Is france culturally closer to Germany than the UK?

Question

Is france culturally closer to Germany than the UK?

Answer 1

I would say no.    England and Germany shares more together than they do with France.  English is a Germanic language after all and the Royal Family is largely German.  

Many English words have been stolen from the German language.

Answer 2

Actually all three have their own culture I wouldn't say that France is closer to Germany

Answer 3

I think you cant really say that any of these coutries really are culturally close. I would say that they all have their own very distinct and strong cultures, but there are some similarities. I mean looking at Germany I would say that it is pretty hard to really pinpoint one culture because there are so many influences. As Germany is surrounded by pretty different countries to all sites they all have an impact on the culture. For example in the east of Germany the closest comparison in culture could probably be made to the Czech Republic, in the South it is most likely to be Austrian, Swiss maybe even a tiny tendency towards Italy. In the west, there is definitely the tendency towards France, especially because the Elsass is the region, that was continuously fought over between Germany and France (in that area there are many many family that are French, like in France in that area where there are many many families originally German). And in the north part of Germany I would even say, as Dutch is kind of a mixture of German and English, that Germany as well has some english influence here.

I think it is also hard to answer this question, because it also depends on what exactly you mean by culturally closer. I would definitley say that for example the languages between German and English are way closer and that neither language of these two has comparable similarities with French. On the other hand, as far as I know the French hate the English more than the German and vice-versa.

To be honest, whether the life-style in those countries is similar I cnat really tell, I mean Im German and Ive lived in the UK for two years, but Ive not actually been in France long enough to really experience the culture and so any further observation would probably be based on the typical stereotypes, which wouldnt help you either.

I hope I could help a little and good luck further on.

Answer 4

Well, there's not a channel between France and Germany, so maybe we two countries, France and Germany, are closer than France and the UK. But this maybe only applies to the border regions in the west of Germany. I live in the south east, and hadn't it been for the cold war and the iron curtain, this region here is culturally very close to what is now the Czech Republic.

Getting culturally close to each other is almost always a matter of exchanging goods, and therefore, language; and seen from this point of view, Germany is closer to Great Britain and the US than to any other nations; and young French people share with us what the elderly call the "MTV culture".

France, Germany, and the UK are all rich in culture which should be preserved; but I'm very happy that there seems to be a common culture evolving among the younger.

Answer 5

Yes. Both mainland europe.