4 ms·

I actually looked into this with the local France Business startup organization. At the time, I was young (30, I am now 31) and started learning French with hop

by pwaai 8y ago

I actually looked into this with the local France Business startup organization. At the time, I was young (30, I am now 31) and started learning French with hopes of trying out a alternative to Anglo culture. But reality hits hard. I don't know how I would be able to adjust from living in a multicultural and laws where minorities are protected and enforced to a republic where it is not. Once you are in France, you are expected to become fluent to the point of having no accent, because god forbid if you come from Quebecois speaking region you will get bullied and made fun of. So it's like wtf???? Here I am learning your culture and trying my best but it won't mount to shit if it's not French. Very dangerous to set elusive set of criterias based on ethnocentric ideas and see what sticks. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQzR6zKpbKQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQzR6zKpbKQ The most crazy part is that it's other minorities attacking other minorities in France.

briandear 8y ago
Be lucky you don’t have an Algerian sounding name.
boobsbr 8y ago
Give Belgium a try, maybe? People still speak French, but it has a TON of accents from people all over the world (at least in Brussels, that is).
- pwaai 8y ago
  Will do, are there any specific tech hot spots in Belgium? I no very little about the country but so far very disappointed with what France had to offer to startups.
  - boobsbr 8y ago
    Brussels has a lot of opportunities. Change your LinkedIn location to Brussels and watch the recruiters salivate. You can look for jobs on http://www.actiris.be/ce/tabid/93/language/fr-BE/Offres-d-emploi.aspx http://www.actiris.be/ce/tabid/93/language/fr-BE/Offres-d-em.... I once submitted my resumé to one company, and it somehow got shared with other companies and recruiters and I had a flurry of offerings. Most of what I receive is for the Brussels metropolitan area, but sometimes I get stuff from Antwerp, Ghent, Liège/Leuven.
    - pwaai 8y ago
      okay you got me interested. Tell me, what are the attitude towards East Asians in Brussels?
      - boobsbr 8y ago
        I guess it's fine, I've seen few east Asians at work and they seem to fit in just like everyone else. I've been to lots of businesses owned and operated by Asians, and customers treated the very politely and with smiles. I have more contact with Indians, as TCS (Tata) has A LOT of contracts with clients, and they're treated just fine. I'm South American and haven't faced any issues. That is not to say some people won't have some prejudice, or bias. Belgians like to parrot that they're very open and welcoming to foreigners, but I was treated to some very open prejudice/bigotry by Government employees when I arrived. All in all, I like the city and the country very much, lots of beautiful and interesting places with a lot of history, lots of art, lots of music, lots of entertainment, good public transportation. I just don't like the absurdly high the taxes. https://www.belgiumtaxcalculator.com https://www.belgiumtaxcalculator.com
grumpydba 8y ago
This is just outrageous. The republic tries to protect everybody. If you expect us to drop our wit and our views on a proper lifestyle to be more inclusive, indeed please move along. Globally we still despise politically correct as a poison to our freedom. And most of us are fine with that. Little anectode here: in IT I've worked with people of all backgrounds and never saw any issue. Young people's pride can turn them into divas...
- schrijver 8y ago
  Not outrageous at all; France really has specific problems dealing with multicultural society. The meritocratic republic is such a great idea, that people fail to see that it doesn’t always work out in practice. Fighting racism (for example racial profiling by the police) becomes a low priority, because there isn’t supposed to be any! As a white foreigner working in France, it remains pretty benign, but quite visible--i.e. the boss laughing about your accent.
  - grumpydba 8y ago
    Racial profiling by police is indeed a non issue. Was born and raised in the suburbs, the most dangerous ones, and the profiling is done according to the attitude and the clothes, mainly. And thats the experience from my friends, with différent backgrounds. And boy do people in the suburbs have a bad attitude ! Quit providing excuses for criminals, it is a disservice To them. And overestimating the racial issue is the best way to isolate groups according to race, and in the end, create a hate able to cause civil wars
    - pwaai 8y ago
      > And overestimating the racial issue is the best way to isolate groups according to race, and in the end, create a hate able to cause civil wars holy fuck
      - grumpydba 8y ago
        Indeed it erodes solidarity, little by little.
rjsw 8y ago
France has regional accents too, none are as different as a Quebec one though.

by pwaai 8y ago

briandear 8y ago

Be lucky you don’t have an Algerian sounding name.

boobsbr 8y ago

Give Belgium a try, maybe? People still speak French, but it has a TON of accents from people all over the world (at least in Brussels, that is).

pwaai 8y ago
Will do, are there any specific tech hot spots in Belgium? I no very little about the country but so far very disappointed with what France had to offer to startups.
- boobsbr 8y ago
  Brussels has a lot of opportunities. Change your LinkedIn location to Brussels and watch the recruiters salivate. You can look for jobs on http://www.actiris.be/ce/tabid/93/language/fr-BE/Offres-d-emploi.aspx http://www.actiris.be/ce/tabid/93/language/fr-BE/Offres-d-em.... I once submitted my resumé to one company, and it somehow got shared with other companies and recruiters and I had a flurry of offerings. Most of what I receive is for the Brussels metropolitan area, but sometimes I get stuff from Antwerp, Ghent, Liège/Leuven.
  - pwaai 8y ago
    okay you got me interested. Tell me, what are the attitude towards East Asians in Brussels?
    - boobsbr 8y ago
      I guess it's fine, I've seen few east Asians at work and they seem to fit in just like everyone else. I've been to lots of businesses owned and operated by Asians, and customers treated the very politely and with smiles. I have more contact with Indians, as TCS (Tata) has A LOT of contracts with clients, and they're treated just fine. I'm South American and haven't faced any issues. That is not to say some people won't have some prejudice, or bias. Belgians like to parrot that they're very open and welcoming to foreigners, but I was treated to some very open prejudice/bigotry by Government employees when I arrived. All in all, I like the city and the country very much, lots of beautiful and interesting places with a lot of history, lots of art, lots of music, lots of entertainment, good public transportation. I just don't like the absurdly high the taxes. https://www.belgiumtaxcalculator.com https://www.belgiumtaxcalculator.com

grumpydba 8y ago

This is just outrageous. The republic tries to protect everybody. If you expect us to drop our wit and our views on a proper lifestyle to be more inclusive, indeed please move along. Globally we still despise politically correct as a poison to our freedom. And most of us are fine with that. Little anectode here: in IT I've worked with people of all backgrounds and never saw any issue. Young people's pride can turn them into divas...

schrijver 8y ago
Not outrageous at all; France really has specific problems dealing with multicultural society. The meritocratic republic is such a great idea, that people fail to see that it doesn’t always work out in practice. Fighting racism (for example racial profiling by the police) becomes a low priority, because there isn’t supposed to be any! As a white foreigner working in France, it remains pretty benign, but quite visible--i.e. the boss laughing about your accent.
- grumpydba 8y ago
  Racial profiling by police is indeed a non issue. Was born and raised in the suburbs, the most dangerous ones, and the profiling is done according to the attitude and the clothes, mainly. And thats the experience from my friends, with différent backgrounds. And boy do people in the suburbs have a bad attitude ! Quit providing excuses for criminals, it is a disservice To them. And overestimating the racial issue is the best way to isolate groups according to race, and in the end, create a hate able to cause civil wars
  - pwaai 8y ago
    > And overestimating the racial issue is the best way to isolate groups according to race, and in the end, create a hate able to cause civil wars holy fuck
    - grumpydba 8y ago
      Indeed it erodes solidarity, little by little.

rjsw 8y ago

France has regional accents too, none are as different as a Quebec one though.