French Culture vs. American Culture: Key mindset differences according to research!

Give this post a 'like' if you geeked out until the end :)

As a French I must say I don't agree with what you describe... For exemple : explicit vs implicit : I totally disagree. I would even say that we usually say what we think even more often than we should XD. What is true is that we use a lot of 2nd degree and sarcasm, but not when it comes to work. About punctuality, most of the people I know, including myself, are just pissed when peoples are late. And if a train has more than 15 min delay it's like a personnal outrage for most of us ahaha. And about what concerns the relationships at work, hierarchy etc... I would say it depends a LOT of where you work. I am a 3D graphist and the companies I used to work with are a way more like what you say about american companies. We call the bosses by their names and everybody says "tu" to everybody. It's true we take a lot of breaks though, we like our coffee and cigaret, and most of the time the bosses join us there and have small talks with us.

Great talk, im traveling extensively through France. If i had to sum it all up - know your role and stay in your place 🙂

Being American I really hate the hierarchy thing. I like to think of myself as unique--not convetional, not a typical American. Yes, I know, how American that attitude is. Lol.

Where's your beret? With that striped shirt. 😄😉

I have lived in many countries including the USA and France. I find the French extremely frivolous and indecisive. They do not have a timeline or a deadline. Everything is super-slow and casual. I find the French work culture absolutely frustrating.

I disagree that the Aussie/NZ/USA style is more explicit, I find it is ONLY more explicit in a work context in relation to a task. In any other context particularly friendships or social life, it is implicit and very hard to read with no consistency or continuity. There are also a lot of promises made like "Let's do this again I will ring you" with no intention of following up at all, which is implicit as it's not honest feedback on the evening or a shallow interaction. I am fully bilingual in both, having grown up in a Francophone country with a French-speaking family but having lived in Australia all my adult life. I will take Francophone communication as my emotional preference but the Anglo style for my task-related preference.

I think french culture matches my personality, Bro I've been living in the wrong country haha

America is a continent. Could you please add arrogance to the list of characteristics of the United States people? I want to emphasise that I consider them arrogant rather than ignorant, but this is my opinion.

Old American businessman here. This is one of the best videos I have watched on the differences between the two cultures. I regularly help foreign business people understand how to operate in the US. I am going to recommend to my colleagues and clients that they watch this video. Good job!

As an American, specifically United States, citizen born & raised I can certainly agree that you have it down pretty well on the American side. I don't assume or know anything about France or the people, but I can't help being surprised by some of the comparisons. Not in a bad way, just that it's unexpected. I don't know what the French truly think of America or the people (in the US), but I know quite a large number of Americans genuinely admire France and the people there. Though I couldn't tell you how many do so based on stereotypes as opposed to genuine experience & understanding, I suspect the former is higher. Love your video, warm regards.

You are so funny & adorable!! I am really enjoying your interesting videos!! And they have made me appreciate my country, America, even more!! Thank you!!

But you were correct about relationships part and all.

I’m sorry but you’re talking about such a small minority in America work wise with the deadlines and etc. that’s ONLY corporate America. Very small.

One thing the majority of ppl in the USA hate is Left wing woke ideology..that's what iv noticed..I don't blame them it's suede science

It's not like that here in Kentucky..USA is home of the subcultures

I went on retirement in 2020, after almost 40 years of working for a U.S. employer in France and Belgium, and with a number of American supervisors. So I guess I was fortunate enough to enjoy the best of both work environments. On the American side, I did appreciate the "flat hierarchy" attitude, having a more direct and simple relationship with my supervisors, and the opportunity to show what I was worth. That allowed me to have a real career, internally, from a relatively subordinate, low pay position, when I started, to one of the highest positions that a local employee could hold, with a very decent salary, when I retired last year - which quite frankly would have been much harder to achieve in a traditional French work environment. But at the same time benefiting from all advantages of the French social protection system (you know, five-week vacation, free healthcare...... but I commonly and willingly worked over the legal 35-hours workweek).
The two most important remarks on this video are, according to me, are: 1) in France we work to live, not the reverse. I know this is very common place, but so true. And that's why I enjoyed working for a U.S. employer but in Europe (I had the opportunity to transfer to the U.S. with a green card 20 years ago but I knew what it meant in terms of professtional vs private life balance, so I diplomatically declined the offer). 2) in France there are many rules and laws but people find ways around them. This is also very true. In that aspect the implicity of the French language does help.

I see so many contradictions in everyone's observations here, so I have the impression that all the distinctions between American and French culture is superficial and open to individual interpretation. As humans, we have much more in common than not. I'm retired after 40 years of professional work and I've seen all of the supposed "French culture" exhibited here in US workplaces, it all depends on the company, the state it is in, the people and community, etc. Perhaps the difference is that French culture is more iconic (but also responding to change, albeit more slowly) - being a delight for culture buffs, it is one of the commodities the French have to sell, but it is arguable that these ways of living don't exist in the US and elsewhere. And oddly, younger French people seem to be drawn to American culture, even as they critique it. Perhaps you can compare certain corporate business cultures and government institutions between countries, but it doesn't mean you can't live the way you like in the US which has an near-infinite number of subcultures and still values family life strongly. Also, I don't believe that a French person would misinterpret a foreigner who uses the word "interesting" in English or even French, so much of communication is non-verbal. Understatement and exaggeration is not exclusive to English. I have heard French people say "not bad" when they were really saying "pretty good", and "WOW" and "perfect" when they really just wanted to be encouraging. The people I found hardest to interpret were the English. Two peoples separated by a common language. Hahaha!

