The last thing we want to do when traveling all over the world is to offend our hosts by inadvertently making a faux pas. Taboos can vary from continent to continent, and even country to country sometimes. It doesn't help that there are a lot of taboos around the world that are hard to find out without offending someone. So how do you keep up with what to avoid when you travel to some new place?
Don’t worry, we’ve compiled a list of taboos from across the globe, so you don’t have to go looking.
Scan the sky for cheap flights with SkyScanner, and let´s discover some taboos ourselves!
What’s taboo around the world?
1) Since we’re currently in Mexico, we’ll start off with it. If you get invited to someone’s home for dinner in Mexico, don’t take off your shoes! It’s considered very rude to do so unless you know them very well.
2) On the other hand, in the Middle-East and some parts of Asia including Iran, Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh, it is considered extremely rude if you don’t take off your shoes when you visit someone’s house.
3) When in Italy, especially if you're on one of the Milan day tours, don’t ask for extra cheese with your food! Italians are famous around the world for their cuisine. They take their food very seriously, so asking for extra cheese is seen as a sign that the food isn’t prepared well and is considered very taboo.
4) The British consider holding up two fingers, with the palm facing inward, extremely rude. It’s basically the equivalent of a middle finger in the UK.
5) If you’re from a Western country, or even vaguely familiar with Hollywood, there’s a good chance you know the infamous OK hand-gesture. Maybe you’ve even used it a few times. Just don’t go using it all over the world! This symbol is seen as either extremely rude, vulgar, offensive, or some combination of all three in many regions and countries including Latin America, the Middle-East, Turkey, and Greece.
6) In most Asian and Middle-East cultures it’s considered extremely rude to speak or interrupt when two older people are discussing something between themselves.
7) In the Western world, chewing with your mouth open while making loud chewing noises is considered very rude and distasteful (pun intended). But in China, it’s the other way around; eating like this indicates that you really like the food and is considered to be an implicit statement that the food is delicious.
8) We’re going to end this list with the home country of Martin and Suzanne (the founders of Free Birds), the Netherlands: we don´t like talking about money. We might be very direct in everything else, but we dislike talking about personal finances, especially if you are not rich or rich. We love our personal space, especially when we´re talking about money.
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Conclusion
The list just goes to show you how much taboos can vary around the world. What’s taboo in one part of the world can be completely acceptable in another. We hope you were able to learn some interesting info about various countries and regions in the world.
Happy traveling!
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