How far apart do Poles stand when they talk?

Perhaps because America is bigger and there's more space available! Live somewhere small and crowded and there's little option. I think I've met about two Americans in my entire life, so I wouldn't know. Perhaps there were more but they just preferred to stand so far away I never got to meet them personally.

Yeah, and when they greet in Poland, they kiss each others cheek. Yuk. Spread some more germs, will ya? lol

Lol... It's good to know about standing close when talking to Europers. I'll use that next time I'm talking to a Polish chick! ;)

not so much as I observed.
Try Finland. Normal distance is 1,5 meters. If you try to cross that limit then either you are a drunk or a "retarded foreigner".

They tend to stand closer than most but it depends on many things like the set up of the room, energy of the speakers and length of discussion.

there's a great book on the subject of personal space and other cultural codes, The Silent Languageby Edward T.Hall - a classic.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_T._Hall

Americans do that too, except they kiss on the lips. Especially if the lips belong to some sexy crossdressers:

i stand very close to my foreign friends so they can smell my Polish/onion/garlic breath... haha...
i mean, c'mon...
it's an individual preference... psychological space/intimacy...

Arrbol.

They stand or sit well away from each other, because they can't control their arms when they all talk at the same time.

I once saw a Canadian woman running a class of English for Polish kids. They were visibly very uneasy when she approached and stood very close, almost touching them. They didn`t know what was going on.

It's one thing saying European v American in terms of personal space but there are considerable differences within Europe too.

E.g. I'm Irish and we tend to stand a fair bit closer and have considerably more eye contact than e.g. our British neighbours.

Meditteraneans for me, are a bit touchy feely and pretty up close and personal but not so much that I feel uncomfortable.

IME, Poles, I think, are fairly close to my own concept of personal space - e.g. I have been introduced to and sat beside friends of friends (Polish) with our bodies kind of touching which seemed fine all round. I'd imagine the average American wouldn't like this and the British mightn't be over the moon either.

Surprised to hear from some posters that Poles need relatively more space than the average European.

IME going from closest conversational distance to biggest (just a few mentioned here)

Arabs

Latin Americans

Southern Europeans (esp Spanish, Greek)

Poles

Americans

Japanese

Some are surprised by the last but Japanese seem to have two settings for personal space : in some public contexts it gets shut off completely but when talking to people they like lots of room.

Quite often they come close in for Northern European and Northern American standards. Queues are also tight however not when at the ATM machine when the distance is quite large. I've been stared at a few times for being too close at ATMs. But when at the shop I can feel the guy's breath on my neck.....

isn't it obvious?

@pawian #40
Especially since this teacher ate healthy eating large amounts of garlic.

That is why I stopped eating garlic in the morning. I only do it at night.