Léa Bengale Elise Palma

8 February 2011

British Civilization
French stereotypes about the English people

Introduction
As many other countries especially in Europe, Great Britain suffers from several stereotypes. Some might be true but others are exaggerated. But the British people are mostly conscious of these stereotypes. What is a stereotype? A stereotype is considered as “A conventional, formulaic, and oversimplified conception, opinion, or image ». This supposes that it is normally wrong because oversimplified. Stereotypes come from our experience with people from other countries. Our experience is subjective but we tend to do from this biased opinion something that we can apply to an entire population. It is therefore very important to be careful with stereotypes and not to convince ourselves that what other people say about us is the truth. Stereotypes can however be very funny sometimes.

British symbols
The main symbols concerning Great Britain in France come mainly from London. The first of them is the royal family. In France, people think that every Englishman has a portrait of the Queen in his home. That is mainly because of what we see on the TV. However they seem to really love the royal family. They are very interested in their life. That is why they have made a commemorative coin bearing the effigy of Prince William and Kate Middleton for their wedding. They also have many different items like cups, plates or even condoms. The other symbol concerning the royal family is Buckingham Palace and especially the Royal Guard. Every Frenchman who goes to London wants to take pictures from these soldiers. The Clock Tower, also mistakenly known as Big Ben is one of the most famous symbol in terms of buildings. Big Ben is actually the biggest clock inside the Clock Tower. Contrary to what some French people might think, the Clock Tower does not stand alone in London but is a part of the huge building of the Westminster Palace, which is also the