An

Assignment

Submitted in the partial fulfillment for award of Master’s degree in

Business Administration
On

FOREIGN BUSINESS LANGUAGE

(FRENCH)
“THE CULTURE OF FRANCE”

AMITY BUSINESS SCHOOL

Submitted To:
Mr. Amit Sachdev

Submitted By:

Ajay Kumar Dadhich

MBA (M&S) 2009-11

Enroll No. A0102209067

T he Culture of France and of the French people has been shaped by geography, by profound historical events, and

by foreign and internal forces and groups. France, and in particular Paris, has played an important role as a center
of high culture and of arts since the seventeenth century, first in Europe, and from the nineteenth century on, world
wide. From the late nineteenth century, France has also played an important role in modern
art, cinema, fashion and cuisine. The importance of French culture has waned and waxed over the centuries, depending
on its economic, political and military importance. French culture today is marked both by great regional and
socioeconomic differences and by strong unifying tendencies.

Whether in France, Europe or in general, consists of beliefs and values learned through the socialization process as
well as material artifacts. Culture guides the social interactions between members of society and influences the personal
beliefs and values that shape a person's perception of their environment: "Culture is the learned set of beliefs, values,
norms and material goods shared by group members. Culture consists of everything we learn in groups during the life
course-from infancy to old age."

The conception of "French" culture however poses certain difficulties and presupposes a series of assumptions about
what precisely the expression "French" means. Whereas American culture posits the notion of the "melting-pot"
and cultural diversity, the expression "French culture" tends to refer implicitly to a specific geographical entity (as, say,
"metropolitan France", generally excluding its overseas departments) or to a specific historico-sociological group
defined by ethnicity, language, religion and geography. The realities of "Frenchness" however, are extremely
complicated. Even before the late nineteenth century, "metropolitan France" was largely a patchwork of local customs
and regional differences that the unifying aims of the Ancien Régime and the French Revolution had only begun to work
against, and today's France remains a nation of numerous indigenous and foreign languages, of multiple ethnicities and
religions, and of regional diversity that includes French citizens in Corsica, Guadeloupe, Martinique and elsewhere
around the globe.

The creation of some sort of typical or shared French culture or "cultural identity", despite this vast heterogeneity, is the
result of powerful internal forces — such as the French educational system, mandatory military service, state linguistic
and cultural policies — and by profound historic events — such as the Franco-Prussian war and the two World Wars —
which have forged a sense of national identity over the last 200 years. However, despite these unifying forces, France
today still remains marked by social class and by important regional differences in culture (cuisine, dialect/accent, local
traditions) that many fear will be unable to withstand contemporary social forces (depopulation of the countryside,
immigration, centralization, market forces and the world economy).

In recent years, to fight the loss of regional diversity, many in France have promoted forms of multiculturalism and
encouraged cultural enclaves (communautarisme), including reforms on the preservation of regional languages and the
decentralization of certain government functions, but French multiculturalism has had a harder time of accepting, or of
integrating into the collective identity, the large non-Christian and immigrant communities and groups that have come to
France since the 1960s.

The last fifty years has also seen French cultural identity "threatened" by global market forces and by American "cultural
hegemony". Since its dealings with the 1993 GATT trade negotiations, France has fought for what it calls the exception
culturelle, meaning the right to subsidize or treat favorably domestic cultural production and to limit or control foreign
cultural products (as seen in public funding for French cinema or the lower VAT accorded to books). The notion of an
explicit exception française however has angered many of France's critics.

The French are often perceived as taking a great pride in national identity and the positive achievements of France (the
expression "chauvinism" is of French origin) and cultural issues are more integrated in the body of the politics than
elsewhere (see "The Role of the State", below). The French Revolution claimed universalism for the democratic
principles of the Republic. Charles actively promoted a notion of French "grandeur" ("greatness"). Perceived declines in
cultural status are a matter of national concern and have generated national debates, both from the left (as seen in the
anti-globalism of José Bové) and from the right and far right (as in the discourses of the National Front).

According to Hofstede's Framework for Assessing Culture, the culture of France is moderately individualistic and high
Power Distance Index.

