37 Comments Add your own

• 1. Craig Maginness  |  September 7th, 2007 at 10:50 am

  I found your blog through the link in this post to our post on Going Global about the tension between cultural familiarity and sensitivity when living abroad. The posts stemming from your group’s trip to China are terrific and speak very well for the international focus of the MBA program at CalPoly. It would be wonderful to see you and your students’ international insights extended beyond China – not that that’s not a sufficiently large topic in itself.

  I hope that our commentary on Going Global can continue to be a resource to your students focused on international trade and business. Keep up the great work. I look forward to checking in on your blog with more regularity.

  Craig Maginness
  ExIn Global Strategies / Going Global Blog

• 2. Chris Carr  |  September 7th, 2007 at 10:53 am

  Hi Craig,

  Thanks for checking in. Your blog is an excellent resource for our students.

  Yes, I agree — in time, China and beyond (Russia, India, Brazil, etc.)!

  It will take us some time to get our business study trip sea legs under us. We will get there!

• 3. Angie Q. Dip  |  December 14th, 2007 at 12:01 am

  Is this a form of ethnocentrism? It sounds like many people are making the mistakes of thinking their beliefs are better than those of other countries and not showing respect to that country’s behavior, customs, religion, etc., whether it is consciously or subconsciously. We must be careful not to make the mistake of thinking our country’s culture is superior to others, and stop thinking that our culture is the same as everyone else’s. This is an arrogant move, and will only make people despise you if you are not careful with your actions. Whether visiting the country for business or pleasure, understand that every country has different beliefs, and we must figure out what that is so we would not embarrass ourselves or offend the people from the country we are visiting.

• 4. Chris Carr  |  December 14th, 2007 at 8:47 am

  Angie,

  The answer to your question is, yes, it is ethnocentrism, straight up.

  Each of you needs to sit back on this trip and watch others on the trip. I mean to really watch and listen closely to what they say and how they say it. You will see this issue addressed in a number of ways, sometimes intentionally by people, sometimes subconsciously and innocently.

  You will see some go to China with an open mind, humility and respect, and they will return home in the same way.

  Others will fake it — say they are open to what they are seeing, but inside not like it and may even despise it.

  Others will flat out be open about how superior they and their own culture is. When you hear these folks talk, it makes your stomach turn.

  Others will go there not knowing how they feel on this, and also return home not knowing.

  There are other possibilities as well. To each his own.

  Again, sometimes such arrogance and superiority is overt.

  Other times, though, it is not and we are not even aware we do it — e.g., listen for statements like, “The Chinese have crooked teeth” or “God, they are rude” or “Wow, this place is dirty” or “Man, I can’t take the food” (yet they made little effort to even really try it or get used to it) or “The CCP is a bunch of hypocrites out to screw the people” or “This place and these people or this government are a bunch of heathens because they reject God” or “Mandarin sounds so unpleasant. I am so glad I took French in high school,” and said statements are made with an ever so slight hint of “they way we do it is better”. Funny, as I can show said people these same parts of SLO and the rest of America in about two seconds.

  I could go on. You get the picture.

  This part of the trip will be what you learned in OB, but perhaps at a deeper personal level, with intensity and on steroids, and amidst trip and travel stress. We will really see who can travel and who has flexibility and who makes and plays nice; and who can’t. Many people say that want an authentic China experience. What I have found, though, is that what some of these folks really mean is: “Well, I didn’t really mean the hard part of China and international business; what I really meant was for you to give me China Lite”.

  I will be honest — I get a sick pleasure out of watching the “China Lite” demographic squirm, and the only way they can work through it is to struggle (and I let them struggle) and get used to the fact that they are no longer in comfy SLO, that China is not and will likely never be the Ritz Carlton on Maui and that international business is flat out hard work and not to be romanticized. It’s a developing country, for goodness sake. But in terms of business, and if you want to see the future, look east, toward China and its neighbors. It may not be pretty, but it is the future.

  See also this very relevant blog post I just made a few days ago, The Three Types of Westerners in China. Some great stuff in these short CBN podcasts.

  Important PS – To be fair, I have also witnessed some Chinese be cultural knuckleheads and ethnocentric in their own right toward the West. It goes both ways. For example, when I hear or see signs of the “China is the Middle Kingdom and I am special because I am a citizen of the Middle Kingdom” mantra, my blood pressure goes up just as much and that sense of superiority is just as disturbing as what we sometimes see from the American superiority/redneck crowd. Ethnocentrism is ugly, no matter which continent, town, or country it happens to be coming from.

