Post Tagged with "collaborative post"

Hand gestures from around the world

Hand gestures play an essential role in nonverbal communication. However, the same gesture may have different meanings -or even none- in different cultures. This collaborative post is an effort to bridge that gap.

India – Namaste

Namaste literally means “I bow down to you”, or “Salutations to you”, but it is used in the sense a handshake is used in the western world. For us, no matter whether the person we greet is older or younger, important or not, a man or a woman, he/she has to be greeted with due respect, and the most common way is to join our hands as you can see my son doing in the image, and say, “Namaste”.  When we are greeting an older person or someone important, we bow down a bit. This shows the additional respect due to that person. (more…)

Always evolving: some languages of the world and where they come from

This month’s collaborative post was inspired by a conversation between some of our contributors about languages and how much they ‘borrow’ words from one another. Malay has words from English, Turkish has words from French, English has words from Hindi, Spanish has words from Arabic. Not to mention the massive way in which European languages have influenced each other.

So here’s a look at the history and foreign influences of some of the languages spoken by PocketCultures contributors around the world.

It’s a long article, so if you’re interested in a particular country use these links: India, UK, France, Canada, Turkey, Spain, Argentina, Costa Rica, Portugal, Malaysia.

India: Hindi, English, Tamil, Marathi and many more!

Languages in India are as varied and complex as the country itself. The 2001 census estimated that there were 29 languages spoken by more than a million native speakers, 122 by more than 10,000!

We have 22 ‘official’ regional languages spoken across the country, but no ‘national language’. Hindi is often mistakenly referred to as the ‘national language’, but the constitution lists it as our ‘principal official language’. Where does Hindi come from? Well, it’s a language which evolved from a dialect spoken in northern India during the Mughal period, was influenced by Persian, and is closest to Urdu – the language today identified with Islam!

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Naming children: traditions in 13 different countries

How are children’s names chosen in your country? Do you follow ancient naming traditions or are modern names more popular? Do you pass names down through family generations or invent new ones?

We’ve had a lot of fun writing this post and the subject of how children are named in our various countries has inspired a lot of discussion within our team of contributors. So, read on to find out how children’s names are chosen in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Costa Rica, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Turkey and the USA.

Have something to add? We’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments.

There aren’t many clear-cut naming traditions in Argentina nowadays. In the past, first-born babies were named after their parents but now the focus is on distinctiveness. Parents choose names they like or that are fashionable. For example, when Argentinean-born Maxima Zorriegueta married Crown Prince Wilhelm-Alexander of the Netherlands, the name Maxima became very popular.

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Tipping etiquette around the world

A girl from America, a girl from France, a boy from England and a boy from Australia are sitting around a restaurant table in Poland. How much will they tip?

The boy from England: “Ok, we’ve got enough pooled to cover the bill. How much should we tip? I think it’s customarily 10% in Poland, right?”

The girl from France: “No way, I’m not leaving 10%, the service was terrible.”

The girl from America: “Whoa, I was planning to leave 20%!”

Photo by Cathleen Shattuck

Our monthly collaborative post is back, and this time we’re talking about tipping etiquette. Here’s what PocketCultures contributors around the world said about when to tip in their countries.

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Festivals from around the world

This month, we asked our contributors from around the world about festivals in their countries. Read on for festivals from Okinawa, Nigeria, Spain, England, USA and Argentina.

Okinawa (Japan)

By Mike Lynch, regional contributor for Japan (Okinawa)

The Island of Okinawa has too many festivals to cover in one article so I’ll list three that occur in Naha, the capitol city, which is also nearby an International Airport and convenient public transportation.

The Naha Festival
A three day event which takes place around the 10th of October each year, the main attraction is the Naha Great Tug-O-War. This event has its roots in celebration of the end of Summer and the hope for a plentiful harvest in the next season. Many villages throughout the Ryukyu (Okinawa) Island Chain celebrate with tug-o-wars but, Naha has the largest. It is a Guinness World Record rope that weighs over 40 tons and as many as 200,000 people may attend the event with 15,000 or more joining in on the tug.

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Gift etiquette around the world

When do you give gifts in your country? Do you choose a different gift depending on the occasion? And if you receive a gift is it polite to open it straight away or wait until later?

In continuation of our series of collaborative posts by PocketCultures contributors, we bring to you this time the different gift etiquettes across different countries of the world.

Gift Etiquettes around the world -

India

by Arwa, regional contributor for The Netherlands / India

Photo Credit – Shooz

The diverse cultures, religions, regions and festivals in India collate together to form a wide canvas of exciting colors and emotions. This diversity from the North to the South and East to the West is evident in the differing customs and traditions throughout the country, one such example of which is giving and receiving of gifts.

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