Understanding French Culture

More from Polly Platt's book "French or foe?"

High context and Low context cultures.

"Low context cultures can generally be classified as achievement cultures...They are on time - not even five minutes late. Time is quantified (wasted, saved, killed). The appointment and the project have priority over everything."

"High context people (Mediterranean) have a different sense of time. It's not segmented. They'll be on time, if some greater people-priority doesn't come up in the meantime. Schedules are flexible. But they keep time according to their own system...on time for them might be a half hour, an hour, or a week or a month 'late' for you, depending on the culture and how for east or south you go."

"French people are more complicated to manage then Americans or Germans. What you have to decide is if you want people to be geniuses, or to be on time"

Blame paranoia

"Madame Dufoix, confronted with the scandal, conceded an 'error' in not having advised the President or the Prime Minister about her charitable act, while maintaining that her action had been 'correct' for humanitarian reasons.

Madame Dufoix, famous for her comment that she was 'responsible but not guilty'..."


C'est pas my faute, no matter if it is Madame Dufoix or a canceled concert. It does seem to hold true.

I hope by sharing we can see that the reactions from Alizee regarding the difficulties experienced in running her career are not indifference or arrogance but just a cultural difference.

So, based on the above nuances of a high context culture and how Alizee reacted in the past. Will you expect a 'special concert' 'before summer'? Will you be upset if this 'special concert' does not happen 'before summer'? Is getting it 'right' or at least as close to 'right' as Alizee will accept more important to her then getting it done on time? Hint - yes it is, time is relative.

Would I buy a ticket if she was nearby? YES. Would I make reservations for half way around the world? No. This type of non guarantee does drive high context cultures crazy and they look at it as unacceptable (North Americans and more) but it is what it is.

Again: "French people are more complicated to manage then Americans or Germans. What you have to decide is if you want people to be geniuses, or to be on time"

Are we starting to mellow on this yet?

Alizee Nation