Language
The Académie française sets an official standard of language purity; however, this standard, which is not mandatory, is
even occasionally ignored by the government itself: for instance, the left-wing government of Lionel Jospin pushed for
the feminization of the names of some functions (madame la ministre) while the Académie pushed for some more
traditional madame le ministre.

Some action has been taken by the government in order to promote French culture and the French language. For
instance, there exists a system of subsidies and preferential loans for supporting French cinema. The Toubon law, from
the name of the conservative culture minister who promoted it, makes it mandatory to use French in advertisements
directed to the general public. Note that contrary to some misconception sometimes found in the Anglophone media, the
French government neither regulates the language used by private parties in non-commercial settings, nor makes it
compulsory that France-based WWW sites should be in French.

France counts many regional languages, some of them being very different from standard French such
as Breton and Alsatian. Some regional languages are Roman, like French, such as Occitan. The Basque language is
completely unrelated to French and, indeed, to any other language in the world; its area straddles the border between
the south west of France and the north of Spain. Many of those languages have enthusiastic advocates; however, the
real importance of local languages remains subject to debate. In April 2001, the Minister of Education, Jack, admitted
formally that for more than two centuries, the political powers of the French government had repressed regional
languages, and announced that education would, for the first time, be recognized and bilingual teachers recruited in
French public schools. A revision of the French constitution creating official recognition of regional languages was
implemented by the Parliament in Congress at Versailles in July 2008.
Religion
France is a secular country where freedom of thought and of religion is preserved, by virtue of the 1789 Declaration of
the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. The Republic is based on the principle of laïcité, that is of freedom of religion
(including of agnosticism and atheism) enforced by the Jules Ferry laws and the 1905 law on the separation of the State
and the Church, enacted at the beginning of the Third Republic (1871–1940). A January 2007 poll found that 51% of the
French population describe themselves as Catholics—and only half of those said they believed in God--, 31% as
atheists, 4% as Muslims, 3% as Protestants and 1% as Jews. France guarantees freedom of religion as a constitutional
right and the government generally respects this right in practice. A long history of violent conflict between groups led
the state to break its ties to the Catholic Church early in the last century and adopt a strong commitment to maintaining
a totally secular public sector.[10]

Regional customs and traditions

Modern France is the result of centuries of nation building and the acquisition and incorporation of a number of historical
provinces and overseas colonies into its geographical and political structure. These regions all evolved with their own
specific cultural and linguistic traditions in fashion, religious observance, regional language and accent, family structure,
cuisine, leisure activities, industry, etc.

The evolution of the French state and culture, from the Renaissance to today, has however promoted a centralization of
politics, media, and cultural production in and around Paris (and, to a lesser extent, around the other major urban
centers), and the industrialization of the country in the twentieth century has led to a massive move of French people
from the countryside to urban areas. At the end of the nineteenth century, around 50% of the French depended on the
land for a living; today French farmers only make up 6-7%, while 73% live in cities. [14] Nineteenth century French
literature abounds in scenes of provincial youth "coming up" to Paris to "make it" in the cultural, political or social scene
of the capital (this scheme is frequent in the novels of Balzac). Policies enacted by the French Third Republic also
encouraged this displacement through mandatory military service, a centralized national educational system, and
suppression of regional languages. While government policy and public debate in France in recent years has returned
to a valorization of regional differences and a call for decentralization of certain aspects of the public sphere (sometimes
with ethnic, racial or reactionary overtones), the history of regional displacement and the nature of the modern urban
environment and of mass media and culture have made the preservation of a regional "sense of place or culture" in
today's France extremely difficult.

There are huge differences in life style, socioeconomic status and world view between Paris and the provinces. The
French often use the expression "la France profonde" ("Deep France", similar to "heartland") to designate the
profoundly "French" aspects of provincial towns, village life and rural agricultural culture, which escape the hegemony of
Paris. The expression can however have a pejorative meaning, similar to the expression "le désert français" ("the
French desert") used to describe a lack of acculturation of the provinces. Another expression, "terroir" is a French term
originally used for wine and coffee to denote the special characteristics that geography bestowed upon these products.
It can be very loosely translated as "a sense of place" which is embodied in certain qualities, and the sum of the effects
that the local environment (especially the "soil") has had on the growth of the product. The use of the term has since
been generalized to talk about many cultural products.

