Segment 34 – What Should I Absolutely NOT Do When Visiting Your Country?
With spring break right around the corner (and hopefully summer in a few short months), thousands of folks are gearing up for the travel bug! Whether it’s a quick jet across Europe to the sunny beaches of Spain or Italy, or a more adventurous trip to Thailand or New Zealand, we are ready for a break...
As I look across the atlas on my wall, I begin to ponder…Where should we visit? What should we do? What shouldn't we do?
To my chagrin or delight (depending on whether you are a half-empty or half-full kind of person), I wandered through various rabbit holes (aka: the Internet), until I finally checked out International Travel on Quora – after all, they claim to be my best source for knowledge. I came across a thread about a very intriguing question: What should I absolutely NOT do when visiting your country?
What an absolutely enlightening read! With hundreds of responses from people around the world, and thousands of endorsements, there are some nuggets that travellers should store away in their mind palace…
When in Japan:
Don't tip. Tipping is just NOT part of the culture. Don't even leave the small change. People will come running after you with it.
Don't go into homes with your shoes on. If you see other people taking their shoes off, do the same. There's a small area right inside the entrance called a 'genkan' which is usually one level below the rest of the house, where you take off your shoes.
Don't try to hug people you just met. Most people don't like it, especially older folks.
Don't talk on your cellphone in trains. While it's not against the law, it's considered to be rude since it disturbs people around you.
Don't get arrested and convicted in Japan. You won't always get 'rescued' by your country's consulate. Japanese prisons are not brutal, violent places, but they are very spartan, and there's no parole for 'good behavior'.
Answers by Makiko Itoh
When in India:
Don’t kiss public. In some jurisdictions this can land you in jail for "public obscenity" (a lot of our laws are stuck in the Victorian era). Although the law enforcement cuts some slack if the couple is married, if the couple is unmarried things can get really messy.
Don’t touch anything of respect with your feet. If you stomp over a book, national flag, image of a deity etc., you can get into trouble. While stomping a book might invite strong frowns (people will think you are an idiot), deliberately stomping an image of a god of any religion or India's national symbols (such as the flag and the emblem) might get you arrested.
Don’t have excessive physical contact with member of opposite sex. Hugging and handshakes are still frowned upon in most parts of the country among members of the opposite sex. Unless the local offers to hug or a handshake, don't press it. This is not illegal and no one goes to jail for hugging/handshakes. It is a custom. On the other hand, among members of same sex hugging is pretty common.
Don’t disrespect any religion. While India is fairly tolerant of atheists and is officially secular, abusing any religion or caste is an offence. Insulting Christianity or Islam or any of the minority religions would be seen as a bigger offence. When you have 1.2 billion people of dozens of religions, such laws become essential.
Answers by Balaji Viswanathan
When in France:
Don't make derogatory comments or jokes about the French military history. Many people you will meet have grandparents who fought during WW2, and they won't take it well if you imply they are cowards. Some other clichés about the French (e.g. always complaining, strikes, socialism, etc.) are less touchy and can be joked on and/or debated (with open-minded people at least).
Don't assume we agree with what the government or some famous French person said or did. This is true for many countries, but criticizing the government is like a national sport in France.
Don’t expect much awareness about vegan diets. Very few people are vegan in France compared to some other countries, and although the situation is slowly improving, the awareness and acceptance of it are still quite poor. Some older people especially can consider it a "weird" or even radical behavior.
Don't expect most people to understand English. Many older people will only know a bit of bad, heavily accented English and/or possibly German or Spanish. The situation is better with younger people, but even they often won't be very proficient.
Answers by Alexandre Coninx
When in Spain:
Don’t assume we can speak your language. In general, we Spaniards are not good at speaking other languages than our own. Although you will find people talking in English, you may have problems if you try to speak with them in another different language. Even so, we will appreciate the effort of speaking the language of Cervantes.
Don’t criticize our politics. In Spain we like to talk about politics, but be careful with what you say. Do not criticize things like public health care, public universities, public transport...those things are sacred to us. And of course, Franco is deeply hated among the most of us, and those who are ”franquists” don’t say it out loud.
Don’t mock us! You might see people loudly speaking on the street, but do not imitate them. We really appreciate tourists who are polite.
