Mar 122010
(asked by PDD from Vietnam)
First, I wanted to commend you on your wonderful blog! I love returning to the site to see what new information you have to offer us. It’s incredibly enlightening, even for a “halfie” (I’m half French, half Vietnamese) as myself! =P
Second, I have a question for you, though I know this might be hard to answer without some generalities. My question: I have visited the south of France (in particular Montpellier) with my family on several occasions. I’ve never noticed any dislike for Asians while visiting (though I also didn’t notice too many Asians period), but I thought I’d ask anyway. What do the French think of Asian people?
Thanks for your consideration.
I hope to hear from you soon,
PDD
Hi,
Thanks for the kind words.
It’s actually pretty hard to answer your question because I don’t feel that there’s a consensus about what the French think of Asian people.
I’m gonna try to cover all the different aspects of the topic, and if I miss some and somebody wants to jump in they can feel free.
Let’s start with the fact that most French people are pretty ignorant about Asia and Asian people, and they can’t distinguish different Asian people, or worse, different Asian countries and cultures. I feel that for most French people, Asia, and by that I mean East Asia (I know the Brits tend to think India and Pakistan when they hear “Asia”, but the French are closer to the Americans on that issue, for us “Asia” means more or less “East of India,” although technically, we’re all aware it’s actually “East of Istanbul”) is just one big blurred entity where names of countries are pretty much interchangeable, except maybe for former French colonies of course (Lao, Cambodia and Vietnam).
Thing is that most French people are very unfamiliar with Asia and Asian people. This has been getting better in the past few years, partly because of globalization, partly because of the rise of China as a prominent country.
To go on further, I’ll need to distinguish between different parts of France and different Asian countries and people.
Let’s start with different parts of France.
As you mentioned in most of France there are little to no Asian people. Of course, this is in those parts where people are mostly ignorant about Asia, but as you also mentioned, there aren’t really any prejudices against Asians beyond “they are rice eaters.”
Personally, I grew up in the South West of France, where a few refugees camps for people from Vietnam were set up after the Indochina war, so there is a significant Vietnamese minority in the area (I’d say there are more Vietnamese people than Black people in the South West of France). There may be other parts of France that are in the similar situation, I’m not too sure. There, in the South West, Vietnamese people are now a part of the local culture (don’t get me wrong, they’re still a small minority) and don’t really face any prejudice. The fact that they’re not technically immigrants may have helped, as they always were French citizens, especially nowadays, when the ones that were born in Vietnam are very old, and their children, grandchildren and even great-grandchildren are nowadays as French as Vietnamese, or even more French than Vietnamese, on a cultural level I mean.
And then we have Paris.
There’s also a significant Vietnamese community in Paris, but it has recently been overwhelmed by the Chinese community (I feel that both are kinda merged as the same community nowadays, but maybe I’m wrong, I’m not sure). There are actually, not one, but three Chinatowns in Paris!
The first and original one is very small, as it’s only two small streets in the 3rd arrondissement (rue Volta and rue au Maire) near Arts & Métiers. I don’t know the exact history of the place, but it’s basically people from that one town in China that moved to Paris about a Century ago and all settled down together in those streets. Nowadays, the descendants of those people still live there.
Then, we have the most famous one, that is south of Place d’Italie, in the 13th arrondissement (for most people in Paris, just saying “13th arrondissement” implies: “Chinatown”) I feel that it actually was the Vietnamese immigrants that started it, as there are a lot of Vietnamese people there, but nowadays it’s really the main place for Chinese people in Paris, although they don’t all live there, far from it, this is a place to shop, socialize and all.
The newer one, that has been “Chinatown” only since the 90’s I feel, is Belleville, which is actually a very diverse neighborhood as there are also a lot of African people there, but the Chinese are more and more prominent in the area.
Also, in Paris, there’s a significant Japanese population (there are about 20,000 Japanese people in France, most of them in Paris and Paris area), but the biggest difference from the other Asian communities is that very very few are actually immigrants, most of them are just expats that live in France for just a couple of years, and one cannot really talk about a community at all.
