Difference in Manners, February 19, week 7

GOOD MANNERS 

What is good in Asia, must not be good in Europe. Imagine that you are visiting your fiance at China,  so you are going to give your first impression to your future parents in law, you must know that when you gather to eat good manners in China means that:

• You may lift your bowl to mouth level and use chopsticks to push rice into your mouth. ...
• Unlike in the West, spitting small bones out onto your plate or an empty bowl is acceptable. .
• Serving utensils might not be present.
• If you are provided a cloth napkin, tuck the corner under your plate so that it hangs in your lap. This also prevents it from falling onto a possibly dirty floor.
• Never play with chopsticks as if they were sticks for drum.
• And so many more.

In this world we don´t have to go to another country to meet people from all around the world, almost in every country we have the opportunity to share space and time with other cultures. Being educated requires also to learn of other cultural manners. 

So next time that you meet someone of other culture try to learn about their manners and be respectful, 

Professor Ivers, from BYUI, give us some good advices he taught during a class:

Loud music is tolerated in some Hispanics countries.

Time period in South America  is more than 10 minutes is almost 30 minutes so don´t feel b ad if your appointment starts a little more than 5 minutes after you were supposed to.

Blowing your nose in public in America is acceptable but not in Asia.

In the Middle East showing the bottom of your foot is considered insulting.

Don´t use the first name unless everybody does it.

He said: " Members of the Afghan army killing American soldiers. Some of those killings have been linked to cultural insults that would not have been insulting in the United States. Some of them had been linked to American soldiers laying down on the ground, pointing the bottom of their shoes toward that person. An American soldier doesn't think anything is  happening. The Afghan takes it as an insult. Another, there's other things been linked to, you know how in America, sometimes, like in a sport situation and you do a good job, these sports players are patting, banging each other on the rear end? You know? Sometimes American soldiers do that. That would be an offense to Afghans. So, anyway, they're starting now to train the American soldiers in cross-cultural differences. And, of course, a lot of the insider killings are religiously motivated, but there's a lot of cultural differences."

So knowing other manners would stop wars, wouldn´t it be important to instruct our students on the matter?

Consider studying the following 13 good and bad manners examples.
 https://people.howstuffworks.com/13-examples-of-good-and-bad-manners-around-the-world5.htm