I'm french, ask me anything

I know all there is to know about Fillon. . .and I didn't support him. I was referring to friends who supported him BECAUSE he was Catholic (not the opposite, as your comment seems to indicate!) . .and then changed their mind (begrudgingly) when his improprieties were displayed for the public to see.

But, it seems that Fillon didn't do anything different from Trump! I personally am glad Macron got in, and I love his current attitude towards Trump and Teresa May.

You seem to have totally misunderstood my post. English is obviously not OUR first language and you might be missing something in the reading comprehension section. But I congratulate you for your excellent English writing skills.

 

Was Napolean a Mason?

 

Do you think that the EU serves German interests to the detriment of the French?

 

Je suis un vieillard, et je m'énerve énormément.
Parce que c'est ce que vous faites.

 

Comment vous sentez-vous au sujet des Allemands qui gèrent l'UE?

 

Hello, sorry to misunderstand your post. I tried to describe a trend, by the way, it's far to represent all french. Their is less and less catholic in the french population however. In 2012, Dominique Strauss Kahn, if he didn't had his sexual scandal could have become president and almost nobody cared that he was jewish.

I don't know. Anyway, he was a brillant general, but he left France globally weaker than when he took it so, as brillant he was at war, he was globally a poor leader.

Globally yes, but I think that EU serve mainly the interest of the billionnaires. I'm not a commie or a socialist, but I tend to think that the class fight exist somehow.
EU tend to serve slighty more germany too, however, I'm not angry against german, but against the french leaders who bow to german.

You speak french really well !

I tend to think that it's slighty natural for every country to serve their interest first. Our french leader act as *******s to many smaller countries too probably, however, it was enabled mainly because Nicolas Sarkozy accepted the european constitution that the french didn't want in 2005. I'm more angry against our leaders who act cowardly than to the german leaders.

On some aspect, I admire german because they don't accept corruption when the french do. However some of them act really as pretentious wanckers (I know that we the french have the same reputation).

I'm for an european project, but I tend to think that EU as it exist is really bad. The problem of EU is that it's made of deeply different people, french way of thinking is really different than the german one. It's really hard to work together because we can't understand each other totally.

 

Do you think that Macron might have the glimmer of an opportunity to reform the EU in a way that is more conducive to French interests?

Someone needs to save the Germans from themselves, and you're really the only ones capable of it.

 

I have 0 confidence in Macron. So, honnestly no.

Really, the best way to describe Macron is the void.

That man is able to speak ten minutes, and he would have said 0 tangible things. Most of his speech are a mix of a fog of imprecise ideas. Furthermore he is a close friends of most french billionnaires, and I don't think that the interest of eight guys are the same of 60 millions people.

 

I think imprecision in politicians is a virtue. Trump was precise with his words, it usually belies dishonesty.

Imprecision though accepts that the facts on the ground may look different once power is in his hands. He doesn't know what coalition he will face, and so he doesn't know what he can do. He doesn't know where the EU will be later this year following the Brexit negotiations.

I like Macron, but I accept that I might be buying into the hype. I think that the EU is on the edge of falling apart, and it needs a savior.

 

Do you think France is a vassal state of Germany?

 

I'm sure your English is way better than my French. I needed help from my phone, since I hardly speak your language. But, thank you for your perspective.

 

Because I'm not christian, I have difficulties with the idea of a savior. Waiting the solution from the outside is a problem itself. EU will probably still live a little bit, it's easier to get out from EU when you have not euros as a money.

No. Germany have a huge influence on France, but if french really wished, they could decide of their own policy.
The only thing we can blame is not german, but ourselves.

I use regulary the dictonary when I'm written but less and less. The big advantage is that english is slighty easier that french. If french is so complicate, it's because we write words because of their etymology and not because of their pronunciation. We were always a little bit elitist, and when french from France were writting in latin, the norman in england were writting in french. The huge irony is that you will find much more french texts in england during middle age rather than in France.
Furthermore, we have a lot of material to learn english : subtitled movie, videogames, speaking with other people on the internet ... Unfortunately, too much french have a poor english.

