Frank Gröninger is from Mannheim (a city that is only 1h30 east of the Moselle).
He has lived in France for almost 30 years and for all these years, he has had plenty of time to discover the many cultural differences that exist between the two countries.
His book on the subject called “Douce Frankreich” is still available. France Bleu advises you.
Like all Germans, he sometimes has a little trouble understanding why the French never say things directly!
Wouldn’t the French be a little fake?
No, they are especially afraid of hurting but for a German, it’s hard to hear!
Extract :
Yes but no !
President Macron has often been mocked for his “at the same time” expression. This expression didn’t really shock me, because it reflects a very French way of speaking, of remaining vague, of not being too direct.
Often I was struck by the following sentences in a discussion:
– It’s not that it’s wrong, but…
– Not really,
– Yes but, well…
or even better:
– “Yes but no”
Why not simply say: it is false?
“The Germans you are too direct, too hard, it shocks me” I am always told.
When we are invited to friends who live in the suburbs and it took us almost an hour and a half to get there because of the works, we rather say „well, it’s not next door“, because to say „damn, you live far“ would be too direct.
To say of a woman “she is not ugly” with a tone of admiration avoids going too far by saying “she is beautiful”.
What has always struck me in the French language is that there is no real adjective for something that is the opposite of expensive, like billig in German or cheap in English.
There is the negation: “it’s not expensive”.
It’s not given even means that something is expensive.
It’s cheap, doesn’t have the same meaning as it’s a bargain and the English word c’est cheap doesn’t necessarily mean price, but quality.
So when we eat something that is delicious we can obviously say: it’s good!
But most of the French go through the negation:
„It’s not bad, is it?“, with the little „eh“ which calls for confirmation.
Here is a small list with its translation:
it’s not hot = it’s freezing
he is not tall = he is tiny
it’s not bad = it’s great
she is not thick = she is anorexic
It’s not bad = it’s delicious
And when you ask a Frenchman for a little more enthusiasm, what is his answer: “What do you want? Amazing, great?” We’re not American either!