All in all, there are about 1 million Asian people in France, most of them in Paris area, most of them Chinese (I think France has the largest Chinese population in Europe), so it’s not uncommon at all to run into Asian people in Paris.
But the relationship between White France and its Asian population is strangely very different than the relationship it can have with North African and Black people.
Why?
I think it’s because the history is not the same.
The relationship between France and Africa (and the Caribbean) over the Centuries (colonization, slavery, etc.) has shaped the relationship between the people of those areas in different ways than with Asia. The different ways different cultures have shaped people’s behaviors must have played a role too. Of course, the way immigrants arrived in France plays a huge part too.
And nowadays, I’d say that the way French people interact with Asians is very strange. On the one hand, it’s true that Asians seem to experience less racism and discrimination than North Africans and Black people do, on the other hand, I feel that a bunch of French people are patronizing and condescending and generally disrespect Asian people in ways that would be deemed totally unacceptable against other minorities. It’s never violent, it’s never open, but it’s behaviors, comments, interactions that are racist, but strangely socially acceptable.
Finally, I cannot talk about this topic without talking about the strange love affair France and Japan have these days.
On the one hand we have two countries that don’t really have any kind special relationship (I’m talking on political, historical, official levels), but Japanese people (especially women) seem to be obsessed with France, and love France and move to France, etc. Of course, they have a very unrealistic view on the whole thing.
And on the other hand –and it’s a very new phenomenon- younger generations are more and more obsessed with Japan, and fantasize it, idealize it in ways that remind me of the way many Americans idealize and fantasize about France.
The reason is simple: pop culture.
Japan is a strange country on the international scene on many levels, mostly because it’s an economical (and technological) super-power, but it’s a very minor country on almost every other level. Except that there’s one domain that has been overlooked for a long time, it is its “pop cultural” influence. Nowadays, I feel that French kids are more interested in Japanese cartoons, comic books, music even than in the ones coming from the US (that was my generation, although to be fair my generation is at the crossroads).
The consequence being that nowadays the French youth seems to have an extremely positive (although sometimes unrealistic) view of Japan and Japanese people.
And while we’re on the topic of “geopolitics”, the rise of China has also an influence on French people that become more and more anti-China the same way there were anti-America not too long ago. But this is more about countries than the people. But I’m not sure what the future will bring on that issue. While there was a strong resentment against the US as a nation, it didn’t really translate against Americans as individuals, mostly because the US and Europe are still roughly the same civilization, we have roughly the same history, and while our cultures are different, they’re not that different. Things are very different with China and Chinese people (not the immigrants, the ones that live in China), we don’t really seem to have anything in common, Chinese tourists (I know Chinese tourism is brand new, so it will evolve) don’t interact at all with the French, it’s really two worlds that are colliding.
What the future has in store on that issue is a big mystery to me.
Finally, I didn’t mention anything about Korea, and I know there’s at least one Korean that reads the blog
But the thing is that the French don’t really know anything about Korea, they don’t really care either, and they don’t seem to be a country and a people that the French really think about at all… (sorry, Korean)
Haha, I agree, French don't really know much about Korea. When I was telling people I was moving there, they would always ask: North Korea or South Korea?
Just to add my small brick:
- About Japan a lot of people in my generation (80s) started by being crazy about mangas, because of the Club Dorothée TV show when we were young, and from there quite a few learnt Japonese. As far as I know it's true whether coming for Paris, South, West and East France…
- About China I noticed when I was in university that Chinese was the most popular language among young people (in foreign language universities) because of China's economic rise - students thought Chinese would be the next linga franca.
- About French general behaviour with Asian, it also seems to me that people tend to be more "patronizing and condescending", though I wonder why.
-About Japan, yes it's all over France, I was not being clear enough.
