Ñòðàíèöà: 10/14
Basic Rule #2: Eat, Drink, and Be Wary.
Away from home, eating is a language all its own. No words can match it for saying "glad to meet you . glad to be doing business with you . . . glad to have-you here." Mealtime is no time for a thanks-but-no-thanks response. Accepting what is on your plate is tantamount to accepting host, country, and company. So no matter how tough things may be to swallow, swallow. Often what is offered constitutes your host jj country's proudest culinary achievements. Squeamishness comes not so much from the thing itself as from, your unfamiliarity with it. After all, an oyster has | remarkably the same look and consistency as a sheep’s eye (a delicacy in Saudi Arabia).
Is there any polite way out besides the back door? Most business travelers say no, at least not before taking a few bites. It helps to slice unfamiliar food very thin. This way, you minimize the texture and the reminder of where it came from. Another useful dodge is not knowing what you are eating. What's for dinner? Don't ask.
Basic Rule #3: Clothes Can Make You or Break You
Wherever you are, you should not look out of place. Wear something you look natural in, something you know how to wear, and something that fits in with your surroundings. For example, a woman dressed in a tailored suit, even with high heels and flowery blouse, looks startlingly masculine in a country full of diaphanous saris. More appropriate attire might be a silky, loose-fitting dress in a bright color. With few exceptions, the general rule everywhere, whether for business, for eating out, or even for visiting people at home, is that you should be very buttoned up: conservative suit and tie for men, dress or skirt-suit for women.
Basic Rule #4: American Spoken Here— You Hope.
We should be grateful that so many people outside the United States speak English. Even where Americans aren't understood, their language often is. It's when we try to speak someone else's language that the most dramatic failures of communication seem to occur. At times, the way we speak is as misinterpreted as what we are trying to say; some languages are incomprehensible as pronounced by outsiders. But no matter how you twist most native tongues, some meaning gets through—or at least you get an A for effort even if it doesn't. Memorizing a toast or greeting nearly always serves to break the ice, if not the communication barrier.
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Rules of etiquette may be formal or informal. Formal rules are the specifically taught "rights" and "wrongs" of how to behave in common situations, such as table manners at meals. Members of a culture can put into words the formal rule being violated. Informal social rules are much more difficult to identify and are usually learned by watching how people behave and then imitating that behaviour. Informal rules govern how men and women are supposed to behave, how and when people may touch each other, when it is appropriate to use a person's first name, and so on. Violations of these rules cause a great deal of discomfort to the members of the culture, but they usually cannot verbalize what it is that bothers them.
ETHNOCENTRIC REACTIONS
Although language and cultural differences are significant barriers to communication, these problems can be resolved if people maintain an open mind. Unfortunately, however, many of us have an ethnocentric reaction to people from other cultures—that is, we judge all other groups according to our own standards.
When we react ethnocentrically, we ignore the distinctions between our own culture and the other person's culture. We assume that others will react the same way we do, that they will operate from the same assumptions, and that they will use language and symbols in the "American" way. An ethnocentric reaction makes us lose sight of the possibility that our words and actions will be misunderstood, and it makes us more likely to misunderstand the behaviour of foreigners.
Ðåôåðàò îïóáëèêîâàí: 15/07/2009