Family / Famille
aurelie - 07:43am Oct 12, 2004
Le mot love revient beaucoup pour les américains quand il s'agit de la famille. Pour les français le mot important revient le plus souvent. La notion de famille est différente pour les américains et les français. Les sentiments ressortent davantage chez les américains. Pourquoi observe t-on autant de différence ?
Aparna - 12:41pm Oct 14, 2004
I agree that Americans associate the word love with family, whereas the for the French, the word 'important' comes to mind. I think this is because the French depend on their family for support and associate family with other emotions such as happiness and strength. Americans also associate traditions such as Christmas with family.
Alejandro - 08:42pm Oct 14, 2004
I agree with both comments that preceded mine. I see ideas like support, love, parents, and vacations determine the feelings toward the family in The United States. The French, in contrast, mention more often the word important, although the words parents, racines, securité, soutien, solidarité, repos (all synonyms of support) in a similar proportion.
Being from México, I notice Americans tend to be more independent from their parents. They see college as the perfect opportunity to run away from their families, and hence the words vacations takes such importance. Having discussed how individualism is a positive quality for Americans, it is naturally for college students to feel for the need of "support" from their families in a place where nobody else will support them.
I'm not sure to what extent, but I have the impression that the cultures of México and France are more alike. Even young adults stay close to their families year-long and hence words like vacations don't have any presence in relation with family. Support is also not as important because we do receive support from many other people, at least compared to Americans. In the absence of those relations, the word that takes the mainstage is "importance." We tend to stay closer together to our families and we usually include in the word "family" what Americans call the "extended family," like uncles, aunts and cousins. We tend not to break relations with our families as easily as Americans do. I think it is now time to ask the French if my experience with family is similar to theirs. So, is it? Other comments?
Jorge - 01:59am Oct 15, 2004
Like my colleague Alejandro, it is difficult for me to identify myself more with the responses from the U.S. side, since I am Mexican too. I definitely identify more with the opinions of the French, despite the fact that I have inevitably seperated myself from my family and have had the opportunity to observe the American stand point.
It is interesting to notice a couple of allusions to implications within the family on the American side, like "crazy" and "problems." The French side does not contain anything like this. This may be a few people's experiences within their family, but it is something that could imply how close American's are to their family, and how important they consider them (especially since "important" didn't come up at all on the U.S. side).
rubinopablo - 11:21am Oct 15, 2004
Bonjour, je suis un étudiant argentin de l'IUP MNT, qui habite et étudie en France dépuis 2002, j'ai lu tes commantaires sur la notion de "famille" et je suis largement d'accord avec cette reflexion, car je trouve une grande similarité dans les rapports familiaux entre les latino-américains et les français.
Frances - 08:37pm Oct 16, 2004
When I see the word "vacation" in the word-association list for families, I view it more as someone thinking about the vacations they take with their families and not that a vacation would be time spent away from family. Perhaps I am misunderstanding Alejandro's interpretation though.
I agree that for many American students, going to college is viewed as an opportunity to become more independent, but I don't think that it is necessarily to "run away from" their families.
It was interesting to me that on each side, "happiness" was only mentioned once.
To be honest, just going by the lists and not adding opinions based on observation of American culture as compared to any other culture, the only significant difference I see is the American students' emphasis on the word "love" versus the French students' emphasis on the word "important." Otherwise, I think the lists really are about the same.
Marie - 07:48pm Oct 17, 2004
I agree with Frances in that both French students and American students feel the same about their families. I would even go one step further and say that "love" and "importance" are equivalents. I also found it interesting that "problems" and "crazy" were mentioned only on the American side. Is this because only American families are dysfunctional at times? Or is it because family problems are not talked about in France?
