Feb 11, 2007

Finnish Cultural Differences:Space

During my travels and my time living abroad, I try to keep in mind that certain things I take for granted as “normal” are really the result of my cultural upbringing and the accepted norms of the society in which I was raised. Thus, some of the things that strike me as “odd” when I travel or deal with people from other cultures have to be viewed in that context, so if I find something odd from an American prism or point of reference it is possible that it is considered completely normal in another culture.

I have been living in Helsinki, Finland for 18 months and something that I find to be odd, unsettling, and difficult to get used to is the Finnish concept of personal space in public places. On many occasions when I am walking down a busy Helsinki sidewalk in what I consider to be a fairly quick gait, people come up behind me, getting so close to me that I sense their presence and I react by turning around to see who is there and why. They usually don’t see me turn around and as soon as there is room to pass me, the do so. I feel they have invaded my personal space. If I were to pause for even a second, they would collide with me, since there is only 5 inches of space between us. My uncomfortable surprise does not even register with the offending Finn. They don’t look at the situation the same way and they don’t see the look of alarm or irritation on my face. They are merely doing what they need to do to pass me on a busy sidewalk.

The first few times this happened I became angry because I felt the person was rude to me for no reason. Then I noticed this happening often and that these people don’t appear to be exhibiting aggressiveness toward me or others whom they are passing, I came to the conclusion that they aren’t being rude to me. Their behavior is a norm in their society. When I’ve brought this up with Finnish friends, especially those who have traveled to Western Europe or the US, they acknowledge this behavior. They usually say that Finland has traditionally been a rural society and that people aren’t used to dealing with crowds. Or, they’ll tell me that Finns are straightforward when they want something or more trusting of their compatriots, so this behavior is not seen in a negative light.

Whatever the reason, I’ll accept it as a cultural difference instead of a personal affront. But, I’ll admit that I still have a hard time not becoming even slightly irritated when this happens now. No one’s perfect.

For more on this topic, see the Cultural Differences: Consumerism or Cultural Differences: Customer Service blog. Or, read about cultural differences others have experienced or share your own stories in our discussion.