When One Culture Encounters Another
When Italians talk they keep their hands held high as a way of
holding the floor in a conversation. What seems like affection-
The Definitive Book of Body LanguageGreeting DifferencesHandshaking differences can make for some embarrassing and
humorous cultural encounters. British, Australian, New
Zealander, German and American colleagues will usually
shake hands on meeting, and again on departure. Most Euro-
pean cultures will shake hands with each other several times a
day, and some French have been noted to shake hands for up to
30 minutes a day. Indian, Asian and Arabic cultures may con-
tinue to hold your hand when the handshake has ended.
Germans and French give one or two firm pumps followed by
a short hold, whereas Brits give three to five pumps compared
with an American's five to seven pumps. This is hilarious to
observe at international conferences where a range of different
handshake pumping takes place between surprised delegates.
To the Americans, the Germans, with their single pump, seem
distant. To the Germans however, the Americans pump hands
as if they are blowing up an airbed.
When it comes to greeting with a cheek kiss, the Scandina-
vians are happy with a single kiss, the French mostly prefer a
double, while the Dutch, Belgians and Arabs go for a triple
kiss. The Australians, New Zealanders and Americans are
continually confused about greeting kisses and bump noses as
they fumble their way through a single peck. The Brits either
avoid kissing by standing back or will surprise you with a
European double kiss. In his book A View from the Summit,
Sir Edmund Hillary recounts that on reaching the peak of
Everest, he faced Sherpa Tenzing Norgay and offered a proper,
British, congratulatory handshake. But Norgay leaped
forward and hugged and kissed him - the proper congratula-
tions of Tibetans.