Anil Polat of foXnoMad knows how you can leave a destination without having to feel like a jerk for unintentionally offending a local.
Written by Anil Polat
Travelers don’t usually want to offend the people living in the places they’re visiting. However, many of you end up doing it, and despite your best intentions it’s possible to piss off the locals without even meaning to. It’s often the things you don’t do that can get you into trouble and make you feel more like an invader than a tourist.
You don’t want to leave your new favorite city or country feeling guilty about being an unintentional jerk. Fortunately these mistakes, made by travelers novice and experienced alike, are easy to avoid if you keep a few things in mind.
1. Neglecting to Learn the Local Customs
Most seasoned travelers figure they’ll just pick up the culture through observation as they go along. While you don’t need to take an anthropology course before venturing to a new place, brush up on the local faux pas. Know the basics like not putting your feet up in front of others in Arab cultures, throwing the ‘V’ sign in England, or throwing the OK sign in Brazil for example.
2. Criticizing Home
Going to other countries and saying how much you hate where you came from without a good word to say is a quick way to get under peoples’ skin. Some travelers think they’ll endear themselves to the locals, especially if they’re not as well of as you, but that can make you sound demeaning and spoiled. If you don’t appreciate where you are from it’s hard to appreciate where you’re going.
3. Bringing Up Sensitive History
Learning more about a nation’s history is a good way to learn about the culture before you encounter it but that doesn’t mean that the locals will interpret events as you’ve read them. It’s best to listen to the locals talk about war, politics, and national figures if they bring it up rather than talk about it yourself. Use your best judgement when asked your opinions but be mindful and avoid extreme positions on the issues.
4. Not Going Along With It
One of the best ways to adapt to the culture is to immerse yourself in it and go with the flow. Don’t resist bargaining, thinking it’s only done when someone is trying to rip you off, or get upset by varying personal space around the world, or refusing to try any of the local dishes. Going along with the flow begins with what I mentioned in #1 above, knowing what the customs are to go with the flow with.
5. Assuming It’s All The Same
A surefire way to piss off a local is to say that their (country, culture, people, etc.) are “basically the same” as somewhere else. The more you travel the more you realize how similar we all are, but you shouldn’t tell a Norwegian that they are Swedes living in a different country. Customs also differ regardless of physical distances, don’t assume a nearby town is as liberal as the beach resort you are staying at so dress and act appropriately.
Other Potential Offenders
- Not knowing any of the local language - This varies but a traveler should always learn these 6 basic words: hello, goodbye, please, thank you, yes, no.
- Treating the locals like 2nd class citizens of their own country – Don’t talk down to anyone or be the all-knowing traveler.
- Not trying some of the local cuisine- Yuck, gah, gross, and reactions like these at first sight or smell limit your experiences as a traveler as well as offend. Give it a try, you might like it.
Don’t Get Offended Yourself
In every new place you visit there will be customs you are unaccustomed to, individuals who give the locals a bad name, and travelers who’ve made these mistakes above – giving you a bad name! If you’ve done your very basic research and committed yourself to being a part of the local culture while respecting the locals you won’t be likely to offend anyone. Best of all you’ll end up being a good ambassador for other travelers but your fellow compatriots back home as well.
[photos by: eyesogreen, BLACK CHICK IN CHINA]
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I totally agree with all, especially the part that you have to learn a bet about the culture before you get there. Many countries are different and acting arrogant and know it all attitude or making that you are a tourist as an excuse is offending.
As for the food… A lot of people take pride in what they serve in some places they serve food that they them selves can hardly afford just because its must in their culture to be hospitable… Even not saying anything and just making a wrong face is offending. I think if you wanted to visit a country then you must respect their culture.
Learnt something as well… The part talking about the news and politics. That is true. I myself many times find it offensive when I am asked “so why does your country do this or that“… I think in my mind why are they trying to make me feel uncomfortable I don’t want to talk about politics because it’s an area that many people never agree upon… I think it goes both ways… You might your self not like what the answer will be so why ask?
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Anil,
Very apt points. Dressing properly and not treating locals as 2nd grade will always go a long way.
One more thing I would like to add here. At many places, maintaining a distance from local ladies is also important especially in orthodox countries.
Cuckoo´s last blog ..How important is a ladies bathroom ?
Good point Cuckoo – in many places (India comes to mind) I think that foreigners don’t realize the taboos and customs around male/female interactions. This definitely can be confusing especially when a country opens up to tourism and the world like India really has in the last decade or so.
