Personal Space awareness is very important in business contacts. Englishmen do not normally stand or sit close to each other; college students do not shake hands, like they do in Russia. Personal Space issues resulted in society rules: In British buses only 7 people are permitted to stand. If there are more, passengers will not be allowed to get on the bus.
Obviously, an reatunsuspecting 'Russian soul' expressing a great sense of community may lead to cross-cultural misinterpretations. Russians are very warm, emotional and honest, once they have overcome their initial natural suspicions of each other. To Englishmen, their behavior can sometimes seem overpowering, both physically and mentally. Physical contacts in common, no less between men and women, and hand around the shoulders or on the knee have no homosexual overtones. People stand surprisingly close together in a way that, for Englishmen at least, is clearly an invasion of personal space.
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