RE: Never Underestimate the Importance of Local Knowledge

From: Amara Graps (amara@amara.com)
Date: Fri Aug 23 2002 - 22:56:51 MDT


Lee Corbin:
>And surely throughout Europe shaking your head means 'yes'
>and nodding means 'no', no? (I once heard that in
>some exotic land they mean exactly opposite.)

I would be surprised if it were true, but I don't know.

In Greece, however (fits in your 'exotic' category ?), in
the language, yes = 'ne' (no, in many other languages), and
no = 'ohi'. (I'm spelling phonetically). So be careful saying
no to a Greek person because you are really saying yes.

Greek folks gesture as animatically (is that a word?) as Italians,
perhaps more.
http://www.explorecrete.com/mycrete/greek-gestures.html
http://overseasdigest.com/odsamples/balkans.html
I'm sure that Andy can say more.

The southern European cultures are generally very expressive people.
Words seem to be not enough for communication. Their expressiveness
is one reason why I like those cultures alot.

Amara

-- 
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Amara Graps, PhD          email: amara@amara.com
Computational Physics     vita:  ftp://ftp.amara.com/pub/resume.txt
Multiplex Answers         URL:   http://www.amara.com/
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"We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." --Anais Nin


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