Cultural Indiscretions
The Carlow Nationalist November 2009
I once witnessed a Japanese tourist saunter up the centre aisle of an ancient catholic church, raise a long-lensed camera to his eye and begin snapping with the fervour of a paparazzo outside a West-End nightclub. Not a life and death issue you might say; but few would agree that this was acceptable behaviour while Sunday mass was being celebrated. The Italian congregation certainly didn't agree and the man was forcefully bundled from the building - what happened to him later I never learned. The point being, this particular tourist had not done his research; he had failed to observe the customs and traditions which lay enshrined in the local and religious culture of the place.
As travelers, each time we cross a border or venture into unknown territories we leave ourselves open to the lines that have been blurred by cultural differences. The traveller begins to feel self conscious, vulnerable and frustrated by being confronted with a set of values and expectations which differ from the ones he or she has been brought up with. Is it acceptable to wear casual clothing in a Buddhist temple? What happens if I wear a swim suit in a Finnish sauna? As a guest in a Russian home, should I bring flowers, and if so what colour and how many? What are the local superstitions about whistling indoors in the Baltic countries? The questions are as numerous as there are regions in the countries of the world.
For instance, you want to order three beers from the overworked bartender in a Croatian nightclub; but you don't speak Croatian and anyway he can't hear you above the thumping bass of the music, so, you raise three fingers and hope you can catch his eye. Unfortunately, the fingers you've just raised are your thumb, index and middle fingers and you are now guilty of making a recognised sign for Serbian nationalism; you will be waiting a long time for your drinks, but it could have been a lot worse.
Usually when tourists make cultural mistakes like the one above, the locals will graciously make allowances for the oversight and put it down to ignorance, but who wants to travel in ignorance? Wouldn't it be so much better to make yourself aware of these cultural skirmishes long before getting involved in a full-scale war? - after all, forewarned is forearmed.
Some years ago in Kenya as I ran to catch a train leaving from Mombassa for Nairobi I became aware - from the corner of my eye - that every other person on the platform was standing stock still and almost shivering at attention. Thankfully, the previous week on the flight out I had read a tiny and almost inconsequential paragraph in my guide book on the importance of standing to attention when the National Flag is being raised and lowered at public buildings. I was able to stop, remove my hat, and once the flag had been lowered carry on with my flailing attempts to board the train. A station employee who had seen me pause for the flag-lowering came quickly to my aid, he loaded my luggage onto a cart and as we ambled our way to my carriage - assuring me the train would not dare leave without me - he informed me of the importance of the flag to the Kenyan people and how pleasurable it is for nationalistic Kenyans to see a foreigner give their flag the respect it deserves. A cheap lesson well learned.
But for some travelers, experienced or not, there are times when local customs are so subtly embedded in the local culture that the traveler tends to happen across them only by chance. In parts of Eastern Europe shaking hands across the threshold of a home or office can still give rise to anxiety on the local's behalf. Blowing your nose in public in China and Japan is considered highly offensive; the use of handkerchiefs should be avoided using a disposable tissue instead. In Cambodia and Thailand pointing at a person is considered the height of bad manners, as is touching another person's head. If you don't want to be considered the lowest of the low in Arabic countries avoid showing the soles of your feet in public and the use of your left hand is best reserved for... well, personal matters.
An American executive doing business in Russia brought a dozen red carnations to his female business counterpart's office as a way of breaking the ice, what he didn't know was that he had just brought a funeral wreath to his prospective business partner. Without a risk management professional to advise him or even seeking the advice of a local how was he to know that an odd number of blooms should only be given to friends and acquaintances. Who knows how much that cost?
Even without the physical act of traveling it is still possible in this modern world of instant communications to step on the culturally sensitive feet of others. When signing off your next email be careful where you put those "X's" and "O's" we're all so fond of, a recipient in the Middle East might find this extremely insulting. Also, the use of emoticons, those little smiling faces used to convey gestures and feelings may be interpreted differently by differing cultures.
Cultural indiscretions are everywhere almost impossible to avoid, the more we travel the deeper in the mire we become. But with a little forward planning and some basic research it's possible to avoid becoming embedded in this cross-cultural quagmire. If in doubt it is always best to ask your hosts what is acceptable and what should be avoided. Travel with the motto of researching, remembering and when all else fails, do as the locals do.