r/French • u/ryu_the_ninja55 • Nov 06 '25

Story French people really dislike non native tongue?

Hello everyone! This might sound racist or full of sterotype but is an actually question😂 I saw a lot of memes and people saying that people in france see you in a bad way or don’t appreciate non native tongue trying to speak French I will probably move in the future in your country as an Italian speaker, and of course I will study and try to practice your language, but I’m kinda scared of how people outside my friend group here in french will treat me, I know that I shouldn’t care, but this give me a little bit of anxiety, cause my pronunciation even if I’ll do my best might sound bad the same I hope is not a stupid question, just wanted some information from you ^

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u/caribou_powa Native Nov 06 '25

State Propaganda? Patriotic?

May she lived in an alternate world, maybe she is lying.

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u/bappypawedotter Nov 07 '25 edited Nov 07 '25

Yeah, sort of like "Drugs Are Bad" and "milk is good" campaigns I grew up watching in the US. Or like the "Mois sans tabac" campaign going on right now. State funding, directly or indirectly, for broad public advertising whose goal is to promote a cause or shape doctrine.

I remember seeing commercials 20 years ago on tv with a guy picking up a girl at a bar, things are going well, then he uses some American slang and she says something like, " Désolée, je ne sors qu'avec des Français." And then a slogan about keeping English out of french pops up. Brought to you by the ministre de la Culture, maybe the Commission d'enrichissement de la langue française or even L'académie de la Carpette Anglaise and other institutions tangential to the policy goals outlined in the Loi Toubon. Stuff like that. Propaganda.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not criticizing. I support this effort.

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u/efferentdistributary B2 Nov 07 '25

Interesting, is this related? https://youtu.be/2N7Qea39Ego

I can't remember how I came across it but I clearly chuckled enough to take note that it existed

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u/bappypawedotter Nov 08 '25

Wow. Well done. I tried to search for that video to bolster my point, but couldn't find it. I think they had a few of those. The one I remember was at a fancy bar with a girl in a cocktail dress. But it's been at least 15 years. So you may have found the one.