-About French people's behavior, my theory is that White people are condescending with non-White people no matter what, except that they've been told that it's bad to do it with North Africans and Black people for a few decades now, and they didn't realize that it applies to all non-White people, not just the two main minorities in France.
thanks David for this interesting and edifying post. Surprisingly, although I feel everyone is entitled to my opinion (ha), I do try and only express it when it is founded in some level of accurate knowledge. On this topic, I really have little. In the states, my little family was friends with another little family (Vietnamese) in the French school community. both of our families were single mom led (poorly constructed phrase, I know) and the other was Vietnamese. but with a strong affinity to France (like me) but for more obvious and compelling reasons. They were all fluent in French and adored Paris! well, hmmm…not sure where I was going with this so…
Your comments on white condensencion are spot on, although my experience this is not a French phenomenon … but extends to our entire race.
My unfounded opinion re: Japanese is that it isn't just pop culture related but also strongly influenced by money, materialism and the general adoration the world has for French fashion, culture and labels. And their ability to obtain them, collect them, and lust for them…
I'm not sure I understand the last part… French kids are interested in Japanese culture because of materialism and French fashion???
Okay… Question:
What do the French think about the Koreans now since we snatched the big UAE nuclear deal from Areva?
????
I gotta admit that's one of the strangest question I was asked here.
Why should French people's opinion of Korea change? Because some mega corporations steal each other some markets?
Only a few conservative reactionary fools mistake corporations for nations.
I had read/heard about the French love of Japan (and to some degree vice versa). I did a quick search and came across this which I found quite humorous and interesting at the same time - Japanese tourists arriving in Paris and being a little traumatized that the romanticized version is a bit different to reality - "Paris syndrome"! href=http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15391010/
It has to do with parents incluenfe and involvement with their kids making good grades. It just so happens that most Asian parents this generation are actually from Asia, where education is pretty important. So they bring that mentality down to their children.I have met just as many dumb Asians as every other race.
As a "Yank", I have to report my findings, on visiting both France and Japan, that there seems to be a similar level of integration of style/design in all facets of life. For me, most noticeably, is a willingness to use color (colour) in imaginative ways. In my part of the world, choices seem picked to be both least offensive, and requiring the least expense to produce. Both French and Japanese products (and construction) are often refreshing to see, including many more pastel like shades.
When it works it is great, and when it doesn't: perhaps one could say that both the French and Japanese are more willing to "suffer for fashion".
Funny how so many comments have come to talk about Korea. I'm an American living in Korea, and in my time in both Korea and France (equal, at this point), I hear almost no reference to one another.
I do know, however, there is a French community in Seoul, whereas I doubt there's much of a Korean community in Paris. Then again, metro Seoul is more than twice the size of metropolitan Paris.
Here's a board I found so that I can practice my French while living in Korea:
http://www.france-coree.net/
-SjW: Yes the Paris Syndrome is a well known issue, at least among people that care about Japan and France (but I see how the English speaking world may consider this as a "novelty")
-Andrew: As Korea and France share no history, issues, nothing, they kinda just ignore each other for the most part, and there isn't a Korean community in Paris, which doesn't mean there aren't any Koreans, I don't know the numbers but they can't be big.
Coming from Melbourne, Australia, with an extremely high Asian population, I really do notice that French people generally cannot differentiate between the looks of Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Viet and so on.
I do think however that this was probably the way that Australians also felt 20 years ago, before the boom, and to some extent a lot of elder people that grew up a 'white' Australia.
I'm not sure how long France has had a large Asian population (whether it is new or old) but perhaps in 20 years the French will, as a whole, will be more educated and willing to see the Asian community as a little less 'foreign'. You need to get to know someone before you can begin to see who they are.
Poulette, I'm afraid you misunderstood.
France doesn't have a large Asian population, and won't have one anytime soon.
The Vietnamese immigration has been over for a good 40 years, and if the Chinese immigration is still going on, it's very localized in Paris, and for the past 30 years or so, Parisians never bothered learning the difference between Vietnamese, Chinese and Japanese (which are the three significant Asian population in France), I don't think they will anytime soon (just see all the "Japanese restaurants" that are actually Chinese, and Parisians are totally clueless because they don't care.
All in all, Asian immigration in France is not comparable at all with Asian immigration in Australia.
