American tourists in France

Great Debates
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DISCLAIMER!
For the purposes of this post, anytime I refer to the French I am speaking in reference to the citizens of France. In particular the citizens of Paris and other tourist Mecca’s in the country of France. Anyone who reads and takes it as a personal insult to their French heritage will just be riding down the wrong trail.

Having said that let me ask my question.

Are the French really rude to American tourists or is this just hot air coming from the American tourist themselves? It seems as if I have heard it a lot. Are people just stereotyping the entire French population? I have never been there actually, so I wouldn’t know and the only person I can reference it to in hard copy would be Howard Stern in his book Private Parts. However if there is a germ of truth to it then why do they hate American tourists? Is it the Americans fault or are the French just on the rag for some reason?

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(Caveat: The experiences of individual tourists may vary considerably.)

My own experience was that in Paris, there is a certain haughtiness, which might be construed as rudeness.

Some misunderstandings ensue from the refusal of some American tourists to at least try to learn the French language. The best approach is to at least attempt to get your meaning across in French. (You would expect no less from a tourist here. How would you feel if a French tourist came up to you and automatically expected you to know French? And then when you didn’t understand, they tried speaking French loudly and slowly? Wouldn’t you be more inclined to be helpful if they at least made an attempt at English?)

I also noticed a huge difference between the attitudes of Parisians and those citizens of France living in smaller towns cities and in the countryside. I cannot imagine any nicer people than those I met in and around Pau. This leads me to think that when people talk about rude French people, they are really talking about rude Parisians (since many tourists never venture outside that city). You can observe the same differences in the U.S. between city folk and country folk. City folk are more likely to be hurried and brusque, while folks in small towns and the country are more likely to take things slowly and exchange pleasantries.

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I have noticed a difference in attitude with people in Paris. My own interpretation is that this has nothing to do with the fact that they are french, and more with the fact that Paris is the largest city.

When you go to New York City, do you come away commenting on how nice and friendly everybody was? (that’s a rhetorical question, by the way.)

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My wife and I spent 10 days in france as part of our honeymoon. While we avoided Paris, we travelled through much of Brittany and Normandy. With only one exception every person we dealt with was polite, helpful and friendly. We loved the country and the people.

If fact, the only drawback I personally found was the inability to get a cold glass of water. The wife jookes that I spent 10 days doing a Diogenes impersonation, except that my parcular quest was for ice!

IMO, many of the stories reflect more about the traveller and/or the preconcepptions about the French than they do about the French people themselves.

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I’ve only been to France once (Paris) and found the Parisians charming and friendly.

The only times I felt unwelcome were from the bureaucrats running Victor Hugo’s house and the Rodin Museum. In both cases the flunkies tried to give everyone (including French tourists) the bum’s rush so they could go home early.

On other Yanks’ advice I followed two easy rules. I learned a few French phrases, (Hello, Good Morning, I would like, Please, Thank you, Excuse me, Do you speak English) and used them.

The French, apparently expect people to address them politely in French and once you’ve proved that you’re not a barbarian, they’ll take it from there. (Always greet people with “Bonjour” [Good Day] - just like in the opening of the Disney flick “Beauty & the Beast”).

Then again, I went during (our) Thanksgiving, a period of slow tourist traffic, in which everyone assumes that you are French.

Of course, tourists foreign and domestic, that visit say, New York, are always treated with the utmost courtesy.

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There does seem to be an air of snobbery coming from Paris, even in the news we read. Their attempt to keep their language “pure” and free from the influence of other languages is so incredibly ridiculous and arrogant that I don’t know whether to laugh or sneer. France and Britain both share the fate of former empires who have dwindled, yet the British aura is one of pride, while the French is one of unwarranted egotism.

“Does anyone else here hate the French?”- Al Bundy in London

“If Hitler had started and ended with France, I’d have been okay with that.”- Charlie, down at the 9th Street Pub

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ptahlis:

And I hear that they are overly fixated on Jerry Lewis too :rolleyes:

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I can’t claim to be American, but anyway:

While I’ve liked most French I’ve met, including the Parisians (I’ve travelled a bit in France), there have of course been a couple of unpleasant encounters. As Nixon et al. has pointed out, knowing just a bit of French helps a lot. Being taken for a German does not. And of course, wherever there’s tourists, there’ll be locals who dislike them - but it’s not my impression that Americans are singled out as specific targets.

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Haven’t been to France. But I have spent most of the last 7 months in Germany, with a few trips to Holland. Also, got stuck in London’s Heathrow airport for over 12 hours. Add to this, a colleague is French.

Here is what I have concluded:

Europeans, in general, are rude by the standards of most American cities. This is not meant to be an affront to tourists–they are rude to each other as well. Of course, they don’t think of it as rude. They just have a different definition of courtesy.

For example: In Germany, if you are in a crowd, Germans will feel free to push you out of their way as they try to get through. Also, they feel perfectly free to push my two year-old child out of the way. And have the nerve to look surprised if I get angry. I mentioned this to my French colleague, and he noted that I would find French people to be worse.

On the other hand, if two Germans who know each other meet, they must shake hands, particularly if they are close friends. As for me, if I just saw a friend yesterday and he is offering me his hand, I think he is being ridiculously formal.

The point of all this: Standards of courtesy vary. If you’re question is, are French people rude? The answer is: By whose standards? Are Americans rude?

