Cultural Differences in Photos: USA and France
In my English classes I taught at the university, we used flashcards with a photo of an object and the English
word written out to teach and/or reinforce vocabulary. For most objects, there were no problems with the
images provided but every once in a while, my students didn’t quite understand the connection between the
image and the word because of cultural differences between the US and France.
For example, what word comes to mind when you look at this image?
If you are American, you would most likely identify it as a loaf of bread. All of my French students, however,
thought it was a cake. Why? Because un cake in French is this:
Most Americans would probably call this a sort of quick bread, such as banana bread or zucchini bread,
because the shape is similar to a loaf of bread. Loaves of bread are not all that common in France because
pain has many shapes, whether a baguette, or pain de campagne, or petits pains. Sliced bread sold in loaves
is just called pain de mie, or “American Sandwich” as it’s written on the bag, and it is not really eaten with
meals but used almost exclusively for making sandwiches or croque monsieurs.
Another image that my students found strange was this:
Orange prescription bottles that are the norm in the US don’t exist in France. When you
go to the pharmacy, you receive a box of medication but there is no printed label with the directions on it,
or even your name or doctor’s name. All of that information stays on the prescription paper itself, which you
must keep.
Students who watch a lot of American TV or films recognized the bottle, but it was still a foreign concept to
them – just as not receiving an orange bottle is still a bit odd to me whenever I fill a prescription in France.
Now what image pops into your head when you hear the words crutches or vacuum?
If you’re American, I bet you think of these:
If you’re French, I imagine it’s more like these:
The forearm crutches and cylinder vacuum are also used in the US, but the underarm crutches and upright
vacuum are relatively rare in France. I always thought it was strange when my students came to class with
the forearm crutches after a car or skiing accident, because I only ever saw those used by elderly patients
with lifelong disabilities or Kerry Weaver on ER. I don’t know which set of crutches is considered better for
healing, but at least with the vacuums it makes more sense that the upright version is more common in North
America – because we have a lot more carpet in our homes and businesses. I have yet to set foot in a home
in France where there is wall-to-wall carpet instead of a few small rugs here and there. Since Europe prefers
hardwood and tile floors, the cylinder vacuum is more convenient here.
Another difference that I had never thought of came to me when I was flipping through Oops magazine this
past weekend. Oops is one of those trashy celebrity magazines that I only look at to learn more slang or see
what atrocities French has done to English words lately (relooké always kills me). There was a picture of Zac
Efron next to a car holding a few things in his hands, one of which was a tube of Burt’s beeswax lip balm,
which is very recognizable to Americans – as are most tubes of chapstick. [I believe this was the paparazzi
photo if you want to see for yourself.]
However, the caption in French said that he was holding a tube of homeopathic pills. I don’t think that Burt’s
Bees products are as popular in France as in the US, and homeopathic pills found in little tubes are very
common, so it’s easy to see why the author was mistaken:
There are many other subtle differences that don’t lead to
confusion (houses with siding vs. stone houses, cars with trunks vs. hatchbacks, top-loading washers vs. frontloading) that help to identify something as American or French/European. Searching for the English word on
images.google.com and the French word on images.google.fr will provide many examples. Can you think of
any other items that could be mistaken for something else like the cake and tubes above?