Welcome back to another Tip Thursday
with me Conor Clyne this is the Tsar
Experience and I'm speaking to you from
Odessa in Ukraine.
In this video I'm gonna be
giving you some great advice if you're
planning to come and visit here because
I'm gonna to give you the five do's and don'ts
for Ukrainian etiquette so that you
don't upset your new local friends or
all local friends when you get here to
Ukraine so if you're new to the channel
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out if you're planning to visit Ukraine
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So the first thing about Ukrainian etiquette that I'm gonna
tell you is superstition like Ukrainians
do have their superstitions they're not
as superstitious as maybe in other
countries like southern Europe like I have
been to for example Romania or Italy or
Spain but they do have their own
idiosyncrasies about these things so one
is you're not supposed to whistle
because the belief is that you will blow
all your money away something in this
part of the world post-Soviet space is
definitely interesting to hear another
thing that you don't want to do is shake
hands across a threshold that's also
considered very bad luck the third
superstition I'm going to give you is
never take the garbage out after sunset
and that's because the bad spirits are
believed to you know they'll get into
the house or that you'll have bad rumors
from your neighbors if that's what you
do so if you know any other
superstitions in Ukraine and you can maybe even
Ukrainian and you're watching, let us all know in the
comment section below because it's
always useful and every country has
these kind of strange traditions and
sayings and beliefs they're kind of fun
to listen to. So the next thing that I
want to give you as a tip about a do and
don't here in Ukraine is when you go to
visit someone's home now for sure like a
lot of most cultures you should bring a
gift where there happens to be a bottle
of wine maybe some chocolate some
flowers but if you get flowers do be
very careful because they should never
be even numbered that should be odd
numbers of flowers because even numbers
are associated with funerals and the
grieving so unless that's actually the
case you don't want to mess that one up
for sure now the other thing is of
course that when you go into a home in
Ukraine its customary to take your shoes
off that's not the same in all parts of Europe
but in Ukraine it's definitely the
culture so don't you know plow in there
with your big shoes or your
Wellington's or whatever take those off
at the entrance and that would be a good
sign of respect the other thing is of
course like in a lot of parts of this
region going to someone's house is a feast so
definitely they will put on a huge amount
of food for you they lay it out for you
and you don't want to have you know
arrived on a full stomach of course
traditional foods here are very verenki
which I actually learned to make it in
Lviv when I was learning Ukrainian there
back in January. Borsch of course the
classic so definitely you want to get
into those and maybe you're washing it
down with medovukha which is a honey
liqueur that's quite popular here in
Ukraine now that brings me into the
second one it's gonna be the third third
do's and don't for you and that's to do
with toasting when you have your drink
because in Ukraine again like and say in
Russia it's pretty similar they have
this tradition of toasting and it's not
like you go 'budmo' with your drink you
know you toast up your drink and you
just say that won't wear like Cheers
and there is the Ukrainian word будьмо
that they use and that's definitely
acceptable but like Russians don't
really have a word or the Russian
language so to say it doesn't really have a
word for Cheers like this convenient as
the Ukrainian one and that's because the
tradition also here Ukraine is to
actually toast actually gonna give a
little speech and that's kind of
something that you should also be aware
of that you just don't say cheers or you
can say the beginning like to the
meeting to the greeting if you were the
group of friends but if you're at an actual
dinner then you're kind of expected to
make a little bit of a speech I would
have been the kind of more traditional
toasting that you know also be held in
the United Kingdom in that sense a lot
of other Western European countries
where you kind of you know have a little
bit of a spiel about the host about the
surroundings or about their your
emotions of being there and that's
something that is quite different in
this part of the world in Ukraine
So one thing to expect is if you go into a nice
restaurant or a theater you're gonna
have to check in your coat and your bag
in everything else and that's a little
bit more formal
maybe used to in other countries in
Europe in particular here it's a
standard norm no coats on the back the
chair anything like that here they're
gonna make sure that you have it checked
in on a hanger when you come into the restaurant.
So definitely a mistake that
you want to avoid when you're here in
Ukraine is confusing this country with
Russia now the countries of course are
neighbors they do have ... you know
history common history together
but they are definitely not the same
thing and in 1991 Ukraine became an
independent country now in the past it
mightn't have been such a big for power but
since the annexation of Crimea and the
war in the east of the country
sensibilities are definitely more
heightened about this issue so you
definitely won't want to start saying
that you're in Russia asking Ukrainians
what it's like you know to be Russian or
something and I understand that it can
get a little bit confusing if you're
unfamiliar with the region because of
course if you're in Odessa lots of people are
actually speaking in Russian the
language that reminds me a lot of
Ireland where I was born because there
of course everybody well
95% of the population speaks
English as their first language and on a
daily basis you really only hear you
English and a city like Odessa that's also
the case in reality I know and of course
overall in the the country people speak
more Ukrainian than Russian clearly but
when you are in a big city like
Kharkov in the east or Dnipro or here
in Odessa that's not always clear so
definitely do not make that mistake
And fifth and finally just make sure that
you don't put your thumb between your
two fingers like this the first two fingers
because apparently that's a very
offensive design here in Ukraine so make
sure you avoid that one so now I'm gonna
put that good Ukrainian [etiquette] that I've been
talking about into practice and go and
socialize with some Ukrainians.
So that's the end of this video there you have it
five do's and don'ts for Ukrainian
etiquette for when you come to visit
this country here I'm in Kiev I am on
Maidan the main square here in the centre of
the city you may know this square from
recent politics it was the scene
of the 2004 Orange Revolution and the
scene of the later EuroMaidan
revolution here at the end of 2013 and
beginning of 2014. I was actually here
for the second one in the city. It was a
tumultuous time in Ukraine and the
culture has changed a little bit since
then I think it has become a little bit
more Europeanized in the last four or
five years but you still definitely need
to know those five do's and don'ts for
visiting this country so that you don't
get caught out and offend some local
Ukrainians that's the end of the video
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from today's video if you have visited
Ukraine or you have something to say
about Ukrainian culture and the
etiquette here then definitely drop me a
comment below in the comments section I
bid you a great evening, morning or
afternoon wherever you are and до свидания
and до побачення from Kyiv Ukraine!