Woman says people in France made her feel bad for not speaking French

• A woman who traveled alone in France described her time there as an “isolating experience.”
• In a TikTok video, the woman said she was ostracized for not being able to speak French in Lyon.
• Several people in the comments said they’d also had bad experiences with locals in France.

A woman who spent six days traveling alone in France says she doesn’t recommend solo travelers visit the country — especially if they don’t speak French.

Angela, who didn’t share her last name, has been tracking her solo travels across Europe on TikTok, where she has some 14,600 followers. She posts on the platform under the name @realphdfoodie.

Angela told Business Insider in an email that she was on a monthlong trip to Europe, visiting eight cities in four countries. She said she visited Lyon on December 31 and left on January 5.

On Angela’s website, where she displays her work as a content creator and food event planner, she says she’s a Beijing native currently living in the San Francisco Bay Area. She said she started food blogging 12 years ago while living in rural Texas, where she found it difficult to find authentic Asian cuisine.

On Friday, Angela posted a video to TikTok sharing her impressions of France and Lyon specifically. It has garnered 6.3 million views at the time of writing and 36,000 comments.

“I don’t know — it just makes me feel stupid. Like, why do I want to travel here?” Angela said about France in the video. The TikTok shows her walking in a pink beret with a runny nose, and displays the in-text caption: “France made me cry.”

“People make you feel bad for not knowing their culture or not speaking their language,” she added in the video.

She said in the video, shown standing by the water in Lyon, France, that people in the city seemed indifferent to her. She said she didn’t have these kinds of problems socializing with locals during her trips to Italy and Germany.

In the video comments, dozens of people empathized with Angela and said they’ve also had negative experiences with locals in France.

“Girl I live in Lyon, I’m not French and yes, all of my friends are foreigners because French people only have French friends even if you speak french,” one person wrote.

Another person commented: “Paris was such a let down, especially since me and my mom wear the hijab, we got glares and NOBODY except one baker guy greeted us and smiled.”

However, there were some comments suggesting Angela should take responsibility when interacting with locals.

“Actually when you travel, you should make an effort to learn a few words in the native language of the country you are visiting. It gives you a different perspective and makes you more approachable,” one person wrote.

Angela responded to the comment in another TikTok video, in which she ran through a list of the words she can say in French. “I’m amazed that people make all kinds of assumptions about me online. The funny thing is that I tried to speak the handful French words I learned wherever I went,” she wrote in her TikTok.

Angela said in an Instagram story on Tuesday that French media has been reaching out to her since her video went viral. She added that she has received offers to return to France for a hosted visit.

“When I was there, nobody wanted to talk to me except for the nice French lady at my hotel, my friendly guide from Barcelona, and a couple I met when I dined alone,” she wrote in the story.

Angela told BI that she’s “a very social person” and felt frustrated in Lyon.

“The language barrier is not the main reason. It’s the overall cold and indifferent environment that makes it feel isolating,” Angela said.

Regarding any backlash from her post, she said the response has been mostly positive. “I actually received more support than critiques. I’m overwhelmed by the amount of warm messages I’ve been getting from people all over the world including French people who live in Lyon and other parts of France,” she added.

It’s not the first time tourists have taken to TikTok to share what they didn’t like about traveling in France. In July, one traveler said he felt Paris was dirty and overrated. In August, another traveler said she spent $100 in Paris on breakfast but said it turned out to be inedible.