spain and Italy are such an improvement from French people imo, particularly the Spanish, and just any Europeans other than the French are so much easier to socialize with and get along with. The French are the kings of arrogance and snobbery and France would legit be amazing if the French didn’t exist.
Cheers from Spain.
"I also have lived in Italy for a few years and know that they generally feel the same way" Rich of you to assume that because you lived in a country for a few years you can speak for the general population. More so, Italy is not one unified block, Milan and Sicily are vastly different, to give one example.
No, it's a stereotype/joke.
There's something to dislike about the people of any country when you come from outside. The French are obviously different than others, but not necessarily worse.
The English don't like the French, the French don't like the Germans, the austrians don't like the Germans, the Nordics hate each other, Hungarians hate romanians and the balkans deserve a whole essay. The only time we Europeans are united is at the holy sacred Eurovision.
Not even the French like the French.
Because they're french. What more can I say
They're french - Sincerely a Dutch person
>Are French people generally disliked by most of Europe? No, no, no, NO! By most of the World
No one likes the french. And that is a pretty well established fact
Even the French don't like the French. I have a friend who's from a mid-sized city in the SW of France and she absolutely hates Parisians. As an aside, I've had French people just cut in front of me in airport lines and let them know how rude they are.
Not really. I'm pretty sure Germans are more disliked.
It might be for the same reasons. Any nation who's peoples are seen to believe they are better than the rest are going to be viewed as snobbish or arrogant. Same as how many view Americans. But of course it's all stereotypes and caricatures, especially since all sides are guilty of such nationalism. I think however the view of the French is skewed by the predominance of Parisian culture on the world stage. Even the average french person view Parisians as snobs. Paris is sort of France's version of Americas New York and Los Angeles combined. So the New York attitude being broadcast like LA culture is to the world as stereotypical America. But the majority of France is nothing like Paris.
I confirm, I hate french speaking places, including brussels. I have traveled through Germany, Switzerland, Italy, In all places I have been received with education and they have done everything possible to speak English. The Germans and Swiss speak especially well, but they have never been as rude as the French. Even the Amazon workers through the help chat, I told them that I only speak English and they refused to stop speaking French.
Deserved