American and French / Française et américaine

Hi Gwenn,
I think you are right on in your analysis.  At times in France my friendliness has been rebuffed, and I’ve wondered what I have done wrong. ? ? ?  But I must confess, too many times when I have actually started a friendship with someone in France, I somehow have let it drop.  =-(  I’m too superficial.  I am aware of this and work on it. 

La vie est compliquée, non?  (to use an American expression in French!)

-Madeline, who always enjoys your videos, painting lessons and observations in both languages

Though these things maybe can be said to be true about some people, I just tend to shy away from blanket statements about people as a whole. You know my perspective is probably colored a bit by my utter love of France (yet I am not as intimately involved as you, since you grew up there.)I never experienced anything but kindness from the French and in some respects, I felt I fit in better there. But I will also say, I know loads of tough American coconuts to crack and plenty that aren’t superficial in the least. Maybe we are all best served by being open to one another (whatever each others’ ways of being are cultural or otherwise.)I find that earnest, genuine kindness goes over well in cultures the world around.

The book sounds interesting and surely has some points that have helped you to feel you understand those cultures and yourself better, which is wonderful. Just like your friend Flo, though we do best if we remember that we are all individuals with our own special set of quirks and idiosyncrasies colored by our history, culture, and perspective.

While it’s true that stereotypes can be terribly misleading and hurtful, it’s also dangerous to not acknowledge cultural differences.  If you go to another country assuming “everyone here is approximately like me” you may end up behaving in a rather insensitive manner. 

France and the US are different.  I would go as far as to say that they feel more different that the US and Saudi Arabia precisely because they seem more alike.  The subtleties can be overwhelming.  Fluency in a language is only the beginning of fluency in a culture!

Je devrais me posé la même question à part que je suis franco-italienne ^^.

@ Méissia:  S’il te plait, fais-le.  Mon ami est italiano-américain et je me demande toujours comment le mélange serait différent s’il était français aussi!