Ask a frenchman

[manub]

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A follow-up question: What do you do when those clowns go on strike all the time and none of your public services are running at all?

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Several solutions: car pooling, bikes, taxis, work from home, and the best solutions of all: not going to work that day!

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Also, with all the controversy and criticism here in the US about illegal immigration (mostly from Mexico), do you care to comment on France's own immigration clusterfk? It seems the French attitude and treatment of North African immigrants is worse than the Mexican experience in the US. Can we tack this one up to pride as well? Is this basically the French being French, like "Manny being Manny"?

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I'm not very familiar with the U.S. immigration policy, but I think it's pretty similar to ours. Immigrants are not welcome here, unless they are something the country needs or are political refugees. Illegal immigrants are being deported back to their country. There have been quite a few scandals about that: young kids, or elderly people who've been in France for decades, who were being deported. Our new president and immigration minister have a very strict, zero-tolerance policy in mind and they clearly want to enforce it.

For example we have a law that we call the "rapprochement familial" ("bring families together"), which allows legal immigrants to have family members enter France and stay. Since some families were using this to allow non-relatives to enter the country, the conservative government wants to instigate DNA tests to ensure that these people are indeed related. It caused an uproar amongst liberals.

EDIT: I'm going to bed (3:30am here), please keep posting your questions and I'll answer them tommorrow. G'night all.

[Golden_Rhino]

Is the Dreyfus affair still a big deal over there? Do old guys get pissed off when they talk about it?

[The Bus Driver]

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Is the Dreyfus affair still a big deal over there? Do old guys get pissed off when they talk about it?

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Richard Dreyfus? How about Jerry Lewis? Let's hear about how awesome Jerry Lewis is.

[eviljeff]

what are some of the biggest concerns and most polarizing issues in France today?

[dogsballs]

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You are right about country people being nicer and more welcoming than city people. This is particularly true when you compare parisians with non-parisians.


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You're obviously non-parisian [edit dogsballs = -1 on this now I read further down]. I've always found parisians to be pretty cool & friendly people (except occasionally in the central/tourist parts).

btw, I remember playing vs you in a couple PStars tournaments and remember you were one of the chatty ones.

[dogsballs]

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except for not being the slightest bit courtiest about blowing smoke in your direction, i find the french very nice people. especially the country folk. but in the u.s. the city dewllers are not as friendly here as well.

how do the french and other europeans manage to keep their public transportation running right on time. when the u.s. cant even get it close.

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practice. It gets used a lot.

[adios]

It looks like I'll be taking an unexpected trip to France between Christmas and New Years. I spent about two weeks in France many moons ago. I didn't and don't speak much French. I was accompanied by someone who spoke French but at times not knowing French that well was a problem. Not sure what it's like today. I'll be flying into Paris and I'll do some sight seeing. Then to visit someone in the French countryside. Any tips, info about picking up enough French to get by greatly appreciated. Any other info greatly appreciated for a USA resident that hasn't been there in a very, very long time.

[Iconoclastic]

Are you descended from any nobility?

How do you feel about French men depicted as flaming homosexuals in America?

[manub]

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Are you descended from any nobility?

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No. like 99% of the population, I come from a long line of french peasants. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

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How do you feel about French men depicted as flaming homosexuals in America?

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They are? Please give me examples of this. First time I've heard of such a cliché (I know the french = coward, french = dirty, french = arrogant ones and so forth.).

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It looks like I'll be taking an unexpected trip to France between Christmas and New Years. I spent about two weeks in France many moons ago. I didn't and don't speak much French. I was accompanied by someone who spoke French but at times not knowing French that well was a problem. Not sure what it's like today. I'll be flying into Paris and I'll do some sight seeing. Then to visit someone in the French countryside. Any tips, info about picking up enough French to get by greatly appreciated. Any other info greatly appreciated for a USA resident that hasn't been there in a very, very long time.

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Like in most other countries, if you show up speaking a little of the local language, it is always extremely appreciated.

Try some onlines courses like http://www.easyfrench.net/ . Ideally, find yourself a real tutor for real life discussions though. French grammar is a bitch so if you have no intentions of really learning the language you'd want to stick to the basics.

Also feel free to join in the discussions on clubpoker.net (the french poker forum), or in the 2+2 francophone forums, it could help.

[diddyeinstein]

I agree with much of what you said concerning the French women, i.e. the grass is always greener. I liked the elegance alot, and found a high proportion of the women there attractive. (Like 6/10 or 7/10 at least mildly attractive) However, I couldn't help but notice how badly they age. Why no MILFs in France?