In my country, Korea, when we meet someone for the first time, we speak in a way that we use when we speak to elder people even if the person is younger than us. This is a manner to a person who we meet first and we think this way is polite.
To be polite to people we met is really important in Korea. However, ironically, we don't say "sorry" or "excuse me" when we pass somebody and hit somebody. It doesn't mean we are rude. To American people's eyes, we look very rude and we don't care about other people, because American people always say "sorry" and "excuse me" even when his or her behavior doesn't disturb others not much.
Eventhough we don't say those kind of words, we don't care and we understand each other, because this is part of our culture. If you are from somewhere where it is important to say those kind of words, it will be really hard to understand my culture. I totally understand, because I went through adjusting to American culture and I thought that these things, which my country doesn't have, are strange.
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I'm an American, and it drives me nuts when people say "sorry" or "excuse me" for no reason. It just seems like such empty courtesy. But of course I have to make these polite noises myself, or people will think I'm rude.
ReplyDeleteI think that people in Korea have the right idea: it's good to respect one's elders, including people who are more knowledgeable and experienced. And it's good to be a little formal and polite until you get to know someone better.
It's great that Korean's treat strangers with respect. That's a great sign.
ReplyDeleteAs for apologizing, you have to conform to your host country's culture. So eventhough Koreans do not apologize for bumping into each other, here in the U.S. you should.