Do Poles do hand shaking EVERY TIME they see friends?

hej all im new here.
i have some polish friends from my work and we party alot together, now im trying to learn some polish and a bit of polish costums.

is it normal in poland to shake hands everytime i see my friends??
in holland you only shake hands 1 time, first time you meet.
i notice that my polish collegas give me handshake everytime i see them.
is it also normal when i come to my friends house that i shake everybodys hands?? or only my best friends? do the other ppl get offended when i dont give them handshake???

srry for my bad english, i hope u guys can help me :P

Hi Bamjam, sorry I can't help you with the hand shaking business as I'm not polish but welcome to the forums anyway. I'm sure some-one will soon advise you.

hehe not a big help but thanks for the welcome.. :)

yes to be like the polish you should shake all mens hands firmly. your friends and other people if you wish to greet them with respect

Sometimes, I shake hands with my Polish workmates, usually after a good day's work, sometimes at the start of the day (just before I lead them into battle) and even more occasionally when they are bribing me with cigarettes.

ok so the other ppl there get offended when i dont shake there hands??

and is it the same when im going, i say nara and shake all ppls hands???
or can i just say nara and its good?
im a bit lost here haha :)

i wouldnt say they get offended but they dont necessarily feel greeted by you. depends on the situation and how well you want to know them. I find Polish people to be pretty relaxed and not easily offended. As well if they are in your country than maybe they expect your customs rather than polish customs but it is good that you are conscious of the polish customs. Just ask your friend is probably the best way to go...

Is is still good etiquette to wait for a woman to initiate the handshake, if one is present?

Well, we do shake hands and it is the right thing to do when you greet the other person. Some dos and donts about hands shaking:)

-dont shake hand for too long;), and dont clench too tight
-smile and maintain eye-contact

-a woman gives her hand to a man first, elder person to younger one, employer to employee
-dont shake over the table

good luck with your hand shaking:)

or in a doorway

and in the toilet... , seriously, thats what savoir vivre says:)

Yes shake hands

Most wouldn't, but very rarely someone might, especially if they'd had a few drinks and thought you were refusing. Everyone shakes hands here - it's normal.

Shaking hands in the UK is more of a formal thing than in Poland.
You can always tell a persons character <I think> from their handshake :)

Traditional Krakow costume.

• 
  Krakusy
  

;) ....they would be krakowiaki...

And their emotional problems when their hands are sticky.... yuk!


Hey, where did you get my photo from?

Your photo?? Thats me on the left, as a young lad.. : )

Do Poles do this? Not at interviews, LOL. Only scowling

A firm hand crushing hand shake is always seen as polite, a weak one is seen as puny and wimpish!!!

Roughly the same as the UK.

I'm in Poland right now and we always shake hands.

Always.

:D

I'm going to be deliberately argumentative. Kind of.

I remember when I was a student (your screen should go all wibbly-wobbly now as we reach back into the past and your computer morphs itself into a Commodore 64), many of the other students I hung around with would shake hands quite a lot. This doesn't happen nearly so much these days, but with any friends I haven't seen for a long time, we will shake hands. Unless we're talking about a lady I haven't seen for a long time, in which case there will probably/hopefully be a kiss on the cheek, maybe a hug.

* donkey feels it's about time he had a hug, shaking hands will suffice though! *


Good for you.

Also, take your glove OFF to shake hands, otherwise its considered rude. Unless its -100 degrees.

That's assuming one wears gloves in the first place :)

But seriously though, are you calling the Queen of England rude? Because she always wears gloves when she is meeting people and she never takes her gloves off to shake peoples hands or making her special waves in public. You would think that the Queen would know the right etiquette and I don't think she would ever be rude?

:)

This is what I was talking about :) only when meeting someone new or seeing a good friend after a period do I shake hands.

Polish people are different, once they get to know them and they realise that they aren't offending some cultural belief of yours by shaking your hand too much then it's a shake hello and a shake goodbye! I personally like it, I think it feels more personal.

I'm not quite sure about the kissing of the girls though...

;)

lol was that a question, or a statement with a question mark.


Yeah but she is the Queen, I suppose she wouldn't have to. Like women do not have to take their hat (or similar) off when they enter a church.

I hate shaking hands... you don't know where the hand has been! The person could have been rubbing one off a time before offering the handshake and hadn't washed his hands... or even worse scenarios..

LOL

Do you know how much germs you can pick up just from walking around? Take the handle of your bathroom door in a public place like a bar or a banister on a bunch of steps!

wow a lot of replies here, verry good :).

so i asked my polish work mates about this ''handshaking'' and they tell me its pretty normal for them. i told them how we do this in holland and they tell me : jestes wariat, or something like that. i think it means your crazy or something but i cant say for sure haha :).

but from now on ill shake everybodys hand when i come to there house haha.
they have to adapt to me and i to them, thats how i see it.

again srry for bad english :).

good attitude bamjam. you will go far with this thinking!!