Greetings

What is the first thing you do when you meet someone? Greet each other.
One thing that a traveler to another country notices is that the rules for greeting are very complicated, and can be quite different than the way it is at home.
Greetings are used worldwide, but types of greeting, and the usages of them, can be very different depending on the culture of the ones greeting each other. 

How do people greet one another around the world? A kiss, a hug, a handshake, a bow: one of these, or something different, could be the proper way to greet someone depending on their country and culture. 

One common French greeting is a light handshake. Another common greeting is a kiss on the left cheek followed by a kiss on the right cheek. Depending on the situation or the people greeting, the kiss may be just a touching of cheeks or a real smack.

 

The very difficult part of greeting someone in France is the kiss on the cheek. Why? Because the number of kisses differ from a person to another depending of which area they came from. But knowing how many kisses is a dilemma even for the French. Two? Three? Four?

So if you plan to visit France (I really hope you will!) and to spare you any humiliation, here's a map to help you know how many kisses on the cheek you need to do.

“If you are invited to a dinner party with people you don’t know, you’ll shake their hands when you arrive. At the end of the evening, you might kiss them but it’s probably better to hold out your hand and see what happens,” says Constance Rietzler

In US, sometimes just a smile accompanies the greeting, a firm handshake is a common greeting between males, and happens (less commonly) between a male and a female. Women tend to shake hands with one another only if it is their first time meeting, or if it is a business situation. Female friends often greet with a hug.

If you learn the proper way to greet someone in another culture, including understanding body language, you may be pleasantly surprised at how well you will be received when traveling to another country. Greetings are often people's first impressions of one another, so learning how to greet someone appropriately is important in making a good first impression.