We all know the feeling.. you're overseas,
excited to finally be exploring a new culture when suddenly.....
Your new local friends full of anger and outrage and you have no idea why.
Congratulations. You've just pissed off the locals.
But don't worry..
Even the most seasoned traveler can make a cultural blunder from time to time
because what's cool back home might be extremely offensive in a different country.
I'm Marko. I'm Alex, and you are watching Vagabrothers, your go-to guide for travel tips
inspiration and vlogs here on YouTube.
And yes, once upon a time a misunderstanding about sandals in Thailand
led to me being kicked in the face by a muy Thai fighter... ouch
That is why we assembled a group of YouTubers from around the world to tell us how to not get embarrassed,
deported, or god forbid kicked in the face.
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and if you have any insights on how to avoid
cultural blunders abroad, put them in the comments section so we can all learn from each other's mistakes.
You're watching Vagabrothers,
and this is how to not piss off the locals.
I have a curious cultural question:
do you guys not take pictures of your friends while they are asleep?
Just for fun?
Oh you're from Germany.
I know Bavaria.
Beer. Liederhosen.
Cutting in line.
We put up with it, I think.
Or you can do something very aggressive.
It's one sound here...ah!
You go..ah!
Goodness me.
Keep your gaze, and then you turn...
It makes me look like people draw things in people's faces when they sleep.
In Spain they mix wine with coca cola
They call it kalimotxo.
Oh...don't do that.
Two days ago we saw cans of rose.
What is this?
With bubbles.
Wearing shoes in someone's home?
Definitely no.
I've done that and they really got mad at me, very politely.
This is how he looks when he's angry
and that's how he sounds when he's angry.
Same face.
Kissing in public?
Oh no, no, no...
In India we can piss in public, but we don't kiss in public.
How many kisses would there be?
There is difference between states.
Minas Gerais one kiss.
Sao Paulo, Rio are two kisses or three kisses.
Yeah, like oh come on, too many kisses.
Ten minutes later you're still kissing the first.
Making eye contact all the time in a conversation.
It's not really rude, but it actually makes people uncomfortable.
That's weird.
We don't got that rude because we do it we stare.
Generally like if he had an iPhone and I had an Android I would just stare at him and it would be fine.
In Paris the waiters are super rude.
If a tourist starts to speak in English without even trying to say "Bonjour"
Dude, can you just try?
What about using a napkin?
I always using a napkin. I never use a napkin.
That's weird.
Tipping? No tipping.
Actually if you try to tip them,
they'll give it back to you and some places
they would actually feel offended.
If you comment speak in English directly,
they'll blame you and they won't be nice.
When I asked do you have something vegetarian?
We don't have.
They're like almost making fun of me.
You know.. there's this little smile like no, no we don't have that.
Go eat salad. Ok. Voila.
What about putting chopsticks directly into a bowl?
Never, never, never, never, never.
It's so terrible. He can't even look at someone doing that.
And if you did that at the restaurant,
probably the entire restaurant would actually scream for the first time in their lives.
Understanding of personal space is not really good.
Let's say I met him yesterday and
if I'm in India going like this on the second day is still fine.
But here, I can't do that. I can't touch you.
You know it's wrong. It's pretty common.
We have some body limits. We don't hug.
Okay, we don't take friends with a hug.
Hug is an action between loving persons.
Friend, we don't hug each other.
This is like the second time we've met.
Actually, this is the second time we met.
We've probably hugged 10,000 times.
Hitting someone on the back of the head?
Yeah, that's very rude.
Mexicans do it a lot.
It's called "zape" in Spanish.
So if you go like this. Are you disrespecting me?
Yeah, and if somebody does something stupid people go like "Hay que zapearlo."
Everybody can just hit him.
It's not good or polite to get angry or lose your temper.
Yeah, Japanese people love calm.Yeah, yeah calmness.
I think it's some kind of Buddhist principle, I believe.
I think talking very loud
Oh yeah, that's really good. When you're in the subway
they tend to speak very loud.
Or when you go into the subway and you play music.
There are some people playing music loud in the subway.
That is so rude in Germany.
When I'm at home with my parents
and I want to call someone, I leave the room to not annoy them.
And it's a private room, not in the subway.
Yeah. It's in my parent's house.
Talking about money. Oh damn oh
That's inappropriate. Yeah.
I think every society has taboo and in France money is quite a taboo in France.
First thing they ask you is what your job is.
As soon as they meet you they'll be like what's your name?
What do you do? Oh how much do you make ?
I don't know if it's rude, but...That's super rude.
It is inappropriate, and it comes up a lot with YouTubers.
How much do you make? How much do you make?
Don't show me your pay packet. Yeah
I can show you my pay packet, but it's empty.
There's nothing in there.
Giving money to someone and putting it their hand
It's very not good. There is always a tray in front of you, and that's where you put the money.
Not offering to buy a round of drinks.
We don't frown upon it. We just offer it.
Let me get this.
No I'll get it. No, I insist. I'll get pissed off.
If you don't let me pay for it...
We do that, but there's an underlying we should really pay.
There's always that one guy in the group
who expects everyone to pay for him. He's American.
You know in Germany it's like really rude to be five minutes late.
Not being on time, worst thing ever.
But Brazilians are not punctual.
Five minutes early call because you're only five minutes early.
What is punctual in Brazil?
I am,but I think I'm British.
If your are five minutes late, call, like two hours before.
Telling people when the party is over.
That's really rude for me, yeah
I never told anybody to leave my house.
Even if I'm really tired, I just stand up there and wait for them.
What do you think is the rudest thing that foreigners do when they come to India?
If I can go a little better,
I would say the rudest thing that they do is they're really nice when they come to India
But then when Indians come over here, they are not that nice.
Not exactly. Yeah, it actually happened
We have a wrong perception of they came over to my house
and they were so nice to me which means if I go to their house.....no
If a waiter brings a check to you without asking
Yeah, not like in the States because for me the first time I was here
I thought it was rude that the waiter brought me the cheque without me asking
because I thought, oh does he want me to leave?
In Brazil people usually wait for you to really ask.
Could you bring us the cheque please?
Basic understanding of eating is you eat with your right and
In India we don't have tissue paper.
You actually wash your ass with water.
So and you do it with your left hand because you eat with the right.
So that's why if someone comes, especially from the Western country,
and they put their left hand like oh my god
He's eating with his washing hand.
And technically in a restaurant if one is eating with the right and the other with the left..
excuse me.
If someone wants to offer you a food,
if you say no
they will say it a hundred times.
If we want the food, we say yes after three times.
I don't know why.
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