Help! Differences between people in France and the US?

Question

Can anyone help me in figuring out and analyzing the differences between French and American homes/apartments? (Construction, floor plan differences, room structure, items kept in rooms, etc.)

Also, I would appreciate any answers about the differences between the lives of French teenagers versus American teenagers?

Please and thank you very much!

Answer 1

I'll try to give you a less biased answer than the one above.

The single most obvious difference between French and American homes/apartments is that French homes are significantly smaller on average than American.

The very poorest quintile of Americans has more space (102 sq meters)  in their home than the average Frenchmen (80 sq meters).

Americans are also more likely to own their home (68.9%)than the French (55%). (This has an important effect on economics. Americans have bigger homes and save less than the French therefore they don't have the same atittude towards inflation).

American homes are more likley to have air conditioning (which is not as important in France because the climate is generally cooler). They are also more likely to have central heating.

Americans are more likely to live in a single family detached home. A higher percentage of the French live in apartments and in what Americans would call "row houses." This relfects the greater population density in Europe which produces much higher land costs. (That is one reason why the average French farm is about 125 acres while the average American farm is 450 acres)

As to floor plans, French homes rarely have a second public area like the "family room" that is common in the United States. They are less likely to have multiple full bathrooms although they frequently split the bathroom into seperate rooms for the toilet and the bathtub/shower. The large self contained Master Bedroom suite with its own bathroom and walk in closet which is the norm in the USA is not as common in France.

Homes everywhere in Europe tend to be better insulated due to vastly higher costs for heating (both heating oil and electricity are considerably more expensive in Europe).

The French generally have fewer things, especially modern gadgets, in their homes. The real reason probably is not related to some higher aesthetic sense but  that the French have far lower disposible incomes than Americans.

As to the lives of teenagers, I would say the biggest difference is in education. the French equivalent of k-12 schools are very much more rigorous and disciplined than American. The average American high school student is barely literate by French standards. The sort of appalling ignorance of history and geography which is so often talked about in the United States is simply not present in France.

Whether French students have a greater of appreciation of "what is important" is, I suspect, little more than a defensive assertion as a make weight against the undeniable reality that American teenagers are, in fact, greater more materially well off. But it is, in fact, a false dichotomy.  Whether someone is better or worse off materially has no direct effect on whether they are also more or less appreciative of other, more philosophical things.

Indeed, Americans generally are more likely to participate in charitable giving than the French (or any other people for that matter) or to participate in civic or social volunteer activities.

Thus when Hurricaine Katrina sent thousands  of refugees pouring into the small Texas town in which I live, we housed and fed all of them for months without any assistance from the utterly incompetent Federal government. By contrast, when a heat wave hit France a few years ago, many thousands of mostly elderly people died because absolutely  no one bothered to even look in on them. Not even their own families.

EDIT: @David  

The numbers concerning living space are taken from an OECD study. I don't base this on personal observations (which I wouldn't claim to be sufficient to make valid generalizations) but on information gleaned from the studies made by others who are qualified (which does not include bloviating pigs like Rush Limbaugh).

Such things are part of the information that comes my way as a delegate to the United Nations Economic and Social Commission in Geneva. (Something that I don't usually mention and which I don't believe I have ever previously mentioned in this forum)

EDIT2: @ David

I don't maintain that the French care less about their families but that perhaps they are careless.

I agree that the reason for this is that they have abdicated so much responsiblity to the government  Once one becomes accustomed to government taking care of one's life there is a tendency to simply forget personal responsiblity. We have the same thing, in a much lesser way, in the USA where citizens have become reliant on Social Security. While it was inteneded to be only a supplement except to the very poorest citizens it is now the sole retirement planning of many.

Also David, I would remind you that it was the French government and French commentators who expressed concern about the causes of the situation that resulted from the heat wave. This is not some invention of anti-French fanatics. In any case I think it should be obvious that I am, if anything, very biased in favor of France and the French.