• 5. Morgan O'Hara  |  December 20th, 2008 at 7:33 pm

  Feel I should mention this, because I’m a big Mira Sorvino fan, and not only can she speak Mandarin fluently, but she graduated magna cum laude from Harvard and wrote an award winning thesis on the Nanjing Anti-Africa protests. Little known fact (maybe its veracity can be argued?) – the protests at Tiananmen Square were the culmination of other protests, the first of which took place four months earlier in Nanjing. There, upset that African foreign exchange students were dating local women, Chinese students began a violent protest, exclaiming “Down with the Black Devils!” I kid you not. Brawls ensued, the Africans retreated to police stations and embassies. Afterwards, the protesters switched their focus to human rights.

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanjing_Anti-African_protests

  Worrisome is that the Chinese government stokes nationalism in order to keep its populace’s attention from internal problems.

• 6. Andrea Muntzel  |  December 20th, 2008 at 11:14 pm

  I remember when I first learned about the word “ethnocentrism” in my middle school World History class. This was around the same time I learned the words “proselytize” and “fascism.” Shortly afterwards I would go around using my newfound words in all sorts of contexts. Watching the news: “Mom, can you believe how ethnocentric the world has become?” At school: “Mr. James, I really want to find out how I can prevent ethnocentrism on our school campus.” Rebelling against religion: “I refuse to be another ethnocentric proselytizer that doesn’t recognize other religions as valid!” Needless to say, I was an ignorant youngun’ that was being righteous in my condemnation of other people. Ironic. I now understand why my parents rolled their eyes at each other behind my back, knowing that I would grow up and realize that things aren’t always black and white and that cultural differences will always exist. I feel like ethnocentrism is a construct of our brains just like stereotypes. They can be hurtful and shameful manifestations of ignorance. They can also be hard to shake. Only through open-mindedness, cultural awareness, and the inevitable embarrassing situations—or misplaced metaphors—can change infiltrate our awareness. As much as I wish it weren’t true, I will probably see China through American-colored glasses. My brain will compare it to America because that is the only thing I know. Hopefully, however, I have shed most of my righteousness and I will accept China for what it is and what it will always strive to be—China! In this way, I hope to avoid being a culturally-incognizant ‘lunkhead.’

• 7. David McKinnon  |  January 9th, 2009 at 11:48 am

  In the first article I think it would be nice to add that you should stay away from not only “country insider” metaphors, but also slang or generation-specific phrases. If you tell someone from Australia that you think their work is “off the chain” they probably will not know what you’re talking about.

  Regarding ethnocentrism, It’s important that we realize that we all come from different backgrounds and have experienced different things in our lives. Nobody chooses where they’re born or how they’re brought up.

• 8. Oscar Merlin  |  January 10th, 2009 at 2:49 pm

  I imagine that some people spend so much time of their life on the same bubble that they do not realize that when they travel to another country that everything they know doesn’t quite translate. We get to be really ethnocentric in these instances and should keep reminding ourselves that the place we are visiting are not continuations of the US. And just like ‘regional’ phrases don’t translate neither does ‘common sense’, so always keep that in mind.

  One last pointer is that just as Dr. Carr has mentioned, when we travel abroad we are not only representing ourselves but the school as well. I think many travelers forget this little detail and leave the locals in the country they visit with a bad impression of the entire country they are representing. I have had the personal misfortune of seeing many American travelers go down south and behave in ways that are just unimaginable, thinking along the lines of the ‘what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas’ deal.

• 9. Nick Chamness  |  January 16th, 2009 at 12:42 pm

  There is no excuse for ethnocentrism. I remember while I was living in Australia I had two roomates from New Jersey. One was totally accepting of the differences we faced on a daily basis. While sometimes frustrating, he dealt with it as best he could and tried to understand why things were the way they were.

  The other roommate was the complete opposite. He continually shunned the Australians for doing things differently to that which he was used to back in the U.S. More than once he stated how America was the best and everybody else was inferior. This did not win him many friends and resulted in him sitting inside the house for most of the 6 months we lived there.

  It was very unfortunate to watch his ethnocentric thinking get in the way of his opportunities to learn. Fortunately for him it did not lead to serious trouble like the guy in Nicaragua. Either way, steering clear of an ethnocentric mentality will make any experience that much more enjoyable and will offer more of an opportunity to learn.

• 10. Jenna Healy  |  January 18th, 2009 at 11:02 am

  The Eric Volz story is interesting. I wonder: in how many countries would American norms require jail time?!

  The Pamela Slim post was filled with good information to remember. I think a lot of it is common sense, but we are used to being in America, and talking like Americans, metaphors, references and all.

  Some of the tips I thought helpful:
  -Accompany your talk with written notes.
  -Ask people what they prefer to be called before introducing them.
  -Include GMT time zone signature (to avoid middle of the night calls!)
  -Include a salutation.
  -I actually didn’t know Brazilians speak Portuguese (forgive me)

  The last stereotype, speak louder to someone with a strong accent reminded me of a similar situation… in my undergraduate stay here at CP, I had a friend who was born deaf and cannot hear at all. I watched dozens of people talk really loud to him. He read lips but couldn’t hear a thing. I always had to laugh.