Answers by Carlos Martín
When in Germany:
Don't do the Nazi salute. Not even in jest. It's a crime and every year there are tourists arrested for it. Also don't carry any Nazi symbols on you.
Don't talk about politics unless you can agree with the basic consensus. Many Germans like to discuss the news or argue about what should be done in an armchair expert way, so you may be drawn into a political discussion. Disagreeing with each other on political issues is not a big deal in Germany - except if you disagree with the basic consensus of our country, people will lose respect for you until you present a really thoughtful argument.
Don't strike up conversations with strangers at a supermarket or the like. That's creepy.
Don't STARE. You'd appear either uneducated or mentally ill.
Don't wish someone a happy birthday before the day. The origin is a superstition that something bad will happen to them (they might die) before their birthday if you do; however this rule is not limited to superstitious people. Even bright, rational Germans will feel uncomfortable because it's just not done. I guess it feels similar to congratulating someone on passing an exam before they have taken it...
Answers by Judith Meyer
When in Kenya:
Don't get impatient.
Don’t buy at the first price quoted by the seller. ALWAYS BARGAIN when shopping in a second hand store or when buying from a hawker. I cannot stress this enough, especially if you are white, they inflate the price to even 5 times the price they would sell to a Kenyan, if you have to go shopping in a second hand store, go with a Kenyan who can bargain for you, or bargain to half the price that was first quoted. If you are friendly to the seller, he will be nice to you, so be nice and kind and they might just give you a good price.
Don’t get CAUGHT! The police and city council police men are so good at making your life hell when they catch you on the wrong, so don't get caught, otherwise you will have to pay a seriously hefty bribe or spend a couple of nights in a jail cell and after that you may get deported depending on the offence, so don't get caught.
Don't talk badly about our politicians. We can, but not you. We won't like you after that, especially if you compare them to your politicians at home, nobody cares about how politics works in your country unless we ask you about it.
Don’t show off your smart phone. Don't even reveal it. If you want to play it safe, leave your smart phone at home, or in your country. Same applies to your laptop and Ipads and tablets, they will surely be stolen. A professional thief will steal it right from your hand; thieves here are that good.
Answers by Rose Thuo
When in Brazil:
Don’t get offended when treated informally. We are very welcoming people, and we treat everyone like this - even authority figures such as the President - Dilma. Yes, she's a woman, just fyi - people will refer to you using your first name, probably mispronouncing it, but with the best intentions!
Don’t expect to be understood in English. We have a hard time with English. It is rare to find people that speak basic English. We will try our best to communicate with you, especially servers, taxi drivers and such.
Don’t assume we speak SPANISH. We speak Portuguese - we were colonized by Portugal, though our languages are somewhat different now - and assuming otherwise is really rude and you will be seen as ignorant. Actually, we have very little similarities with our fellow South American countries.
Don't expect to find only the beautiful sights and lovely people. We are a developing country. You will come across poverty, favelas, poor managed city areas and so, especially if you choose not to stick to the traditional tourist areas.
Don't come expecting to meet stereotypical standards on how we look. You will probably be stunned by our diversity. We come in literally all shapes, sizes and colors.
Answers by Marianna Porto
So there you have it, straight from the locals. While there may be a bunch of things for tourists and foreigners to avoid, I have experienced that most people are friendly and forgiving. So if you ever find yourself making a cultural mistake, or doing one of those “don’ts”; don’t fret... Just smile and sincerely apologize. Most people will understand that you aren’t from their country and try to help you.
A smile has never failed me! Most important of all, have fun, be respectful, embrace the cultural differences, and learn the local language (or at least bring along a bi-lingual dictionary so you can translate)... Happy Travels!
...Stay tuned for the next Segment of HT LOCALIZATION Presents Language Translations for Real Life Series, where we’ll continue … with more stuff.
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This article was written by Rachanee Thevenet, Co-Founder of HT Localization. Rachanee is an Asian-American expat living in Spain with her family. She loves all things international including food, art, literature, culture, languages and people. She has years of professional product marketing expertise and global expansion experience.
HT LOCALIZATION LLC. is an international translation & localization agency providing a full range of professional language translation services, including social media localization, marketing translations, website translations, software localization, eLearning materials, documentation translations, etc. With locations in the US, Spain, France, Zambia & Thailand, and coverage across all languages and most industries, HT LOCALIZATION is well positioned to provide around the globe services for all translation needs.
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