 

So. . .who did you support in the last elections? I personally have a lot of hope in Macron. He is smart, strong, and he doesn't take crap from Trump! He knows how to make strong allies (including Merkel), and has an open mind about having a very diverse and representative cabinet.

Who did you think would do better? And what do you think of today's primary legislative elections, where "En Marche" won BIG again!

I really appreciate your efforts to write in English, and you are doing very well. But I hope you can express that the answers you offer about France are ONLY PERSONAL opinions. . .not facts! I currently live in Belgium, but used to live in France (near Versailles), and I visit close friends very often in France.

I believe that the EU is a very important element of peace and prosperity in Europe. Obviously it has its "growing pains," but the US has had UNITED STATES with ONE language for over 2 centuries, and they STILL can't deal with the major differences that exist in the different States, especially the Blue and Red States, with the Red States basically living in the past, and being supported by the economy of the BLUE States!

Have you ever lived in the US?

 

I find the best way to pick a language is to be surrounded by it, like you said tv, video games, regular conversation. My grandfather was from Canada, and French was his first language. I learned French from him mostly yelling at me, and my brother when we worked on his ranch during the summer.

 

Where is the most economical place to buy a prayer rug and kneepads? After stupidly electing Macron, you'll probably need both sooner than later...

 

My atheism hardly precludes me from the belief in saviors.

The EU doesn't have a choice but to look for a solution "from the outside" if you mean from heads of nation-states rather than EU officials. The nations retain sovereignty, and the EU can only take it by acquiescence.

What I mean to say is, national leaders like Macron are the people who will decide the fate of the EU.

The EU will probably always exist, but not in the form people might expect.

The point about Euros is particularly important. Monetary policy cannot help but to move the dials in an economy. This implies that different approaches to monetary policy will benefit different national groups in the EU.

So the Europeans have a choice. They can tell the Germans to take a hit, and change monetary policy to something more beneficial to southern Europeans, or the southern Europeans can adopt currencies other than the Euro.

The latter seems more likely. But Macron, if he becomes sufficiently influential, could instate the former. That would be ideal.

But back to France, it seems clear to me that France needs a reformer to cut back the very complicated French social structure. I find it odd that socialists always want to attack problems from so many angles. Why not simplify things and institute some kind of universal income scheme? Macron at least suggests this kind of thinking to me. But again, I'm distant and starry-eyed.

 

The legacy of Charles de Gaulle.
As a leader of France, President, etc. after WW2.
Is he forgotten as the Japanese gloss over WW2 emphasizing the bomb was just dropped on them while knowing nothing of Nanking, Pearl Harbor, etc..

The post WW2 legacy of Charles de Gaulle, svp.

Moi

r > g

Viva Acadia liberte!​

 

Do you consider a mimosa a crime against humanity?

 

Why do you surrender so many times?

 

France was the dominant one and the "problem maker" for hundreds of years. The only time they really surrendered was in the F/Prussian war and WW2.

If you understand the politics and cultures in 1935 you know that basically no country on Earth stood a chance against the Blitzkrieg.

But yeah, after that Franco/Prussian war France has since been second to Germany

 

Totally false. The Blitzkrieg was not some master plan, it was simply the outmaneuvering of French forces by German ground commanders. French military command was a total mess. Whether or not the French could've withstood another 4 year war will never be known, their generals never gave them the opportunity.

The idea that the French Army was just some helpless inert matter for the Nazis to defeat is really nonsensical. The surprising success of German tactics doesn't absolve French commanders from their failure to anticipate or react to these tactics.

The real Blitzkrieg was used against the Russians, and they did withstand it. Having over a thousand miles to give helped.

EDIT: And when an Indonesian jokes about French surrender, point out that they were dominated by the Dutch for centuries. Now that's a surrender.

I mean... the Dutch.

 

Yes by the way, it's only my opinions and have only to be considered so.

I first supported Melenchon. I disagree with a lot of things he says, but he was one of the only one to support a major change in the political institutions. I think a part of our problems is because our institutions are not adapted. I admire a lot Switzerland which is one of the most remarkable country in the world on many points. Their system of popular initiative is really a good thing. However, I'm much less socialist than him.

