Are the French Really Rude?

Ah the city of Paris, the city of love. For some reason people look at this city and get one of a few thoughts, most people think of beauty and some people think of not wanting to go there because they think that people are rude. I had the great luck of getting to travel to Paris for two weeks a while ago. I have to admit I was nervous, as I had heard, like so many people that they don't like Americans and are rude. But I was also very excited as I couldn't want to see everything that Paris had to offer. What I didn't know was that all my fears were for nothing, once I got over there I noticed a few things that seemed to be a pattern. I knew hardly any French, I could ask a few things, "Where is the bathroom?", "Where am I?", "Do you speak English", and "please" and "thank you". This does not seem like a lot to know if you are traveling overseas, but I was with a group of people and some of them knew how to speak French so I wasn't too worried. Once I got there I was nervous and didn't want to venture out on my own, but I got more comfortable and started to do things by myself. Yes this young girl that knows no French and was in a different country for the first time was going it alone.

Here is was I discovered. As long as you are nice and have a polite additude then you have nothing to worry about. The key is remember that you need to treat them with respect and respect their customs, don't complain because many cafes close down at certain hours or if service in a restaurant isn't as fast as you are used to, they are used to sitting and relaxing more than some countries when they eat, which I found to be a nice change of pace. But the key and this one is big is even if you speak hardly any French or no French try, there were some times when I didn't bother trying and people were somewhat nice or rude. But I noticed that whenever I tried, even if I failed they might have laughed a little but they were generally nice and very helpful. And if I asked "Do you speak English" in French then they usually were happy to nod and help me with whatever I needed. For many people they don't like going to places where they live to find that someone from another country is visiting and not speaking their language, I have seen it many times in America. Remember that the French might think that way to, if you don't understand why just think of when you are standing in line and the person in from of you doesn't speak English and you get annoyed. The key is to try, and be nice about it. Doing this can really help your entire experience in Paris. Granted you will find that people are just rude, but that is true of anywhere that you go, so chalk that up to some people are jerks.

I was very nervous about my trip, but found that all the horror stories that I had heard where just things that many people said but I had yet to actually talk to anyone that had been that had a horror story about the how the people treated them. If you do know of someone that has a bad story try and think was it just a one time thing so most of the people were nice? Or perhaps did they not speak French or can they sometimes be rude without knowing it? Manners and effort can go a long way to helping any vacation no matter where you are going, just food for thought.