In addition to its metropolitan territory, France also consists of overseas departments made up of its
former colonies of Guadeloupe, Martinique and French Guiana in the Caribbean, andRéunion in the Indian Ocean.
(There also exist a number of "overseas collectivities and "overseas territories". For a full discussion, see administrative
divisions of France. Since 1982, following the French government’s policy of decentralization, overseas departments
have elected regional councils with powers similar to those of the regions of metropolitan France. As a result of a
constitutional revision which occurred in 2003, these regions are now to be called overseas regions.) These overseas
departments have the same political status as metropolitan departments and are integral parts of France, similar to
how Hawaii is a state and an integral part of the United States, yet they also have specific cultural and linguistic
traditions which set them apart. Certain elements of overseas culture have also been introduced to metropolitan culture
(as, for example, the musical form the biguine).

Education
The French educational system is highly centralised, organised, and ramified. It is divided into three different stages:

• Primary education (enseignement primaire); secondary education (collège and lycée); and higher
education (l'université).

Primary and secondary education is predominantly public (private schools also exist, in particular a strong nationwide
network of primary and secondary Catholic education), while higher education has both public and private elements. At
the end of secondary education, students take the baccalauréat exam, which allows them to pursue higher education.
The baccalauréat pass rate in 1999 was 78.3%.

In 1999–2000, educational spending amounted to 7% of the French GDP and 37% of the national budget.

Since the Jules Ferry laws of 1881-2, named after the then Minister of Public Instruction, all state-funded schools,
including universities, are independent from the (Roman Catholic) Church. Education in these institutions is free. Non-
secular institutions are allowed to organize education as well. The French educational system differs strongly from
Northern-European and American systems in that it stresses the importance of partaking in a society as opposed to
being responsibly independent.

Secular educational policy has become critical in recent issues of French multiculturalism, as in the "affair of the Islamic
headscarf".

Minister of Culture
The Minister of Culture is, in the Government of France, the cabinet member in charge of national museums and
monuments; promoting and protecting the arts (visual, plastic, theatrical, musical, dance, architectural, literary,
televisual and cinematographic) in France and abroad; and managing the national archives and regional "maisons de
culture" (culture centres). The Ministry of Culture is located on the Palais Royal in Paris.
The modern post of Minister of Culture was created by Charles de Gaulle in 1959 and the first Minister was the
writer André Malraux. Malraux was responsible for realizing the goals of the "droit à la culture" ("the right to culture") --
an idea which had been incorporated in the French constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) --
by democratizing access to culture, while also achieving the Gaullist aim of elevating the "grandeur" ("greatness") of
post-war France. To this end, he created numerous regional cultural centres throughout France and actively sponsored
the arts. Malraux's artistic tastes included the modern arts and the avant-garde, but on the whole he remained
conservative.

The Ministry of Jacques Toubon was notable for a number of laws (the "Toubon Laws") enacted for the preservation of
the French language, both in advertisements (all ads must include a French translation of foreign words) and on the
radio (40% of songs on French radio stations must be in French), ostensibly in reaction to the presence of English.

Académie française
The Académie française, or the French Academy, is the pre-eminent French learned body on matters pertaining to
the French language. The Académie was officially established in 1635 by Cardinal Richelieu, the chief minister to King
Louis XIII. Suppressed in 1793 during the French, it was restored in 1803 by Napoleon Bonaparte (the Académie
considers itself having been suspended, not suppressed, during the revolution). It is the oldest of the five académies of
the Institut de France.

The Académie consists of forty members, known as immortels (immortals). New members are elected by the members
of the Académie itself. Académicians hold office for life, but they may be removed for misconduct. The body has the
task of acting as an official authority on the language; it is charged with publishing an official dictionary of the language.
Its rulings, however, are only advisory; not binding on either the public or the government.

Military service
Until 1996, France had compulsory military service of young men. This has been credited by historians for further
promoting a unified national identity and by breaking down regional isolationism.

