Culture | Évite ces faux pas culturels en France !

[Music] Welcome to this new episode of Olala French Podcast. The podcast that allows you to improve your French as well as better understand France, French people and French people as well as their culture. Serve yourself a good cup of tea, coffee or hot chocolate and let's go. Bad poly, irrespective, too much, don't be like Emily in Paris. It's the perfect example not to follow to integrate well in France. French people may seem cold and mean but if you behave in the right way with them, if you accept French culture and you integrate their cultural codes, everything will go well. There are things to do and not to do in France. Gestures, words that may seem bad poly or irrespective and you have to know them. Hi, my name is Manon for Olala French Course and today I'm going to teach you to integrate well in France and say the cultural codes that you have to avoid doing. But before that, let me tell you something. You don't understand the familiar vocabulary, the Argo and the Verlan and that poses a big problem for you to understand French is integrated in France. In my program La French Tech, I help you master French but also the familiar French, spoken, the Argo and the Verlan. Discover a concrete method to finally understand authentic French. In semi-autonomies, you progress in your rhythm while being guided and corrected by a native and certified teacher. Imagine you finally understood and integrated in your conversations with native French. Now test my program La French Tech for free. You can find the link in the description. Don't be bad poly in France. Polytheism is a very important value for French people. We don't like people who are bad poly. The current will be very bad with French people if you are bad poly. However, I agree with you, the French themselves are not always poly. But if you want to integrate well in France, you must be poly. Here are a few basics of polytheism to absolutely do when you are in France. Say "bonjour" as soon as you enter a store or a public establishment. And say "bonne journée, au revoir" as soon as you leave a store or a public establishment. If you call someone in the street or in a store, always start your sentences with "bonjour, excusez-moi". Always say "s'il te plaît" when you ask for something and "merci". Use "vous" and "pas tu" with the people you don't know or very little, especially in a formal context. Don't use the imperative with someone you don't know or very little. I have already heard people say "répétez, s'il vous plaît?" Yes, that's good, there is "s'il vous plaît". But the imperative "répétez" is quite rough. Ask rather a question. "Pouvez-vous répéter, s'il vous plaît?" It's more polite. "Ne pas mal se comporter au restaurant en France". We often say that the client is king, but not in French restaurants. French restaurants are particular. There are a lot of cultural codes and polities to be respected. We must address the server or the server in a certain way. Here are some tips to not look disrespectful in a restaurant in France. Don't call the server "garçon", it's no longer in France. To address the server or the server, say "s'il vous plaît" or "excusez-moi" and formule your request. If your dish doesn't suit you or isn't good, I admit that it's quite delicate to send a dish to the chef. Try to find a fair environment if your dish is really cold or not good. You can ask whether it is heated or changed. But be very polite in your request. Don't start sending your dish for a rather important reason. In general, the restaurant's staff doesn't like that. Make the effort to speak a little French. It's known that the French are attached to their French language and love that we make the effort to speak French in France. It's not good to see a stranger arrive in France and address only in their language without making the least effort to say a few words in French. Of course, we don't expect you to be bilingual in French, but here's what you can do. It's already important that you know basic French words or phrases. "Bonjour", "revoir", "bonne journée", "merci", "s'il vous plaît", etc. It's normal that you can't speak everything in French in France. But if you can't say something in French, don't go directly to another language. Excuse yourself and explain yourself. The French will understand and they will see that you made an effort to speak French and they will make an effort to speak in your language. It's winning, winning. If you make an effort, even small, the French will make an effort. Don't speak too strongly in France. The French appreciate discretion. It is therefore preferable to keep a low voice in public establishments. It's bad to see in France to cry or to speak very strongly during a discussion or on the phone. We don't like people who have to be noticed or who are too much in France. If you are in a public place in France, in a normal way, without crying, adopt a soft voice and tone to address the French. A too aggressive tone can be misinterpreted by a Frenchman. Don't ask a question too discreet to a Frenchman. There are topics that you have to avoid dealing with the French. Especially if you don't know them or very little. Intimacy, religion, money and politics. Intimacy is all that brings to life love and sexual. It is generally not a subject that we easily deal with. Only with very close friends. France is a laïc country. Religion is considered as something part of private life. It is clean to everyone. We don't ask the religion of someone in France for respect of private life. Money is a very delicate subject in France. We don't ask someone how much they earn or how much their house or car costs. And politics is complicated. French people talk a lot about politics among themselves, but it is a subject that can often end in disagreements or disputes. Avoid it. I advise you not to talk about subjects like life, religion, money and politics with French people. Except if they are your friends or you trust them. Don't criticise France. It is a big paradox. French people love to criticise their own country. But they hate that foreigners hate France. Yes, I know, it's very contradictory, but that's how it is. So if you speak French and they criticise France, listen to what they say, but don't start criticising France too. It would be a bad view and they could get away. Thank you for watching this podcast. If you like my podcast and you want to support me, you can give five stars to the Holala French Podcast. See you soon for new adventures. In French, of course.