Minding others’ manners: local etiquette

Cultural differences compel a lot of us to travel, but they’re exactly what can catch us off-guard. I might know to cheek-kiss in Italy or tuck my feet behind me while sitting in Thailand, but what about all of the other unwritten rules? That’s when I do my best to blend in, and just hope that I don’t embarrass myself in the process.

This month’s Travel + Leisure gives a bit of insider help to anyone traveling to France, India, or Japan with its Etiquette 101 articles.

Take Japan for example. Some lessons are pretty innocuous but good to keep in mind:

“Women close their kimonos or robes right over left; men do the opposite.”

Others will keep you from a social gaffe:

“Never eat or drink while walking. Locals buy their soda, drink it by the machine, throw the empty away, and continue on their way.”

And others will save you from a major blunder:

“Don’t stick your chopsticks perpendicularly into your rice or anything else. This symbolizes death, because chopsticks are stuck in the urn of a family member’s ashes during a funeral ceremony.”

It’s tricky–without a local giving you this information, you might not even think to raise the questions. Even for the traveler who’s working hard to assimilate into a culture, a slip-up is inevitable. And as quickly as you make the blunder, you’ll probably be forgiven for it just as quickly, for the same reason that you made it in the first place–you’re a visitor. But best to be curious, follow others’ leads, and if you get in a snafu stay humble and be able to laugh at yourself. And in fact, once you get past any initial embarrassment, the experience will most likely make you that much more confident in unfamiliar situations in the future.

Already mentioned in Vagabonding, the Culture Shock series of books remains one of my favorite reads to prepare for the cultural-side of international travel. It forgoes rating restaurants in favor of addressing general eating etiquette that serves you well through every meal. Especially interesting to me are the sections on body language and superstitions.

Also recently spotted on bookshelves, by smaller publishers: CultureSmart! published by Kuperand, and Customs and Etiquettes by Simple Guides.