Cup fans say hello to the world - but no snogs

Cartoon / Rod Emmerson

Should you kiss French cheeks in greeting? What about Argentinian cheeks?

New Zealanders are being encouraged to learn a few customs of Rugby World Cup visitors as almost 100,000 start arriving on our shores.

Official "first impressions" training has been put together and posted online and Massey University has printed 70,000 wallet-sized language cards with the translations of a few basic phrases - like "put your glasses on, ref" (in Spanish: "Ponete los lentes, referi").

The first impressions training is intended for customer service workers and has been taken up by hotels, caterers and fashion retailers.

Almost 4000 people have gone through the programme and thousands more have signed up.

The programme, featuring former All Black Michael Jones and an animated sidekick, covers the basics of the tournament and how to host visitors.

Module three teaches "who is Team 2011" - what is expected of you and what "the badge" stands for.

Module four covers a brief history of New Zealand and Maori, and module five contains a few tips about visiting nationalities - some of it general trivia about the countries.

"Fiji is one of the few countries where Rugby Union is the main sport. There are approximately 80,000 registered players from a total population of around 950,000," the tutorial says.

Other advice suggests the best way to react to face-to-face encounters with the different nationalities.

A standard handshake is fine for Argentinians - but maintain direct eye contact and a welcoming smile, the training advises.

It says "greetings are enthusiastic yet rather formal" among Italians.

And for the French, "friends may greet each other by lightly kissing on the cheeks, once on the left cheek and once on the right cheek".

What could also help smooth greetings are the language cards produced by the School of Linguistics at Massey University which are being distributed to businesses around the country.

Vice-chancellor Steve Maharey said welcoming visitors by saying hello in their own language was an important part of showing manaakitanga.

"Multilingualism is the norm for many supporters and players coming from other parts of the world," he said.

"The challenge is for us to give other languages a go to help our guests feel at home."

ARGENTINA

Hello: Hola
Official advice: "A standard handshake, with direct eye contact and a welcoming smile will suffice. Eye contact indicates interest."

ITALY

Hello: Buongiorno
Official advice: "Greetings are enthusiastic yet formal. The usual handshake with direct eye contact and a smile suffices between strangers."

JAPAN

Hello: Konnichiwa
Official advice: "The Japanese national rugby team is known as the Cherry Blossoms."

FRANCE

Hello: Bonjour
Official advice: "The handshake is a common form of greeting. Friends may greet each other by lightly kissing on the cheeks, once on the left cheek and once on the right cheek."