As this week's blog entry is an open topic, allow me to share my experiences in Rome. In particular, the culture I experienced.
In the summer of 2007, I was in Rome for a 3-week leadership course held by the International Catholic Charismatic Services. While on my Europe escapade, I was privileged to be accompanied by my friend, Daniel. We left for Italy with great anticipation and expectations, having the support from family and friends in our community. Since the course was held at an international level, we met people from all over the world - Ghana, England, Spain, India, Australia, America and not forgetting Italy. Hence, it was a gathering of people from different cultures and background.
Being in a foreign country as well as the youngest participant in the course, I was rather intimidated. There were some occasions where I felt uncomfortable while interacting with fellow participants. There was this one occasion where we were encouraged to greet one another. As the saying goes, "When in Rome, do as the Romans do." (And in this case, it's taken literally.) I followed their way of greeting - cheek grazing. In fact, everyone in the room, regardless of where they came from, greeted each other in the same customary way. I actually found it quite amusing since all of us were doing it in different versions. For instance, some of us made the "muacks" sound while others just merely brushed their cheeks with one another. I guess I saw the funny side of it since some of the participants were rather klutz.In the light of professional communication, the proper way of "cheek kissing or grazing" is of paramount importance especially for global business correspondence. However, the tricky part comes in as "cheek kissing or grazing" differs from country to country and not executing it properly shows disrespect. For example, it is a social norm in the Netherlands to have a three-cheek kiss instead of two. Another difference in some cultures is when women make the discreet kissing sound when they "cheek graze" which is seen as a friendly or feminine gesture to further embellish the greeting. These cultural differences in different countries present an etiquette challenge. Therefore, given the importance of social norms and cultural differences in conditioning market transactions, one should delve on the proper greeting machination before entering into any face-to-face overseas business correspondence.