I have always loved Japan and Japanese culture ( not because of manga books but for very different, aesthetic mainly reasons). If I remember well, France started to "love" Japan during the pre-impresionist age ( XIXth century) when the first Japanese drawings reached Paris and made a difference in painting and so opened a door to the Japanese culture. As for me, I have been interested in Japanese culture and art for a long time and I have to say I understood it ( or maybe just fancyed as understanding it ) through some excellent French books that described ,evaluated and explained Japan to the non-asian reader… Of course, Japan is so much more than just some books, still ,they were extremelly well written( I am so sorry I cannot remember the name of the French author but it was a famous expert in Japanese culture) and after reading those books I finally got a clue about some of the asian-japanese aspects that had been bothering me for ages the fascination is still there, however !
Hmm, i think my post has been edited?
I wasn't trying to compare the current immigration status of Australia with France. Obviously there is no comparison here. I was trying to highlight the similarities between the attitudes of the French today, and the way Australians dealt with a minority Asian population before we had a huge influx (in the last 15 years).
I think this is comparable.
Rosabell, I wouldn't say that France started to "love" Japan in the 19th.
I'd say that Japanese art was a fad at some point among the Parisian cultural elite of the 19th Century, just like Chinese art a century earlier (when China started to have relations with Europe, hence the word "china" to talk about porcelaine in English) and India when England and France went there.
All of those are part of the more general "orientalism" thing, but that's something that never really affected the general population, just some part of the bourgeoisie.
As far as French books about Japan are concerned, some are really good (usually real sociological books, like the ones by JF Sabouret), some are really crappy and full of clichés (I won't mention anybody not even Agnès Giard). If you want more info e-mail me as it's a little bit off topic here.
Poulette, no I didn't edit your comment, this is what you wrote. I can't edit comments, sometimes I wish I could (especially mine when I make typos). I know you're not comparing immigrations, but you cannot really compared the behavior both populations have without replacing it in the context of immigration. And if the view of Australian has changed in the past 20 years, it's because the Asian population in Australia went from slim to none in the past 20 years or so to a quite significant minority today.
But this is not the case of France, I don't see why things should change within the next 15-20 years as there is no massive Asian immigration in France, not even a significant one. The Vietnamese immigration was in the past, and the Chinese one is very localized, you won't really find any Chinese people in France out of Paris.
See what I mean?
May i know the name of the book of JF Sabouret please? Thanks
He wrote a bunch.
Here is a list on his wikipedia page:
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Fran%C3%A7ois_Sabouret
Funny… I think my family is the only chinese one in the South West of France (and my parents came from Mauritius…). Right now, Japanese culture is the most popular among teenagers with its pop culture and mangas (Japan Expo and other festivals which are no other things that big shops of Japanese goodies). Actually, France is the 2nd biggest consumer of mangas (after Japan…) but that's true that pple choose Chinese language because of the rise of China and then Japanese more for fun… (pple EXPECT me to be able to speak Chinese… but hey they don't expect this from european immigrants)
I have a lot of friends who can't tell Asian pple appart and even ask me how to distinguish Vietnamese, Chinese, Korean, Japan… Well honestly, I really don't know if I could guess who is Vietnamese, Korean.. (and the question is partly stupid because of the diversity and importance of the Chinese diaspora).
There is little racism but enven if the South West is a little more conservative than the rest of the country, I've never really felt it (Guess maybe I'm used to) except, maybe, during my childhood but then it stopped and because of my family name which reminds pple of King Kong…
Thanks for your feedback Bulleusekat.
To expand on your comment, the ability to recognized different people from the same geographical area depends mostly on where one grew up and definitely not on one's ethnic background, so even if you're Chinese but didn't grow up in Asia, it makes total sense you can't really recognize other Asian ethnicities.
The one thing I disagree with you though is about the South West being more conservative. First, politically speaking, the South West is certainly the least conservative area of France (just see the results of the last elections, and they're just an example, I'm not basing what I'm saying on those). Now maybe you didn't mean conservative politically, but more with traditionalism and such (yeah, Anglo people, know that France is not really politically divided along the lines of conservative vs liberal, although, most conservatives will vote for the parties of the Right), and while the South West can be quite traditionalist (and it's not always a bad thing), that doesn't make them racist people.
