For those of you who have visited France, do you think the French...?

Question

Do you think the French have an inferiority complex towards "ZEE Ingnlishh"?

Answer 1

No - I think that they have a superiority complex - they can be very arrogant - but as long you attempt to speak to them in their language they are usually OK

Answer 2

no they do not feel inferior

they are arrogant

i should know

married one

and lived there

Answer 3

I personally think it is because visitors to France make no effort to speak French. The French people are proud of their language and even a good attempt is appreciated.

Parlez Francais !

Answer 4

the french have got better health care, better roads and  better schools. their children are better behaved.   they are friendly and helpful if you bother to speak at least a little bit of their language. food is delightful.  supermarkets are clean with well presented goods.  their festivals and ferias are brilliant fun and ive always felt welcome. so to answer your question. what have they to feel inferior about?  nothing at all.

Answer 5

They do and I think the French have a right to feel inferior. Their greatness as a nation is behind them. Their language is dying, their wines are generally rated lower than others, etc. France itself is becoming less French everyday and more Muslim. Their work ethic is laughable. The list goes on. So yes, I think true Frenchmen feel inferior.

Answer 6

I don't know if they do, but I think they could be a bit more friendly as a race. Having been to Paris I found them quite unfriendly...I'm Irish..but perhaps they assumed I was english because I speak english and thats why they went on that way. To be honest though I think they go on like that in general though, it's a cultural thing.

Answer 7

i love it.

Answer 8

I am French and we definitively have no inferiority complex neither towards the UK nor the US !

Why should we have some?

Answer 9

I agree with MIE.  Why would they feel inferior?  I would add that they have the right idea about work-life balance.  In the US, we tend to live for work, but in France and some other European countries people work to live.  

Family and friends are very important.  The French are more discriminating about who they call a friend, but once you become a friend they are very loyal.  

I also agree that sometimes they are a bit arrogant, but so are we.

Answer 10

Have only been to France once so don't have a lot of experience but found the Parisians to be the most unhelpful, unfriendly, miserable bunch I've ever met.  Having said that, when in the small towns and villages they were the exact opposite - lovely.  Lets face it, as nations, we have always been at one another throats.  

Incidentally, have also found the French to be pushy and rude when visiting GB.

As for having an inferiority complex - I think it is more like to be a superiority complex or maybe just lacking in good manners.

Suppose they are just a mix like the rest of us.

By the way, I did my best to speak French but they were obviously not impressed!

Answer 11

I am sorry, but I am FRench...

we are not feeling inferior at all, but fed up sometimes, with some (and there is quite a few) english and/or american people who think that we have to speak english while they are in France (sorry but when I go in uk, I don't assume that you will speak French, so I make the effort and apologise if I can't be understood) we get fed up.

fed up with those tourists who think they are the king, prince of the world when they are simply people, just like you and me...

Then I have to say that parisian are not the most welcoming and warm people, a bit like, let's say londonians who are stressed all the time...

if you go out of paris, and act like someone normal, and not a princess who needs royal treatment, you'll be really welcome, and you might think different about french people.

I mean, that is the main rule, when you travel : forget about how "perfect" is your country, and open your mind on what you can learn about other cultures

Answer 12

Definately.

Arrogant too.

Answer 13

The French don't feel inferior to anyone! Nor do they need to, they have the world's best health service, roads, trains and many other infrastructure items - even if there electrics and drains are a bit 'different' ! They also have good wine, cheese and bread and breathtaking scenery. If you are friendly towards them, they will repay you in spades.

Answer 14

Why should we have an inferiority complex towards them? True, we pay more taxes and we have those waves of : Look how easier it is to earn money in England with less taxes... Which does not explain why Ze Inglish come to France to be treated.

(explanation: Better and faster health service due to those higher taxes, and a system that allows French to be treated by the NHS in England and English to be treated by the Social Security in France. It was thought that the expenses would equal out, right now there's ten Englishmen being treated by the S.S. at French expenses for one Frenchman being treated by the NHS at UK expenses. The French SS is started to grumble).

They have the biggest financial centre of Europe, we have companies that are worldwide leaders, they have a great history, we are very proud of ours either, and they all buy houses in France, so much so that places in France are being called little England by the French locals. They say nasty things about us (I lived in England for years and read all those tabloids stories about the French), we make fun of them and say uncomplimentary things about them, though less rude (we don't have tabloids).

We don't have an inferiority complex, what we have is a love-hate relationship due to more than a thousand years of prickly relationship and wars and a century of Entente Cordiale.

Answer 15

the french are not a friendly lot,iam born English but live in Australia i was over there in 1997 and got stuck in the door

of a train thanks to the french people, i was first in line got shoved aside while they all got on and doors closed on me as i got in, i screamed and not one person flicked an eye lid to see if i was ok

Answer 16

not too sure when i went there i was pleasantly srprised to find most people were fine, i kept gettin asked things in french though such as directions etc and i was like 'um sorry dont know im english'..... cue a lot of strange looks lol..but on the whole no, same as anywhere else,

Answer 17

I like the frech, depends where you go of course.  In a place like Bolougne or Calais or Paris you get a lot of people who are fed up with the English, but in the middle of nowhere people are very pleasant.  Of course, if you can speak french people like you a lot more, if you just want to carry on speaking english expecting them to be your translaters it can get a bit annoying.   I hope to move to france, I prefer it there than here.

Answer 18

I lived and worked in France for many years, and I do not feel the French have an inferiority complex towards anyone.  

Their nationalism and patriotism are often misconstrued as arrogance.  Many tourists visit France and come back with a negative impression of the French because of this.

I found the French people to be very hospitable and kind.  But that is because I have an open-mind and did not impose my American ways or standards upon them.  I appreciate the differences in culture, actually.

I'm sure if people were to visit France with more of an open mind instead of bringing their preconceived notions over, their experiences would be more positive.  Plus, I have witnessed on many occasions arrogant, rude, and impolite American tourists over there, and I believe they received the 'cold' treatment they deserved.  

The main point is, people will often treat you the way that you treat them.  If you are polite and respectful to them, they will most likely be the same to you.  If not, they are just bad seeds to begin with, and truly not a good representation of the group.

Judge individuals, not groups, I always say....

I have met arrogant people all over the world, the French are not immune, nor are they the exception.