Why does everyone hate the french language?

Madlarks · Post by **Madlarks** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 5:00 pm

Alot of it probably stems from the fact that the French lost alot during the World Wars. Also during that era and probably before that French have alot of national pride and pride in general. This tends to make them not get along well with others. During the World Wars it was always seen that the french got plastered so everybody had to come in and 'save their bum'. Whether or not this is what happened I'm not disputing just saying that is how most people view it. Therefore when all the guys came back from the wars they brought back with them the view of 'french' having a high elf attitude.

Post by **Rork** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 5:18 pm

madlarks wrote: Therefore when all the guys came back from the wars they brought back with them the view of 'french' having a high elf attitude.

They're a proud bunch. De Gaulle didn't want the Americans and British (and Canadians) hanging around in post-occupation France - That was going to be a humiliation too far.

I have nothing against the French. Like any nation, there's a stereotype. The germans are seen as hyper-efficient, humourless beings, the Italians as passionate but laid back and so on.

The French probably get a worse press than the others because they're so damn stubborn :lol:

.

Getwisteerd · Post by **Getwisteerd** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 6:28 pm

Why does everyone hate the French? I don't think everyone does

Personally, I haven't met any French people so I can't judge the people. But I do HATE the language. Fortunatly I don't have to study that anymore. I actually finished it with a 7 (out of 10) which was really... weird

One other thing is that some French speaking people in Belgium have the habit of denying that they also speak dutch (well, vlaams actually, but I don't know what that's called in English). Which is annoying when your French is really bad.

Ilokir lúinwë · Post by **Ilokir lúinwë** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 7:40 pm

getwisteerd wrote: vlaams actually, but I don't know what that's called in English

Flemish is the word you were looking for. I recognise your story, especcially when strolling through Brussels, but I can't say that it irks me. Currently, I'm looking for a job, so I have to study french again, but I can't say that I enjoy it..

Post by **Loki** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 8:15 pm

I would have to say that I have no problem with French people, but sometimes there seems to be a mindset of superiority, especially over Americans. Someone who works for the same company as my father came over from France for business and during his week here, he stayed with us. The whole time he was here, all I heard about was how superior the French are to Americans, their culture, their wine, their food. Now, I'm not a wine connoisseur, but there are quite a few California wines that I find taste quite good. Just because our country is younger than most, it seems he felt that we were less, just because we aren't "the French". Of course, this is one person that I have met, so I'm going to stereotype the entire country on that one experience. But those few people I have met, have all given me this impression.

Fingol darkwater · Post by **Fingol darkwater** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 8:29 pm

*shrug* I'm black creole all the way, so I'm about as french as you can get without having to put up with the stereotypes. But there will be stereotypes for every group of people, period.

As for my own bias, I'd say that the french took all of their fun stuff and dumped it in Louisiana (Mardi Gras anyone

), then took all of their boring stereotypes and turned it into Quebec

Raneth · Post by **Raneth** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 9:02 pm

The one glaring thing that has marred my last trip to Paris was the (seeming?) sense of superiority the inhabitants had about themselves.

But that's not because they're French, I guess...

I have a big problem conversing normally with hard line nationalists of any country. The French have a fair number of those - that could easily be the explanation for my sour after-taste.

Minsc · Post by **Minsc** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 9:14 pm

I disslike those french that are too proud/irretating/stupid/you-name-it to speak english on the net.

Countless occations when I've played Wc3 or DoW in 2v2 Situations, where they've answered their nation, but won't answer / speak of anythingelse.

I also hate the fact that they speak french in the European Song Contest aside with english. The french people know english! Hello? Why not only speak english? Well lets speak German, Swedish, Danish, Spanish, Italian as well, shall we?

Archangel · Post by **Archangel** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 12:11 am

im french so i had to say yes (only a little bit on my dads side), french portrayal by the comedian Dylan Morran is so funny, i would quote somethin but ive forgotten them.

Khel · Post by **Khel** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 12:17 am

(a little off topic) arn't the bretts based upon the french?

Post by **Loki** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 12:25 am

(actually, very offtopic), but yes, they are based of the French, culture/name wise. However, you could see how they are based on the feudal system in general. We should try to keep this on-topic though.

Casual malevolence · Post by **Casual malevolence** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 1:45 am

Having traveled the world a bit (six years in the Army), I have to say, while in France, they were like many peoples; a mixed bunch. Some were very nice, some were very rude to me, but I think it was more to do w/ my being an American, and (obviously from the haircut) a soldier at that, than any general hatefulness on their part. The countryside was gorgeous, but when you cross the border from Germany, you can immediately tell that you've entered France b/c all of a sudden everything becomes a little...dingier, a little less neat and well-kept. Maybe that says more about Germany than it does France, though...

And, just for the record, France only sucked it up in WWII. They were actually pretty freaking hoss from the time of Charles Martel till the end of WWI, and spent a good portion of the Middle Ages kicking the teeth out of the Holy Roman Empire (Germany) over and over again.

Fleshcollector · Post by **Fleshcollector** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 2:06 am

In my experience, we can all justify our own positions no matter what people we are. Its actually a common denominator across the world entire within people as nations, states, cities, clubs, neiborhoods, schools, individuals, etc.

Whats really interesting is that we often notice and judge others harshly for possessing the same traits as we have ourselves, except different, because they are our own and we can't see past them.

People are basically the same, and even our percieved hatreds and differences are the same when observed from a neutral perspective.

This forum is a perfect example.

