Visual appearance is
important to the French.
No effort is too great to
make things look good:
witness the food shops in
even the poorest
neighbourhoods of a city,
always sparkling clean and
beautifully displayed. The
people, too, take pride in
looking neat and sharp;
they inspect others and
expect to be looked at.
Life is theatre, lived
much more in the public
eye - especially in the
warm Mediterranean south -
than in Anglo-Saxon
societies. And for the
visitor it's a free and
entertaining spectacle.
The France are
extremely courteous with
each other - it's not
unusual for someone
entering a restaurant to
say "Good
evening" to the
entire company - and
rather formal in their
manners. At the same time,
if they want something,
they may be quite direct
in ways that are
disconcerting for
Anglo-Saxons brought up in
the belief that it's
improper to state clearly
what you mean or feel. If
you are feeling
self-conscious about
coping with the language,
this can seem like
rudeness; it isn't. If you
observe the formalities
and make an effort to
communicate, you'll find
the French as friendly and
interested as anyone else.
As for their reputed
arrogance, the French are
certainly proud of their
culture, some-thing that
is reinforced by the
education system. Artists
and thinkers are held in
high esteem in France and
their opinions are
listened to. Even prime
ministers tend to be
literate, and are often
accomplished authors. But
in a world dominated by
commercial values and, in
addition, the English
language, the French (not
unnaturally, for their
language was once the lingua
franca of the
educated) feel this
culture is under threat.
