264
CULTURE QUIZ
SITUATION 1
You’ve been invited to a small dinner party by some new
Austrian friends. Eager to make a good impression, you: Arrive about 15 to 20 minutes later in order to give the
hosts enough time to get everything ready.
Quickly proceed to the living-room area where the other
guests are after saying hello to the hosts, and begin
introducing yourself to everyone.
Arrive exactly at the hour specified, greet your hosts, hand
the hostess a beautiful bouquet of flowers, and wait to be
introduced to the other guests.
If you are a man and want to be truly European, greet
each woman by taking her hand and raising it almost to
your lips and say “Küss die Hand”.Comments
Never appropriate if the hosts are Austrians. Guests are
expected to be on time and arriving late is considered rude.
Susan was once reprimanded for arriving 5 minutes late.
If you’ve run into some unforeseen problems or heavy
traffic, you should call and notify your hosts.
If you are attending a small dinner party, you should wait
to be introduced to each of the guests. This actually makes
it much easier on you if you don’t know anyone there. If it
is a large party, the hosts probably won’t introduce you to
everyone, perhaps just a couple of people so that you can
join in a conversation. You can then meet other people
on your own.
Yes, this is the best way to impress your new friends. By
arriving on time, you show your hosts that the invitation
is important to you. By giving the hostess flowers or a
bottle of wine, you are thanking her for all the effort she
has put into the evening. It would also be a good idea to
send a thank you note by mail the following day.