How far apart do Poles stand when they talk?

osiolThreads: 59 Posts: 4,714 Joined: Jul 25, 07 ♂	Mar 25, 09, 02:56 #31
Perhaps because America is bigger and there's more space available! Live somewhere small and crowded and there's little option. I think I've met about two Americans in my entire life, so I wouldn't know. Perhaps there were more but they just preferred to stand so far away I never got to meet them personally.

krysiaThreads: 26 Posts: 3,604 Joined: Aug 10, 06 ♀	Mar 25, 09, 03:01 #32
Yeah, and when they greet in Poland, they kiss each others cheek. Yuk. Spread some more germs, will ya? lol

RandalThreads: 1 Posts: 758 Joined: Feb 14, 09 ♂	Mar 25, 09, 03:02 #33
osiol: Perhaps there were more but they just preferred to stand so far away I never got to meet them personally. Lol... It's good to know about standing close when talking to Europers. I'll use that next time I'm talking to a Polish chick! ;)

foxtrot1213Threads: 2 Posts: 49 Joined: Aug 29, 08 ♂	Mar 25, 09, 07:18 #34
not so much as I observed. Try Finland. Normal distance is 1,5 meters. If you try to cross that limit then either you are a drunk or a "retarded foreigner".

SeanusThreads: 22 Posts: 30,158 Joined: Dec 25, 07 ♂	Feb 20, 10, 14:15 #35
They tend to stand closer than most but it depends on many things like the set up of the room, energy of the speakers and length of discussion.

strzygaThreads: 4 Posts: 988 Joined: Apr 30, 08 ♀	Feb 20, 10, 18:43 #36
there's a great book on the subject of personal space and other cultural codes, The Silent Language by Edward T.Hall - a classic. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_T._Hall

z_dariusThreads: 22 Posts: 5,091 Joined: Oct 18, 07 ♂	Feb 20, 10, 19:33 #37
krysia: Yeah, and when they greet in Poland, they kiss each others cheek. Yuk. Spread some more germs, will ya? lol Americans do that too, except they kiss on the lips. Especially if the lips belong to some sexy crossdressers:

pgtxThreads: 49 Posts: 6,327 Joined: Feb 14, 09 MEMBER ♀	Feb 25, 10, 05:21 #38
osiol: How far apart do Poles stand when they talk? i stand very close to my foreign friends so they can smell my Polish/onion/garlic breath... haha... i mean, c'mon... it's an individual preference... psychological space/intimacy...

ArrbolThreads: - Posts: 23 Joined: Aug 24, 11 ♂	Aug 27, 11, 22:34 #39
Arrbol. They stand or sit well away from each other, because they can't control their arms when they all talk at the same time.

pawianThreads: 90 Posts: 5,415 Joined: May 30, 08 ♂	Aug 28, 11, 00:32 #40
I once saw a Canadian woman running a class of English for Polish kids. They were visibly very uneasy when she approached and stood very close, almost touching them. They didn`t know what was going on.

♂

Aug 31, 11, 12:13 #41

It's one thing saying European v American in terms of personal space but there are considerable differences within Europe too.

E.g. I'm Irish and we tend to stand a fair bit closer and have considerably more eye contact than e.g. our British neighbours.

Meditteraneans for me, are a bit touchy feely and pretty up close and personal but not so much that I feel uncomfortable.

IME, Poles, I think, are fairly close to my own concept of personal space - e.g. I have been introduced to and sat beside friends of friends (Polish) with our bodies kind of touching which seemed fine all round. I'd imagine the average American wouldn't like this and the British mightn't be over the moon either.

Surprised to hear from some posters that Poles need relatively more space than the average European.

mafketisThreads: 17 Posts: 1,880 Joined: Mar 31, 08 ♂	Aug 31, 11, 13:31 #42
IME going from closest conversational distance to biggest (just a few mentioned here) Arabs Latin Americans Southern Europeans (esp Spanish, Greek) Poles Americans Japanese Some are surprised by the last but Japanese seem to have two settings for personal space : in some public contexts it gets shut off completely but when talking to people they like lots of room.

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