Anil´s last blog ..My Guest Post At Travel Blissful: 5 Surefire Ways To Offend The Locals
Anil,
India is still manageable if you remain in major cities. It’s countries in middle east where one needs to be extremely careful irrespective of whether you are in a city or not. It’s because of the veil system.
Cuckoo´s last blog ..How important is a ladies bathroom ?
Great post. Thanks Fox Nomad. There’s been a bit about this in the UK, e.g. a sex on the beach couple in Dubai getting jailed as well as some guys dressed up as nuns on a stag night in Greece also getting put in the slammer.
LAX´s last blog ..Virgin-Atlantic.com
I read about those incidents. Not sure what happened after that couple in Dubai was arrested but certainly not a good place to break indecency laws.
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Good points, I especially liked the point about not putting down your own country. People genuinely want to hear about where you are from, so be honest and tell them what it is like.
And bringing up sensitive history is a very good subject. I have found that people like to speak to us about their politics and history. But what we do is listen and learn. We find that keeping our opinion to ourselves is best. That goes for everywhere, if we visit the U.S. to South Africa or Burma. We couldn’t possibly know as much about their situation as they do. And we wouldn’t want someone from another country coming to Canada and start telling us their opinion of our country and its politics:0
Dave and Deb´s last blog ..The Week in Review
It’s a strange thing for others to hear you bash where you’re from since for them you’re a living representation of that place.
Anil´s last blog ..The Cheesiest Travel Photo Contest
Excellent post with solid points!
Lola´s last blog ..Postcard: Fresh Fruit
Some excellent points.
The right attitude can make the world of difference. A few narrow minded tourists can give a whole nation a bad name!
I like your point about going with the flow. Uptight travelers just don’t have as much fun!
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Sorry about the delay in approving comments. (Didn’t have any internet access yesterday.)
Thanks all for your great feedback!
Agreed, if you can’t be bothered learning a greeting and please/thank you in the local language you probably aren’t going to have the best experience. Also agree about bagging your home country, why would you do that – and never,ever bag the country you are visiting to the locals.
Loved this list! I own a B&B and we frequently have guests here from around the world. They almost ALL want to talk about politics and want to know our opinions on how our government works. Being open and knowing you’re giving them an insight into how the ‘little people’ think is one of the best parts about talking about our political system to other people.
Good idea to at least know those ‘pleasantry’ words in another language when traveling. I also found knowing how to say, ‘Do you speak English?’ helped me a lot when traveling as many people wanted to practice speaking English if they knew the language at all.
We try to take it a step further here and learn the words and use them with guests here to make their stay a little more ‘homey’. So, I’ll ask each new guest how to say please, thank you, good morning and goodbye in their language. What is interesting is that several languages do not have words for please or thank you.
Last summer we had such a large number of Italian guests I learned how to say all of the jam flavors just so they would know what I was offering them.
I also ask how to say lobster as that is the big food item around here. And now I have a small poster in the dining room with all of the different ways to say, and write, lobster in a variety of languages including Mongolian, Arabic and Hebrew!
Great article! Thanks.
Monica´s last blog ..A Reader’s Guide to Maine
Good to hear that you enjoyed Anil’s post.
Great idea to learn a bit of your guests’ own languages. I had no idea that languages with no words for thank you or please even existed. What languages are you referring to?
Do you think we as travelers take this a little bit too seriously? Of course, I don’t want to offend anyone anywhere, but I think we can tend to over-think this.
From my own perspective as a ‘local’ in a city many tourists visit – San Francisco – I really don’t care how they behave. Whether or not they ‘learn the local customs,’ bring up sensitive topics or history – doesn’t bother me in the least.
This just seems a little fake to me. Respect others, but be yourself!
I think some travelers may take it too far/seriously (and get over-analytical), while others – like you – are more laid back about it.
An insightful post, Erica!
And you’ve changed your site again! I wasn’t sure if I was at the right place for a while!
Good to catch up on you!
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Good to see you here, Lara. And yes, I did change AGAIN. When I found this new theme I just couldn’t resist it
It is a great post. I always try to remember that I am a guest in their country and treat it as I would if I were visiting back home. And these tips prove doubly important if you’re actually living in a foreign country.
Cheers
Kim
Kim´s last blog ..North Korea, Vietnam and China – The Communist Tour