Labor and employment policy

In France the first labour laws were Waldeck Rousseau's laws passed in 1884. Between 1936 and 1938 the Popular
Front enacted a law mandating 12 days (2 weeks) each year of paidvacation for workers, and a law limiting the work
week to 40 hours, excluding overtime. The Grenelle accords negotiated on May 25 and 26th in the middle of the May
1968 crisis, reduced the working week to 44 hours and created trade union sections in each enterprise. [20] The minimum
wage was also increased by 25%.[21] In 2000 Lionel Jospin's government then enacted the 35-hour workweek, down
from 39 hours. Five years later, conservative prime minister Dominique de Villepin enacted the New Employment
Contract (CNE). Addressing the demands of employers asking for more flexibility in French labour laws, the CNE
sparked criticism from trade unions and opponents claiming it was lending favour to contingent work. In 2006 he then
attempted to pass the First Employment Contract (CPE) through a vote by emergency procedure, but that it was met
by students and unions' protests. President Jacques Chirac finally had no choice but to repeal it.
Healthcare and social welfare
The French are profoundly committed to the public healthcare system (called "sécurité sociale") and to their "pay-as-
you-go" social welfare system.

In 1998, 75% of health payments in France were paid through the public healthcare system. Since 27 July 1999, France
has a universal medical coverage for permanent residents in France (stable residence for more than three months).

Food and lifestyle

Food and alcohol
Traditional French culture places a high priority on the enjoyment of food. French cuisine was codified in the 20th
century by Georges Auguste Escoffier to become the modern version ofhaute cuisine. Escoffier's major work, however,
left out much of the regional character to be found in the provinces of France. Gastro-tourism and the Guide
Michelin helped to bring people to the countryside during the 20th century and beyond, to sample this
rich bourgeois and peasant cuisine of France. Basque cuisine has also been a great influence over the cuisine in the
southwest of France.

Ingredients and dishes vary by region (see regional cuisine). There are many significant regional dishes that have
become both national and regional. Many dishes that were once regional, however, have proliferated in different
variations across the country in the present day. Cheese (see list of French cheeses) and wine (see French wine) are
also a major part of the cuisine, playing different roles both regionally and nationally with their many variations
and Appellation d'origine contrôlée (AOC) (regulated appellation) laws (lentils from Le Puy-en-Velay also have an AOC
status). Another French product of special note is the Charolais cattle.

The French typically eat only a simple breakfast ("petit déjeuner") (of, say, coffee or tea, served traditionally in a large
handleless "bol" (bowl) and bread, breakfast pastries (croissants), or yogurt). Lunch ("déjeuner") and dinner ("dîner") are
the main meals of the day. Formal four course meals consist of a starter course ("entrée"), a main course ("plat
principal") followed by a salad course, and finally a cheese and/or a dessert course. While French cuisine is often
associated with rich desserts, in most homes dessert consists of only a fruit or yogurt.

Food shopping in France was formerly done almost daily in small local shops and markets, but the arrival of
the supermarket and the even larger "hypermarchés" (large-surface distributors) in France have disrupted this tradition.
With depopulation of the countryside, many towns have been forced to close shops and markets.

In France, cutlery is used in the continental manner (with the fork in the left hand, prongs facing down and the knife in
the right hand). French etiquette prohibits the placing of hands below the table.

The legal drinking age is officially 18 (see Legal drinking age).

France is one of the oldest wine-producing regions of Europe. France now produces the most wine by value in the world
(although Italy rivals it by volume and Spain has more land under cultivation for wine grapes). Bordeaux
wine, Bourgogne wine and Champagne are important agricultural products.

Tobacco and drugs

The cigarette smoking age is 18 years. According to a widespread cliché, smoking has been part of French culture —
actually figures indicate that in terms of consumption per capita, France is only the 60th country out of 121.

France, from 1 February 2007, tightened the existing ban on smoking in public places found in the 1991 Évin law: Law
n°91-32 of 10 January, 1991, containing a variety of measures against alcoholism and tobacco consumption.

Smoking is now banned in all public places (stations, museums, etc.); an exception exists for special smoking rooms
fulfilling drastic conditions, see below. A special exemption was made for cafés and restaurants, clubs, casinos, bars,
etc. which ended, 1 January 2008. Opinion polls suggest 70% of people support the ban. Previously, under the former
implementation rules of the 1991 Évin law, restaurants, cafés etc. just had to provide smoking and non-smoking
sections, which in practice were often not well separated.

