Questions of Identity symbols, values, language

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Questions of Identitysymbols, values, language

• Chiang Kin Lok, Kenneth (2007675359)
• Ma Chin Kwan, Jane (2007607388)
• Yim Sau Chun, Jennifer (2007680641)

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Symbols Values
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Funny traditional stereotype about Europeans

• A European Heaven is where the police are
  British, the cooks are French, the mechanics are
  German, the lovers are Italian and it is all
  organised by the Swiss.
• A European Hell is where the police are German,
  the cooks are English, the mechanics are French,
  the lovers are Swiss, and it is all organised by
  the Italians.

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When you think of France, what is the first image
on your mind?
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Impressions about China among students
People not educated
www.the-flag-makers.com
Pirated discs
horrible
big
Dirty
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chineseculture.about.com
www.standardmandarin.com
www.botanikfoto.com
www.beijingmadeeasy.com
travelyourself.blogspot.com
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National Flag

• Equality, Liberty, Fraternity
• Being patriotic
• Proud to be French

Blue altruism and highness White ideas of
Justice Red the blood shed in search of freedom
http//www.blogstoday.co.uk/BlogsImages/BlogDj3677
61kG9p6b56yd/france
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Cockerel

• a Christian symbol of vigilance
• Football
• Rugby

http//www.languedoc-france.info/06141212_cockerel
.htm
http//img.thesun.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00371/E
aster_682x400_371234a.jpg
http//images.google.com.hk/imgres?imgurl
http//images.google.com.hk/imgres?imgurl
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Marianne

• A personification of Liberty
• symbolises the "Triumph of the Republic

http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marianne
www.answers.com
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Food Culture

• French cuisine is very diverse
• Meals traditional baguette cheese
  inexpensive wine
• A misconception about the French heavy and
  complicated food
• fact French cuisine is fairly simple
• high quality fresh ingredients
• loving preparation

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Baguette and Coffee and Mousse au chocolat

• Implies a relaxing lifestyle sitting at a café
  chatting and people-watching

http//www.desertflour.com/images/breads/baguette.
jpg
http//www.studiosept.com/images/coffee.jpg
foodsci.wisc.edu/.../images/cheese_mix.jpg
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Bordeaux wines

• Relaxing life style
• Symbols of the good life

http//z.about.com/d/cruises/1/0/b/x/1/bordeaux_wi
ne028.jpg
Appellation dorigine contrôlée (AOC)
http//4giftsdirect.com/productimages/2106_Bordeau
x.jpg
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Apéritif

• An alcohol drink before a meal
• E.g. Pernod, Kir Royale
• purpose to whet the appetite
• a festive occasion when the French celebrate
  events
• a tradition that is very common in France and
  throughout Southern Europe

find.myrecipes.com
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Apéritif

• Becoming increasingly  private 
• less and less French people have an aperitif in
  public places frequently
• According to a study by social and economic
  research firm Credoc,
• 3 French people in 10 invite friends or family to
  have an aperitif at their home at least once a
  month.

find.myrecipes.com
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Attitudes towards Life Appreciative and relaxing

• like to find as many occasions as possible to
  spend time at the table with family and friends
• two hour break for lunch a common practice
• businesses typically reopen around 2pm, and stay
  until about 7pm
• Employees five weeks of vacation
• mandatory reduction of the work week 35 hours
• Executives get additional vacation instead of
  shorter working weeks 14 to 16 extra days every
  year

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Paul Krugman said

• Even French people has a lower disposable income,
  with good welfare policies, they compensate for
  the lower level of consumption
• As a result, the French family has less to worry
  about
• They earn less because they work less hours, but
  at the same time they spend more time with the
  family

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Moulin Rouge in Paris
Can Can dance
www.niagaraballet.net
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La Tour Eiffel

• Paris is a romantic city

http//paris-in-photos.com/images/the-eiffel-tower
.jpg
http//images.google.com.hk/imgres?imgurl
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Individualism

• Individualism is an important value to the French
• France has one of the most comprehensive family
  policy programs in the world and is the top
  spending country on these programs
• In 2000
• work week was shortened from 39 to 35 hours per
  week so parents would have more time to spend
  with their family

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Languages
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Introduction

• No. of languages (2005) 32
• 29 living, 1 second language, 2 extinct
• First language 88 of the population
• Others speak Alsacian, Flemish, Italian, Basque,
  Catalan dialects, Breton, Occitan dialects,
  Corsu, Arabic, and Creole

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History

• Source Latin-based Gallo-Roman language
• Spoken by the armies of Julius Caesar 1 century
  BC
• Written form 8th century
• Earliest writing Oath of Strasbourg by
  Charlemagnes grandsons
• From Latin, which descends Provencal also

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History

• 1066 12xx official language of the English
  social elite
• 13th century French literatures appeared
• Romanticism in poetry and prose arose
• 1539 French -gt officially established by the
  Edict of Villers-Cotterêts

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History

• 1635 French Academy (Académie française) was set
  up
• To uphold the purity of French language
• Standardization
• Today 2nd language in overseas territories and
  dependencies
• Widely spoken in former-colonies
• e.g. Province of Quebec in Canada, Africa, Haiti
  etc

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Language Attitudes

• One nation one language
• Superior to any other languages
• Should remain pure
• Linguistic Prescriptivism Linguistic Purism
• Laypersons aware of the most subtle
  distinctions, excluding regional forms and slang.

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Language Attitudes

• Standard norm Parisian
• Deviations -gt regional varieties (français
  régionaux), such as Occitan, Corsican, Basque etc
• Respected or stigmatized
• French an efficient vehicle for communication
  across France
• a powerful symbol -gt national solidarity
  (internal cohesion) uniqueness (external
  distinction)
• Related to policy of centralization

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Language Policy

• Before French Revolution (1789) not strong on
  language
• Revolutionaries liberty of language
• Abandoned later, as other languages -gt keep the
  peasant masses in obscurantism
• X time money-gtlanguage policy
• 1880s Free compulsory primary education -gt
  French as the only medium of instruction
• French used in newspapers and books

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Language Policy

• 1918 German in Alsace-Lorraine was outlawed
• 1925 Anatole de Monzie, Minister of public
  education, stated that for the linguistic unity
  of France, the Breton language must disappear.
• Minority language speakers-gtshamed
• 1950s Right for regional languages to exist
• Breton appeared in media
• 1972 Banned by president Georges Pompidou

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Language Policy

• 1992 Constitution French is the language of the
  republic
• 1999 the Council of Europes European Charter
  for Regional or Minority Languages
• to protect and promote historical regional and
  minority languages in Europe
• France X ratify -gt the Constitution disallows
• Fear for babelism, balkanisation and ethnic
  separatism
• 2006 US Company in France fined for using
  English only

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The End