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Removing shoes before entering a house | ||
Tags: Traditions | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Cultural Experiences in Foreign Languages |  | |
| Anekantavada Newbie United States Joined 5734 days ago 11 posts - 18 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Spanish, French | Message 41 of 46 28 July 2009 at 11:22pm | IP Logged | ||
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In the US there isn't really a hard and fast 'rule' about removing shoes, unless they are particularly dirty. I (and most people I know) always remove shoes immediately after entering out of respect and greatly prefer that guests do the same. Edited by Anekantavada on 28 July 2009 at 11:23pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| cordelia0507 Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5838 days ago 1473 posts - 2176 votes  Speaks: Swedish* Studies: German, Russian | Message 42 of 46 31 July 2009 at 3:09pm | IP Logged | ||
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This varies A LOT from country to country, and even between different social groups in the same country.
The best thing to do if this troubles you is to observe what the hosts or other guests are doing, or simply ask the host about it. Otherwise you'd have to memorise a new etiquette book every time you visited friends in another country! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Antelope Groupie United Kingdom Joined 5646 days ago 49 posts - 49 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Italian, Spanish, Greek | Message 43 of 46 31 July 2009 at 3:58pm | IP Logged | ||
I agree if you're referring to your own house, but if it's a friend's house, or someone else's then I'd always take them off, even if only for a second or two. But you're right, everyone I know here in Kernow take their shoes off anyways. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Lizzern Diglot Senior Member Norway Joined 5909 days ago 791 posts - 1053 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English Studies: Japanese | Message 44 of 46 31 July 2009 at 11:34pm | IP Logged | ||
Or you could just ask if people normally take your shoes off in the country you're in, when you arrive at someone's house, this is what I do and it always resolves things perfectly and people will at least respect you for making the effort to clarify the matter to avoid doing anything offensive. Usually people will just realize you might be from a culture that does things differently and simply don't know what you're expected to do, and just tell you that yes please do take them off thanks for asking, or nah don't worry about it. Or you'll get that confused look back and will be left to observe the natives to see what they do. Usually by the time this problem comes up you'll be able to observe the presence or absence of shoeracks by the door anyways. If in doubt always take them off, it's never rude (though possibly weird) to do so, but leaving them on when you should take them off would be a big deal. In Norway, as has been mentioned, don't ever ever walk in with shoes on. If people have a long hallway I wouldn't walk far before taking my shoes off. The only exception is if the host explicitly tells you that you can keep them on to come see (or help out with, or whatever) something in their living room, it would be something that wouldn't take long and would not give you enough time to even sit down, and you'd be expected to walk carefully. Liz 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Katie Diglot Senior Member Australia Joined 6718 days ago 495 posts - 599 votes Speaks: English*, Hungarian Studies: French, German | Message 45 of 46 01 August 2009 at 1:38am | IP Logged | ||
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I'm in Australia too, and I've always been taught that it's 'rude' to wear your shoes in someone's house. Now, in saying that, my mother is an absolute clean freak - so perhaps this was her way of preserving her nice clean floors! :P
But I still take my shoes off in someone's house. Even my very close friends. I'm lucky that at my friends' house where I spend a lot of my visiting time, I have my own pair of slippers - so I can keep my feet warm in winter. Actually, come to think of it - I've always taken my shoes off in my own house too! But I change to slippers in winter or just wear socks to keep my feet warm. For other people, honestly, I don't mind. If you walked into my house with muddy or really dirty shoes, I'd probably be a little annoyed - but it's dirt and it cleans off. If you have clean shoes, I actually don't have a problem with it. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| justberta Diglot Senior Member Norway Joined 5585 days ago 140 posts - 170 votes Speaks: English, Norwegian* Studies: Indonesian, German, Spanish, Russian | Message 46 of 46 12 August 2009 at 6:14pm | IP Logged | ||
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If I don't take off my shoes before entering a Norwegian house there will be 2 metres of snow/water covering the floor...
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