Darkspear · Post by **Darkspear** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 2:11 am

I love the french, not just the language and culture but also its heritage. I supposed that being an Asian, I am kinda immune to the historical baggage some european d.netters have.

I do not want to comment abt wine, cheese etc because everyone has different taste buds. All I can say is that I like them. Actually its the historical heritage that attracts me the most. There is no doubt that the French has be beaten and humilated many times in history but still they survive as a people. In fact the French influence Europe more than any other power.

As far as stuff like bad customer service. I must say its common. I wasn't served in Korea just because I did not spoke the same language (it was in the 1980s when i m just a kid), I too had experience harsh racism remarks in some regions in US and UK (usually at the countrysides, the cities dwellers are more exposed to Asians and thus r more polite) despite me being from one of the most developed countries of the world

Quatters · Post by **Quatters** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 3:07 am

I love French people. I was in Paris twice and there was only one occasion where I was confronted with "French rudeness" also the French is by far the sexiest accent ever.
Not only that, but Thierry Henry and Arsne Wenger are French!

(Thierry Henry is Arsenal's brilliant striker and Arsne Wenger is the coach of the team)

Druchiishootlord · Post by **Druchiishootlord** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 4:16 am

Personally I have nothing against the French. The 3 French foreign exchange/study abroad students I have met were very charming but as Rork said earlier, quite blunt and to the point.

Being 1/2 French I endure no end of surrenderness jokes but I'm probably a bit too proud of my forefathers

There's little that I don't like about the French.

Post by **Daeron** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 7:13 am

Just a side note when reading the topic: I noticed a lot of people judge France because of a bad view on Paris. IIRC, French people share that view on Paris. They quite a bad reputation in their own country and they don't seem eager to change it (making even jokes about it heh).

Neferata · Post by **Neferata** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 3:36 pm

France is a beautifull country pity about the people and the foul unhelpfull attitude my french is a bit rusty but at least i try i've been in bars and the french barman has refused to serve me or resterants where i've been refused a table. i've travelled all over the world and nowhere have i been treated as badly as in france

Same thing has happened to me several times... I've met two nice french persons in my years. Two persons who did not despise me due to my bad pronounciation. Most people think you generalize all the French by saying so. But that is not quite true. They are an odd bunch who doesn't realy work the same way as most of us do. But being despised by people just because you are lacking knowledge in their language is wrong. This was a little unfair in my oppinion so I told them that if we couldn't agree on a language which both parts understood (a bit atleast). They could talk French with me and I could talk Swedish with them. An offer that was not met friendly by my cheese eating friends

.

I disagree. French is not a language, it's a code.

Very true XD

Hope this post didn't upset you Belial or any other French person on this forum. That was not my intention.

N.

Neferata · Post by **Neferata** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 3:40 pm

Oh and one more thing... Welcome Restotoles! I'm looking forward to hear more from you on this forum in the future

!

N.

Restotoles, the last · Tue Mar 27, 2007 3:57 pm

Thank you, I thought it was about time I joined and participated a bit

Celius · Post by **Celius** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 4:57 pm

Well, I haven't been to France, so I can't judge the people, but I am being taught French and I find it just plain annoying/frustrating/really hard. So many grammar rules, can't do this or that but you can do something when the third moon of Trog is aligned with Pluto. Unfortunately, Trog doesn't exist yet...

Did you know that once upon a time the French language was originally a method of torture, designed to mangle people's brains. It still has that effect on me now.

Luckily I only have a few more weeks of French lessons left.

I'm sorry, but I just feel that English is so much better (Definitely not because I'm British

). In what other language could you say the equivalent of Stupidimificatinimafied and have people understand what it means!

Oh, and I can think of one reason. iirc, it was proven in a poll by Microsoft that when the standby-ing was occuring on Halo 2, along with other cheaters, that most of the people doing it were French.

That's some nice damage control there btw Belial

Post by **Loki** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 5:54 pm

If we are talking about the language, it is difficult to learn. However, all romantic languages are (those based on Latin: French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, etc.). The only thing more difficult about French is the spelling which isn't as phonetic as the others. I know when I was still taking Spanish, I had learned something like 20 different tenses and they could only be used in certain instance. The main difference between that and English (a germanic language) was that it wasn't just a combination of verbs and more verbs, but a different ending for each different tense, meaning there was a lot of memorizing to be done. For those of you who already speak a romantic language, French is easier to learn, as the grammar is very similar. For those of us who's first language is Germanic based, the grammar is much harder to learn as its a completely different set of rules.

Gnosis · Post by **Gnosis** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 9:32 pm

I'm naturally talented at speaking French, but I have a great dislike for all Romantic languages, with the exception of Latin itself. Nothing interests me about France, that's the problem - especially for a future history teacher like me.

Saireth darkblade · Post by **Saireth darkblade** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 10:41 pm

administrator: sorry bout rule breaking didnt mean to get insulting to the french people

Hali · Post by **Hali** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 12:28 am

I'm sort of on the edge with French.

I find it a very feminine language, and with my Portuguese heritage, i think that compared to alot of the other romance languages, French lacks heat. It sounds beautiful when women speak it, the tones fit better with a female voice and rolls nicely. I find that when men speak it they sound, not whimpy, but it just lacks masculinity.

The other Romance languages just have a bite more a bite to them, a bit more heat (although some dialects of Spanish sound ridiculous).

That's my opinion. It's not a horrible language, I just think that it exceeds it's grasp as "THE" language of romance.