Sure, people being ignorant of your culture, will sometimes make stupid and insensitive comments about it, but they'll also be very open to it if they get the chance to learn about it.
Most of the racist people in France, can be found in the South East (Provence, Côte d'Azur) and in the North East (Alsace, Lorraine, etc). Now, don't get me wrong, not everybody is racist there, and you'll also find racist people in other areas.
Oh sorry, I made a mistake I wanted to say that I'm from the South East … (God how can I still do this…)
Hm well I met some Korean-natives, and they believed I was korean… and my mother is also mistaken for Japanese.
So we agree then…
Hi! I'm US born Japanese mix that just got back from a touristy tour of France. I loved it!
For some reason the ambiance and atmosphere reminded me of Japan (I know sounds odd and strange for a Western country) - respect and reverence for tradition and old things (unlike US which like the latest and greatest), old communities/towns/families/businesses/wineries that have been around many generations that create safe, comfy neighborhoods and familiarity and sameness and uniformity in how things have been done all along.
At the same time I felt like the French thinking and attitudes towards foreigners/unfamiliar could be very similar to the Japanese in that their national pride has caused them to go to war, restrict language use in their country to their language and discourage/ban the use/teaching of English and perhaps France's immigration policy maybe as strict and closed as Japan's.
At the same time I noticed how the French speaking African people weren't employed in customer interfacing positions like hotel reception/concierge/restaurant waiters/host but in positions like house keeping, driving vans to and from the airport.
Another difference I noticed and loved - is the c'est la vie attitude and how the French know how to enjoy life and the finer things instead of being like the Japanese who tend to be obsessed/worried and consumed by work, social status, what other's think about them, being the same or keeping up with the Joneses or in the case of the Japanese the Satos (or some other common Japanese last name).
As for the Asian immigration boom to France - I don't think France will allow it. France isn't founded by immigrants and doesn't have an open door policy like the US.
Hi "blog",
Is France more like Japan or like the US or both or none?
I guess, everybody tends to compare to what they know, and in the end, one can find similarities and differences everywhere.
Personally, I think that Japan countryside and small towns are very similar (in character not in looks) to their French counterparts, but that nothing looks more like an American city than a Japanese city (and the fact that the US reconstructed after 1945 what they had destroyed is no stranger to that feeling in my opinion).
I need to correct you though about France's immigrations policies. Modern France was in a way shaped by immigrants. Very few people in France can say that they're 100% French. France has had pretty much the same immigration policy as the US all through the 20th Century, and if the US was getting most of the English speaking and Germanic immigration, France was getting the Southern Europe one (they are way more Italian French people than there are Italian Americans, the difference being that the "Italian French" simply became "French" after two generations.
As far as Asian immigration goes, it's all about history too. France doesn't have a lot of Asian immigrants nowadays (despite the fact that it has the largest Chinese population in Europe) because it has no reason to. France is not a major country anymore and doesn't have strong ties with Asia anymore, so very few Asian emigrants choose France when they emigrate to another country. But as previously mentioned, it was not always the case, as Indochina (Vietnam, Lao and Cambodia) was a French colony.
You are right about how Alsace is more racist. I lived there for half a year and there are problems that I encountered that I never encountered when I was in other parts of France. People through stones at me and told me I dont speak English and faked a chinese accent doing that, etc etc.(I am an american, US born with white and asian(japanese, irish) mix who looks asain) These problems never happened in other parts of France.
I notice this too that French people in general do not like Arabs and Asians but are CRAZY ABOUT BLACK AFRICANS! Especially men are crazy about African women and want to have sex with them ignoring the high HIV rate the continent bears. Very hard to understand coming from an American point of view. African women are probably the least sought after ones here.
I am a Japanese European mix as well. But you sound very racist. How can you speak about Africans like that.
@biking across mediteranian europe
u sound so ignorant, speak for youself no for all americans. do your homework about african women. talk about racist!
