A good neighbor is someone / Un bon voisin est quelqu'un qui
ChaLing - 08:51pm Oct 20, 2004
Looking over the responses for a good neighbor, I noticed that the French and the American completions were very similar, although discreetness seemed like a bigger deal for the french than for the americans. For some reason that reminds me of my high school french teacher telling us about when she lived in paris, the concierge of her building would bring her the mail and tell her all about what was in the contents of postcards that she recieved...
Megan - 07:56am Oct 22, 2004
Yes, the responses seem pretty similar although I also noticed that on the American side some people expressed the desire that their neighbors leave them alone, do not complain, etc, which didn't really appear on the French side, at least not to the same extremity (discret, etc).
Aparna - 09:09am Oct 22, 2004
I also noticed that Americans seem to have a closer relationship with their neighbors and truse them with taking care of their house, etc. The French seem to prefer it if their neighbors are more discrete.
Audrey - 10:31am Oct 22, 2004
Je ferai la même remarque que vous concernant les réponses, elles sont assez similaires. Un bon voisin est quelqu'un de serviable (qui est là quand on a besoin de lui) , a qui ont parle , qui ne fait pas de bruit. Pourquoi pas de l'amitié entre voisin, mais pour les français c'est surtout la discrétion qui prime.
a - 11:18am Oct 22, 2004
Les français et les américains disent uniquement des choses positives sur leurs voisins. On remarque une différence : les français utilisent des adjectifs et les américains des actions. Les américains ont une image plus conviviale de leur voisin que les français. Pourquoi cette différence ?
Adil - 11:27am Oct 22, 2004
C'est drôle mais je crois qu'il suffit de regarder la longueur des réponses des étudiants français pour voir que chez nous, un bon voisin doit être "petit", discret. Alors que chez vous, il y a plus de convivialité.
Jorge - 05:20pm Oct 23, 2004
To respond to Adil's and A. Piquet's remarks: I think the reasoning behind this is the quarters in which we live in - you have to take into account that the students on the American side (for the most part) live in dormitories or some other sort of mass-housing where we are in very close proximity to our peers and colleagues. If I'm not mistaken (and please correct this assumption otherwise), most of the students from Paris II live at home. This inevitably implicates the interactions on a day to day basis: since the students at MIT are away from their family and friends for long periods of time, friendships with neighbors and colleagues are the most meaningful and interactive relationships they can have while at college, whereas the students from Paris II live with their families and can interact with their friends and peers (who don't necessarily live close to them) without having to befriend their neighbors. Looking at it this way, the students at Paris II don't really need to make relationships with their neighbors, whereas the students from MIT do in order to live in comfort and peace with their neighbors. This observation is, of course, based on an assumption, and probably doesn't make sense if it's not true. Anybody else think otherwise?
Xiaojie - 10:49pm Oct 24, 2004
To some extent, I disagree with Jorge's observations. To me, at least, it is just as important to make friends with my neighbors at home as at school. I am not sure of this, do people in Paris mostly live in apartments? If so, then the noise concerns that American students have in dormintories are just as valid for the French students. I have to agree with Adil, that the American view of a good neighbor is a bit unfair, because it expects the neighbor to be quiet, while the resident is allowed to be noisy. It seems to me that Americans want tolerant neightbors, and the French want discrete neightbors.
GERSENDE - 08:40am Oct 25, 2004
... un bon voisin peut être serviable mais il doit aussi être tout simplement aimable lorsqu'on le croise sur le palier, c'est un sourire, un "bonjour", "est-ce que ca va", pour moi ca suffit, car des services , on en demande "a priori" rarement à son voisin. Je ne pense pas que l'on puisse parler d'amitié comme à l'école car bien souvent, nos voisins sont différents de nous, par rapport à l'âge, au travail, au milieu social, aux centres d'intérêts...
(Deleted - 08:24pm Oct 25, 2004
I agree with the others that Americans seem to expect actions and services from their neighbors whereas the French just expect the usual formalities - saying hi and bye.