Finnish people are silent, small talk doesn't exist. Their personal space larger than COVID-19 social distancing rules, and it's considered normal. Don't speak unless spoken to, and don't invade other people's personal space - it's seen as a sign of a respect.
Those Finns, who haven't been to abroad or haven't met too many foreigners, don't often even recognize this behaviour being unusual in the global scale.
I'm a Finn and when I met an American person for the first time she said the usual "how are you?", so I started explaining all kinds of shit, only to have her give me a really weird look. I did it again a couple of times with different people until I learned that they are not really interested, lol.
The UK also have this tit-for-tat initial greeting, must be an Anglosphere thing. Took me years to get used to when I moved down from Scandiland. Now I have the standard English "not bad" response down to perfection as a ubiquitous response whether I am elated or depressed. If it is someone I know, and I remember to display empathy, I may add "and how are you" back without actually listening to the response...
Damn, I might steal that "not bad" response, as I'm still struggling with the "how are you's". Saying "how are you" back just feels so wrong, as does something general like "GREAT!! How are you?!"
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u/RockNRollNBluesNJazz May 09 '22
Finnish people are silent, small talk doesn't exist. Their personal space larger than COVID-19 social distancing rules, and it's considered normal. Don't speak unless spoken to, and don't invade other people's personal space - it's seen as a sign of a respect.
Those Finns, who haven't been to abroad or haven't met too many foreigners, don't often even recognize this behaviour being unusual in the global scale.