French Culture

French Culture

Most people perceive Paris as the center of French culture as it has been known for centuries to be the origin of French fashions, art, cuisine, and architecture designs. People fail to comprehend is the fact that France is, in fact, the source of the term culture. According to Hoffmann (2017), the word “culture” was derived from a French word “culture,” which can be translated as “tend to the earth and grow, cultivate and nurture.”  Just like other nations, various elements of French culture can be studied through the country’s language, dressing code, religion, among other cultural practices. Some of these elements have been portrayed in the French film “Mariam.”

Miriam is a French film that addresses French dressing for Muslim teenage girls. As a tradition, Muslim teenage girls are required to wear a hijab as an identification dressing code. The film discusses Islamophobia as the central theme. Islamophobia refers to the fear and hatred inflicted on Muslim believers based on the presumption that they are a violent community (Hoffmann, 2017). France is a country that accommodates several regions with catholic, Islam, Judaism, a Buddhism being the most obvious ones. However, Roman Catholicism is the most dominating religion based on a survey conducted by the French Institute of Public Opinion (Byrd, 2019).

Comparison between French and American culture

Both France and the united states of America are first world countries that embrace different cultural values. Some of the cultural variations occur in areas such as food, dressing code, relationships, confrontation, authority, and smoking.

1. Food

People from these two countries practice similar mannerisms when it comes to meals. For instance, it is a common habit for an individual from either of the two nations to take meals from a local café. However, takeaways are not prevalent among French citizens as it is in the united states. According to Braud et al.  (2017), life is perceived to be a very precious item among French culture. One of the various methods in which French culture embraces life is through eating quality meals at designated places. On the other hand, most of the Americans, especially the working individuals, prefer takeaway meals, especially during working days. This means that they don’t take long lunch breaks like their French counterparts.

1. Formality

French culture embraces formal dressing codes as opposed to the American culture. Again, people from both countries address people in senior positions. For instance, it is uncommon for French a French low-ranking employee to address a person in a top leadership position using their first name (Braud et al., 2017). in the united states, on the other hand, addressing seniors officers using their first name is a common habit, especially among the youths. Again, French culture assigns paramount significance to personal grooming. This is because an individual is judged based on how they present themselves.

1. Confrontation

In French culture, confrontations, especially during an open debate, are viewed to be constructive. French bosses are more likely to give harsh feedback. According to Braud et al.  (2017), it is also a common habit for people in senior leadership positions to talk about frequently and individual failures than successes. On the other hand, Americans tend to avoid confrontational conversations as they view them to be irritating. American is also less aggressive, and as a result, bosses tend to sugar coat negative feedbacks in order to avoid hurting one’s feelings.

1. Authority

French citizens do not shy off from expressing their political opinions regardless of the social class. According to Braud et al.  (2017), French citizens express their political discontent through strikes. France is among countries with the lowest voter turnouts. On the other hand, Americans tend to treat political matters with apathy.

1. Smoking

Smoking is more pronounce among Frenchmen and women compared to Americans. However, smoking is completely prohibited cafes and restaurants and results, hotels have designated smoking corridors (Trinh et al., 2017). French culture also accommodates smoking breaking. These breaks can also be used for social interaction among French people. On the other hand, smoking breaks are not frequent in American culture.

Some of the french cultural habits have been adopted across the globe. For instance, the French prefer taking a light breakfast that includes a cup of coffee

1. according to braud et

boiled eggs, a practice that has been borrowed by Americans. However, most of the American can substitute eggs with cereals. Again, Indian and most of the Islamic countries have adopted French dressing mannerisms. American cultures have also adopted French kissing habits; for an instant, it is common in both American and French culture for friends and families to kiss on both cheeks. Frenchmen are great fun of folk music, a music genre that has been adopted by African communities, especially in South African and various parts of western Africa.

References

Braud, V., Frederick, T., Harvey, N., Leong, C., & Lane, S. (2017, October). France, Japan, Mexico, & the USA: cultural differences & strategic planning. In the Institute for Global Business Research International Conference Proceedings (Vol. 1, pp. 126-130).

Byrd, K. M. (2019). French Gastronomy and The Magic of Americanism. Social Forces.

Hoffmann, G. (2017). Reforming French Culture: Satire, Spiritual Alienation, and Connection to Strangers. Oxford University Press.

Trinh, A., Nguyen, N., Berger, J., Desai, U., & Lane, S. (2017). Cultural differences in France, Germany, Greece, India, the USA, And Vietnam. Copyright 2017 by Institute for Global Business Research, Nashville, TN, USA, 171.