Four Extremely Wrong Ideas About French People

导读：很多人认为法国人很臭、很懒、很粗鲁、拒绝说英语，但真相到底如何？

French people smell bad.

French people sell a lot of perfume， doesnt that mean they smell bad？ I dont know where this idea comes from， but after visiting many countries and living both in South Korea and in Germany for a few months， I can be sure that French people dont smell worse than anyone else. They may not be as clean as people in other countries， but its really not often to meet stinky French people.

French people are lazy.

French are known for being the laziest people on earth. Probably because of their love for strikes. However， according to The Economist， Canadians go on strike much more often than French people and anyone else in the world actually. I am not telling you that French people are not lazy. With an average of 1，453 hours of work per year， France is one of the countries where people work the least amount of hours. Yet， they still work more than Germans （1337h） and Norwegians for example.

French people are rude.

If you spent a week in Paris you probably met rude people. Yet， you have to remember that Paris is one of the most visited cities in the world， so Parisians can sometimes get tired of tourists. However， in my experience， you will mainly meet nice people if you come with an open mind and try to speak some basic French （simply saying “bonjour” instead of “hello” can make a huge difference）. It is also true in other cities. Although people are usually friendlier in small cities than in capitals like Paris. People are basically the same everywhere. If you smile， they will smile back.

French people never speak English.

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The impossibility to speak English in France usually worries tourists. While its true that some French people are not willing to speak another language than French， you most likely wont have any problem finding English-speaking people in touristic areas. When you are looking for English-speaking people to help you， young people and businessmen are usually a good choice as they seem to speak English better than older people.

Vocabulary

perfume n. 香水

strike n. 罢工

（Whats your idea of French people？）

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