The culture map: How to navigate foreign cultures in business
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Re: The culture map: How to navigate foreign cultures in business
#2Wonderful article and a fantastic example of how there’s a big gap between being fluent in English and being fluent in English, especially the English that your counter-party is using.
Took me forever to get used to California English after I moved here from the slavic part of Europe. Still find a lot of it utterly boneheaded, but at least I know what’s going on and can cope … at great cost to personal sanity.
It will never not irk me when people say ”Please feel free to X” when they mean ”It is paramount that you do X”
Re: The culture map: How to navigate foreign cultures in business
#3Wonderful article and a fantastic example of how there’s a big gap between being fluent in English and being fluent in English, especially the English that your counter-party is using. Took me forever to get used to California English after I moved here from the slavic part of Europe. Still find a lot of it utterly boneheaded, but at least I know what’s going on and can cope … at great cost to personal sanity. It wil…
Do you have some examples of the language seeming boneheaded? Sounds interesting.
Re: The culture map: How to navigate foreign cultures in business
#4Wonderful article and a fantastic example of how there’s a big gap between being fluent in English and being fluent in English, especially the English that your counter-party is using. Took me forever to get used to California English after I moved here from the slavic part of Europe. Still find a lot of it utterly boneheaded, but at least I know what’s going on and can cope … at great cost to personal sanity. It wil…
Do you have some examples of the language seeming boneheaded? Sounds interesting.
Race condition, just edited :)
> It will never not irk me when people say ”Please feel free to X” when they mean ”It is paramount that you do X”
Another big one is when people say “Not my favorite”, but mean “I hate this”.
And a cause of great confusion in the workplace: “Can we do X?” meaning “You should do X, I am delegating this task to you”
And then there’s the whole genre of “corporate speak” memes like what “Per my last email” really means.
On a more personal note, the California Yes is super frustrating when making plans with people. Just because someone said Yes, does not mean they have any intention of actually showing up. They might get a headache an hour or so before the planned meeting time. Headaches are very popular in California it seems.
Re: The culture map: How to navigate foreign cultures in business
#5This is very similar, but somehow not the same as this "The Culture Map" [0],
which I thought was great and would highly recommend.
https://www.amazon.com/Culture-Map-INTL-ED-Decoding/dp/16103...
Re: The culture map: How to navigate foreign cultures in business
#6This is very similar, but somehow not the same as this "The Culture Map" [0], which I thought was great and would highly recommend. https://www.amazon.com/Culture-Map-INTL-ED-Decoding/dp/16103...
The article is literally a summary of this book.
Re: The culture map: How to navigate foreign cultures in business
#7Earlier quoted context omitted.
Do you have some examples of the language seeming boneheaded? Sounds interesting.
Race condition, just edited :) > It will never not irk me when people say ”Please feel free to X” when they mean ”It is paramount that you do X” Another big one is when people say “Not my favorite”, but mean “I hate this”. And a cause of great confusion in the workplace: “Can we do X?” meaning “You should do X, I am delegating this task to you” And then there’s the whole genre of “corporate speak” memes like what “Pe…
> On a more personal note, the California Yes is super frustrating when making plans with people. Just because someone said Yes, does not mean they have any intention of actually showing up. They might get a headache an hour or so before the planned meeting time. Headaches are very popular in California it seems.
The Californian 'Yes' sounds like the Japan one.
British understatement gets me in trouble when communicating with americans. In the British to American dictionary, 'I would prefer not' becomes 'I wont'.
Re: The culture map: How to navigate foreign cultures in business
#8I don’t have a link to the book, but;
Peng, M.W. (2022). Global Strategy. 5th Edition. Cengage.
is an excellent read for navigating foreign cultures in business. I believe there may now be a 6th edition of the book. Highly recommend to anyone with an interest in global business strategy.
Re: The culture map: How to navigate foreign cultures in business
#9Apparently this is also how the Brexit happened ;)
Legend has it that David Cameron asked Merkel. She said "No". He thought it means he can get what he wants – only to find out later, that indeed a German "no" is a clear and tight "no". But by then he already fell over his rhetoric...
Re: The culture map: How to navigate foreign cultures in business
#10Earlier quoted context omitted.
Do you have some examples of the language seeming boneheaded? Sounds interesting.
Race condition, just edited :) > It will never not irk me when people say ”Please feel free to X” when they mean ”It is paramount that you do X” Another big one is when people say “Not my favorite”, but mean “I hate this”. And a cause of great confusion in the workplace: “Can we do X?” meaning “You should do X, I am delegating this task to you” And then there’s the whole genre of “corporate speak” memes like what “Pe…
I thought it was called the California No? "Oh ya totally let's hang out!!" (you're never gonna hang out)
I've lived in LA for over 25 years. I think part of the reason things are like this is that the sheer amount of people here make it hard to know if you are dealing with a person who is going to end up being a nut or not. This town is also full of narcissists and leeches who want to use you. I've let people into my life that I seriously regretted later. After enough of those you start getting more cagey. It's a shame really. Whenever I go somewhere else I am reminded how much more genuine people can be and how I need to be more mindful of what I say. Words hold a lot more power outside of the LA bubble. In a funny way we are much more like the British in this way.
For example, locals know not to make eye contact while out and about. Not because we are dicks, but because if you happen to lock eyes with someone, theres a non zero chance they're gonna attack you or ask you for money etc. Take a ride on public transit if you don't believe me.