Well, this is a very interesting topic because in my opinion every ethnic culture has a different approach to the concept of a personal space. So for myself, I’m from Asia. To be specific, my ancestors come from nomads. And our version of knowledge about personal space is that we respect each other. So we gave them their personal space in every way. So we do not touch each other pretty easily. we get permission first and approach them. So one of the interesting example that my people has is that if we would step on one’s leg, it considered very inappropriate. So we immediately shake their hands to apologize. And I knew that it was pretty shocking to the other cultures because when my Austrian friend saw it, they were like, why are you shaking my hand? And I told them the meaning and they were like, oh, that’s pretty cool. But we don’t really care. We just kiss and hug when we meet. So we think the person’s face is pretty spiritual thing. And.
Band 7+: How do different cultures approach the concept of personal space, and why might this lead to misunderstandings?
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Polished transcript:
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Well, this is a very interesting topic because, in my opinion, every ethnic culture has a different approach to the concept of personal space. For myself, I'm from Asia. To be specific, my ancestors come from nomads. Our understanding of personal space is that we respect each other. We give each other personal space in every way. We do not touch each other easily; we get permission first before approaching. One interesting example from my culture is that if we step on someone's leg, it is considered very inappropriate. We immediately shake their hand to apologize. I knew that this was pretty shocking to other cultures because when my Austrian friend saw it, they were like, 'Why are you shaking my hand?' I explained the meaning, and they responded, 'Oh, that's pretty cool.' But we don't really care; we just kiss and hug when we meet. We think a person's face is a pretty spiritual thing.
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Speaking Time: 62 seconds