Under the new regulations, smoking rooms are allowed, but are subjected to very strict conditions: they may occupy at
most 20% of the total floor space of the establishment and their size may not be more than 35 m²; they need to be
equipped with separate ventilation which replaces the full volume of air ten times per hour; the air pressure of the
smoking room must constantly be lower than the pressure in the contiguous rooms; they have doors that close
automatically; no service can be provided in the smoking rooms; cleaning and maintenance personnel may enter the
room only one hour after it was last used for smoking.

Popular French cigarette brands include Gauloises and Gitanes.

Sports and hobbies

The French "national" sport is football (soccer), colloquially called 'le foot' (see Football in France). The most-watched
sports in France are football (soccer), rugby union, basketball,cycling, sailing and tennis. France is notable for holding
(and winning) the football World Cup in 1998, for holding the annual cycling race Tour de France, and the tennis Grand
Slam tournament Roland Garros, or the French Open. Sport is encouraged in school, and local sports clubs receive
financial support from the local governments. While football (soccer) is definitely the most popular, rugby
union and rugby league takes dominance in the southwest, especially around the city of Toulouse (see Rugby union in
France and Rugby league in France)

The modern Olympics was invented in France, in 1894.

Professional sailing in France is centred on singlehanded/shorthanded ocean racing with the pinnacle of this branch of
the sport being the Vendee Globe singlehanded around the world race which starts every 4 years from the French
Atlantic coast. Other significant events include the Solitaire du Figaro, Mini Transat 6.50, Tour de France a Voile and
Route de Rhum transatlantic race. France has been a regular competitor in the America's Cup since the 1970s.

Other important sports include:

  Grand Prix Racing (Formula 1) - invented in France in 1946
 Pétanque - the international federation is recognized by the IOC. [4] [5].
 Fencing - fencing leads the list of sports for which gold medals were won for France at summer Olympics
(see France at the Olympics).
 Parkour - developed in France, parkour ("art du déplacement") is a physical activity that resembles self-
defense or martial arts.
 Babyfoot (table football) - a very popular pastime in bars and in homes in France, and the French are the
predominant winners of worldwide table football competitions.
 Kite-surf

Like other cultural areas in France, sport is overseen by a government ministry, the Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports
(France) which is in charge of national and public sport associations, youth affairs, public sports centers and national
stadia (like the Stade de France).

Fashion
Along with Milan, London and New York, Paris is sometimes called the "fashion capital of the world". The association of
France with fashion(French: la mode) dates largely to the reign of Louis XIV [24] when the luxury goods industries in
France came increasingly under royal control and the French royal court became, arguably, the arbiter of taste and style
in Europe.

France renewed its dominance of the high fashion (French: couture or haute couture) industry in the years 1860–1960
through the establishing of the great couturier houses, the fashion press (Vogue was founded in 1892; Elle was founded
in 1945) and fashion shows. The first modern Parisian couturier house is generally considered the work of the
Englishman Charles Frederick Worth who dominated the industry from 1858-1895.[25] In the early twentieth century, the
industry expanded through such Parisian fashion houses as the house of Chanel (which first came to prominence in
1925) and Balenciaga (founded by a Spaniard in 1937). In the post war year, fashion returned to prominence
through Christian Dior's famous "new look" in 1947, and through the houses of Pierre Balmain and Hubert de
Givenchy (opened in 1952). In the 1960s, "high fashion" came under criticism from France's youth culture while
designers like Yves Saint Laurent broke with established high fashion norms by launching prêt-à-porter ("ready to
wear") lines and expanding French fashion into mass manufacturing and marketing.[26] Further innovations were carried
out by Paco Rabanne and Pierre Cardin. With a greater focus on marketing and manufacturing, new trends were
established in the 70s and 80s by Sonia Rykiel, Thierry Mugler, Claude Montana, Jean-Paul Gaultier and Christian
Lacroix. The 1990s saw a conglomeration of many French couture houses under luxury giants and multinationals such
as LVMH.

Since the 1960s, France's fashion industry has come under increasing competition from London, New York, Milan and
Tokyo, and the French have increasingly adopted foreign (particularly American) fashions (such as jeans, tennis shoes).
Nevertheless, many foreign designers still seek to make their careers in France.