"the French don't really know anything about Korea, they don't really care either, and they don't seem to be a country and a people that the French really think about at all…"
That is true, but more and more young (and less young) French people get interested in Korea.
Lately, K-dramas (Korean tv series) and K-pop (Korean pop music) have attracted quite a few young French people (mostly girls, though). Just search for "k-dramas blog" on Google and you'll see.
I used to study Korean in Paris 7 (a university located in the famous 13e arrondissement krkrkr) and the year I got there (2009), the teachers were surprised that we were so many. Ok, we were not as numerous as the ones who studied Japanese or Chinese (they were around 400 for each language I think) but there had never been as many people in the Korean section (although we were only about a 100).
Korea is not as popular as Japan yet, but it's getting there, slowly but surely.
You're right that since I wrote this post, I have heard more about Korean popular culture. Yet, I still don't see any interest in the country in itself, its society, history, culture (not the pop kind), etc.
Maybe that will come, after all if Japan has become so popular in France nowadays, it started with manga, then people realized that there were an actual fascinating country behind them.
"I notice this too that French people in general do not like Arabs and Asians but are CRAZY ABOUT BLACK AFRICANS! Especially men are crazy about African women and want to have sex with them ignoring the high HIV rate the continent bears. Very hard to understand coming from an American point of view. African women are probably the least sought after ones here."
White French people don't give me the impression that they like Black people. In my opinion, they dislike both Arabs and Blacks but they don't really care about Asians. They seem to think that Asians are more integrated than the two aforementioned groups and they don't often hear(actually they NEVER hear) about Asians committing crimes in the news and stuff so they're not scared of them.
As for men being crazy about African women, I think it depends. Many people like exotic things so yes, there may be some white guys who fantasize about having sex with black women but I really don't think it's the majority. It's just a fetish, really not different from white guys who fantasize about Asian women.
As for the risk of getting HIV from an African woman… What you said sounds so racist it's ridiculous. I'd suspect you're a member of the KKK but you're part Asian so they wouldn't accept you.
Look, you can get HIV from anyone. Yes, even from the cute white, blond-haired and blue-eyed girl you've had a crush on.
So just avoid being promiscuous and don't have unprotected sex (and "sex" includes oral sex, so you can get STDs doing that too —-> http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1619814,00.html ) before you and your partner both got tested to every std known.
umm…it is K-pop which stands for Korean pop that not only French, but globally, people are obsessed with… lol. Also… there are Samsung, LG, Hyundai, Kia ect which is Korean company that I gurantee not only Frech but again globally, many people are consuming.
@Afrobeauty: "In my opinion, they dislike both Arabs and Blacks but they don't really care about Asians."
Well, I don't think we should generalize anything here.
Agreed with you about AIDS. Yeah, I guess I hadn't responded to Biking because I was left speechless.
@Yooyoung: Nobody implied that the raise in popularity of Korean things was solely a French thing.
The rest of the world is not mentioned because it would be quite off-topic here, don't you think?
And I think "obsessed" is quite a strong world. Most of the world still has no clue about what K-Pop is. And while I've heard about it, I'm not sure I've ever heard any of it (and if it's on par with J-Pop as far as style and musical quality go, I can assure you that I won't be obsessed about it at all).
“Well, I don’t think we should generalize anything here.”
What I said doesn’t apply to ALL the white French people of course.
I just said what I think is the main tendency is.
I understand what you mean, however I still disagree with you.
While it’s obvious like there are a bunch of white French people that are racists (pretty much like anywhere else in the world, racism is unfortunately a trait that is not rare) saying that it’s “the main tendency” implying a vast majority is simply not true.
Maybe you’re unlucky and live in a town, neighborhood, region, where people are more racist than average, I don’t know…
hello, so i was on youtube and randomly came across a video of a protest in paris because they wanted more Kpop…lol thought you might find it amusing. http://youtu.be/1AGYJy3rhAs
I was actually shocked myself
Don’t confuse a protest with a flash mob or whatever event it was organized by a Korean record company if I understand correctly what’s going on there.
