Do Colombians love small-talk?

We just like to say hello

One close friend lives in Canada and he give me insights of how the people act there. He is slowly to get to know the cultural differences and how people act in the day to day and work.

If you are in Colombia, you are thought to say hello, good, morning or good night to EVERYONE. When you go to a place you say hello to everyone, in a party or even going to an elevator. “Buenos Dias vecino” (Good morning neighbour) is a common way to just state a simple greeting, even if you don’t know the person or even if its not your neighbour.

Is not uncommon to start a small conversation, asking about the day or just getting to know a little about the other person. This is particularly true when buying something from someone at a store. I think this is just a sign of the way you are expected to greet someone, is just the way we were raised.

And I think we are used to it. In Colombia I feel people is more approachable, at least when saying a simple “good morning, how are you”. People are just used to it and engage in a formal and simple small talk about their day.

But from what I’ve heard, at least in Canada (and I can imagine in the US the same), people don’t engage too much in small talk. He say Canadians are really nice and educated, he never really have a big problem with anyone being rude or anything, but the reality is people are not to prone to engage in small talk or anything.

When going to the elevator, is the opposite of Colombia, people saying greeting are not the great majority, same with cashiers. He say that when greeting “good morning, how are you” sometimes it feels to intrusive and maybe the other person might think why he would like to know how I am doing.

In our Colombian mindset, a person that don’t say “hello, good morning/afternoon” is just rude, specially if its someone you see everyday at work. My friend at work happens the same, some people just go by and not engage in a small greet. But he says is not because they are busy, rude or don’t like you, is just the way they are.

If you dont say hello to someone here in Colombia we say “Did I sleep with you or what” haha. It just show that in the day to day, maybe here society is more warm and like to talk for no reason in particular.

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