Obraz Polaka i Rosjanina w języku francuskim i w świadomości francuskiej młodzieży
THE IMAGE OF A POLE AND RUSSIAN IN FRENCH AND IN THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF FRENCH TEENAGERS

Summary/Abstract: The authoress reconstructs the image of a Pole and Russian in French and in the consciousness of the young generation of French people on the basis of data obtained from 138 students and secondary-school pupils from Strabourg, Clermont and Pas-de-Calais. In the light of systemic data, the image of a Pole is rather poor: it includes above all the liking for alcohol and cultural artefacts (a bed with a canopy, skirts tight in the waist, cauliflower with dried and fried roll topping, the polonaise). In the colloquial consciousness of the French youth, studied with the help of Jerzy Bartminski's questionnaire, the base characteristics are richer and include: the physical aspect (a Pole is tall, blue-eyed, slim, handsome, strong and dressed in warm clothes), the aspect of everyday life (hard work, good organization), the psychological aspect (a Pole is cheerful, glad, optimistic, ambitious and obstinate), the spiritual aspect (a Catholic, loves the Pope and homeland, does not practise premarital sex), the social aspect (liking for strong liquor). On the whole, both in the light of dictionaries and on the basis of questionnaires, a Pole is seen in a positive light. Dictionary data relating to Russians are richer and reveal the image of someone who comes from or lives in Russia, wears foot wrappings and has peculiar traits of character (the Russian soul). Russians and Russia are associated with caviar, snacks, the roulette, the matryoshka dolls, ballet and orthodox icons. Dictionaries also reveal the ideological aspect: the October revolution, terrorism, regime, totalitarianism, communism, emigration. The last aspect is also strongly revealed in questionnairies (sovietism, communism; a Russian is a communist but also an orthodox Christian). Other aspects include: the physical aspect (a Russian is a tall, blue-eyed person, handsome, with a long beard and a moustache, a fur cap and a long fur coat for protection against the Russian cold), the psychological aspect (hard-working, ambitious, uncouth, violent), the spiritual aspect (likes music and Russian dancing), the social aspect (Russian-style drinking, men kissing on the mouth while greeting). The material from the dictionaries and the questionnaires reveal two different portraits of a Russian, the former being neutral, while the latter predominantly negative.

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