Jennie's post at ielanguages (that I still can't load and neither can B on his PC! : server not responding) about French identity, hearing about the debate on France Inter, and attending the birthday party Saturday night have made me think about what being French looks like for someone from the outside (foreigner).
If the government wants to make everyone take a civic education class that's anything like the one I had to take for my Contrat d'Assimilation, no wait, Contrat d'intégration, it's a big joke and a big waste of time.
In my opinion, they'd have much better results integrating everyone, French and foreigners alike, if they did the following:
• teach everyone to dance the Madison. Very very important for weddings and birthday parties.
• make them watch a couple Coluche and Les Inconnus sketches
• teach them the lyrics to "Mexico" by Luis Mariano (also very important so you can sing along at group events with a DJ and people over 40)
• make sure they are familiar with some of the most famous ads (Mère Denis, Pliz...)
• test to make sure they know which French car maker makes the Megane, C3, and 405.
What else?
There aren't any videos that show how to cut different kinds of cheese, but that's very important. There will always be an apéro. Always. (So don't forget that when you invite people to your place). I think a review of who's who for TV/music/politics would be good too: you have to know Yves Montand, PPDA, David Pujadas, Jack Lang, Eric Zemmour
What do you think is essential knowledge to successfully integrate French culture?
6 comments:
great post! But I'm sure you missed out johnny halliday there ;o) The greatest French cheese of them all.
I think there should be a module 'how to know when you should give up and shrug instead of fight french admin'. That would be a huge module to revise for the test!
Also, I wouldn't allow anyone under the age of 25 to take the test. Being young in France is seen as a defect - even bosses are given extra money if they employ an under 25 - instantly adding to the notion that the young are a burden.
hehe love it! i think perfecting the je m'en fous/tu veux que je fasse quoi? gallic shrug should be part of any french integration course too.
I think your ISP just hates my site. :( I've noticed sometimes my blog gets slow and takes a while to load because of Wordpress, but I've never had problems with the rest of the domain. c'est bizarre...
Michel Sardou and his Irish lakes seem to come up at all the parties I go to:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l11GyqVu_-o
I am enjoying being home this week and knowing all the words to all the songs on the radio for a change!
I fully agree with everything you posted and everybody's comments.
One thing to add -- Raspberry blowing as an answer to a question should also be included.
You must learn to be an a**hole to get what you want.
You must accept the fact that you will have to climb over people in the metro instead of having them scoot over and that if you are waiting in line and move up 2cm, the person behind you will gladly take this as a cue to move up too.
Hmmm... I could think of a million things!
I forget that everyone should have to watch La Grande Vadrouille with Louis de Funès and Le Père Noël est un ordure
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