Speak? Shake? Hug? Or Kiss?

This vast world we live in encompasses so many different cultures, languages, and traditions. Sometimes it is best to understand the differences and certain particularities of a country. One thing that falls under this category is the method of greeting. It is quite important to know how to greet someone in a certain country. We don’t want you kissing someone when touching is forbidden, so here is a basic guide to ease this problem.

Here in America, when meeting someone, we say “Hello, how are you?” That is the most common greeting, which can be exchanged with slang. When meeting someone for the first time we usually shake hands with them. There is nothing more than that. If seeing a friend, then we hug, but that is after knowing the person for a long time.

In the United Kingdom, the same method of communication and greeting occurs. When greeting people conversations go “Hello, how are you?” Then the person would reply “Fine, thanks.” People usually shake hands there too or maybe they just smile at each other. If they see a friend, they hug, and if it is two women or a man and a women, then they give only one kiss on the cheek. If at a more formal or stylish event then people may even double kiss. The British however do not go around doing this all the time, a majority of the time is just conversation.

Now these forms of greetings seem normal to us, however, some countries have interesting ways of greeting that are quite unheard of to us here in America. In Latin American countries, people are quite friendly when they greet. In places like Argentina, they hug, hold hands, and kiss when greeting a person. For the Argentinians it does not matter what gender the person is. When placed in a more formal situation, they just shake hands, but usually that is the first time they meet. In Brazil they also take part in the warm Latin American greeting, with lots of hugs and kisses. Sometimes they even do taps, but when it comes to formal situations, it is once again back to the hand shake.

Asian countries have a different sort of greeting system. In China people will nod or bow. Koreans do a slight bow and hand shake, sometimes with both hands. Malaysians take both hands and touch the other person’s hands. They then proceed to bring it back to the breast, a gesture that is called salame. In the Philippines, they use a limp hand shake. In India, when greeting someone, it depends on gender and age. Usually a person will hold their palms together like they are pray, then they will bend or nod and say “Namaste.” Males will hug male friends, while females will hug female friends. Older people will hug the younger children. Usually for the elderly, people will bend down and touch their feet in seek of blessing. Sri Lankans place their palms together under their chin and bow slightly, much like India. Similarly, people in Thailand place their palms together, with elbows down, and bow their head, something called wai. Japanese people also bow, but they place their hands on their thighs and keep their heels together. However, Indonesians just say “selamat,” meaning peace. Just in one area, so many different forms of greeting.

Some other odd greetings include the Inuit form of nose touching, which puzzles me, because what if someone is really tall and the other person is short, like me. How does nose touching work then? It intrigues me to learn about and understand different cultures. Knowing how to greet people is good to know, so you don’t violate a person or don’t hurt their feelings by rejecting them.

For more information about greetings click here, here, and here.