Comment by Taniwha
5 years ago
I remember taking a doing-biz-international course - one thing that was stressed was that personal space is different for different cultures, you can back someone into a wall if your normal speaking distance is larger than someone else's.
FYI for Americans a good rule of thumb is that Americans are comfortable at roughly an arm's length - reach out and touch someone's shoulder with your knuckles - after taking that course this became a company greeting ....
> reach out and touch someone's shoulder with your knuckles - after taking that course this became a company greeting ....
This greeting might not be perceived too well in Germany.
Just don't do it with fingers outstretched
Yeah in the Southern US there is a good chance if you reach out and touch someone with your knuckles they will think you are looking for a fight. If it's someone you are very comfortable with it would probably be taken as "playing we might fight" like you would do with a cousin or brother but probably don't do this lol.
I find a lot of comfort in knowing that these kinds of things are becoming more "official". Training seminars being organised, issues being discussed online, people growing up and spending more time being aware of these things before it's too late. It seems to me to be a sure sign of social progress.
I took that course in 1985 ....