European Expat Moves To India For Work, Gets ‘Culture Shock’ Over How People Introduce Themselves: 'They Start Listing...'

A European expat who recently moved to India for work says he experienced an unexpected “culture shock” after noticing how often people introduced themselves by highlighting their education, jobs, and family achievements.

Posting on Reddit under the title “Culture shock as a foreigner,” the user said he had recently relocated to Delhi NCR and noticed what he described as an “intriguing” pattern during his interactions with people.

According to him, people he met would frequently talk about their educational qualifications, professional achievements and family backgrounds without being asked. He gave examples such as people mentioning that they had studied at IIT, worked for a particular company or had a child living in the US.

The Reddit user claimed

this had happened to him multiple times, saying he encountered the behaviour “6x in 1 week, to be precise.” He also observed that people often asked what he considered probing questions, seemingly to understand where someone stood in a “hypothetical hierarchy” and determine how they should be treated.

The experience stood out to him because of the cultural differences he was accustomed to in Europe. He explained that, in his culture, openly highlighting one’s achievements is generally considered rude, with people expected to remain humble and allow others to discover their accomplishments naturally.

Rather than labelling either approach as better, he said he was simply unfamiliar with navigating such interactions and wondered whether he should change his behaviour to fit in.

His dilemma was whether he should also “hype myself up” when meeting people so that they would not treat him poorly, or whether he should “stay in my lane and let people think whatever they want to think.” He also questioned whether choosing the latter approach could make him vulnerable to being taken advantage of at work.

The user ended by asking fellow Redditors for advice on adapting to and thriving in Indian work culture. In an edit, he thanked people for the “helpful and encouraging replies and messages” and said he was looking forward to embracing his new experience and getting to know India better.

The post quickly attracted responses from users, with several offering different perspectives on why people may talk about their educational and professional backgrounds.

One user joked about the country’s obsession with IIT credentials, saying, “Every person who has been to IIT is contractually mandated to tell you they’ve studied in IIT at least twice in every conversation.”

Another Redditor suggested that the poster should not generalise his experience, writing, “Ignore those 6x. there are humble souls here too. bragging is looked down upon by truly learned ones. do what matches your ethics. The respect impact is 100x if discovered, or coming from someone else. its just that the population here covers the whole spectrum of personalities. that’s where your braggers are coming from.”

A third user attributed the behaviour to the way introductions often happen in India, saying, “I think it’s just the Indian way of doing “introductions”. People dont know what else to talk about except for their education. Most people never had luxuries of doing stuff (like travelling, etc) other than education/work.”

However, another commenter cautioned against viewing the experience as representative of all Indians. “It also sucks that this is getting painted as “indian” behavior when, even though im from the same country but a different part, and the people here doesnt behave like that, to outsiders it doesnt matter since we are all brown,” the user said.

A foreigner living in India also said they had encountered something similar. “Welcome to India (I am a foreigner here as well). And yep, I had/have the same experience, I don’t like to show up so I don’t do it, I guess it’s up to you,” they wrote.

“As an Indian living in Europe, I understand exactly what you mean. Some of us are used to placing everyone we meet on a totem pole and giving them respect based on the position; older generations did it with caste system and newer generations do it with education and wealth.

Both are extremely wrong so stick to your own self and do not worry about how the other person perceives you. If they respect you any less because of your wealth or education it’s their shortcoming and not yours,” said another.

Disclaimer: This article is based on user-generated content. The claims made in the original post have not been independently verified by News18.