Author: civandic

I learned a lot during my 6-week stay in France this summer. I obviously improved my French significantly thanks not only to the intensive course at the Alliance Française in Paris but also to the numerous interactions with real Parisians. For example, during the weekends, I had the opportunity to help out in a Parish and interacted thus with many different people. I also learned many things about French culture and history by visiting numerous museums and historical sights in and around Paris, like the Louvre, the cathedrals of Chartres and Reims, and the chateaux of Fontainebleau and Chantilly. Primarily, however, the modules of the Summer Language Abroad Program and the blog posts I wrote during the summer helped me become more aware of cultural differences and how to deal with difficult situations, such as the critical incident I described in a previous blog post. In conclusion, I highly recommend that any student take advantage of the Summer Language Abroad Program at Notre Dame and thank all the people involved in the program and all the benefactors who have made this possible. 

I would like to compare France, my host country, and Germany, my home country, on two dimensions using the Hofestede Insights Country Comparison Tool, namely the Individualism and the Uncertainty Avoidance scale.  On the Individualism score, both countries score rather high, that is 71 for France and 67 for Germany. However, it is very interesting that France also has a rather high score on the Power Distance scale (68) when compared to Germany (35) or other countries that score equally high on the Individualism scale. As written in the Hofstede Insights Country Comparison Tool, a typical reflection of this high Power Distance contrary to formal obedience is the total rejection of those in power as there is no way to change by evolution but only by strikes, revolts, and revolution. I certainly noticed that in France employers and trade unions strike more often and more violently than in Germany. Similarly, I was told several times during my stay in France, that companies in France are more hierarchically run than in Germany. 

            On the Uncertainty Avoidance Scale, both countries are among the uncertainty avoidant countries; their scores are on the high end, but France scores significantly higher (86) than Germany (65). Yet again, as one can read in the Hofestede report, given the high score on Power Distance in France, which means that power holders have privileges, power holders don’t necessarily feel obliged to follow all those rules which are meant to control the people in the street. This is I think rather different than in Germany and more similar to other Latin countries. 

A couple of days ago, I took a longer train ride from Germany to France on the French TGV. All went smoothly, and it was a delightful and even relaxing trip, but then, all of a sudden, a man in our compartment started speaking very loudly while on the phone. I remember thinking that this was very rude and inconsiderate to all the other passengers. This man had to know that in Europe, on these train rides, one does take a phone call in the compartment. If the call is truly important, one should take it between the compartments after closing the doors. This man seemed to think that his phone call was so important that it could not wait for any second.

But now, I notice that this interpretation is not necessarily accurate. If I had to describe the scene more objectively, I would even say that he was talking on the phone in a rather normal voice and a foreign language. This could mean that he was a tourist and unaware of the common etiquette rules in France or Germany. If that were the case, it would certainly change my evaluation, for I would no longer consider him rude or inconsiderate but only uninformed.

The other day, I talked to somebody and asked him about what he thinks of American students. Unfortunately, I must say that his general impressions were rather negative. Indeed, he thought that most American students study less and are less educated than their European counterparts. Moreover, according to him, they particularly lack what he considers “general culture,” for example, knowledge about basic geography, world history, and the arts.

However, his statements were based on hearsay and the media rather than firsthand experience. I also found that his judgments aligned well with the stereotypes many Europeans have of Americans in general and not just the student body.