Question How comfortable are you with strangers and invasion of privacy?

[Minty]

I think that, generally speaking, people in "immigrant countries" like the US, Canada and Australia by nature talk more to strangers than Europeans do.
But in Europe, people tend to get more reserved the further north you go. Finns are the most introverted, followed by the Swedes and Norwegians. People in Northern Germany are also more reserved than in Southern Germany, for instance.
Sometimes when you are out hiking in the Swedish forests or the Norwegians mountains, and you come across a stranger, they don't even smile and say "hi!". Even though you are in the middle of nowhere, and haven't met other people for hours, people are too reserved to acknowledge the existence of another human being... :disappointed:

I don't really agree, I find that the French are more buggerish than Australians. Please see my post above. I live in the Northern part of France.

Well, in Australia when I go to the outback or go for a walk in the park, people do say good morning, good afternoon, actually in Australia people say G'day!

That's fine, when I say strangers approaching you are those (not counting new people you meet at work or at school) asking you questions that you don't really want to answer like are you Chinese? After they ignorantly assuming all Chinese descendent people come from China, more questions coming about China blah blah blah...oh personal questions such as something to do with my marriage to my husband, why I want to come here blah blah...

I mean what is up with all these existential questions??!!! Go fly a kite or something!!!

 

[Cambrius (The Red)]

In the U.S. it depends on the region. I graduated from two major universities in the New England region. I lived and worked there for many years. The Northeast portion of the States is quite friendly to foreigners, I feel.

I found that the least friendly Americans are found in some of the more culturally backward states, like Idaho, Kansas, Utah and some parts of the South.

 

[Maciamo]

Actually the first two years when I first started going to University you cannot possibly have imagined how many strangers approached me on the streets, inside the bus, trams, and the bus stops or the tram stops. There were even the ones who would come and sat on the seat of the bus stop but they were not waiting for the bus, they did that just to ask you questions about you, because when I acted liked I didn’t really want to answer, they went away before my bus arrived.

Consider the fact that you are a young woman. I am pretty sure that the people who approached you were men with some specific intent in mind. That doesn't count.

I agree that Nordic people don't like to make small talks, but I can't say the same for the French.

French people do talk to strangers more easily than Belgian in average. Northerners will be more reserved than southerners, as usual.

In Australia, people don't do that neither, but here I think people do.

People don't chat up strangers in Australia. I have lived there for half a year and was shocked by how anybody would just start talking to me about anything anywhere. It's pretty much like the USA in that regard. In both countries it is much more obvious once you go to the countryside. People in big cities are busier and more self-absorbed.

My husband would pick up people on the streets, airports, inside the bus ...etc and would start a conversation with them. I don't do that. The thing is it is such a long time ago that I actually don’t remember whether it is normal that Asian people do that, all I remember is I have been like this for a very long time. I don’t talk to people on the streets, inside buses…etc except if they wish to know the direction to get to somewhere.

Asians maybe less inclined to start a conversation with strangers than the average Australian, American or Mediterranean, but when I was travelling around Asia there would always be locals trying to speak to me because I was a foreigner/Westerner. It was as much the case in India as in South-East Asia or in Japan. I guess this was more out of curiosity or to practice their English and that they wouldn't have done it if I had been a local.

 

[Maciamo]

That's fine, when I say strangers approaching you are those (not counting new people you meet at work or at school) asking you questions that you don't really want to answer like are you Chinese? After they ignorantly assuming all Chinese descendent people come from China, more questions coming about China blah blah blah...oh personal questions such as something to do with my marriage to my husband, why I want to come here blah blah...
I mean what is up with all these existential questions??!!! Go fly a kite or something!!!

You get the same treatment in Asia when you are a Westerner.

 

[Cambrius (The Red)]

People in Northern Portugal rarely approach foreigners. When they do, it is usually people who appear European. Of course, you hardly ever encounter people up here who are not of European background. Sometimes, Japanese tour groups, etc.

 

[Cambrius (The Red)]

You get the same treatment in Asia when you are a Westerner.

I agree with that.