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Francouzi jsou známí svou propracovanou kulturou stolování. Jídlo je pro ně společenskou událostí, a proto si potrpí na dodržování určitých pravidel. Například při stolování by měly být vaše ruce viditelně na stole, což symbolizuje důvěru. Nože a vidličky mají přesná pravidla pro držení, a není vhodné začít jíst dříve, než hostitel zahájí jídlo. Čeká se, že po dojedení každý poděkuje hostiteli. Během jídla je běžné, že si lidé povídají a vychutnávají každý chod.

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Francouzské Vánoce se neobejdou bez tradičního dezertu nazývaného „La bûche de Noël“. Jedná se o sladkou roládu připomínající poleno, která symbolizuje starou tradici pálení polena během zimního slunovratu. Roláda je často zdobená krémem a čokoládou, přičemž každý region má své varianty. Například v Provence bývá roláda ochucena levandulovým medem, zatímco v Alsasku může obsahovat mandle nebo ovoce. Tento dezert je oblíbený nejen kvůli své chuti, ale i díky symbolice.

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Bûche de Noël aneb vánoční polínko podle Marie-Hélène 22. prosince 2022

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Bûche de Noël aneb vánoční polínko podle Marie-Hélène | Potten & Pannen - Staněk

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Bûche de Noël, v překladu vánoční polínko, je francouzský dezert, který ve frankofonních zemích nesmí na štědrovečerní tabuli chybět. Podává se kdykoliv v době vánočních svátků. V té nejtradičnější podobě se jedná o bohatě zdobenou piškotovou roládu plněnou lahodným krémem, podobnou dřevěnému polenu. V modernějším provedení pak získává rozmanité tvary a různě barevnou glasáž. Setkat se můžete i se zmrzlinovým vánočním polínkem.

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Ve Francii je běžné, že obchody během polední pauzy zavírají. Tato tradice, zvaná „pause déjeuner“, umožňuje zaměstnancům odpočinout si a naobědvat se v klidu. V menších městech a vesnicích jsou obchody často zavřené i v neděli, což turistům může způsobit potíže. Supermarkety ve velkých městech mají delší otevírací dobu, ale stále je dobré si plánovat nákupy dopředu.

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English Translation of “PAUSE DÉJEUNER” | Collins French-English Dictionary

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English Translation of “PAUSE DÉJEUNER” | The official Collins French-English Dictionary online. Over 100,000 English translations of French words and phrases.

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Francouzi jsou známí svou elegancí a vytříbeným vkusem. I běžné každodenní oblečení působí uvolněně, ale zároveň stylově. Typické jsou jednoduché střihy a neutrální barvy. Na veřejných místech, jako jsou kavárny nebo restaurace, se od návštěvníků očekává upravený vzhled. Tento smysl pro módu je odrazem francouzského přesvědčení, že styl a elegance by měly být součástí každodenního života.

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Je známé, že Francouzi mají ke Svému jazyku silný vztah a vidí v angličtině potenciální hrozbu pro svou kulturu. Tak je vzdělávací systém ve Francii se tradičně zaměřuje spíš na gramatiku než na konverzaci, což může brzdit vývoj jazykových dovedností. národní hrdost a přesvědčení o dostatečnosti francouštiny mohou být další formy proč se někteří Francouzi vyhýbají angličtině.

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Studies show: yes, the French suck in English! To what extent school is responsible for that situation?

First, let's face it: the French have some good excuses to speak less English than some other European nations. The Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, Denmark or Norway are always the best in international rankings for English proficiency. They have the enormous advantage of having languages that belong to the family of Germanic languages such as English.

France is therefore partly excused for being late compared to Northern European countries. However, they are not excused if compared to Southern countries namely Spain, Italy or Portugal which have languages belonging to the latin family.
Moreover, the French language greatly influenced English: Shakespeare's language vocabulary contains many words of French origin inherited from the conquest of England by French-speaking Normans in the eleventh century.

Specific difficulties for French

It is this complex relationship between the French and English languages, both close and different, which explains some learning difficulties for francophone students:
The French and English being close enough, the French student tends to apply phonetic and linguistic layer. If you learn a very different language, you have to learn everything from scratch.

