Cultural Context: France

Core Values: Privacy, Intellectualism, Individualism

Home and Family: While the nuclear family structure is most common, some other popular home lives that can be found are either those who live on their own, or family and non-family sharing a unit together. While young adults do try to live independently and gain their own freedom, ties to the immediate and extended family still remain very strong. One usually will find families visiting each other on weekends, and also providing financial and emotional support when needed. The family is also essential to passing along cultural values.  

Communication and some “Buzz Words”: The French language itself is a source of national identity for French people. There is a multitude of dialects, however depending of where one may be in France, they may not all appear at once. French is structured and direct, and is considered a polite language. The way French is spoken usually depends on social status and educational level. In terms of formalities, it is considered polite to use the translation of “you”, “vous” unless one is comfortable or informal with the recipient. In this case, “tu” is utilized as a replacement.