The German drinker’s guide to greetings

sir – Alastair Clarke (Letters, January 4) recalls how his German friends greet each other in the pub by knocking on the table twice.

This is a pragmatic solution when there are more than three or four gathered in an informal setting.

However, my experience of Germans during formal meetings is rather different. The first 10 minutes or so are taken up with everyone shaking the hand of everyone else present. It is a time-consuming task – though thankfully less intimate than the traditional bise of the French. Michael Tugby

Warminster, Wiltshire

sir – I have a French friend who always greets me with at least four kisses. My Polish and Dutch friends greet me with three, while my English friends, sadly, greet me with just the two.

Each to his or her own, I suppose. Duncan Rayner

Sunningdale, Berkshire

Thirsty work: beer-lovers raise their glasses at Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany