“In Your Country, Is There Any Situation That Foreigners Would Completely Misunderstand?” (47 Answers)

In the Netherlands if people tell you they are going to eat (especially dinner), it is not an invitation for you to join, but a sign you should leave.

People being quiet, for example when they are sitting at the same table at a workplace lunch doesn't mean they are angry or dislike you. They probably don't have anything to say. .

In Japan, specifically Kyoto, if you’re visiting a private residence and they ask if you want tea, it’s time for you to *leave*.

Apologising to a person/animal/inanimate object if your feet touches them by mistake.

Majority of the Hindu population in India believes that God exists in everyday things and people. So stepping on them or touching them with your feet is a sign of disrespect and if it happens by mistake we “apologise” to the thing by first touching it with our hands and then touching our hand to our forehead and then chest (somewhat similar to how Christians make the holy cross symbol).
I didn’t realise how weird this might look to an outsider until I did it by muscle memory to a white friend of mine and saw genuine fear in his eyes as if I just casted a spell on him XD.

In Iran, there’s a custom called ta’arof. It’s when people insist on offering things like food, drinks, or even to pay for a meal. The “rule” is to politely refuse once or twice before finally accepting. Basically, if someone offers you anything, you say no a couple of times, and then if they insist, you accept.

In Iceland, they simply use two words for any relative that is not in your immediate family. For males, it's Frændi, and for women it's Frænka. There really is no uncle, nephew, cousin, etc. They will be confused and mix them up if you speak in these terms unless they've had a ton of exposure to english speaking culture, even if they are fluent in English.

Don't worry though, there's still a special word for mother-in-law.

In the Netherlands, if you are going to meet up somewhere, be on time, please don't be late, its better if you are too early.

Anyone above 50 is uncle or auntie.

When you are invited to go to someone's house, you should not accept it. The person is only inviting you to be polite and you would be bothering if you said yes. But you can't also say no. You have to make up an excuse and say you will visit later (but you won't).

In Australia, when you’re having a party where people bring food to share you say “bring a plate”. I’ve heard of international people who bring empty plates thinking the host doesn’t have enough dishes for everyone. Which I can totally understand, especially as we also often tell people to “bring a chair” and that really does mean to bring your own chair (usually a camping chair) because they don’t have enough seats.

Irish compliments.

One example of many, a woman telling another that she looks absolutely massive has nothing to do with her size and is a lovely thing to say.

The Swedish Spring Sun Ceremony.

Winters in Sweden are long, dark and miserable, and spring, and the return of the sun, are a Big Deal. As soon as the sun comes back and you can actually feel its warmth, everyone wants a piece of that.

When I was at uni I guided an Indian exchange student, who was very confused about why everyone, undergrads, grad students and faculty alike, spent their lunch break sitting outside, faces turned towards the sun. She asked if it was a religious ceremony of some kind, and... I mean, no, but not far from it. But how do you explain the importance to someone who has never seen snow or the sun set at 3 pm?

The pub queue.

1. There is a queue.
People gather along the bar and mentally keep track of who arrived before them. Your job is to notice who was already waiting and respect that order.

2. Eye contact.
When the bartender looks up, make eye contact and maybe give a small nod or smile.
No waving, whistling, snapping fingers, or yelling your order.

3. Never jump the queue
If the bartender comes to you, but someone was clearly waiting longer, you give them their turn.

4. Know your order before it’s your turn
You'll annoy a lot of people if you're sat there dithering.

5. Don’t lean all over the bar
Stand close enough to be seen, but don’t sprawl across the counter. Mostly because the bar mats are gross.

6. Tipping isn’t expected

7. Last orders bell means last orders
At some point in most pubs, a bell will ring; this is your opportunity to get your last drinks in. Don't be a jerk and order 12 cocktails, but most people won't fault you for 2 pints just for you.

Military exercises or other military activities in cities are not at all uncommon.Just yesterday, the city center was full of troops and tanks. During my studies, exchange students of one of My course thought there was a coup in Finland. It was just a regular military exercise.

Non Nepali people call every huge hills as mountains. In Nepal, we call snowy hills as mountains and green hills=hills only.

Talking about cheese for 30 minutes on a 2 hours lunch, and, before that, talking about types of salads and, before that, arguing about politics.

In Belize, people say, “right now” instead of “please wait a moment.” I think Belizean “right now” is similar to Mexican “ahorita.”

Once when I was at the airport, I was technically the next person in line, but the security agent wanted me to wait a moment. So she told me, “right now! right now!” and if I was a tourist I would have thought she wanted me to go immediately. It would have been so confusing!

Only because I had been living in Belize for a while, I understood that she actually wanted me to wait.

Often, when a casual encounter or conversation ends( on the street or at work, for example ) we invite the other person to visit us at home for a drink or a meal. If you are from the Middle East (Arab, Turkish, or Iranian), you will understand this as a friendly phrase used at the end of a conversation, not a serious invitation. Surprisingly, some Europeans may consider it a firm invitation.


Perhaps we have not yet learned the appropriate tone in European languages for a casual invitation😅.

Yom Kippur is a Jewish holiday in which religious people fast (including not using electricity, cars, fire, etc) to atone for their sins. Somehow, the custom caught in Israel where nobody, religious, irreligious or even non Jewish drives on Yom Kippur. This includes all public transport, even taxis.


The streets are filled with cyclists and people walking on roads, everything is quiet and slow paced for the day.


It's a beautiful experience if you know what you're getting into, but I've met a tourist once a day before the holiday who had no idea just how stuck she's about to be...

In Taiwan, you will see green bags of chips in various places: car dashboards, taped to computers, sitting on air conditioners, etc. This snack is called kuaikuai 乖乖. It has to be the green butter coconut flavor. The reason is that 乖 means well-behaved, so the snack bag ensures the device will work property.

It’s half serious superstition/religious belief, half ironic. I feel many people take it more seriously than they’d admit.