Katrina is an excellant example of PRIVATE charity conducted by individuals.

It also was a demonstration of the incompetence of the Bush administration, the Louisiana State government and (especially) the stupidity of the New Orleans city government.

One might note that in the heat wave crisis, not only did the French government fail but there was a failure of private chairty.

After all, we had here two natural disasters. the first, one of the worst hurricaines in all of human history and the second a heat wave. Please compare the numbers who died in each circumstance. Heat wave in France - 14,802 Katrina - 1600

(The heat wave was, by the way, something that occurs routinely in the United States. Here in Texas we have temperatures in excess of 100 degrees F. for months at a time.)

EDIT3: @Cabal

I understand that no one in France was prepeared for the effects of the heat wave. But then no one in the USA was prepared for the effects of a hurricaine of the magnitude of Katrina.

Yet the unprecedented power of Katrina has not been seen as a reason to refrain from damning the current administration as mentally retarded and/or criminally evil for failing to be perfectly and completely prepared to deal with it.

Whatever the standard we set for government it seems to me that it ought to be the same for all governments and in this case neither government was prepared.

However, the orignal observation is merely that the failure of American government to meet the crisis was ameliorated by the reality that Americans are in the habit of substantial works of private charity. This is so precisely because their government is not expected to be the source of most services.  Thus the different effects, in terms of total deaths,  of two natural disasters that the two repsective governments were unprepared to deal with.

This is not a matter of a moral judgement on my part nor an attempt to claim that one group is superior to another but merely an observation of the differences that arise in different countries using different systems of governance.

.

Answer 2

Here's are 2 apartment biggies and some others:

No closets.  (Maybe that's changed in new buildings.)  French put their clothes in wardrobes (not normally included in a rental, so ask if you don't want to buy one.)

Normally no appliances in rentals.  Be sure to ask if this is important to you and you don't want to spend for a stove and frig.  Or look for "furnished" apartments.  By the way you don't really need a refrigerator because it's easy to shop every day and staples we Americans pop into the frig religiously (like butter and milk) don't really need to be cold if you just buy what you need for a day or two.

You may be required to have insurance, e.g., in case your water overflows and damages the apartment downstairs.

There are special taxes, e.g., if you're buying your first TV... sort of a way for supporting PBS, whereas in the U.S. we are asked to volunteer to be "members".

French people don't get chummy with their neighbors, but are polite... always say "Bonjour, madame" (or "m'sieur").  

In some areas the French are discovering new ways of interacting and I've actually heard of courtyard gatherings similar to our "potlucks" but that is definitely a a foreign game that it may be fun to play once but is not likely to become widespread.

The French are very private and "friendship" is not taken lightly.  But when people tell me the French are hard to get to know, I say "Watch out what you ask for."

Answer 3

I'll try not to get long winded in this response.  That's already been taken care of.

Housing: Americans have more space, and we use it.  Most homes will have a front and back yard.  In France (esp. the larger cities) you will feel very close to your neighbors and flatmates.  You will only have a small lawn or maybe only space for a small garden, if you live in the suburbs in a house.  In Europe you don't have AC, b/c you normally don't need it (the climate is quite mild, usually).  Also largely absent are dishwashers and clothes dryers.

Teenager:  It's remarkable how much the two have in common.  Musicians, movies, video games, etc.  Rap and R&B are big with people listening to iPods all over, Spiderman 3 was a big hit over here and everyone is going nuts over Halo 3.  High school in France is more difficult than the US, this is very true.  But then university in France is much more low key and less challenging than the US

One thing that strikes me is the lack of school organized activities in France.  Especially with sports.  True, you can join club sports and compete that way in France, but where a city might have 10 high schools, there may only be 2-3 club teams.  I've gotten the sense that the French view competition as a bad thing.  This spills over into other areas, like, twice a year, all the stores have sales, and you can only have sales at this time of the year.  So everyone is on the same level, to prevent anyone from getting an unfair advantage.

