The stereotypical Frenchman appears....he's wearing stripey jumpers (blue and white), talking like Pepe Le Pew, and riding a bicycle.

During my IB (International Business) lecture today our professor talked about intercultural communication and about stereotyping.  He explained that when we try to do business with other cultures a lot of our focus is on how we are different but in actuality we are very similar.  Using the French as an example, we have borrowed a lot from their culture and they from ours.  This post is going to be dedicated to exploring the stereotypical Frenchman and stereotypical American, the similarities in our culture, and our differences.

Stereotypical Frenchman:
You may wonder, where does that image of the stereotypical Frenchman (you know; the one with the striped shirt, curly mustache, carrying a baguette, wearing a beret, with a red scarf tied around his neck, and has a bottle of wine in his hand) come from.  The origin of the typical Frenchman comes from the farmers in Brittany.  They would grow and sell onions (Onion Johnny) and ride bikes. h Other stereotypes of the French is that they are lazy, dirty, arrogant, stuck-up, rude, anti-American, and communists.  My least favorite due to a certain people from my past (aka high school) are that the French give up and are quitters due to the fact that they always surrender.

Stereotypical American:

What is the stereotypical American like??  Other cultures might answer with words like fat, loud, and complain a lot or loves guns, or my personal favorite, says oh myy gooodd all the time.  They might describe us as wearing cowboy hats and cowboy boots, holding a camera and handbag, having messy hair with an extremely wide mouth chewing gum.  They might even go so far as saying we wear safari clothes and Jesus sandals.  They think we eat junk food 24/7 and are lazy, just looking for the quickest way to get things done.  They think we are greedy and power obsessed.

Personally I find this analysis of Americans insulting but that's the way it goes and that's why they call it stereotyping.  People take a small sub sect of the group they are looking at (usually one that represents a negative side) and automatically assume that everyone is like that without even getting to know average every day people.  Personally the French people I have met are not rude, arrogant, or any dirtier than you and me.  They are different from us because of they way they are raised and they way in which they choose to live their lives but we should not look down on them for that.

Moral of the story: Don't just assume what you think you know about a culture is true until you get a chance to know them. In the words of kindergarten teachers everywhere, don't judge a book by its cover!

A tout a l'heure!
Rachel