Diversity of Etiquette and Mannerisms among various Culture

If I tell you “Go get out of my article not wasting your valuable time" will you go away? I mean will you obey me? or your rebellious mind forbade you to read the article as it has an interesting start? Well, that’s debatable but what do you think if I started my article politely and request you to read the rest of the article gently? That thing is also debatable and may increase your anger as I am annoying you. But you see, politeness and etiquette is important as it makes you more acceptable to people as those who are with polite manners are considered to be safe to interact with though we don’t know the rest of his personality yet. Etiquette and mannerisms are important components of communication and social interaction in all societies. They are the set of rules and conventions that govern behavior in social situations, and they differ from one culture to another. Different cultures have different ways of greeting, showing respect, and expressing emotions.

Etiquette and Manners

 Understanding the diversity of etiquette and mannerisms among various cultures is essential for successful cross-cultural communication. Let’s start with our very own “Bengali” culture, where English “You” has three meaning on Bangla, Like :-

Aapni (আপনি) – (“Higher” You, used for honoring someone)

Tumi (তুমি) – (average and normal “you”, but be aware to use it for elderlies and seniors!)

Tui (তুই) – (mostly used among close friends and sometimes as a lower “you” to trivially address someone)

There are also other Bengali mannerisms such as stand up if your senior comes to visit you while you are working any desk works (though I think this is unnecessary).

French-etiquette

In many Western cultures, a handshake is a common form of greeting. It is a firm, brief handshake with eye contact, which is seen as a sign of confidence and respect. In contrast, in many Asian cultures, a bow is the traditional form of greeting. The depth of the bow varies depending on the status of the person being greeted, and it is seen as a sign of respect and deference. In some cultures, such as those in the Middle East, a kiss on the cheek is a common form of greeting between people of the same gender, while in others, such as Japan, a simple nod of the head is sufficient. In addition to greeting customs, the way people express emotions also differs from one culture to another. For example, in many Western cultures, it is acceptable to express emotions such as happiness or sadness openly. In contrast, in many Asian cultures, particularly in China and Japan, it is more common to suppress emotions and maintain a calm and collected demeanor. In some Middle Eastern cultures, such as Saudi Arabia, it is considered inappropriate to express emotions publicly at all.

Western & Asian Etiquette

Another aspect of etiquette that varies across cultures is the way people show respect. In many Western cultures, respect is often shown through the use of titles such as Mr.& Mrs.  In some Asian cultures, such as, in Japan respect is shown through the use of honorifics such as "-san"(さん) or "-sama（さま）" attached to the person's name. There is also a thing called “Honne and tatemae” in Japanese culture, “hone” refers to a person's true feelings and desires (本音, hon'ne, "true sound"), and “tatemae” refers contrastingly to the behavior and opinions one displays in public (建前, tatemae, "built in front", "façade"). It is kind of like Bengali “মুখে এক অন্তরে আরেক” type thing . A person's honne may be contrary to what is expected by society or what is required according to one's position and circumstances, and they are often kept hidden, except with one's closest friends. Tatemae is what is expected by society and required according to one's position and circumstances, and these may or may not match one's honne. In many cases, tatemae leads to outright telling of lies in order to avoid exposing the true inward feelings. That’s why sometimes many westerners like Europeans and Americans can’t fully understand East Asians feeling most of the time as westerners more expressive than east Asians. Though, there are several cases where it has been reported that these things vary from generation to generation.

Well, if you can observe there are several patterns of etiquette which differs from a generation from generation, such as city dwellers in Japan are more likely to be non-expressive and professional, more like sand society, where if our elders whom were born in 70’s,80’s or maybe 90’s can’t cope up with them as they are kind of human robot but if kids nowadays (specially ‘gen z’) go there they can easily meddle up as they are more aware of the condition and they are too more like ‘human robot’ thing.

 

Though every culture has their own etiquette and manners it important to understand their sentiment and accept the diversity because it is world would be boring and dull without diversity.