But with a language that has the same alphabet, it is very difficult not to apply what we already know. The French sound can be applied on a word when there is significant phonetic differences.
One area where the French often have difficulties is pronunciation. For example the fact that there are several ways of saying the same sound is particularly difficult to integrate: the French will naturally tend to say "seat" and "sit" in the same way, whereas the "i" is long and stretched in the first case and the short and released in the second.
The French language has only one pronunciation for each sound. Therefore, the French will pronounce in the same way "beach" and "bitch" or "sheet" and "shit" which may cause misunderstandings. Similarly, there are three different phonetic for "a" English ("cap", "cup", "card"), while a French child learns that there is only one way to say "a".

Pace

Another difficulty for the French student is stress and rhythm of words and phrases in the English language.
One of the biggest challenges for the French, is the accent. French language has a very different approach on this, we articulate every syllable with roughly the same force, whereas in English it is not at all the case.

Above all, you must know where to place the word stress. It is taught at the university in specialized language courses, but in high schools, where you only have a few hours per week and very heterogeneous levels, there is not enough time to go in those details.
In English, there is a lexical stress, that is to say a syllable more prominent than others.
In French, it does not really exist, the pace is completely different, and it's very hard for French students. French generally accentuates the last syllable.
The melody of the sentences is an important concept that is not necessarily learnt, but fits naturally in contact with the language.
Various scientific studies suggest that this passive habituation to a language begins before birth, when the baby is still in the womb of his mother.

The exposure to the language

After birth, informal and non-academic opportunities to learn a language in everyday environments have a role that, if it is not quantifiable, is emphasized by all specialists.
Fluency in English of parents , traveling abroad individually, or exposure to the language in everyday life and in the media are rather important factors.
The French Ministry of Education agrees with the idea that "schools can not do everything":
Countries that are most successful are the countries where there is an environment conducive to learning English, where English is important.
The oral comprehension is a prerequisite to communicate.
In Malta and Estonia, most of the students who participated in the large survey by the European Commission on the level of foreign language in Europe reported speaking English at home regularly.

Under those conditions, school is not entirely responsible for French students difficulties in English.

Subtitles

If it is difficult for the authorities to act on the use of English by teenagers at home, there are other areas where the state could contribute concretely such as implementing subtitles on television and in movies.
According to the survey by the European Commission, France is the only country with Spain and the French-speaking Belgium (Belgium was divided into three entities based on the spoken language for the purposes of the study) where TV programs and the cinema films are mainly dubbed and not subtitled.
Actually the French public is not really asking for that. A 2007 a study showed that adding subtitles could result in a decrease of 30% of people watching a program and French dubbed versions are the most dowloaded movies on the internet.

Certainly, television channels such as TF1 and France 4 began to give the opportunity to watch some American films and series in original version with subtitles (original soundtracks). But France 2 and France 3 are not allowing it yet "for technical reasons". However it was anounced that English-language films will be available in their original soundtracks on France Télévisions by the end of 2013.
Actually, the Supreme Council of Audiovisual in its missions related to "the defense of the French language", prefer to rely on "the editorial freedom of broadcasters" event though a bill proposal was made to force the chains to offer a subtitled version for all foreign programs in order to promote the development of the listening comprehension skills.

Inhibition of French students

But some factors are much deeper and less easily corrected than movie subtitle.
When speaking in English, French students are very shy compared to their foreign comrades. Is it due to education, lack of presentations and speaking in the French schools and universities?
The fact is that the French are afraid of making mistakes.
The French are not "bad at languages" as it is often said but they are afraid of ridicule. They have the greatest difficulty to engage in oral, to take risks, to trust. It's as if they preferred to calculate in advance what they have to say, or just be quiet, to avoid making a mistake. Result: they are completely blocked and unable to communicate spontaneously in a foreign language.

The specificity of the French education is echoed also in school.
French have a culture of excellence. Teachers even often corrects the student before he finished their sentence. Teachers are increasingly careful not to inhibit students but it requires extremely deep and long mentality changes.
Another factor is the prestigious history of the French language, which was the language of kings throughout Europe under the old regime. French remains today an official language in many international organizations like the United Nations and the European Union.
This perception of a language that has a special place in history is also perhaps the reason that the French students are not motived to learn different languages.
Besides, it is a hard task for teachers to have students who do not see the point and do not dare to speak.

FAQ Author: vincent Jan 08, 2015 @ 16:33

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Studies show: yes, the French suck in English! To what extent school is responsible for that situation? First, let's face it: the French have some good excuses to speak less English than some other European nations. The Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, Denmark or Norway are always the best in international rankings for English proficiency.