Language/French/Culture/Les-clichés

If "cliché" is a French word, it's probably because the French are loooving to judge each other. 😉

Definition

A cliché is an idea of something thought by a lot of people about something they never have seen (or heard or smelt or touched or ate...), generally wrong.

Some countries seen by many French

United States

Probably the people seen the most negatively by the French. The American are seen as fat (because of the fast food that came from this country), dumb and too rich (which is not really appreciated in France). But the american influence is however appreciated (films, music, stars).

United Kingdom

The French think that English people are living in the whole country. So the clichés are about them. They are seen as snobs, weird and people who don't know how to cook. Irish (they're independant, but not for all French) and Scottish are always drunk and know how to animate parties. French people love the Queen Elizabeth II and like to know more about the royal family.

Japan

The Japanese are quite appreciated by the French, for their culture, especially japanese food, mangas and animes, but also traditional culture as well. They are perceived as quiet, polite and hard-workers.

Germany

They are seen as always eating sausages and bretzels, drinking too much beer and speaking a weird and complicated language. A lot of german tourists come to France especially during summer, so the cliché of the fat german tourist coming only for summer is widely spread in the country.

Italia

The biggest clichés about Italia are that they eat pizza, pasta and ice cream, living in beautiful cities like Venice and Roma and riding Vespa scooters. They are seen to be more catholic, talking loudly and making a lot of gestures. Italian language is seen as romantic as well as italian men.

Spain

The inhabitants of Spain are seen as living near the beach, always eating paella and turron, eating at 3PM and going to bed very late; men are attractive too.

Russia

The people of the country is seen very bad; corrupted, drinking a lot of vodka and very conservative. The newspapers write badly of this country; it is cold, there is few democracy and freedom, and Russian love to put themselves in weird or dangerous situations.

That's all for the moment !

Hope you'll look "more French" right now !