Pets
In 2006, 52% of French households had at least one pet [27]: 9.7 million cats, 8.8 million dogs, 2.3 million rodents, 8
million birds, and 28 million fish.
Media and art
Art and museums

The first paintings of France are those that are from prehistoric times, painted in the caves of Lascaux well over 10,000
years ago. The arts flourished already 1,200 years ago, at the time of Charlemagne, as can be seen in many hand
made and hand illustrated books of that time.

Classic painters of the 17th century in France are Nicolas Poussin and Claude Lorrain. During the 18th century
the Rococo style emerged as a frivolous continuation of the Baroque style. The most famous painters of the era
were Antoine Watteau, François Boucher and Jean-Honoré Fragonard. At the end of the century, Jacques-Louis
David was the most influential painter of the Neoclassicism.

Géricault and Delacroix were the most important painters of the Romanticism. Afterwards, the painters were more
realistic, describing nature (Barbizon school). The realistic movementwas led by Courbet and Honoré Daumier.
Impressionism was developed in France by artists such as Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, Pierre-Auguste
Renoir and Camille Pissarro. At the turn of the century, France had become more than ever the center of innovative art.
The Spaniard Pablo Picasso came to France, like many other foreign artists, to deploy his talents there for decades to
come. Toulouse-Lautrec, Gauguin and Cézanne were painting then. Cubism is an avant-garde movement born in Paris
at the beginning of the 20th century.

The Louvre in Paris is one of the most famous and the largest art museums in the world, created by the new
revolutionary regime in 1793 in the former royal palace. It holds a vast amount of art of French and other artists, e.g.
the Mona Lisa, by Leonardo da Vinci, and classical Greek Venus de Milo and ancient works of culture and art from
Egypt and the Middle East.

Music
France boasts a wide variety of indigenous folk music, as well as styles played by immigrants from Africa, Latin
America and Asia. In the field of classical music, France has produced a number of legendary composers, like Gabriel
Faure, while modern pop music has seen the rise of popular French hip hop, French rock, techno/funk,
and turntablists/djs.

France created the Fête de la Musique (first held in 1982), a music festival, which has since become worldwide. It takes
place every June 21, on summer's day.

Cinema
France is most famous for its romance-themed movies. The French are also very good with theatre. Many famous
actors are derived from France.

France is moderately good with animation and cartoon. You may know them for their famous "Astérix" comics, and a
few cinema productions.
Television . .
Books, newspapers and magazines
France has the reputation of being a "literary culture"[28], and this image is reinforced by such things as the importance
of French literature in the French educational system, the attention paid by the French media to French book fairs and
book prizes (like the Prix Goncourt, Prix Renaudot or Prix Femina) and by the popular success of the (former) literary
television show "Apostrophes" (hosted by Bernard Pivot). This image not withstanding, 1980s figures showed that the
French spent 50% less on books and used lending libraries 1/12 as often as the British.[citation needed]

Although the official literacy rate of France is 99%, some estimates have placed functional illiteracy at between 10% and
20% of the adult population (and higher in the prison population).[29]

While reading remains a favorite pastime of French youth today, surveys show that it has decreased in importance
compared to music, television, sports and other activities.[29] The crisis of academic publishing has also hit France (see,
for example, the financial difficulties of the Presses universitaires de France (PUF), France's premier academic
publishing house, in the 1990s).[30]

Literary taste in France remains centered on the novel (26.4% of book sales in 1997), although the French read more
non-fiction essays and books on current affairs than the British or Americans. [31] Contemporary novels, including French
translations of foreign novels, lead the list (13% of total books sold), followed by sentimental novels (4.1%), detective
and spy fiction (3.7%), "classic" literature (3.5%), science fiction and horror (1.3%) and erotic fiction (0.2%). [32] About
30% of all fiction sold in France today is translated from English (authors such as William Boyd, John le Carré, Ian
McEwan, Paul Auster and Douglas Kennedy are well received).[33]

An important subset of book sales is comic books (typically Franco-Belgian comics like Tintin and Astérix) which are
published in a large hardback format; comic books represented 4% of total book sales in 1997 [34]. French artists have
made the country a leader in the graphic novel genre[33] and France hosts the Angoulême International Comics Festival,
Europe's preeminent comics festival.

