Intercultural Greeting Hierarchy #1
There are significant cultural differences when it comes to hierarchy and display of power and leadership. Some cultures are more hierarchical than others, and knowing how to interact, with who, and in what order, can play an important part in how your social and business encounters pan out. This visual story is based on an experience I had during a lunch meeting with a group of Vietnamese immigrants living in Norway. It was an interesting experience in that it contextualised how Vietnamese greetings follow a more hierarchical structure than Norwegian greetings.
A few years back during my PhD fieldwork, I was invited to (a very delicious homemade Vietnamese) lunch to meet a group of Vietnamese people who had volunteered to take part of my study of greetings. It was our first physical meeting, and it was important to them that we met ahead of the planned greeting documentation, to build a relationship and so that they could tell me more about their culture and traditions. They were all 1st generation immigrants and explained that the younger (2nd-3rd) generation immigrants do not necessarily practice the traditional Vietnamese ways of behaving and greeting.
Upon arrival I greeted each of them with a gentle handshake and we all introduced ourselves. The mood was welcoming, warm, friendly and full of wonder – me about them and their culture – them about me and this study of greetings. When discussing how greetings are changing and how we greet elderly people in Norway vs. Vietnam, one lady all of a sudden asked me:
‘If you enter a room full of people, who do you greet first?’.
I answered that I usually greet the person closest to me first, and then make my way around the room to greet each of the others. They all smiled, and the lady continued:
‘In Vietnamese (traditional) culture, we always greet the oldest person in the room first, it is very important to show respect to the elderly’.
Only then did I realize that I had greeted everyone in random order upon arrival and asked if that was seen as rude… ‘No, no, because you are not Vietnamese, and you didn’t know, so we wouldn’t expect you to know this’…
Nevertheless, I thought, that is one to remember for the next time I meet a group of Vietnamese people, or if I ever travel to Vietnam for business or pleasure.
