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Saw this very thing in an article today. It was said it was the “American lean”. Apparently we lean on things when chilling and that’s very American.
We’re tired, or invading, sometimes it’s hard to tell.
Not even necessarily on things, just like lean to one side while standing.
The American motherland has a magnetic pull on them, drawing them in.
That’s true. Part of it was taking about how we rarely stand squarely on both feet.
Contrapposto is best pposto
TIL I am American.
I’m sorry for your loss
I’m Indian and I do it. Do the French not?
Taiwanese born. I have lived in the US for 20+ years. I speak the local Taiwanese Hokka dialect. Married a Taiwanese woman.
I walked into a local breakfast shop and the owner, without looking up, said “What do you want to order”?
How the fuck?!?!
So I moved back to Taiwan after the pandemic and I too can pick them out. It’s honestly the way Americans carry themselves. It’s hard to explain.
I was just in Bordeaux. Not a single issue with my weak French and I’d almost always get a reply in French. I promise I am nowhere near fluent, maybe A2 level.
But in Paris, nearly every reply was in English and even if I replied back in French I’d get that look “please stop butchering my language” before they’d reply in English. It’s a running joke now, but I really question if it’s just parisons being assholes or maybe they just want to practice.
Ps. Never had this issue with Italian. My accent is almost Roman too and I’m again, not fluent.
Ah you discovered the secret. Even among the French, the Parisians have a certain reputation.
I spent way to many years traveling to France for business and spending several weeks there at a time. I don’t speak French of course as I studied a bit of Spanish. When there as a foreigner you generally get either pleasant and wonderful people or snobbish assholes.
Parisians lean more towards assholes though I met many wonderful people there. It’s more of a disdainful bored attitude without much bite. They know tourism is necessary for their jobs but dealing with tourism is a pain the ass. This interaction pretty much sums it up.
When you are outside of Paris the reactions get more extreme. I got some of the best and worst reactions when I was in smaller cities like Nantes or Lyon.
Yeah we have French tourists in Quebec and the Paris ones are the worst.
I think it helps speaking the language in France, they can to be more nationalistic than Americans.
True, but so do the Bordeaulais
Source: wife is parisien, but her family are al Bordeaulais
Never been to Bordeaux so didn’t know about the reputation. As a foreigner I always had the impression in France that the more you go south the nicer they are (my own lived experience, due to circumstances I live in the Occitanie).
Massive generalisation, but for the Bordeaulais nothing can match Bordeaux.
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I had a good friend from France who informed me that Parisians are just arseholes lmao
As an American I’d just be happy you’re trying. The fact that you try to speak a native language IMO shows respect, even if it isn’t that good. You care enough to try.
I haven’t had issues in Paris, but it might help that I often apologize for my French in advance. I’m Canadian and clearly have learned a different accent, but most people I encountered were quite eager to help me practice.
Speaking French like a native is so hard. They basically smush every word together into one long sound. I think the French also may not just say “two croissants please, you need to stick a “je prendre” in front or something. I know people who speak fluent French who still can’t speak to the locals in certain places because they can’t understand you unless you get the accent just right.
This is my struggle learning Mandarin as well. For individual words or short phrases, my pronunciation is pretty good, but for long sentences, my cadence is shit enough that people have trouble following unless I intentionally speak like an idiot. Like, my immediate Chinese speaking family understands, because they are acquainted with my accent, but random people on the street look at me like I’m an idiot.
It’s the same in any language, the people that were born learning it spoken will always have an instinct that those who didn’t learn until school won’t have. That said, if you live there for a decade you would pick it up to.
Did the sweatpants say juicy or juteuse across the butt?
I walked up to a change office to transfer a travelers check to cash.
me: Bonjour!
he stopped me right there
change guy: “I do not speak english”
me: nods, shrugs, hands him the check
change guy: ignores the check, pulls down the lock shutter.
That’s what you get for showing up right as they were closing.
