Lisa - 01:01pm Mar 8, 2006 (#1 of 6)
I
thought that the two responses were surprisingly similar. I had
expected maybe for the French students to be more polite and the
Americans ruder, but that didn't seem to be the case. There might be
smaller, more intangible differences I am not picking up on. I know
that this situation happens all the time in America (even though we
consider it impolite), does it happen often in France or is it
considered very rude?
I actually thought there was a distinguishable difference in the relative proportions of responses. While most of the Polytecniciens said that they would ask the person directly to quiet down, a substantial number of us said that we would stare/glare at them, try to ignore them, or move.
I certainly don't think we're any less annoyed by the movie-going antics.
I might venture a guess that Americans tend to be more
passive-aggressive than Europeans. But that is probably because the few
Europeans I've known have seemed very direct and assertive, while the
people I know seem to be the type to "rage on the inside and not say
anything." Probably unfair to make such broad generalizations, but I'm
still curious about what others might have to say on the subject...
I think the responses were varied because the reactions are based upon personality and not the culture of the people.
If you are an aggressive go getter type then you might be more prone to yell at the person. But if you are the quiet type then you might be more inclined to sit and hope that they calm down.
In that sense, I think that we are similar. We let the person choose their own choice of actions. No cultural bearings corner us to make the same decisions.
Maybe we are more similar than dissimilar.
Jin Kim
This
is all interesting to me because I had always seen french people as
being more subtle than the direct approach americans...in terms of
language this seems to be true, although it is different in terms of
action taken...
I have to agree with Ashley here. Although there were many similarities in the answers, I felt like the French reactions were more agressive than the American ones. Many MIT students would not do anything initially (aside from maybe looking back). Additionally, when they would do something, they would say "would you mind" or "please". Meanwhile, I felt X students were less patient and would immediately turn back and tell the people behind them to be quiet, which gives me the indication that this situation annoys French people much more than Americans.
Do you think that's a fair assessment? I personally relate to the overall French reaction much more, as I am not a patient person and would immediately tell them to shut up.
When comparing this situation with others, however, I felt
like there were a lot of times where the French reaction was much more
calm than the US one. In what situations do you think the French are
more agressive/get upset easier?
Bonjour à tous. Désolé pour ma faible participation au forum cette semaine, mais me revoilà.
Je trouve la réponse de Jin très pertinente : il faut dans ce thème s'attacher entre autre aux différences de personalités. Ainsi nous observons des réponses assez nuancées autant pour les X que pour vous au MIT.
Toutefois, je pense qu'il y a tout de même un aspect culturel à considérer et plus particulièrement les différences d'éducations dans les deux pays. Parce qu'en effet, la politesse est fortement liée à l'éducation. Pour répondre à ta question Lisa, ce genre de choses arrive rarement en France car elles ne sont pas accepté. En terme d'éducation, respecter les autres c'est quelque chose de très important ici en France!
Mon explication est la suivante. Outre les nuances dans la façon de répondre de part et d'autre de l'atlantique, il apparait clairement que l'on retrouve une pensée très tournée vers le "bien" de tous en France : on n'accepte pas le non respect du loisir de l'autre. En revanche, aux Etats Unis, je pense que c'est l'individualisme qui prédomine... y compris dans les salles de cinéma, "moi d'abord" et les autres on verra : je parle si j'en ai l'envi!
Finalement, outre les différences de personalité, cette
situation est peut-être une particularisation de la différence
fondamentale d'éducation entre les deux pays : un souci plus général en
France, plus individualiste aux Etats Unis.
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