For my reaction I’m torn between:
-”Scary”
and
-”oh well, who at age 15 didn’t think they were cool when they actually were being ridiculous”?
I loved Paris when I visited a few years ago, but I did not have the best experience with the Parisian people unfortunately. On the metro, I got a lot of “ching chongs” directed at me and while at the Eiffel Tower, I had this girl and guy following me saying “Ni hao, ni hao” over and over again. When I finally turned around and asked them to stop because I’m not Chinese, they laughed and continued. Fortunately, I was with a white friend who told them, in French, to eff off.
I understand that of course, not all Parisians are like that, and I tried to not let that interfere with my trip, but to experience that in just the course of one day was a little much.
Hi Koreangirl,
Sorry you had such a experience, but yeah, it’s a good example of what some Parisians will do when they see Asian people.
Sad indeed.
Hi everyone,
I’m a french 16-year-old girl. I’m half black, half white&indian and I live in Marseille (in the South East of France). Anyway, I don’t think we can generalize and say that French people don’t like Asians. Personally, I’ve always been able to distinguish Asian people, I can see if they come from Vietnam,China,Korea,Philippines,Laos etc…even though I’m not interested in Japan, but in Korea. But I agree with the fact that many French people call Asians “les chinois” (chinese).
But many French people are also interested in different Asian countries cultures (Korea,Japan…), especially young people. I think we, French people, would like to know more about Asians but in France, they often stay with each other, as if they were scared of us, so we can’t really approach them. I agree that, in Paris, certain North American and Black people from dangerous neighborhoods (“cités”) steal and insult Chinese people, but we ain’t all like them.
I think you have to come here, in different cities to see by yourself because you can meet great people. I think there is racism in every country of the world. And North American and Black people experience racism more than Asians(in France). Asians don’t have a bad reputation here. For French people, they are just discreet and hard-working people. =)
Yes.. i agreed with you. I am a Malaysian Chinese who came to live in France from 2005. Settle down in Avignon. People are nice in general.. i haven’t meet anyone who doesn’t like Asian as yet. As for French people, Asian people are hard working and discreet (indeed).
I myself don’t really like the attitude of Parisians as well but of course, not all of them have bad attitude.. Visit the South-West of France.. there are many nice places to visit and nice people.. of course, i think you will meet unfriendly people sometimes.. is like everywhere you go in this world.
I’m part French my dad is French my brother went to marseille (my dad lives there moved to u.s ) my brother said there was quite alot of Asians.anyways I’m white and an identical twin my mom is from south America many people mistaken me as just plain European it gets me angry because I am also part Spanish.one more thing people in u.s. Don’t know how to say my last name since it’s French my dads last name is Vayssie and they pronounce it vayassie a lady wrote my last name like that once lol and other retarded ways saying my last name it pisses me off I have to correct them all the time p.s. I have curly hair (from my dad) and it’s annoying but it’s weird like half wavy half straight half curly mostly curly though rock on curly hair :p
And your point is?
Sorry, Karen, but if I can suggest anything, I would start with some punctuation. I’m not sure I understand half of what you’re saying here, because I have no idea where any of your sentences start or end.
Although among the few things I understood one is that you’re angry because people think you’re European, while you’re partly Spanish. Er… Have you looked at a map of Europe recently? I haven’t in a few days, but I’m pretty sure Spain is still there.
For your last name, welcome to the real world. Nobody knows how to pronounce anybody’s last name as soon as you deal with foreign names. You should get used to it, that would avoid you getting pissed for nothing.
BTW, I have no idea how to pronounce your last name, I see two or even three possible pronunciations in French alone.
I meant 2 say I am part German,Italian,&spaniard(Spain) wat do u mean by 2 or3 pronunciations in French?
I mean that I have no idea how your name is pronounced. I see two or three possible ways; do you pronounce the “ay” like one sound or like a diphthong (if so which one?), is the final “e” silent or not, etc. So, there’s nothing “special” in the fact that a foreigner won’t know either.
