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In Brazil, it is considered rude to be on time to a party

bbc.com

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Re: In Brazil, it is considered rude to be on time to a party

#41

Post by saagarjha »

weregiraffe wrote: post #29
saosebastiao wrote: post #22

I can at least vouch for the fact that Cariocas have a tough time adjusting to normal Anglo punctuality demands. As a Portuguese speaking student I ended up with quite a few Brazilian friends and many of the Cariocas ended up flunking out of school. Not because they were dumb or didn't work hard, but because they couldn't show up on time for tests and never understood why they couldn't just take a test two hours late…

>not dumb >never understood why they couldn't just take a test two hours late. I see a contradiction here.

It's a cultural thing. If that's the way the world has always worked for you, wouldn't it be surprising, at least for a while, to see that other people do things differently?

Re: In Brazil, it is considered rude to be on time to a party

#42

Post by J_cst »

geomark wrote: post #4

Reminds me a lot of Thailand. We call it "Thai time". And it does seem to be worse in Bangkok than in rural areas. Despite the terrible traffic and resulting delays, Bangkokians are used setting out for a party at the time the party is supposed to start, thus arriving an hour or more late.

Just to add-up on time namings, I recently learnt that in Italy we can have an appointment at the Neapolitan way (Naples is an italy city):" _let's meet at 9.00, but if I don't show up by 10, at 11 you're free to leave_ " . :)

Re: In Brazil, it is considered rude to be on time to a party

#43

Post by gota »

dakial1 wrote: post #7

That's not overall in Brazil. I live in Sao Paulo and it's certainly not rude to arrive on time or closer to that time. The time is usually a reference of "arrive after that time" and people will arrive in the hour or two after the time set. Usually closer friends will arrive earlier and not so close friends will arrive late because the party will be already full.

I have no idea where the author got the generalization that this is a rule "everywhere in Brazil". It's at most more or less a custom in Rio, and no other places that I know of. In southern Brazil not arriving within half hour of the appointes time is in fact disrespectful

Besides this is only for social appointments. Try to arrive a couple hours late for a meeting and you'll find yourself talking to your boss aboit how this article misled you

Re: In Brazil, it is considered rude to be on time to a party

#44

Post by sdrothrock »

For anyone interested in this type of cultural difference, I would strongly recommend Erin Meyer's "The Culture Map" (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01KSXNFJQ), which presents and argues for a series of scales that create a heuristic useful for comparing (not judging!) different cultures.

The goal is to realize and understand the differences so that you can anticipate and cope despite culture gaps.

I've read it myself, had two coworkers read it, and have recommended it to numerous other people who work in multicultural contexts and everyone has found it useful and insightful. It really recalibrated my personal way of looking at the world and people from other cultures.

Re: In Brazil, it is considered rude to be on time to a party

#45

Post by godzilla82 »

poulsbohemian wrote: post #26
acchow wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If there's 20 people going to a party, does anyone think the "start time" is really when you're supposed to be there? I think of it more as "don't come before this time".

Depends on the culture. Historically if you told a German 5:00, that meant 5:00 - nor 4:59, not 5:01. "Fashionably late" is an American thing.

Just curious if the German trait you mentioned you have witnessed first hand or hearsay?

Re: In Brazil, it is considered rude to be on time to a party

#46

Post by nasredin »

wurst wrote: post #19

If any appointment is set to start at 7pm, I'm there at 7pm sharp or otherwise inform the host in advance that I'm arriving late and give an accurate estimate on when I will arrive (+-5 min). I find anything else disrespectful towards the host and, depending on the kind of appointment, towards the rest of the participants. I guess some stereotypes on Germans are true after all...

There's a scene in a Homeland's episode.

"Hey you are X mins late. This is Germany man!"

I thought it was a bit too expositional IMHO.

And of course this was set in a sex shop.

Re: In Brazil, it is considered rude to be on time to a party

#47

Post by gota »

jimmy1 wrote: post #18

I work with brazillians often, we have an office there. It's easy to accommodate as well -- I just do the same thing I do with my mother: tell her the start time is way earlier than it actually is, and then she is on time. For example if dinner is at 6:45, I tell her dinner is at 6:15, and expect her to arrive 30 minutes late. You have to tweak it a bit for different situations (for example, a meeting, is about -15,…

I'm not accusng you of lying but this story is extremely suspicious. It conflicts completely with my professional and personal experience, which I'm pretty sure is close to the general truth.

Unless you have found yourself working with a very peculiar group of people, you are being duped or just exaggerating to the point of being outright wrong.

It is absolutely not a custom anywhere in Brazil, not even in Rio, to be late (_at all_) for professional appointments.

_Especially_ systematically late that a "system" like that is put in place (and supposedly works). To be blunt, the idea that you could correct such behavior from professional adults by duping them with altered schedules is even childish.

If this is indeed the case, please post the name of the company so we can blacklist everyone that works in that office

Re: In Brazil, it is considered rude to be on time to a party

#48

Post by Apaec »

geomark wrote: post #4

Reminds me a lot of Thailand. We call it "Thai time". And it does seem to be worse in Bangkok than in rural areas. Despite the terrible traffic and resulting delays, Bangkokians are used setting out for a party at the time the party is supposed to start, thus arriving an hour or more late.

In Peru we have "hora peruana"(Peruvian time).. just to add another data point.

Re: In Brazil, it is considered rude to be on time to a party

#50

Post by poulsbohemian »

godzilla82 wrote: post #45
poulsbohemian wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Depends on the culture. Historically if you told a German 5:00, that meant 5:00 - nor 4:59, not 5:01. "Fashionably late" is an American thing.

Just curious if the German trait you mentioned you have witnessed first hand or hearsay?

I experienced it first-hand, thought I admit it has been many years since I've spent any time in Germany and I fully recognize that culture changes over time so I have no idea if this is still how it's done. That's why I used the word "historically" in my original statement.
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