Hello I am Hector Aguilar from Cancun Mexico I love learn french with your videos I must say Ive got a question why you cal USA like AMERICA...... America is from Argentina to Canada in Latinoamerica we realy hate when tthe people in USA call themselves America I want to know what country in Europe call themselve Europe???? then USA why do that ??????

I think Americans and the French have a lot more in common than either of us like to think. First, both are historically expansionist and militaristic, but more than that, no other people have so much pride. This is why they can't be friends, even though we're very similar.

I think that both also value superficial beauty a lot more than most.

Appreciate your videos but you are completely wrong about Americans being direct. They are the ultimate definition of beating around the bush and making everything saccharin. HIGHLY implicit, for 99% of people.

Charles de Gaulle wasnt a noble, fake nobility. He was from Netherlands and they used "De" as a bourgeois thing 😊

The big difference between France and the USA its Football ⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️

MedQes of Athlets

As an American, no, people do not often say what they mean. They're more likely to drop hints as to what they mean and then count on you to pick up the clues. It's one of the most frustrating things about our culture.

Filipinos have a very similar work attitude with the French. It must be the Latin/Catholic influence. While we do not take a vacation collectively in August, we have holidays sprinkled all throughout the year and Christmas season in the Philippines starts in September when productivity just drops significantly because the entire country is already in holiday mode. Just like the French, Filipinos NEVER SKIP LUNCH. If you go and try to hail a cab at 12pm, cabs will just ignore you because they are about to take their lunch break. Just like the French, Filipinos are implicit with their language. You have to read between the lines to see what’s not being said. If you are not familiar with the culture and speak the language, you’ll easily get left out.

French, and Latin culture in general, is something I’m interested in due to the amount of details and similarities I resonate with.

Ahh I wish you chose Kiwi / Aussie culture, American work culture sounds awful, long hours and short holidays not for me.

Nice explanation

I'm disappointed in this comment section. No one has called you a babe yet so I will!!

What are you saying? Qad vs non-qad?

As someone taking some communications courses as part of my Bachelor's in Psychology, this was a great lesson, reinforcing a lot of what i learned in Human Communications...thank you

Tu as peut être entendu parlé du démographe Emmanuel Todd. Il a étudié les systèmes familiaux à travers le monde. Ca rejoint un peu ce que tu présentes ici.

very interesting, thanks

I'm not sure I'm getting your point relatively to the explicit vs implicit communication styles. In my experience, North Americans use hints and indirect communication a lot while the French will tell you more explicitly (sometimes bluntly) what they mean. I am acutely aware of that because I don't do well with hints (even by French standards). Most of the time, I have no idea people are trying to tell me something potentially upsetting because THEY'RE NOT ACTUALLY TELLING ME (ugh). If you consider I absolutely must do X else you'll be super pissed, don't tell me "great job; you might want to look into doing X". Tell me "do X", goddammit.

You can rise up the hierarchy in the United States. HA

ngl i would like to live in french

France was considered the "daughter" of the Catholic Church. 20% of the people in the US have pilgrim ancestry. They went to America to escape the Catholic Church. Having visited France in 2017 after thinking for most of my life that I was enamored of that country, I found myself literally gagging when I was there. They worship the senses, and themselves. Narcissistic. Not saying that these things are not evident in American culture as well, but in France, it is glorified. Having become a born again Christian in 2013, I found during my trip that I was incapable of enjoying almost anything there......except maybe sorbet!

I would like some French pudding please.

I've been watching Emily in Paris and it's made me even more curious about the French cultural differences. I love cultures in general.Just fasinating.Thanks for your informative and entertaining video.🙂

I think some of this is too generalized.

I met this girl whose from France and I want to know how different she is from what I live in (if that makes sense)

What does that word "cad" (sp?) actually mean?

I wonder if I could survive in the US.. lol
My American husband might have a shock here . There are good points in Murca I want in France

this video should explain cultures and system before Covid-19. Who knows what will happen after

I have a frustrating experience. Not knowing where to begin or hitting a plateau can feel demoralizing and make it hard to hit the books and study like you know you should…Having friends from other cultures makes me more creative. In fresh ways about space and how people create their own world and environment. It is best way to connect between creative thinking and cross-cultural relationships

This is exactly the kind of information I was looking for, well done! Can you do more like this?

Convinced with most of the points except implicit/explicit thing 🙂

Very Interesting. I have worked for the US federal government - it’s a subset of the US that in many ways works more like French culture than US commercial companies.

Well, I've just decided I must be French and nobody has told me ;)