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    Culture meetings

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    Culture Meetings

    Uploaded by

    nuno
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    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
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    INIT2 Welcoming visitors, HAR Read the opinions and answer the questions which follow. First names are tricky. Everyone's so concerned about intercultural ‘awareness these days that often you have Americans greeting their French counterparts as ‘Mr Delatour and ‘Ms Lagrange’, while the French call the Americans ‘Bob’ or ‘Mary’ the first time they meet. But on the other hand, hardly anyone is shocked any more if you don't do what would be normal in ‘their’ culture. Visiting companies in the US is always very stressful. People often make little jokes, and | know they're trying to be friendly, but often | don't understand what they mean and then | look like an idiot. 'm sure they think of me as the serious Swiss ‘guy, It’s really frustrating. Coming from Europe, I'm used to being offered a cup of coffee or tea when I visit someone at their company. Perhaps a juice. But | was astonished to arrive at a business colleague's office in Delhi and find a full lunch waiting for me. Have you ever heard of such a thing? 'm not complaining, of course; the food was delicious. Mind you, | don't know what we'll do ifthe Indian colleague ever visits ust When you visit someone in a hierarchy-obsessed culture like Japan, it's very easy to tell exactly how important you are to them. Does your counterpart introduce you to her colleagues? OK, not too bad. Does she introduce you to her boss? All right, you can't be that unimportant. And her boss's boss - well, clearly you're someone they're very interested in! But if she doesn’t introduce you to anyone, well, that's definitely a bad sign. Japanese people love making introductions! Poe * What problems have you had using first and last names in other cultures? * What do you offer visitors to eat and drink at your company? * Do you find it easier to meet native English speakers or non-native English speakers? * Who would you introduce to your boss? To your boss’s boss?

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