- Mongolians tend to always be very close to one another. In the home, on public transport, etc. Family members often sleep in the same bed (kids together, adults together).
- It's common to see people riding in each other’s laps on the bus, standing right next to one another in public, continuously poking their heads in-and-out of doors at hospitals, at schools, etc – that’s the norm.
- During conversation people‘s distance from one another relates to how well they know each other. Male friends will often place a hand on one another’s shoulders when speaking, for instance.
- Touching during conversations is not really considered taboo, except what one may call “inappropriate touching.” Avoid touching people’s legs, putting a hand on a leg would be lewd. And with the exception of very small children, you don’t see much hand-holding, even among couples.
- Overt expressions of love through physicality are not really deemed appropriate in public. It is not common to see young couples kissing in public; and even hugging for more than a few seconds is considered a bit unusual.
- Avoid putting your hand near someone’s face unless you really love or really hate the other party.
- People often crowd around to look at something and will lean on one another, and when waiting to enter or exit any kind of vehicle there’s lots of pushing and shoving – and no-one thinks anything of it.
- In terms of speaking, there’s a lot of gesturing and pointing, making dramatic facial expressions to get the point across, but it’s only when one means to convey something very important or heartfelt – say during a holiday, or if someone will leave for a long time (or forever), they will hold someone’s hand and look them directly in the face when speaking.
- Note: Being any distance away from people is considered “sad” or “strange” in . No one usually ever lives alone and not having someone constantly next to you, pushing you, brushing past you, sitting next to you, bumping into you, with a hand or arm on you, etc is considered very unusual.
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