Here are some final tips for travellers

• In France you shouldn't sit down in a cafe until you've shaken hands with everyone you know.

• In Afghanistan you should spend at least five minutes saying hello.

15 • In Pakistan you mustn't wink. It is offensive.

• In the Middle East you must never use the left hand for greeting, eating, drinking, or smoking. Also, you should take care not to admire anything in your hosts' home. They will feel that they have to give it 10 to you.

• In Russia you must match your hosts drink for drink or they will think you are unfriendly.

• In Thailand you should claps your hands together and lower your head and your eyes when you greet someone.

• In America you should eat your hamburger with both hands and as quickly as possible. You shouldn't try to have a conversation until it is eaten.

Comprehension check

Read the article again and answer the questions. Discuss the questions in pairs.

1. Which nationalities are the most and least punctual?

2. Why did the British think that everyone understood their customs?

3. Which nationalities do not like to eat and do business at the same time?

4. They (the French) have to be well fed and watered.' What or who do you normally have to feed and water?

5. An American friend of yours is going to work in Japan. Give some advice about how he/she should and shouldn't behave himself/ herself.

6. Imagine you are at a party in (a) England (b) America. How could you begin a conversation with a stranger? Continue the conversations with your partner.

7. Which nationalities have rules of behaviour about hands? What are the rules?

8 Why is it not a good idea to say that you absolutely love your Egyptian friend's vase.

Discussion

1. What are the 'rules' about greeting people in your country? When do you shake hands? When do you kiss? What about when you say goodbye?

2. Think of one or two examples of bad manners. For example, in Britain it is considered impolite to ask people how much they earn.

3. What advice would you give anybody coming to live and work in your country?

Mr. Sverdlov, Mr. Evdokimov were invited to the restaurant by their foreign friends. Of course they are polite people but they should know about English etiquette. Let's read this text with them and translate it.

SPECIAL OCCASIONS

RESTAURANT MEALS

Eating out in restaurants is a very pleasant way of entertaining whether socially or professionally. It is of course more expensive than entertaining at home, but it involves none of the hard work. If you are organizing a restaurant meal you should always book the table in advance and, if you are inviting a large party, arrange your seating plan beforehand.

Inviting and paying

It should be clear at the time of the invitation who will be paying for a restaurant meal. If you agree to go out for a meal with friends you should share the bill. The cost should simply be divided by the number of people eating rather than each person working out how much their meal was worth. However, if one person ate fewer courses or drank no alcohol, the other members of the party should offer for them to pay less.

If you invite someone out for a meal, you should pay for it. Conversely, if you are invited out for a meal there should not be any need for you to offer to pay. Some girls like to split the cost of a meal if they are invited out by a man they do not know very well because they do not like to feel indebted to him. In any event you should never argue about paying the bill when it arrives, and a girl should never feel she owes anything to a man just because he has insisted on paying for her meal.

What to wear

What you wear to a restaurant depends only to a small extent on the establishment itself: some very smart restaurants or the dining rooms of certain clubs and hotels may stipulate that men wear a tie or they may even require evening dress after 6 pm. In most cases, the choice is yours, and you should agree what to wear with the person or people you have invited for the meal so that no-one feels under- or overdressed. Choose your restaurant carefully if your party is, for example, casually dressed because you are going on to an outdoor pop concert or, alternatively, fantastically elegant in preparation for a formal ball.

When to arrive

A lunch time meal will usually be booked for between 12.30 and l.00pm, and an evening meal any time between 7.30 and 9.00pm. If you are eating after attending some event or are going on to do something else, you should check how early or how late the restaurant takes bookings, and ensure that they have noted your booking time.

If you have invited a friend or friends to a restaurant, you should always arrive a little early so that they do not have to wait for you. Make a particular point of arriving early if your guest is a woman; it can be awkward and embarrassing for a woman to wait alone in a restaurant.

Those invited to eat out should arrive promptly so that their host is not kept waiting and does not, therefore, run the risk or losing his or her reservation or annoying the staff by altering it. If the party of diners arrives together the host or party leader should enter the restaurant first and ask for his or her table.

Ordering your meal

Most menus offer a choice of dishes, this is known as an a la carte menu; others may offer a set menu or table which are not at a fixed price, this is a set meal which may give you one or two choices. Before ordering your meal you should establish how many courses the other members of the party are intending to have. If there is anything on the menu that you don't understand or would like to know more about, ask your waiter. If you are a guest, you should ask your host to ask the waiter. Very large parties may agree on a choice of menu and order it in advance.

The waiter will initially take orders for the first course and main course. When the main course has been cleared he will return to take orders for dessert and/or cheese, and coffee. Tra­ditionally, the party leader orders the meal, having asked each of the guests what he or she would like to eat. It is more common, however, for the waiter to ask each diner in turn for his or her order. Even so, it is considered polite for guests to let their host know what they would like to eat before ordering it.

When someone asks you out for a meal, some people would say that it is rude to choose either the cheapest or the most expensive dish on the menu. It is of course unfair to select some­thing very expensive if everyone else is having more modest dishes, but if you are invited to choose whatever you would like it is most polite to do just that. In some restaurants ladies may be given menus without prices; if this happens to you and you are afraid of ordering a terribly expensive dish, bear in mind that sirloin steak, shellfish and certain fish (such as salmon and monkfish) are likely to be highly priced.

If you would like something that is not on the menu you should ask your waiter very politely, but not make a scene if he is unable to help you. In general, cheaper restaurants and fran­chise restaurants will not be able to provide things that are not on the menu. More expensive establishments that make every­thing from fresh ingredients may find it easier to oblige.

Wine and drinks

In many restaurants diners are asked if they would like an aperi­tif before their meal. If you have been invited by someone else, check whether he or she will be having an aperitif before asking for one, because this may add considerably to the final bill.

The wine and drinks list may be separate to the menu and it may be presented to the host alone. The host should choose a wine and let his or her guest or guests know of this choice before ordering it. If you have been asked out for a meal don't be afraid to say if you would prefer not to drink wine.

The wine should be brought to the table in its unopened bottle unless you order a carafe. The waiter will show you the label before opening the bottle and will then pour a small amount into the host's glass. Tasting the wine should be done quickly and without fuss; this is not an opportunity for you to decide you don't like the wine you have chosen, but to see whether or not the wine is corked. There may be tiny pieces of cork floating in the wine - this is quite common and does the wine no harm at all. Corked wine, on the other hand, is rare; it smells and tastes very sour and should be rejected. Once the person tasting the wine has approved it, he or she should ask the waiter to pour the wine.

During the meal

When eating in a restaurant diners should observe the same courtesies as when invited to eat at someone else's house. They should also remember that they are not the only clients in the restaurant. However much you are enjoying a meal with a group of friends you should not become rowdy at the expense of other clients.

You should also be especially attentive to the fact that other people may not like you to smoke while they are eating; some restaurants have no-smoking areas, others forbid smoking altogether.

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