We are different

Ø 1) Have you ever been to a foreign country? Did you experience a culture gap? Share your experience.

Ø 2) Answer the given questions and check yourself:

(1) Question: You are going along a street in Seoul, South Korea. Suddenly a passer-by pushes you. You turn around and see that he is laughing quietly. How would you behave?

Answer: It’s better not to take offence on a passer-by. The fact is that in Korea a quiet laugh means embarrassment.

(2) Question: You are sitting at the cafe in Sofia (Bulgaria). A waiter comes up to you and asks: “Would you like some ice-cream? ” You are nodding happily and waiting for your ice-cream. Unfortunately no ice-cream… Being sad you are going to get to know what the matter is. An astonishing waiter explains to you: “Dear Sir! You have given ice-cream up.” What has happened?

Answer: The waiter is right. In Bulgaria up-and-down nodding means negation.

(3) Question: In Europe when meeting each other people shake right hands. What is your idea about the way of shaking hands in Ancient China?

Answer: When ancient Chinese people met each other they shook their own hands (their right hand shook their left hand).

(4) Question: You visit your father’s friend in China. At lunch time you are served salads, meat with vegetables at first, at the end of lunch – soup. What will you think? How will you feel?

Answer: Don’t consider Chinese people to be ignorant. They know about dinner etiquette a lot. In China such dish order is traditional and correct.

(5) Question: One European traveller was invited to an Indian family. There was a very cute baby in that family and the traveller kissed him on the forehead. What was parents’ attitude to that?

Answer: Parents took serious offence on a traveller and were frightened of his behavior. It was a traveller’s mistake to kiss their baby on the head. In Asia people are sure that there is a soul of the man in the head and a kiss may insult it. After that the soul will fly away from the baby at once.

(6) Question: During a business meeting in Japan one European was lost in thought and scratched his head. After that a Japanese man switched the topic of the conversation imperceptibly and stopped the conversation gradually. Why did a Japanese man behave in such a way?

Answer: Scratching the head with the middle finger in Japan means deception and cheating.

(7) Question: The people in Iran are never interested in private life of each other. Why?

Answer: In Islamic countries personal life is a strictly guarded territory. Questions concerning family life are inadmissible.

(8) Question: If a man killed another man in Japan in the Middle Ages the Duke who was a judge ordered to banish a killer out of his lands and set his house on fire. However he ordered to set the house of the victim on fire too. Why so?

Answer: In Japan a man who was a killer was banished away and his house and the victim’s house were set on fire because these houses profaned all around.

Ø 3) Look through the text again and find the facts on the meaning of: laughing quietly, shaking hands, nodding one’s head, the order of dishes to be eaten, punishment for a killer, scratching one’s head, kissing a baby.

Ø 4) What tips would you give to a person who is going to a foreign country as a tourist?