DIFFERENT LANGUAGES, DIFFERENT WORLDS

DIFFERENT LANGUAGES, DIFFERENT WORLDS

For a German and a Finn, the truth is the truth. In Japan and Britain it is all right if it doesn't rock the boat. In China there is no absolute truth. In Italy it is negotiable.

Comparisons of national cultures often begin by highlighting differences in social behavior. Japanese do not like shaking hands, bow when greeting each other and do not blow their nose in public. Brazilians form unruly bus queues, prefer brown shoes to black and arrive two hours late at cocktail parties. Greeks stare you in the eye, nod their head when they mean 'no', and occasionally smash plates against walls in restaurants. French people wipe their plate clean with a piece of bread, throw pastry into their coffee and offer handshakes to strangers in bistros. Brits tip their soup plate away from them, eat peas with their fork upside down and play golf in the rain.

Appearance and reality

These various manners and mannerisms cause us great amusement. We smile at foreign eccentricity, congratulating ourselves on our normality. And yet we are aware that these idiosyncrasies are largely superficial. If we stay in France a while we are sooner or later happy to dunk our croissant and make a mess; we discover the unhurried delight of turning up outrageously late in Brazil; we throw vodka glasses over our shoulder with abandon in St Petersburg. Such adaptation of our behavior leaves no scar on our psyche. We join strangers in their little ways partly to conform and partly for fun. Our appearance is not our reality. We can become French or Greek for an evening, a party or a dinner, we can sit on tatami with Japanese and eat legs of lamb with one hand among Arabs. But what goes on in our head remains a private, well-protected constant. We may put on a show for others, but all the while we follow our own silent program.

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