Posts: 2296
From: A temporary home
Registered: May 2004

posted June 18, 2006 07:29 PM         

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Hi guys

Are any of you from Estonia, or know someone who is?
Is it true that, in Estonia, people hardly ever greet one another and also they have no manners?
We have this girl at work, from Estonia, and she hardly ever greets, and is downright rude.
The reason why I am asking, is because this girl told a fellow worker, that no one in her home country, greets you and are bad-mannered! That is why she is like that.
Is it true?

However, I find that hard to believe!

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Posts: 4992
From:
Registered: Feb 2002

posted June 18, 2006 08:20 PM         

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Your question was intriguing to me. I did an internet search and didn't find anything of particular relevance. Then I thought about travel books. The books I have bought in the past almost always gave a good depiction of the country's culture, people, customs and manners for a Western traveler. May be you could make a quick trip to a bookstore and take a look at several on Estonia? Estonia will probably be grouped with Latvia and Lithuania.

Good luck!

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Posts: 163
From: Russia Krasnoyarsk
Registered: Aug 2005

posted June 18, 2006 11:00 PM         

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I visited Estonia, nice country, but people are very reserved, in Russia we know very good "passionate" character of this people, they are a bit cool. For me it's not a surprise when they could hardly say "hello".
But i love them as they are.

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Posts: 102
From:
Registered: Dec 2005

posted June 19, 2006 02:00 AM         

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Hi there, although I am not estonian, I know someone who is, and my family is from lithuania which is 2 small countries down.

All I would say is that people are very reserved, "may your face be like ice". This is not to say people aren't friendly, but they definately keep their distance, but become warmer once in a close social settings.
It can be hard to get used to if you are comparing to the 'american' version of customer service - 'always smile even if you're not happy'.

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Posts: 860
From: NJ USA
Registered: Apr 2006

posted June 19, 2006 08:35 AM         

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I have visited Estonia many times and I agree with what was said above. People are very reserved but I think if they were to find out that it considered rude they would be surprised. It is, indeed, a part of culture. If someone would walk around smiling to everyone and saying "Hello" to total strangers (as we do in US )they would probably think this person escaped from some mental institution... ..unless, of course, its' an American....lol

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