Gestures NOT To Make Abroad

AOL Travel News:

You are in a foreign country, and don't speak the language. You order something indecipherable off the menu, and when the waiter brings you a plate of delicious noodles, you smile and make an OK sign at him with your thumb and forefinger linked in a circle. He then picks up the dish and throws it in your lap.

Read the whole story: AOL Travel News

Comments

[obelis kreative]

10:59 PM on 07/30/2010

That's a beautiful jacket, wonder where he bought it.

[ForVivi]

07:41 PM on 07/29/2010

Likewise, an American acquaintance felt insulted when his Brazilian audience snapped their fingers at him during his lecture. Apparently they were just agreeing with him, not rushing him.

[ProCynic]

09:43 AM on 07/28/2010

Do not "steal a child's nose" in Japan, parent's don't like the gesture.

[sloreader]

05:15 PM on 07/26/2010

Very informative. As they say, when in Rome...

[Comtesse]

04:29 PM on 07/26/2010

Ms Janine Driver writes, about the subject of international body language:"Ten years ago, polls showed that other countries looked at the U.S. as the proper way to do things" ???? Do you seriously mean by "proper ways to do things" that 10 years ago the rest of the world was looking to the U.S. in order to behave appropriately in foreign cultures, and that today only 50% of the rest of the world does so? I had a good laugh about such self-centered nationalism! I am wondering in how many countries this "expert" has lived and how many languages she fluently speaks.

After living all over the world for more than 40 years, and communicating in four languages, I have never had the impression that any country was looking at the U.S. when it comes to "proper ways of doing things" and certainly not when it comes to proper manners or appropriate cultural behaviors, especially on unfamiliar grounds.

The only thing other countries would find inspiring may be an efficient way to do marketing, in which the U.S. excels.