Communication Across Cultures, by Taryn Hinton

Reaching the 3-month mark being in Seville, I have become accustomed to a lot of the differences between this city and Calgary, where I live and attend university in Canada. There are major, obvious differences such as the language, the waiters and tipping etiquette, and the more slow-paced lifestyle, but something that really stood out to me was the difference in “politeness” of Spaniards and Canadians. This is not to say that Spaniards are less polite, but it is less common for a casual “please & thank you” or “sorry” to be passed between people whether on the street or in a grocery store or restaurant. A lot of the time as soon as I say “gracias” to a cashier or waiter they will respond in English after speaking in Spanish up until that point. While walking on the streets, I often get weird or glaring looks if I make eye contact and smile at someone. In one of my other classes, we talked about why this difference exists between the two cultures. We talked about how Spaniards are more inclined to show ‘positive politeness’ which refers to compliments, approval, admiration, etc., while North Americans are more inclined to show ‘negative politeness’ where we don’t want to appear intrusive and we often show regret for minor impositions or requests, hence the “please and thank you’s” all the time. This makes sense when reflected upon but it has been difficult for me to stop myself from saying “please”, “thanks” and “sorry” to seemingly little things because that is the culture that I was brought up in and am used to.