Abstract Intercultural interaction may be complicated by differing verbal and nonverbal displays of (im)politeness. Yet cultural outsiders’ evaluations of (im)politeness have not been widely examined. To fill this gap, this study investigated perceptions of Finnish politeness among French people living in Finland and perceptions of French politeness among Finns currently or previously living in France. Focus groups were used in order to study culturally shared (im)politeness norms and their variations. Based on a dialogical discourse analysis of five focus group discussions, it is argued that personal space emerges as a salient factor for politeness in Finland, while verbal and nonverbal rapport is more important in France. These overarching themes - personal space and rapport - led to discussions about greetings, silence and holding doors open. Greeting and opening doors appeared more categorical in France, while silence was better tolerated in Finland. In addition to dominant norms, regional and individual variations were reported. Overall, (im)politeness norms appeared to be vaguer in Finland than in France. Building upon this study, future research should examine if changes emerge in Finnish (im)politeness norms related to rapport or if space remains more valued.

中文翻译：

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芬兰和法国的文化局外人对（im）礼貌的评价

摘要（im）礼貌的口头和非口头表达可能会导致跨文化互动的复杂化。然而，文化局外人对（不）礼貌的评价尚未得到广泛研究。为了填补这一空白，本研究调查了居住在芬兰的法国人对芬兰礼貌的看法以及目前或以前居住在法国的芬兰人对法国礼貌的看法。为了研究文化上共享的（礼貌）礼貌规范及其变体，使用了焦点小组。根据对五个焦点小组讨论的对话性话语分析，认为个人空间在芬兰成为礼貌的重要因素，而在法国，言语和非言语关系更为重要。这些总体主题（个人空间和融洽关系）引发了关于问候，沉默和开门的讨论。在法国，问候语和开门语显得更加明确，而在芬兰，沉默的容忍度更高。除主要规范外，还报告了区域和个人差异。总体而言，芬兰的（im）礼貌规范似乎比法国的模棱两可。在这项研究的基础上，未来的研究应检查与亲缘关系有关的芬兰（不）礼貌规范是否发生了变化，或者空间是否更有价值。