Visual appearance is important to the French. No effort is too great to make things look good: witness the food shops in even the poorest neighbourhoods of a city, always sparkling clean and beautifully displayed. The people, too, take pride in looking neat and sharp; they inspect others and expect to be looked at. Life is theatre, lived much more in the public eye - especially in the warm Mediterranean south - than in Anglo-Saxon societies. And for the visitor it's a free and entertaining spectacle.

The France are extremely courteous with each other - it's not unusual for someone entering a restaurant to say "Good evening" to the entire company - and rather formal in their manners. At the same time, if they want something, they may be quite direct in ways that are disconcerting for Anglo-Saxons brought up in the belief that it's improper to state clearly what you mean or feel. If you are feeling self-conscious about coping with the language, this can seem like rudeness; it isn't. If you observe the formalities and make an effort to communicate, you'll find the French as friendly and interested as anyone else.

As for their reputed arrogance, the French are certainly proud of their culture, some-thing that is reinforced by the education system. Artists and thinkers are held in high esteem in France and their opinions are listened to. Even prime ministers tend to be literate, and are often accomplished authors. But in a world dominated by commercial values and, in addition, the English language, the French (not unnaturally, for their language was once the lingua franca of the educated) feel this culture is under threat.