Answer 4

Just to add my grain of salt to the heat wave debate :

- you might also want to take into account that the French are not used to high temperatures, and certainly not over such a long period. Not many people or nursing homes had A/C, as there had never been a need for it ever before. Frying an egg on the pavement is NOT usual (we tried and it worked) and the idea that one could die of heatstroke was a shocker to many in the Paris area where most of those deaths happened, but too late for those dead people.

When the next lesser heat wave came people (and the government) were ready.

- Out of those 15,000 additional deaths over the expected mortality of that period, 'only' 28% were directly because of the heat (dehydration, hypothermia, heat strokes) which lowers the count to 4200 (still a scandal), the rest was the result of unusual heat on tired and old bodies which hurried more 'natural' death. There was a much lower than average mortality in winter due to this. Most of those people died in hospitals and nursing homes.

Rillifane : no problem, I also think that the government was a bunch of idiots (to not use much stronger words). Just wanted to give the right number.



Now, back to the home debate. The basic plan for a small French apartment is one main living room, a separate kitchen, a bathroom, toilets (either in the bathroom or apart), one bedroom. This is called a F2 for two rooms (bedroom and living room).

You have smaller of course, the studio (F1) with one main room, one kitchen which is usually a minuscule area, one bath or shower room and toilets of course.  

The kitchen included in the living room area (called American bar) is not that common though it is making inroad. Is it because we still cook more than in the US and don't want cooking smells in the rest of the house? No idea.

Space is at a premium in cities in France (that population density Rillifane mentioned) so apartments are smaller as a rule than in the US. A couple with a middle class salary will have an apartment of no more than 50 square metres in Paris.  

Rental prices are kept in check by the government and high taxes push people to rent more than buy. Becoming an owner is a big thing here.

As for teenagers, it's been too many years since I was one.

Answer 5

Just a quick response to those who say France is not hot enough to require AC----obviously you have not lived in Provence!  The summer months in Arles, Mouries, Mausanne, St. Remy, Avignon,etc, are extremely warm and humid!  But we take it easy in the heat and head to the coast.

Answer 6

While I find myself agreeing with Rilifane more often than not, I have to disagree with a number of things he responded to this question.

By and large, people in France are not as materially well off as Americans- that's true. But to suggest that the typical home in France doesn't have modern heating is inaccurate. I was born in France, raised there for a number of years as a kid, and spent four years there more recently (97-01). My family in France is middle class- neither especially wealthy nor especially poor by French standards. And their living conditions are certainly far better than "the poorest quintile of Americans", including but not limited to living space. I'm reminded of a comment Rush Limbaugh made a number of years ago, about how the average Europeans supposedly don't live as well as the poorest people in America. That to me is a demonstrably untrue pile of bovine stool samples, and while Rilifane doesn't go nearly so far in his assertions, I'd still venture to guess that his contact with the French masses that he implicity claims to be familiar with is actually fairly limited.

As for charitable donations, in my view there's a fundamental difference in philosophy regarding that subject amongst Europeans and Americans- it could be argued that Europeans consider that it is primarily the government's responsibility to assist people coping with a state of emergency, and that charitable contributions should provide a supplement, not the other way around. Rilifane seems to be painting a picture wherein French people care less about their fellow human beings, even their own families, than Americans. To which I'd reply that only an American would suggest such a thing. And I don't know that Hurricane Katrina is an example of especially effective and compassionate crisis management by any measure. The residents of New Orleans might have a rebuttal or two regarding prospects for recovery.

His response as I see it is therefore NOT any less biased than the one that precedes it; just biased the other way.

Answer 7

Design, economy, subtlety, and taste are the key structural differences (i.e most French homes have these, most american homes don't).

The "items kept in rooms" tend to be more cultural in French homes than American homes (i.e. artwork and books).

The difference in life between American and French teenagers is that Americans have more material wealth in general and little appreciation for the important things in life whereas the French place more value on passionate living (i.e. good food, good wine, good conversation, good art, and an awareness of life beyond the forest).