Each culture has its own conventions for appropriate interaction. For those of you whod like to interact appropriately and respectfully according to Xhosa culture, our team put together a few things to be aware of: 1. Traditionally, greetings are considered very important. It is thought of as rude to pass a stranger without greeting, particularly in rural areas. 2. People will wait for you to greet when you enter a room – the first person to greet should be the person arriving or leaving. 3. A younger person is expected to initiate greeting an older person. 4. As a sign of respect, people sit down when an important person enters a room to indicate that they are “lower” than the visitor. 5. Greeting one person in the plural form includes an enquiry about his / her family and is also a sign of respect: Ninjani? / How are you all? (as opposed to Unjani? / How are you?) The person replying can do so in singular or plural: Siphilile (Were well) or Ndiphilile (Im well). 6. After shaking hands, hands may continue to be held for some time while chatting. This communicates warmth. 7. Dont ever address an older Xhosa person using their name. This is considered very rude. Use a title instead, eg. mama or tata or nkosikazi (madam) or mhlekazi (sir). 8. Ask after someones health before asking or giving your name. To interrupt this initial exchange with, excuse me, but what is your name? on the phone or in person, would be very impolite. 9. Xhosa men always enter rooms, lifts, etc. ahead of women to protect them from any danger (eg. in rural areas this could be snakes). 10. When a Xhosa gentleman enters a house, he will take off his hat. 11. On entering a house, wait to be offered a seat, before sitting down. 12. Its polite to accept any food or beverage that your host offers. (ie. impolite not to accept whats offered.) 13. Traditionally its considered impolite to look directly into the eyes of someone who has greater status than you, eg. an elder, your boss, a chief. Even though this custom is not quite as prevalent in urban areas, it is still adhered to by many Xhosa speakers. It depends on where the Xhosa person grew up and how much tradition their parents passed onto them.
Posted on: Thu, 19 Jun 2014 05:55:40 +0000
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