Greetings

So how do Germans greet each other, and how do they say goodbye? If you would have asked me this question six years ago, I would have probably answered "the same as in the Netherlands, I guess". It was only after I went to Germany regularly that I noticed it is not quite like that.

Dutch greet each other by saying "Hi", shaking hands, or with three kisses on the cheeks, depending on the occasion and the persons greeting each other.

Assuming that Germany and the Netherlands would probably be the same, I used the same habit in Germany as back home. Quickly, I noticed that three kisses when greeting ladies is definitely not the right thing to do. So, I tried two, and then one. In the end, it became clear to me that I'd better forget about the kissing. That was better. But not perfect yet. The proper way to greet your lady friends in Germany is with a tender hug.

Hugging women is something I don't mind doing of course. Hugging men was something else, though. So when I realised that men also hug (just like Americans .... in fact, there are many similarities between American and German culture, but that's something for a later post) , it took me a while to get used to it. Luckily, the hugging between men is only done at special occasions. Usually, shaking hands is the thing to do.

A very typical place to shake hands is in the company. I shake dozens of hands every day. Not because I am so popular or important, but because colleagues shake hands every day.
Back home, we say "Hi" apon entering the office. It's simple, quick, and clean. Getting to my desk in the company here in Germany takes a while longer, because every colleague is greeted with a hand shake. Also this was a habit I had to get used to. But in the meantime I developed a positive feeling about i. It's a bit more personal than "Hi", even though it takes a while longer.

Only in cases of a cold or illness, the hugs and hand shakes are omited and the affection kept for better times . Because even though greeting rituals are nice and important, as almost everything else in Germany, it is used with sensibility.