See-ya! A guide for greeting Hungarians

Greetings and introductions are tricky business, especially when done across borders. Even within a culture, there are several rules that need to be followed when first meeting someone. And as the resident confused person, I went ahead and tried to unconfuse myself by asking people how they like to be greeted when meeting for the first time and subsequently after.

The answers, as expected, were fairly nuanced in the sense that greetings are more individual than cultural. Personally, I, for example, hate being touched unnecessarily, so I avoid all physical contact when meeting people as much as I can help it, but that cannot be said about my whole culture since I am only one person out of a billion.

However, that is not to say that there are not certain stereotypes that you can adhere to when greeting people. If you are hanging around French people, they expect kisses, while with Germans, a handshake would probably suffice.

Read alsoMini language lesson #1: Hungarian greetings and slang

Interestingly, Hungarians do not necessarily fit into either of those categories. They lie somewhere in the middle, and if I had to, I would call them solid huggers, not opposed to handshakes, probably okay with kisses, but will strongly judge you after if you are not close enough, and by close I mean known them for a substantial amount of time.

Therefore, I would call Hungarians more like Switzerland, in the sense that they are neutral and not by how people in Switzerland greet each other as my knowledge on that topic is fairly limited. But it is essential to find the correct balance when it comes to Hungarians, especially if you are trying to make friends, and only kiss or hug if they initiate first. That is probably your best bet as Hungarians, although kind, tend to have distant personalities, so it is probably better not to get too friendly too soon.

I know it sounds like an over-complicated mess of something that probably should be the easiest thing in the world, and it might be, but take it from someone who hyperventilates while ordering food, it can be very daunting. There are intricacies in every culture that can be oftentimes overwhelming and hard to manoeuvre, especially making that first move. Therefore, greeting someone the right way is a great start. No pun intended.