I found an interesting article about personal space perceptions between cultures.
It is kind of funny to read although mainly about American and Russian misperceptions about each other due to cultural conditioning about how far away people stand, and other things such as voice volume and facial expressions. Towards the end of the article, it sums up the differences between Russians, Americans, and Northern Europeans:
A problem for visiting Americans is that Russian personal distance lies within an American's intimate distance, just as an American's personal distance lies within northern Europeans' intimate space. The result is that Russians seem pushy or over-amorous to northern Europeans, and Europeans seem cold, and unfriendly to Russians. Americans, existing somewhere in the middle, manage to equally offend both parties, for opposite reasons. And this affects sexual, as well as other relationships, between the nationalities as well.
To American men, all Russian women appear to be flirting outrageously. It is that level of unintentional flattery that makes Russian women so sexy to western men. On the other hand, many Western men, by using their own national norms for greater distance, little touching, and low eye contact, strike many Russian women as far more "respectful" and "polite" than Russian men. This, as much or more than economic factors, contributes to the growing trend for US-Russian romance.
The key here is awareness. Westerners living in Russia need to temporarily adapt their spatial relationships to the Russian style for day to day survival.
Conversely, Russians working regularly with short term tourists (who won't have time to adapt themselves) need to respect the spatial conventions of the nationalities they service, or risk annoying their customers.
Once you understand the rules on space, it's easy to fit in.
http://www.friends-partners.org/partners/spbweb/lifestyl/122/how.html
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