Bonus Information: (Things I have learned in my travels)

-French people refer to English people as “island monkeys”.
-English people refer to French people as “frogs”.
-Germans generally do not like to discuss any aspect of World War II and feel that everyone in the world is still angry with them about it.
-“Sie haben einen fogel,” means “You have a bird (in your head).” Germans say this sometimes in their cars, probably as a replacement for the gestures that it is illegal for them to make.
-Most people in the U.S. indicate the number two by holding up the index finger and the one next to it (birdie finger?). If you do this in such a way that the back of your hand is facing the other person, and the other person is British, you have just done the equivalent of shooting them the bird. This can lead to comical situations when ordering more than one of an item.

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My personal experience, not usually buying in to any particular stereotype, I found people in Paris to be exceptionally rude (by my standards). Throughout the rest of France, except during a few business meetings, I found the rest of the people to be exceptionally polite. I have a friend from southern France who claims that most French people find Parisians quite rude.

I would say that, while we met many nice people in Paris, there were many people who went far beyond rude, pushing my children down, refusing to offer simple directions, and more. It’s hard to remember the polite people of Paris when you still have that unwarranted assault fresh in your mind…

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ROTFL. :slight_smile:

British, or Ozzie, or Kiwi… and I imagine French, since that is who the English originally aimed this gesture at back in the days of the Hundred Years War.

However, American TV inluence being so great, use of “The Fingers” has largely been replaced (at least here in New Zealand), by the impudent digit, but remains a somewhat lesser offensive gesture still used on occasion.

Perhaps you have hit upon the secret of why Europeans are rude to American tourists. :slight_smile: :slight_smile:

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I spent two weeks in Paris in 1989 during Christmas and New Years. I knew some French from high school and college, which I tried to brush up a little using language tapes. I could generally get around pretty good. I didn’t find anybody to be particularly rude. In some cases when I didn’t know the French words, I switched to English and sometimes they could speak it.

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I have been to Paris twice; the first time I went also to Rouen, Giverny, Honfleur, and Dieppe; the second time, to Chartres. And the fabled Gallic rudeness, of which I was warned multiple times, failed to materialize. The range of attitudes ranged from cool to deferential. The only person who snooted at me was the bus driver at Orly, and I had accused him (incorrectly blush ) of shortchanging us.

Speaking French and being Canadian helped, I suppose. But I think the rudeness of the French has been exaggerated. Either that, or it changed at the same time as they started putting hexilingual signs in the métro.

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I had a cousin here that was a rich cattleman. He wore his cowboy boots and jeans the whole time while in Paris. When he needed to go to the bathroom he always asked the waiters where the toiletty was.

Maybe that’s one reason they hate us if in fact they do.

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The French were really really nice to me, especially in Paris.

On my first five minutes there I was trying to figure out the subway system in realation to my hostel. Some random guy saw that I looked confused and tried to help me out, even though my French is terrible. I ended up being something like the equivelent of three dollars short and he just gave me the money! Another french person insisted on giving me his newspaper when JFK Jr. died. He went on on what a great tragety it was for us. Yet another french store owner gave me a practically free bottle of wine when I discovered that I did not have enough money to but both wine and chocolate.

Obviously being a young woman tends to make french men more friendly, but I think they were just nice in general. I think the main problem is the masses of tourists that desend on their landmarks like it is Disneyland. I was picnicing by the Eiffel Tower once and a troupe of American tourists swarmed out of a bus. The trampled the grass and made tons of loud noise. One of them actually spit! fifteen minutes later, they reappeared, swooped into their bus and drove off, leaveing a trail of garbage behind them. Of course people are gonna hate people like that! So many tourists go to france, dont bother to even learn to say “hello” (youd be amazed what respect a couple of words in the local language will gain you.) and they eat overpriced food, pay with credit cards, stay in Americanized hotels (many american guidebooks list only hotels with private bathrooms for each room, which just is not what is standard or even expected in most of Europe) ANd then these barbarians have the nerve to complain that the world isnt sparkeling clean and staffed by friendly smiling people there for their convinece, like Disneyland.

For more info on how not to make a jerk out of yourself in Europe, I highly reccomend Rick Steve’s Europe throught the back door. Yuppie though it may be, it is an infinatly valuable book for travelers to Europe.

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http://www.straightdope.com/columns/991001.html

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Je ne parles pa Francais. Probably misspelled. I used this a few times when I was in Paris (about eight years ago) and it was fairly useful, especially when accompanied by a bashful smile.

I could also say (but not write) phrases for “Where is the W.C.?”, “Where is the train station?” and “Where is the National Assembly?” The latter being useful for those with political ambitions. Also I could count (uhh, duh, trwaww … my pronunciation is less than stellar). I found the Parisians to be roughly as friendly as anybody.

Is French further from its Italic stock than other Romance / Italic languages? It sure sounds like it is, although I can’t compare it to Romanian, Catalan, or Portugese. That just leaves Italian, Latin, and Spanish I guess.

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the beloved and I didn’t encounter any rudeness in France on our (admittedly short) trip there - but as Matt commented, speaking French helps immensely.

We did meet many rude tourists, of various nationalities. We admired the French for putting up with it all.

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My experience gives me basic rules on how to make French people be polite to you:

  1. Speak at least some French.
  2. Look confused and apologetic, not arrogant and blunt, when you can’t speak French.
  3. Be polite in general.
  4. Don’t be in a tour group if at all possible.
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I went to france a few years back, and I found most of the people outside Paris to be kind and friendly-in the city of Caen (Northern France), I had arranged to meet a French colleague for dinner at a local restaurant-i got lost, and asked directions of a lady-she insisted on leading me to the restaurant! I only took French in HS (2 years), but the ability to speak a little French really helped (even the cab driver in Caen was really nice).
In Paris, I found the people to be a bit more brusque, but I had dinner alone in a small cafe, and the owner could not have been nicer-later I learned that he was a Belgian!
Again, leand a bit about the language and customes, and always be polite-I think you will find that the French are very nice!