I did ponder that, It was like 1pm on a Saturday, Hours were posted and should have been open, maybe a late lunch or a bathroom break, he could at least have said anything in French, I spoke enough to get by,
Didn’t order coffee
Should’ve used a quebecois accent
I’ve done it, with a québécois accent, and the fucker still answered me in English. And she was supper polite too. I asked to confirm that I could park my car in the street next to the hotel and she said “I don’t know, I don’t have a car.”
“I don’t know, I don’t have a car.”
This killed me. I can literally see her face.
Salut chum! Tabernak, doix crossaints si vous plait.
That’ll probably get you shot in France
It must be a paris thing, I went to Lyon and obviously hit up a bakery near my friend’s place. I did pointing & grunting and extremely basic french.
I did not enjoy the random fish danish I ended up eating since I fucking hate fish.
Merci beaucoup.
I had a couple of interactions like this while in Italy recently. I’d not even opened my mouth and the person responds in English. I specifically selected clothes that don’t have any text on them, but I strongly suspect it’s because I’m white as fuck and look as Midwestern American as one can.
I didn’t have any trouble though, most of the Italians I spoke with seemed happy that I’ve been trying to learn their language and were happy to talk in a mix of Italian and English to meet me where my Italian level was. It was interesting comparing how in the touristy areas of Italy many folks spoke such perfect English they’d lost most accent (or perhaps were themselves transplants) but once I got out of the touristy areas folks were willing to work with my limited Italian
Maybe the smile
Is not showing a will to live part of becoming fluent in French?
It’s more a question about using or abusing a smile:
https://www.ohlalafrenchcourse.com/en/blog/article/why-aren-t-the-french-nice
I know that in some (many) cultures, the American “smile” can be unnerving
I’ve heard it described similarly. In much of the US, it’s pretty normal to smile or nod at someone you’re passing as an acknowledgement. But in cultures that aren’t accustomed to that, I’ve heard it feels like if someone walked up to your car at a red light and knocked on your window just to say hi.
The directness one cracks me up. Is that where the word ‘frank’ comes from? Also, ime, they’re pretty direct when no one asked.
The second reason we might think the French are not nice is because of their direct communication.
Ah, the famous French frankness! Unlike some cultures where things are left unsaid and hints prevail, the French often prefer to say things as they are. This transparency aims to prevent misunderstandings, but it can be surprising, even shocking. But believe it or not, it’s often done in a spirit of clarity and mutual respect. After all, why waste time guessing what the other person is thinking?
So, don’t be surprised if a French person speaks directly to you and doesn’t tiptoe around you.
Hell it’s unnerving to my American ass, lots of people very blatantly weaponize smiles here
Too perfect? American body language?
Isn’t it the same with any language?
In English, if you get the word order wrong, or you say “how”, when it should be “what”, or you speak a bit too clearly, like, you say “Good morning”, instead of “g’morning”.
I expect there are plenty of nuances in every language that can tip off a native speaker, that they don’t think about until it happens.
And, does the French person respond with perfect English, or do they have a bit of an accent?
The French are very cool people, who know how to throw a revolution, and that is what matters at the moment. Respect.
Ehhhhh…
Given how dominant English has been on the world stage for decades, there’s been a few times in my life where I’m listening to someone speak English and I didn’t realize that they weren’t American/AngloCanadian. (Dear Canadians, I am sorry, but like, dude our accents right on each others borders are near indistinguishable)
It depends a lot on how close the pronunciation of the languages in general are - like every native english speaker will be instantly recognizable even if they speak perfect finnish, no matter how well they learn it, but take an estonian and they might be able to learn so well you don’t spot them. If the phonemes, intonation etc. are completely different, it’s almost impossible to get it right unless you learn the language as a child or speak a cousin language as a native
You can keep speaking French after this point. Practice makes perfect
The only one who can actually say you have a perfect accent is a native speaker.
This seems like self-diagnosed.
This has come up before. Considering OOP grew up in France, she may in fact be qualified to diagnose her proficiency in the language.
