I’ve been living in France now for about six months. It’s my second time living here, though the first time was to learn French so I didn’t understand too much.
It’s pretty safe to say that my perspective has changed now that I comprehend the language. The first time I was here, I fell in love with the idea that the French seemed to appreciate what I think a lot of Americans have left behind. That’s to say, I appreciated the fact that the French worked to be able to enjoy certain pleasures in life, where I feel often that Americans work to work because working hard is respectable.
Let me clarify. The French two hour lunches and the vacation time – those, as far as I’m concerned, are what people should work for. If you work and make a good living, but have no free time to take advantage of it, what’s the point?
I come from a family of hard workers, five-seven days a week, sometimes two jobs at a time, 8 to 10 hours a day. Indolence is considered lazy most of the time. Work is admirable.
Anyhow, I liked the fact that, as it seemed to me, the French worked so that they could enjoy their free time.
I still appreciate that, however, some things have changed. Now that I can more or less speak french, I’ve got some questions.
I just want to preface this, I don’t want to sound like I’m judging “the French.” I don’t like to generalize, and if it seems that I’m doing it here, it’s only because I don’t have the time to write a book about what I’m confused about. I’m in effect asking if my observations are (1) accurate, (2) way off, (3) a result of the fact that I’m American, or (4) all of the above. I’m perfectly content in finding out that I’m completely wrong or exaggerating.
Seeing as I don’t have a far reaching background in French politics, I’m basically trying to find some kind of perspective. I’ve just sort of jumped into the world of French politics with no bearings at all. So, any recommendations for books or web sites (in French or English) would also be welcome.
My questions are:
What do most French think about globalization? I’ve had several conversations with French people about Mondialisation, and I get the impression that many people have the idea that they can just ignore it and it won’t happen (similar to what many French told me was a catalyste for the riots, just pushing people off to the side and pretending like they’re not there). Rather than prepare for a more integrated world, some trends seem to show that the French (government) would rather ignore the changing world than adapt to it. The term (I heard last night for the first time), I think, is “economic patriotism.” I know this is a touchy situation, in that most all Western countries are facing this same problem (i.e. jobs moving to China and India).
The idea of Patriotism and Globalization? In one (just one) conversation, I mentioned that I think it is going to end up being a huge problem for the United States that we don’t study enough foreign langauges (e.g. the fact that we have less than 1% of our students studying “critical” langauges). The person I was speaking to said that there wasn’t a very large French focus on foreign language because the French are somewhat bitter that everyone in the world is speaking English and not French, so they would rather psuh for foreigners to learn French than to urge the French to learn other languages (NOTE: the foreign language situation in France, from all that I know, is far better than in the US). He told me this in all seriousness. Is this really a factor? I mention patriotism, because this came up in a conversation about American patriotism, which I think often borders on nationalism. He replied to me that that many people in France don’t understand American patriotism, then he said what he said about the French langauge. Isn’t his version just a *cultural * sort of patriotism?
Along the same lines, is there a problem with traditionalism and progress? Which is to ask, is there a problem with French hesitating to change because it would mean a loss of certain things that are considered “French”?
Again, these are just things that I see around me, but I don’t know if they are true. The reason there are no citations is because my sources are mostly anecdotal. I’d just like to understand better the French economic situation as pertains to the world at large.