Finns - the mysterious people up north

What's up fellow Steemians, it's me again. Today I've had some conversation on cultural differences and since I like hearing about other cultures I thought I could shed some light on the culture I'm happy to be a part of. I'll talk about just a few things here and if you guys seem interested then I will definitely post more in the near future. Today's post is mostly about talking, or actually not talking.

So, welcome to a hopefully interesting journey to the mindset of a Finn. Or as we say here: Tervetuloa kyytiin.

"You guys are so quiet"
This is probably the first thing people come up with if you ask them to describe a finnish person. To be honest, it's mostly true. We are really quiet compared to most cultures. It's not that we don't like to talk with people, we are just raised that way. There's a proverb in finnish language that goes:"Jos ei ole mitään fiksua sanottavaa, ole hiljaa" which roughly translates to "if you got nothing smart to say, just stay quiet". The problem is, no one has ever defined what is smart enough. The result is that a lot of us learn to think we're not interesting or have something interesting to say. The mentality is learned at a young age and is hard to get rid of later on. I'm not saying it's purely a bad thing, it works quite well here. You always know that when a person opens his/her mouth, they always have something to say that is important to them. I think that's mostly why we are said to be good listeners, because we've learned to always pay attention when someone is talking.

Silence is respect
In most cultures it's considered polite to have some small talk with people. Well, not here. A concept that might be hard to understand for most is that the way we show respect is to not talk. In here everyone has their own personal space and the way to respect it is to not "force" ourselves in there by starting conversations and giving opinions on things that are not our business.

Also, you can never know what's going on in the other guy's life so you might end up insulting him, better to stay quiet. It sounds dumb and hilarious when you say it out loud but I know I for one think like that every once in a while.

So everyone, I truly hope you liked this little sneak peek to the mysterious finnish culture. Please share your opinion on whether you want to read more or not.

Peace.
-R