Motor City to Montmartre

One of the big questions we had before moving to France was what we were going to do with all of our electrical and electronic appliances and things.  My company paid for all of our moving expenses so we could take eveything with us, but would we be able to use them.

The two main differences between the US and France is the form of the plug and the type of electrical current. The plug in France is a standard form that is used across western Europe (except for UK,Switzerland and Italy). It is actually much more sturdy than the US design that often gets bent.

The electrical current in France is 220v/50hz vs the 110v/60hz that is used in the US. If you plug in an appliance that is built for 110v into a 220v socket you will likely hear a little pop, maybe a fizz fizz and probably smell a little sulfur smell. (Don’t ask why I know this…)

So, for anything you bring from the US that needs to plug in, you will need one of the following:
* Adapter
* Converter
* Transformer

Adapter

All an adapter does is let one form of plug be used in a socket for another form of plug. Adapters are usually small and lightweight but they DO NOT convert the electrical current.  So, you will normally need a converter or transformer instead of or in addition to the adapter.

The exception is for any device that has a variable power supply.  This is usually the case for a la^top computer for example.  If you have a laptop and look on the power supply you will probably see something like:
* INPUT: 100-240v, 50-60hz.

This means that the power supply can be plugged into any power source with voltage between 100 and 240 volts with a frequency between 50 and 60 hertz.  In this case, you only need an adapter to allow it to plug into a socket in France.

Converter

Converters convert the electrical current for electrical appliances with electric motors or heating devices (irons, hair dryers, fans, coffee machines, etc.). They are fairly small but shouldn’t be used for more than a few hours.

Transformer

Transformers convert the electrical current for electronic devices (computers, printers, radios, etc.) You can buy transformers of different sizes that are sized by wattage (100w, 300w, 500w).  The more wattage they support the bigger and heavier they usually are.

We have had limited luck with converters. We bought a couple and used them for our pancake grill and vacuum cleaner.  They seemed to work ok starting off but they would heat up very quickly and seemed to convert poorly as they got hot (the grill wasn’t very hot for the last few pancakes!).  We think also that as one converter quit working so well we kind of fried our vacuum cleaner.  We ended up buying new vacuum cleaner and pancake grill in France (of course the pancake grill is a crêpe grill here). So we don’t use any converters anymore, just our transformers.

We bought 3 transformers online before moving to France and we are still using all three. We plug them into the socket in a room and then plug in a US power strip to have extra plugs.  We did find that sensitive surge protectors do not work so well because they will often trigger their protection and turn off because the current is not exactly like a US plug.  SO it works best to have cheap power strips without protection.  We have been using the transformers for radios, computer equipment, TV, DVD players, etc. for over 5 years without any major problems.  The only thing you need to know is that the transformers do no convert the frquency, only the voltage. So 220v/50hz becomes 110v/50hz (not 110v/60hz).  In most cases, this isn’t a problem.  But certain things like digital clocks depend on the frequency to determine the time. So, we tried a digital clck and it worked, except that the time was off by about 10 minutes per hour!  Oops.

• Every day

One basic rule is that when two people meet each other (even if they know each other very well) for the first time that day they will greet each other with a hand shake or “les bises”. Successive meetings in the day do not require the greeting. This is pretty much systematic even if I arrive in a meeting in the French office and there are 12 people there, I will greet each one of them individually with one of the above methods.  This does lead to strange situations when for example there are a group of people standing in the break room in the afternoon and someone else arrives they will often go through the group and either greet the person if they haven’t run into them that day or go past the people they have already greeted saying “..we saw each other already..” It is sometimes strange to hear someone going along “Hello, Hello, saw you already, hello, saw you this morning, hello, did we see each other already??…oh that was yesterday?..hello then, hello, saw you at lunch, hello, etc.”.

• “Les Bises”

These “kisses” are done by touching cheeks and making a little kiss sound, but you don’t actually touch the lips to their cheek.  A bit strange at first, but you get the hang of it quickly. You then switch cheeks and repeat. Now here comes one of the strange and complicated parts, the number of “kisses” done caries depending on the region of France you are in!  I am not sure of the entire geographical breakdown, but it is 2 “kisses” in Paris and “4″ near Nantes where I live but there are other parts of France where it is 3! To make it a little more complicated, even if you are in an area like Nantes where it is 4 “kisses”, if you now the person very well and/or see them very often and/or there is a big group that you need to greet, you may only do 2 “kisses” because it is quicker.  This leads to moments where one person stops after 2 and the other one leans in awkwardly to do a 3rd “kiss” and they either stop at 2 or the other one realizes that they were going for a 3rd, so they react in time and do the last 2 “kisses”.  It can be very awkward, but don’t worry, it happens between French people too.

• Handshake or kisses?

This is actually more complex than it would seem. For a group of people that know each other pretty well, like colleagues in the office or family, the basic rule is that guys shake hands with each other but do the “kisses” with the women. The women do the “kisses” with with men and with each other.

However, if it is in a professional setting (meeting with a customer or partner for example) then handshakes are standard no matter the sex. Also if you have never met the person before you will probably just shake hands until you no them better.  This leads to other awkward moments where you may have met them a couple times but don’t know them that well, do you shake hands or do the “kisses”…it’s a judgement call. 

Another exception is that sometimes men do the “kisses” between them when they are very close. But this depends on the person, some men won’t do this with any other men.  Just to tell you how complicated it is, I had a colleague at another company who has two brothers and is close to both of them but with one he does the “kisses” and with the other he shakes hands!?!?

Here is another awkward situation, let’s say I meet a group of women that I am friends with and they have a friend with them that I have never met before.  If I do the “kisses” with all of them, when I get to the new friend it would be awkward to shake hands. So, in this case you will often just do the “kisses” with the person you have never met before to avoid singling them out with a formal handshake.

How is an American supposed to figure all this out? 

Pronouncing French words is often challenging for a native English speaker. When first learning French we are taught how to pronounce each letter of the alphabet. Some of them are tricky, for example the letter ‘G’ in French is pronounced almost exactly like we pronounce the letter ‘J’ in English and vice versa. This was tough to get the hang of at first. Also the letter ‘I’ in French is pronounced as we pronounce ‘E’ in English, but not vice versa.  The letter ‘E’ in French is pronounced ‘euh’ or something like that.

So, one day I was talking in French about basketball with a colleague in my office in Suresnes, France (just west of Paris) and I pronounced the acronym NBA with proper French pronunciation (”En, Bay, ah”). He laughed at me and said that they pronounce it with the English pronunciation (”En, Bee, Ay”). I didn’t understand this, but he said that since it is an English acronym they pronounce it in the English way as if it was a proper name.

OK, I accepted this and went about my business trying to remember that when I am speaking French and pronounce an English acronym I have to pronounce it as I do in English. Then the other day there was a discussion that somehow turned to discuss the American FBI and CIA and the French people pronounce FBI in the American way (”Eff, Bee, eye”) but they pronounce CIA in the French way (”Say, eee, ah”). I stopped them and pointed this out to them and the general reaction was, oh yeah, that’s true….I don’t know why, that’s just how it is.

There are a lot of things like that in French. It is a beautiful language but for every rule there is an exception. You can either become enraged and frustrated or cry out about how it is illogical and unfair or you can say “oh yeah, that’s true….I don’t know why, that’s just how it is”.