I just randomly came across this blog but thing about the french knowing nothing about Korea kind of only applys to the older ones. Just recently there was a kpop festival and a concert featuring one of the biggest korean producing companys and its artists in which I heard over 5 thousand teens and young adults in the area showed up. A large success apparently. Nowadays the younger kids are more well rounded an many of them like\appreciate asians. Otherwise they wouldn’t listen to the music right?
Wrong!
Teenagers becoming instant fans of the latest fans of the latest fad, doesn’t qualify as a generation who knows and cares about a country.
What do these kids know about Korea? Its culture, its history, its society?
They know crap.
They’re just teenagers who think that K-Pop is so great because good marketing told them that K-Pop is so great, and they think that they’re so hip, because J-Pop has become mainstream in their eyes (it hasn’t, and I thank the lord every day for that).
i’m dissapointed about most French people knowing nothing about Korea, of course we’re not famous than China or Japan, but i think there’s no one that hasn’t heard of a company name like Samsung and LG. now 50% of Americans are using Korean-phones, Korean tvs, heard Galaxy S2 was sold in France very well too. although many people don’t know they’re Korean companies. now Japanese companies are not making any profit so they even sold some of them to China as they cannot compete with Korean companies
About the culture now.
i think Asian culture is not all about cultural thing like music and movies. in fact, Do Most French people
know about China/Japan very well then also…? i think NOT true, it’s only a small percentage that are very into anime thing( i think less than 10% and when they get older, most of them just forget about it)and know VERY WELL about Japan.
I would say, except some people like that who’re crazy about the culture, MOST of the people know just a little about the country. Most people may have heard of some words like Sushi, but they may not know well aboutthe country unless they’re such crazy maniacs.
yes, there are also people also who like J-pop too in my country, but it’s just a small maniacs, it’s just like that.
Can you say they know China only eating some Chinese food?
I think Most people just don’t know much about Asia except some people. or even NEVER interested.
I think it’s normal to be unable to differentiate the ethnic between other races, asian or blacks couldn’t even tell the difference if you’re french, irish or american unless they’ve been socializing with them long enough…
And why bother if they don’t care about your country too, it’s not like your country give a damn about theirs…
And no offense
The K-pop stuffs are like junkfood
it’s HIP, I’m sure. but I found no aesthetic in them…
I enjoyed some but I found they were getting irritating after, say, 1 week
they’re just some high quality auto-tuned garbage + bunches of pretty boys/girls dancing
The ballad is too forgettable (and how many ballads do they sung though)
I hope France survive the craze
Ditto!!!!
I was curious about Korean and Kpop, and got disgusted after finding out loads of brainwashing! Organized events, paid teenagers to promote kpop, Korean blow everything out of proportion!
Have a brain! Korean girls/boys band go under the knife, and exploited to an extent! Look their stupid dance, a passive sexual gesture from teens. They compare their cars with high-end german moters, Mercedes etc… with disparaging remarks in their marketing. I admit Samsung looks good, however have you heard about their tv tube exploding?
Their popular Dramas reflect their culture. yuck!!!… Food for a thought.
Anonymous-1
Well, I’m a South Korean and I’ve already heard that Europeans don’t know much about Korea. French cannot distinguish Koreans from Japanese or Chinese. I understand that it would be difficult for Europeans to notice such a minor difference though I can find that. However, Koreans, too, do not know which westerners are from which country such as France, Germany or Spain. As Korea is very closely related to the U.S., Koreans usually think Americans are typical of Westerners(or White people).
Koreans are more interested in American culture than European one. But I am not saying that Koreans do not know ‘anything’ about France. Koreans are familiar with the French Revolution, the Eiffle Tower and maybe Thierry Henry. Koreans mostly like France, anyway. They want to visit Europe including France at least once in lifetime.
Actually, is not really important if one can’t distinguish another whether they are from which part of Asia or they are from which part of Europe. Why people care so much about that?
For most important thing is that we all live in harmony and peace in this world! What’s the point to just argue about who is more famous, or more noticeable, but not to have a peace world? Every country have their own beautiful and bad part, their own culture, etc.
Who want to get to know which country’s culture, history or society.. is up to the interest of that person, right?