Etiquette Around the Globe: When Yes Means No
Posted on Tue, Aug 24, 2010
by Lyudmila Bloch, Business Etiquette Coach and International Etiquette Expert
Ideas about critical mistakes people make when traveling around the world filled my mind after viewing Cairo Time, a movie about Juliette, a middle-aged, American sophisticate. Visiting her husband in Cairo, where he was in charge of building refugee camps in Gaza, Juliette is unaware of societal rules and social etiquette in Egypt. Normally polite and poised in her work as an editor in the publishing business, she commits a series of ridiculous faux pas in Muslim culture, attracting cold stares and rude gestures from young Egyptians. Oblivious to her surroundings, she interprets their behavior as signs of attraction and flirtation, rather than disrespect and outrage. Her naiveté and lack of awareness lead her to awkward and embarrassing moments.
Around the world cultural etiquette is responsible for how we live, what we value, and how we relate to other people.
As one would expect, assumptions based on cultural misunderstandings can backfire when dealing with people from other countries, where customs may be radically different from those of mainstream America.
What we know to be true about American body language and gestures like an up-and-down nod for “yes” and side-to-side movement for ‘no’ – may even be reversed in other cultures. This is the case in the Bulgarian language, where up-and-down means a definite NO, and side-to-side is YES. (Watch the video, below.)
The Greeks make a clicking sound with the tongue, “ne,” which translates as “yes,” but they pronounce it as “nai” – which sounds like “no” in English. On the other hand, the Greek word “oh-knee,” meaning “no,” sounds like our “okay.” Go figure!
The Japanese have so many degrees of politeness in their forms of proper address, that simultaneous translation is almost impossible. Choosing an appropriate greeting may be deliriously complicated.
Most of us travel throughout the world unaware that our slightest gesture, utterance (e.g., the word ”“von” in Russian means “leave and don’t come back”), or even whisper could spark an explosive drama, serious disagreement, or even the end of a relationship at the unrecognized click of a tongue!