Intercultural Communication and Translation News

Kissing is more common amongst people nowadays than ever before, with people celebrating images like the below being shown and celebrated all over the world.

Kissing is now one of the most common forms of affection worldwide and dates all the way back to 1500 BC. Despite this, kissing is still quite a controversial matter in some countries, so let’s learn a little bit more about it.

Many people automatically associate the French kiss with France; this is likely to be because of Paris and the idea of romance that it has attached to it. It was probably just labelled as a ‘French kiss’ due to the fact that the French are known for their promiscuous and flirty nature. In actual fact the most common form of kiss in France is the cheek-kiss, which is essentially a greeting in the form of an ‘air kiss’, with men also kissing each other if they are well acquainted. The number of kisses can vary between 1 and 6 – quite exhausting if you’re not used to it!

These are generally used as greetings all over the world today, particularly in Europe, with each country varying the amount of ‘air kisses’. In some countries, including France, the men will kiss the lady’s hand when saying hello or goodbye.

In Spain, people always kiss when greeting each other and it’s always two kisses, starting on the right side, with men always shaking hands instead.

In Italy, the ‘air kiss’ also applies, but starting on the left side instead – guys and girls kiss twice, but only if they know each other. If not acquainted, people will shake hands and give their name. In Northern Italy, however, people don’t usually greet each other with a kiss.

In Belgium, people just give each other the one ‘air kiss’ – men do this too – yet they do not shake hands, unless it is in business matters, because it is considered too formal.

As for Germany, they tend to leave out the kissing, apart from “the teens who kiss in school who want to feel cool”, according to our German intern! Germans prefer to shake hands if they are not acquainted, or hug if they are friends.

In America, the men tend to shake hands whilst the women will greet with the kiss on one or both cheeks and a hug.

In South Africa, men will kiss women that they are acquainted with on the cheek. South Africans tend to just shake hands with people that they are not familiar with. Like many places, greeting styles vary depending on the ethnic heritage of the person.

However, in some countries, kissing is more of a recent affair. This is especially true in Japan and China whereby kissing is only considered necessary during romantic moments, not to be done in public. – young people still do it anyway, though.

It’s interesting to note that kissing in public in India is a complete no no. I found BBC news article that tells us of a young married couple of whom were picked up by the police for kissing in public. You will not often see kissing in any Indian films, and if you do, you will certainly hear about it!

by Megan Elliott

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‘You don’t have to go to university to succeed.’
My name is Megan Elliott and I’ve recently started an apprenticeship at Kwintessential. I’ve been an apprentice for a week now and I can honestly say leaving university was the best thing that I could have done.
When I was studying for my A Levels, I remember there being such an emphasis on the importance of going to university in order to get ‘a good job’. It’s interesting to consider, then, that students in the UK applying to university for autumn 2012 has dropped by 7.6%. An article in the Guardian tells us that this is feared to be because of the fact that it could cost up to £9,000 a year. An extortionate increase when one considers that universities are already giving students a nice £30,000 debt to look forward to at the end of their studies.
University wasn’t for me for in so many ways, but I will admit that I felt the cost to play a big part in my decision to leave. I did not feel that the tuition I was getting was worth the debt that I would have to pay off for years to come. I studied Psychology, and after being at university for 4 months I honestly felt disappointed and upset that I had left my full-time job. I thought the lectures lacked any real energy or anything special to separate it from sixth form. Ultimately, there was nothing that made me feel better about the fact that I had spent all of my savings on a degree. When I was having doubts towards the end of my time at university, I had so many people tell me that “it’s the degree that counts”, but all I could think was, “but what does it count for, and what are my job prospects in getting a career in Psychology upon graduation?”
Despite the fact that people think university is about freedom and really ‘getting out there’, I couldn’t have felt more trapped. Having a very small amount of money compared to what I had been used to made me feel like I had less independence than I did when I was living at home. Essentially, I felt like I had no drive or desire to achieve or even try at university because I found the course and lack of routine or discipline so demoralising.

I knew that I wanted to leave university. I also knew that I wanted to continue to learn, grow and have someone that cared about my progress on a deeper level – not like the one-off chat you have with your tutor at university once a year. This is when I started looking for apprenticeships. After around one month, eight applications and two interviews, I got my apprenticeship.
I have no regrets about leaving university. After being at Kwintessential for a week I already know that I am in a far better place than I was 4 months ago. Most importantly, I know that I can succeed and progress within a career that does not require me to be poor for a large part of my life, or be filled with doubt about my progression and constantly asking myself, “is this right?” I know this is right and I cannot wait to see where I am this time next year. You don’t have to go to university to succeed and it is my intention to prove that.

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