French Elevator Etiquette

When I first arrived in France, some friends told me about the elevator.

If the elevator is not a person, don't forget the lady's priority when stepping out of the elevator.

After the ladies are willing to go out, men will continue to give each other.

Man a must stretch out his hand to ask the other party to go first and say, "APRESVOUS" ("I walk behind you").

At this time, the man must not lose his way and lift his legs, but he should do the same thing.

So many times, one of them would ask another to forgive him, because he finally made up his mind to get out of the lift.

The French themselves joked that the above process was "French trap".

In fact, the "trap" of elevator is not difficult for us foreigners.

More difficult is the etiquette of entering the elevator.

If you go to work in the morning, there are several people in the elevator when you enter the elevator.

According to the French custom, no matter you do not know these people, you must take the initiative to greet them, otherwise it is unnatural.

But before opening the mouth, it is necessary to see if there are any women in these places.

If yes, we need to estimate if they are married, and then we need to quickly count the number of married and unmarried women.

As for men, just look at more than two.

Then, depending on the situation, the group will be arranged in proper combinations of the address forms of ladies, ladies and gentlemen.

This process seems complicated, but in fact, it is late and fast, and the French can do it in less than a second.

The poor foreigners who only learn French first have to look back at the words, and recall the single plural spelling of "Miss", "wife" and "Sir".

For example, the word "Miss" is pronounced "MADEMOISELLE" in French, while the word "Miss" is pronounced "MESDEMOISELLES".

The difference is small, so careless.

For example, when the two ladies are on the opposite side, you call it "Mademoiselle", but you don't know which lady you are trying to curry favor with. Do you offend all two of them?

Even if you are an acquaintance, you can't greet each other by greeting.

If you meet friends of the same age, you must not miss the names of the ladies, wives or gentlemen, nor call them by their first names. Instead, they should call their names kindly (such as "Pierre" and "Sophie") and greet them one by one.

If these acquaintances haven't seen you for a few days, you still have to shake hands with the men and put your face on the ladies.

Sticking face from the right side, as for the number of face to face depends on the degree of familiarity and the length of the difference (3 times for general friendship, 4 times for deep affection).

Here are two points to note: first, the face is limited to at least one of them is a woman, between a man and a lady, or between two women. Second, the face must be accompanied by kissing, though the sound is emitted by your own upper and lower lips when facing the two sides.

"Hello" (TU) or "VOUS" are used in conversation. It is also a university question. The mystery and complexity of it are much more than the elevator trap mentioned earlier.

I have lived in French for more than 10 years, and I can only say a little bit.

Generally speaking, in France, anyone who sees strangers (except sixteen boys under seven years old and girls under the age of 14th Five-Year) should call each other by "you".

"VOUS" is a respectful name. It also shows that the relationship between the two people still keeps a certain distance.

It is especially noteworthy that whatever the difference between status and age, if you call each other by "you", the other person will necessarily call you "you" (this is quite different from the usage of "you" in Chinese).

The French people themselves are not necessarily clear about the subtle relationship between you and you.

Without talking about others, Mitterrand was elected president of France in 1981 after decades of struggle.

One of his old friends did not know whether he should continue to call the new president with "you" as before, so he tentatively said to the president, "can we match you?"

"It is said that Mitterrand's answer is:" that's your turn.

"