A rude person is someone / Une personne impolie est quelqu'un
Angela - 01:16am Oct 22, 2004
I found the differences between the American and French responses to be interesting and telling. The Americans focused primarily on how one treats others - respect and caring. Second was manners. However, the French were primarily focused on manners, and second came respect for one another. Furthermore, the French students had a rather unique response - "mal eleve," which indicated poor upbringing, bad education, etc. The focus by the French was on how well one has learnt the social norms, while the focus of the Americans was respectful interpersonal interaction.
At first glance this seems to indicate that Americans are more concerned with a person's character than with their conformance to social norms, when determining whether someone is rude. While this seems like a worthy ideal, it is perhaps impractical in day-to-day interactions? On the other hand, perhaps this means that Americans would likely be more forgiving and willing to give the benefit of the doubt to someone who seems to be acting rudely. Perhaps we expect that same understanding in return when we go abroad, leading to the commentary in the article "Americains sont-ils adultes?"
GERSENDE - 11:24am Oct 22, 2004
Je suis assez d'accord avec votre propos dans la mesure où effectivement les français s'attachent beaucoup plus aux normes sociales que les américains. Les américains préfèrent la franchise mais la franchise a ses limites, surtout en entreprise ! Un salarié ne peut pas répondre comme il veut à son patron, que ce soit aux Etats Unis ou en France. Effectivement, les français emploient souvent le terme "mal élevé", car la politesse découle de l'éducation. Mais les Français jouent la dessus et sont parfois hypocrites. Je pense personnellement, que hypocrisie ou pas, la politesse est indispensable pour faire quoique ce soit dans la vie et se faire un minimum respecter.
patricia - 11:30am Oct 22, 2004
les américains et les francais ont une vision très différentes de ce qu'est la politesse. Cela vient sans doute du fait de l'éducation qui n'est pas du tout la même en France qu'aux Etats unis. Nous n'avons pas la même façon de réagir. Cela vient aussi certainement du fait des histoires respectives de nos pays. En effet les états unis sont moins encrés dans les traditions que nous.
Jorge - 07:42pm Oct 23, 2004
I definitely noticed the differences among the two sides - it seems that the French put a great emphasis on level education. It appears that rudeness comes with a lack of education, whereas on the American side (as Angela mentioned) it's a lack of appropriate character that defines rudeness. I think that it is very possible for someone to not have an education yet be very polite...it is their consideration for others that makes them rude.
Angela - 12:43am Oct 26, 2004
This idea of our ideas of politeness being rooted in our traditions is interesting. Perhaps, as the United States is an immigrant nation, we have less common traditions and thus emphasize not cultural heritage, but more general conceptions of what makes a respectful person. So, a question for the French is this: do your immigrant populations have different ideas of the meaning of politeness, or is there an assimilation to the French cultural values? Are you seeing any shifts in your notions of polite behaviour as your population becomes more heterogeneous?
Evans - 01:26am Oct 26, 2004
I like Angela's idea for the differences in our perception of politeness.
Esther - 02:48am Oct 26, 2004
I agree with Evans in that Angela brings up a good point. I'm curious as to what others think.
ChaLing - 10:16am Nov 4, 2004
Often if you ask Americans what words come to mind when they think of the French people, they will immediately say "rude" or "snobby", and the French, when asked about Americans, will say "rude" or "uncouth". What do you guys think about this? We obviously have cultures that understand what politeness is...