Travel Features

Just as you might take offence if a foreigner slapped you playfully on the arse by way of greeting, we too can obliviously put our foot in it abroad. This should help.

By Robert Carry

Bulgaria

Oddly, while a nod or the shake of the head has become pretty much the accepted means of signaling a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ respectively, somebody forgot to tell Bulgaria. Go to that part of the world, and, confusingly, a nod means ‘no’ and a shake means ‘yes’. Differentiating will be useful in all sorts of situations – particularly if solicited in public.

India

You’re walking through Mumbai. A person is coming towards you. He’s gripping the tip of his tongue between his teeth and swatting the air around your head. Is he a mentalist? No – he’s paying you a compliment.

It’s quite common in India for people to display the tip of their tongue while gathering the air around your head and swatting it towards themselves if they come across an individual they are impressed by. So, if you’re incredibly handsome, intelligent or you hit a 180 on the dart board, expect to see a lot of this.

Portugal

Although some people in Ireland would see it as slightly off-putting, to the Portuguese, writing a note for someone else in red pen is considered a heinous insult. If you’ll excuse my language it is, basically, a f**k you in post-it form.

Asia

Whilst travelling in Asia, particularly in Buddhist parts of the continent, you should never touch any part of someone else’s body with your foot. Although, there isn’t really any good reason why you should anyhow.

Anyway, the foot is considered the least sacred part of the body so resting your plates of meat on a stranger’s lap while on the train, like we do at home, is considered a major faux pas.

You should also avoid pointing to things with your feet, facing the soles of your feet in the direction of another person or doing anything other than keep them planted on the ground. Asian people will often be too nice to point this error out to you, but behind the smile they’ll think you’re an idiot.

Latin America

People from the US, along with those from this part of the world who enjoy mimicking them, will often form a circle with their thumb and index finger to denote that things are ‘OK’.

In nearby Latin America, however, this is considered a particularly nasty insult and has a similar meaning to sticking two fingers up at someone. The Brazilians are particularly adverse to the gesture while if you do it in France and/or Austria, the person you are attempting to agree with will think you’re calling them something along the lines of ‘a*sehole’. Makes sense when you think about it.

China

Many a Johnny foreigner has left the dim sum table in tears and under the impression that their Chinese hosts were taking the piss out of them due to this misunderstanding. If you hear a sudden knocking, it is neither the front door nor the Chinese people you’re eating with knocking on the table in a bid to fool you into thinking that it is.

In fact, rapping your knuckles on the table like you do when you’ve a shite hand in Texas Hold’em and you want to check, means ‘Thank You’.