Palau

Greetings

Men greeting Men – A handshake is the most common form of greeting, but between friends it’s often kind of a forearm grab. From a distance it’s either a back head tilt, a shouted "Oi!" or both together.

Women greeting Women – Same as for men.

Greetings between Men & Women – Same as above.

Communication Style

• The traditional Palauan style of communication is more indirect than direct, but they’ve been heavily influenced by the US and most Palauans are quite adept at switching communication styles depending on the context.

• When you’re invited to a social gathering of any kind, it’s better to accept and then not go then to decline the invitation. It also might be considered rude if you make negative comments about people’s habit of chewing betel nut.

Personal Space & Touch

• An arm’s length of personal space is usually fine for any speaking interaction.
• Between close friends or family of the same or different sex, touching of the arms is common, and sometimes a whole conversation can happen while holding hands.
• Business interactions are similar to those in the United States.
• If somebody doesn’t feel familiar with you, they probably won’t touch you.

Gestures

• To beckon someone you do a downward sweep with one hand.
• If you raise your eyebrows it can mean an affirmative answer to a question.
• People often point with their mouths, but you can also point with a finger.
• Estimated measurements (of fish for example) are not done between the hands, but on an arm held out between the fingertips and the other hand.

Views of Time

• Time in is often called “Island Time”, which is to say that things tend to happen in their own time.
• People are often late, and punctuality is really only valued in professional, school and business settings.
• People tend to freely give their time. Social situations often run on for long stretches, and people show up throughout rather than all at once at the beginning.
• There are no trains or buses, but boats usually run close to on time.

Gender Roles

• Women are well regarded and can play any role that a man can play. However, women usually are expected to tend to their gardens, and do most of the child rearing. They are also the ones that organize almost all of the social events, and keep track of money given and received during customs.
• While women can drink alcohol, they’re not expected to drink heavily.
• Foreign women can pretty much do whatever they want, except if they’re dressed in a bikini in town, they’ll probably get some weird looks.

Taboos

• When you’re invited to a social gathering of any kind, it’s better to accept and then not go then to decline the invitation.
• It also might be considered rude if you make negative comments about people’s habit of chewing betel nut.

Law & Order

• The drinking age is 21 and is usually enforced.
• The smoking age is 18, but it seems easy for a younger kid to buy tobacco products. Use of betelnut is very common, and many people use cigarettes with their betelnut. As such, use of tobacco is primarily by people who chew it with betel nut, and many children chew.
• Penalties for possession of illegal drugs, especially crystal meth, are pretty severe, and in the case of crystal meth, heavily enforced. Use of marijuana is fairly common, and lightly enforced, although the police will occasionally destroy a crop.

Dress

• For Men - Long pants and collared shirt with or without ties is acceptable. More casual attire is acceptable in many situations as well. Even shorts, flip flops and Hawaiian style shirts.

Meetings

• While punctuality isn’t hugely important, if the meeting is important to you, then it's best to show up on time.
• You should probably address the important people in the room if you start speaking. Otherwise you should just greet everyone in the room.
• If you show up after other people are there, announce yourself when you enter the room.
• Small talk is very common at the beginning of meetings, but often the Palauans will be the ones who dictate the pace of the meeting.

Negotiations

• Palauans tend to be excellent negotiators.
• Decisions can often take a very long time by US standards.

Gift Giving

• Gifts are quite common in professional situations in Palau, but not expected. Items brought from abroad are always appreciated.
• If you know who you’ll be dealing with then bring something that everyone involved can enjoy, like food.

In the Classroom

• Summer vacation is in the dry season, from December to February. The school year is from March to November.
• At the university casual wear is the norm.
• The grading system at most institutions is a 1-5 system, with a 5 being the highest.

Other Observations

• Chewing betel nut is often a social activity, and people will get together and talk while they have a chew, often while sharing nuts, leaf, lime, cigarette, or some other item included in the chew.
• It’s not considered rude to ask somebody for a chew, and in fact most Palauans will enjoy sharing with you and showing you how to put your chew together properly. They might also show you how to spit properly, but you should be aware that they will prepare their own chew with a heavy dose of lime that would probably burn your mouth, so you should make sure to tell them to go easy on the lime.
• They often also use an old plastic bottle to spit in, so before you pick up a random bottle of juice or water to have a swig, make sure you take a good look and make sure it’s not somebody’s spittoon.

• Be very wary of leasing land, because the ownership is often disputed and you could lose everything quite easily.