Megan - 09:28pm Oct 17, 2004
As far as Alejandro's comments on the American extended family, I agree that in the US, there is a greater emphasis on the nuclear family -- as far as the word associations, there were more references to "mother", "father", "brother", etc on the US side, where relationships between extended family can often be strained due to both relational issues as well as proximity to one's extended family. Regarding Marie's equating love with importance, I'm not sure if I agree. To me, importance seems to carry a greater obligation. Perhaps this is again due to the American emphasis on the nuclear family -- as children get older, they're supposed to break away and form their own nuclear families.
Brian - 11:17pm Oct 17, 2004
This is in reponse to Aurelie's message. I think that in America, the notion of family differs from that Europe because of our history. Americans were always moving, expanding, exploring new territory, and very rarely stayed at home back when this was happening. This is true, today, where living in such a large country means that if a company wants to relocate some of its employees, it can send people 3000 miles away and they'll still be in the same country.
Speaking from an American perspective, I was always raised to be independent. I would buy clothing and meals on my own from the age of 14. Also, in America it's considered somewhat pathetic to live in your parents' home after you graduate from college, where I know that in Italy, it's completely expected for children to remain in their family's home for some time - even for the rest of their lives.
a - 08:24am Oct 19, 2004
Je suis contente de voir que les américains, les français et les personnes venant d'amérique latine sont d'accord plus ou moins par rapport au mot famille, à l'idée que nous avons de la famille. Ce terme regroupe le mot "LOVE", mais aussi le mot "tradition" et "important". Tout ceci se rapproche, nous avons une même idée mais nous la traduisons de façon différente.
Delphnie - 09:22am Oct 19, 2004
Dans les définitions données, les américains et les français ne voient pas le mot "famille" de la même façon. Les américains définissent la famille davantage par rapport aux personnes qui la constituent : père, mère, frères, soeurs... et la comparent également à une fête (dîners en famille, Noël...). Les français quant à eux en ont une vision plus "spirituele" : ils en parlent plus dans un contexte d'aide et de soutien. Ils traitent la famille davantage par rapport à ce qu'elle leur apporte qu'en fonction de ses "composantes". Cependant, la notion amour est très présente pour les américains comme pour les français.
florence - 09:44am Oct 19, 2004
Je pense que nous avons tous la même notion de la famille, elle représente quelque chose pour nous. Nous avons dans la majorité associé les même mots comme "amour", "importants", "parents".Mais par rapport aux commentaires, je réalise que nous nos mode de vie sont différents. Les jeunes américains ne vivent pas forcément en famille à cause de leurs études ou du travail éloigné de leur parents mais ce n'est par pour autant qu'ils en sont moins attachés. Ca ne m'a pas choqué de voir les mots problèmes dans les associations alors que nous ne les avons pas mentionné. Il y a des problèmes dans toutes les familles mais pour moi cela est secondaire.
Aparna - 08:15pm Oct 25, 2004
I agree in part with Delphnie that the word family has a different meaning for the Americans and the French. For Americans, a family is centered on what its members receive from each other and share (ie traditions, love). For the French, the focus is on giving - giving help and support.
Henri - 05:54pm Oct 28, 2004
Je pense que la vision de la famille est différente dans chaque famille qui dépend aussi de l'origine de la personne. La famille représente la chose la plus importante à mes yeux, elle donne l'énergie pour aller toujours plus loin dans la vie et on veut qu'elle soit fière de nous. Aujourd'hui, la vision de la famille a changé avec les familles recomposées, un esprit individualiste s'est semble-t-il installé dans certains foyers.
S - 10:46am Oct 29, 2004
Tout à fait d'accord avec Henri! Mais je veux aborder nu autre thème, l'importance de la famille selon la culture! La culture occidentale (europe, les 2 amérique) y est très attachée, ce sont les racines... certaines cultures (par exemple les indous ou certains pays d'afrique noir) ne pleurent pas leurs morts! La disparition des êtres à une toute autre signification selon la croyance! C'est curieux de le concevoir mais tout doit dépendre de ce qu'on leur ensigne ce qu'il se passe après la mort!