Never Say Please to Mother

By Miss Cellania in Everything Else on Jan 26, 2009 at 12:47 pm

The clash between Chinese and Swedish table manners highlights how different cultures define politeness and intimacy. Dr. Martin Rundkvist of Aardvarchaeology is married to a Chinese immigrant to Sweden. Her life entails switching back and forth between being polite to those with whom you are familiar and reserving formal manners to those to whom you are not particularly close. This shows how much more there is to learn about a culture than just the language! Commenters at the post add their experiences in how other cultures would react. Link

Tags: culture, manners

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Gauldar
Jan 26th, 2009 at 1:00 pm
Reminds me of the common behaviour in Germany where if someone is in the way it is culturally acceptable to push someone as you make your way through a narrow hallway, regardless of gender. Being polite and apologising as you make your way around a woman in your way may be a custom in Canada, but if such an act took place in Germany it would be considered sexist.
Idil
Jan 26th, 2009 at 3:01 pm
Aardvarchaeology?
Idil
Jan 26th, 2009 at 3:02 pm
Oohh pardon me, i thought it was listed as his occupation and got really confused haha
sullynick
Jan 26th, 2009 at 4:05 pm
It is considered very rude to put your hands under the table (like in your lap) in Germany.
Germany seems to have won the weird cultural customs competition.
Guest
Jan 26th, 2009 at 5:35 pm
I love being Chinese since it is acceptable to eat messily. It’s actually considered a compliment to the chef. Nice for me since I’m such a klutz.
liltrix
Jan 26th, 2009 at 6:24 pm
also in the chinese culture you will undoubtedly have notice table manners in formal situations are totally different, no elbow rules… but taking the first or last thing on a plate without being directed to is totally unkosher… like wise with accepting gifts, they must always be refused then offered once more or even several times before really being accepted, and its rather rude to open wrapped gifts in front of others (even the bearer)… feels quite odd when giving gifts…
annoynmous
Jan 27th, 2009 at 12:09 am
Similar to my experience in Korea. In Korean you use Formal Polite when talking to anyone older than yourself, Informal when talking to someone younger than yourself, but with friends it can be hard to gauge when you’re good enough friends to switch from Polite to Informal. (It changes how you conjugate verbs and adjectives, and even some vocabulary choices.)

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