For the second turn, I voted Macron. I thought a long time to vote null, but some propositions of Marine Le Pen could have directly impacted some of my family and friends who are migrants. I don't like Islam and I think we will have to be really strict with muslims the next years, however I couldn't not vote against the interest of my family. I consider that my duty go to first my family, second my country, third to myself.

For the one of the representant, I voted for the parti of Melenchon for the first turn, and for the second, I will vote null.

Paradoxaly, I would agree more with Macron than Melenchon on economics matter, but I can't trust Macron. The way he talk is really strange. He can do very long sentences to in the end say nothing. I don't think he is honest and I give 0 trust to him.

De Gaulle was probably one of the greatest leader France knew. I would place him far beyond Napoleon for instance, because at the end, Napoleon weakened France. Unfortunately, the political system he created is today more a flaw for France than a chance. He created a constitution for a honnest man as a president, but few politician are honnest !

Sorry, I don't pray. I have some french flags to start a revolution however. Macron was a bad choice, but often elections is to choose between bad choices. I consider we were a little bit more lucky than US citizen because we could choose from more candidates, but it's still a hard choice.

The tree ? Their is some in the garden of my parents so it's more childhood memories for me !

So many times ?

Their is not that much french defeat, however, I think you refer to the 1870 and 1940 one.

About 1870, it's partly because of Napoleon III. He was defeated in Sedan, captured and decided to surrender. However, the french were really angry and decided to do a revolution (we already did in 1789, 1828, 184. The third republic was decided (the first one was the one the revolution of 1789 and the terror, the second one between 1848 and 1852 elected Napoleon III as a president who finally became emperor). The fight continued with the newly born third republic. However, they were many more prussians and a part of the main army was already defeated and the weapons confiscated. So in 1870, the french fought harshly, but it was desesperate.

In 1940, the french were tired of war and were few willing to fight again. We lost 1 million 300 000 soldiers during WW1, it's almost as much than USA during their whole history and we are 6 less populated. Despiste the very harsh Versaille treaty, most french wanted peace thereafter and absolutely didn't want to fight. They didn't wanted to live against all the horrors of WW1, and didn't understood that german would want that.

The main consequence is we were less prepared than the fanaticized german.

However, it's notice that they were somme battle like the one of Bir Hakeim and the one of Dunkirk (they will be a movie this summer about this). The british could retreat to UK only because a lot of french soldiers sacrified themselves to enable that.

We could have won 1940 and probably 1870 too if our generals weren't that stupid. It's few known, but french invented the first modern tank : the Renault FT 17. It's the grandfather of all tanks and the first with a rotative turret.

And our idiot generals in 1940 didn't understood that the tanks would be the main weapon of this war. German created tanks only divizion, extremly fast, movable. Idiot french generals reparted them between infantry divizion.
When the german tanks striked quickly and efficiently, the french one had to follow infantry.

Furthermore, the military leadership in France wasted huge money in project like the ligne Maginot. In France, the ligne maginot is sometimes used as the best example of a huge stupid waste of public money.

One young colonel understood the necesssity of tank only divisions, the colonel De Gaulle. He became a general, and the few french tank only divizion who existed were the only one to slow or stop efficiently the german.

Apparently, when most german WW2 generals were fighting in the trench during WW1, the french one during WW1 were already with the general staff.

Their is a joke about it :

A french soldier during WW1 is charging german lines. Bombs fell, and all his companions are split apart, the little soldier don't know what to do, he is terrified among the parts of body of his friends, he don't even know where he is and so he retreat. He run, run, run and finally bump with an officer. "I'm sorry my corporal" "Soldier, I'm NO CORPORAL", "I'm sorry my colonel" "Soldier, I'm NO COLONEL, I'm GENERAL" "What, i'm THAT far from the frontline ?".

In a nutshell : we lost most of those war because our generals were idiot which conceived tactics from the past war and didn't understood that time had changed.
And we have to admit : german were good too.

 

Freedom or French fries?

 

finger point but could it be that your french flower was cut down one hundred years ago?

If so, could it impact modern France?

Je suis Islam, etc?