Ask A French Teacher - Are The Snobby?

Tutorial Transcript

hi everybody can this year welcome to ask a teacher but I answer your most common French questions the question for this listen is are the French weary as snobby as the same this is a common stereotype especially in the US but it's actually more complex than it seems a lot of Americans and other tourists think the French are stuck up because it seems like their refuse to make small talk especially in a foreign language actually silence is socially acceptable in French culture and some other European countries especially among strangers in American culture it's common for strangers to make small talk but in France it's a little less common especially in foreign languages but why one reason is that being educated is really important in French culture and people are worried about making grammatical mistakes another reason is that many people remain close to a famous idiom like a phones which means the old friends it is commonly used in conversation and this core part of the educational beliefs in France French people are traditionally not used to talk in to strangers and like to keep a distance it's a part of the culture small talk can be seen as an intrusion into someone's private life a final reason may be that French people are just very busy with the life and prefer listening to music or using their cell phones than talking to strangers although this may be the same in many other places it is particularly prevalent in France French people may also seem stuck up because of the social faux pas that froyos make when they visit friends he has some insider tips for French learners who may visit friends in the future many tourists who visit France want to see famous sites however some may have not done research already taken in the significance of these historical places when a French person sees tourists travelling in big groups who stop at a site for 10 minutes take a few pictures and then live they feel as if the tourists are not really appreciating the culture our advice is to do some research on the places you want to visit before you go that way you can show your respect not only to French people but to the kurtter as well here's another thing to be careful of if you have been studying French gapsoo was a famous expression used to call waiters in French it literally means boy which is actually quite rude in the u.s. there is still the impression that French speakers use the word gasm if you use this world the waiter might be very offended and not give you great customer service nowadays French speakers simply get the attention of the staff with a schism wah excuse me or simply s'il vous plait meaning please so please use that instead when you are at the restaurant in France so just because they're French don't talk as much as foreigners expect them to that doesn't mean they're rude hasta cap that's it for this lesson if you have any more questions please leave them in the comments below and I try to answer them a gentle citizen