Like other areas of French culture, book culture is influenced, in part, by the state, in particular by the "Direction du livre
et de la lecture" of the Ministry of Culture, which oversees the "Centre national du livre" (National Book Center). The
French Ministry of Industry also plays a role in price control. Finally, the VAT for books and other cultural products in
France is at the reduced rate of 5.5%, which is also that of food and other necessities (see here).

In terms of journalism in France, the regional press (see list of newspapers in France) has become more important than
national dailies (such as Le Monde and Le Figaro) over the past century: in 1939, national dailies were 2/3 of the dailies
market, while today they are less than 1/4. [35] The magazine market is currently dominated by TV listings
magazines[36] followed by news magazines such as Le Nouvel Observateur, L'Express and Le Point.
Architecture and housing
Transportation
There are significant differences in lifestyles with respect to transportation between very urbanized regions such
as Paris, and smaller towns and rural areas. In Paris, and to a lesser extent in other major cities, many households do
not own an automobile and simply use efficient transportation. The cliché about the parisien is rush hour in
the Métro subway. However, outside of such areas, ownership of one or more cars is standard, especially for
households with children.

The TGV high speed rail network, train à grande vitesse is a fast rail transport which serves several areas of the country
and is self financing. There are plans to reach most parts of France and many other destinations in Europe in coming
years. Rail services to major destinations are punctual and frequent.

Verbs from the assignment:

1. Play: Si je joue au tennis avec vous mardi, jouerez-vous aux échecs avec moi mercredi ?

2. Produce : La France produit le plus de vin en valeur dans le monde.

3. Own : A Paris, de nombreux ménages ne possèdent pas une automobile et il suffit

d'utiliser le transport efficace.

4. Drink : L'âge légal pour boire est officiellement 18 à Paris.

5. Remain : goût littéraire en France reste centré sur le roman.

6. Clean : personnel de nettoyage et d'entretien peut entrer dans la salle qu'une heure après
sa dernière utilisés pour la consommation.
 7. Know : L'Académie se compose de quarante membres, connu sous le nom immortels.

8. Need : ils doivent être équipés de ventilation distinct qui remplace la totalité du volume de
l'air dix fois par heure.

9. Make : de nombreux créateurs étrangers cherchent encore à faire carrière en France.

10. Allow : institutions non-laïques sont autorisés à organiser l'éducation ainsi.

Learnings from the France Culture:

The language barrier:

India has recognized Hindi and English as official languages, while France has only
recognized French as the official language.
India's government is seeking to have Hindi recognized as an official language. In Hindi's
favour: it is the biggest language of the world's second biggest country, a growing
developing economy, the world's biggest democracy and a "southern" leader that is
consistently among the biggest suppliers of UN peacekeeping troops. Hindi is declared
India's official language in the constitution.
But Hindi isn't remotely universal in India; while the biggest language of the country, it is
spoken by just 43% of the population as a mother tongue. Add in (mostly mutually
intelligible, but written with a different script) Urdu and we reach about half the population.
Even considering that many of northern India's languages are related and are partially
mutually intelligible, southern India's languages (mostly Dravidian languages) are utterly
unrelated. Dravidian-language speakers often already feel marginalised by the efforts to
promote Hindi. India's founding fathers, Gandhi and Nehru, were confident that "Hindustani"
(Hindi and Urdu) would inevitably grow to unite the country linguistically. But instead,
another language unites India's elites today, and it is already official at the UN: English.
I certainly understand the impetus. And India would cover any costs—estimated to be
around $14m—for the translation, interpretation and so forth. But given how few people
outside India speak Hindi, and even how relatively few inside India do, is it worth it?

Personal Learning:

I think we need to make greater effort to preserve Hindi's integrity within India as it is being
corrupted into Hinglish. Even news channels have adopted anglicised Hindi with the exception of
public channels and some programmers devoted to good Hindi. I grew up in Delhi but haven't read
a Hindi book since high school, which was a couple of decades ago.

Hindi is not India's national language; it is one of the 'national' languages mentioned in a list
attached to India's constitution. Not a single political leader's children are getting educated
in Hindi medium. No high-end education institution, engineering or medical college uses
Hindi as its principal language. This is different from most other countries' situation.

Thus I just want to make this system clear with the support of public by making awareness
regarding the situation.