• 11. Eric White  |  January 19th, 2009 at 11:37 pm

  Though there are exceptions, I tend to believe or just may want to believe that the large majority of ethnocentrism is unconscious. What I mean is that when a person grows up in one culture and is taught and rewarded for doing things a certain way, that person automatically and rightfully thinks that is the right way to do things. This is because it is the right way to do things in that culture.

  Now place this person in a different culture and suddenly all those ‘right way to do things’ are now the ‘wrong way to do things’. Studying the other culture always helps, but you’re always going to slip up here and there. You simply cant learn a lifetime of culture in 6 months.

  Maybe the best thing to do once you are in a different culture is what Dr. Carr suggested on a different post: to just shut up for the first 6 months or year you are there and learn how things are done.

• 12. Chris Carr  |  January 20th, 2009 at 2:28 pm

  @ Eric,

  Minor correction. I did not suggest that. Dr. Lonnie Hodge did during his session with you. But, I do agree with him on that point!

• 13. Patrick Johansing  |  February 4th, 2009 at 7:59 pm

  The first article was full of good advice that seems pretty obvious. I think JF pounded most of those points in even more extremely than did the author of the article. Anyways, they are all clearly important points and things we must remember if and when we speak to an international audience.

  The “Cautionary Tale” reminded me a lot of the videos from before where the tourists ended up in prison abroad. It is clear that we can never be too careful abroad, and that if we get into trouble, we shouldn’t expect the same treatment we would get in America.

  As for the third article. I know Americans are known for being obnoxiously patriotic, but I haven’t heard this reputation about any other nations (probably because I’m American and I never bothered reading much about other countries). If many Chinese are just as patriotic as we are, I better not brag up America too much if I ever do business abroad or I will probably offend someone.

• 14. Raquel Rusing  |  February 5th, 2009 at 8:34 pm

  Sometimes I think I overestimate myself. I think most people overestimate themselves… in my generation (Y) at least. We’ve grown up being patted on the back by our parents and given trophies for EVERYTHING just for participating. We need to fit in. We need constant reassurance and instant gratification. Unfortunately, I have to admit to some of these flaws. And it just won’t fly in the work place. I know. I’m trying. But this first article made me realize how arrogant Americans are. So I can add that to my list of flaws.

  Don’t use baseball analogies? I don’t even LIKE baseball and I use them. I wouldn’t have even thought that using them abroad could be a bad idea. Be careful Dr. Carr… I might be tempted to pat some corporate head on the back and say, “Atta boy, slugger. Hit ‘em home!” I kid.

  One that really hit me was how to address an individual. WIth the Speaker Series, I want to be as professional and respectful as possible. Especially to my elders. Well, apparently, a lot of Baby Boomers (a.k.a. my elders) don’t want to be reminded of their age, so saying, “Ma’am” or “Sir” or addressing them as, “Mr. Smith” is aging. They want to be called “Joe. Not Joseph. Just Joe… maybe Joey. Yeah. Joey.” My mind is just screaming: WHAT?! So, against the things my mother has taught me, I’ve learned to start off with the formal address, but make sure to cater to their preferences, i.e. how they sign their emails. If Joe is the preference. Well hello Joe!

  And about those emails… it was nice to have a reminder that these aren’t texts to a buddy, but a professional correspondence that requires formal headings, introductions and conclusions. I know I might appear a little loose in my vernacular, but I do appreciate a well-written email. Grammar. Diction. Mm mmm.

  By the way, I’ve been told that when traveling abroad to tell foreigners I’m Canadian to avoid the backlash against Americans… but they’ll see through that ploy, won’t they? I’ll need to study these Canucks.

• 15. Mark Polydoris  |  February 6th, 2009 at 5:29 pm

  I agree with Dr. Carr that ethnocentrism is the smelly cousin of nationalism. It always rubs me the wrong way when politicians say something like “America is the greatest country in the world;” it sounds both ignorant and ethnocentric. There are a lot of great things about America, but until I visit every country out there, who am I to say it’s the best?

  That being said, I loved the cultural knucklehead moves, and it reminded me of when one of my good friends from my Club Med days came to visit me in Chicago. He was Mexican, and he spoke English only a little bit better than I speak Spanish (which is not too good); inevitably, we’d speak in both languages pretty evenly. My brother (who’s a standup comedian) came out with us one in night in the city. He speaks entirely in colloquialisms, movie-references, jargon and slang…and he talks really fast, sprinkled with ‘dude,’ ‘man,’ ‘like,’ and a handful of creative expletives. My Mexican friend couldn’t understand a word my brother was saying, and would turn to me to “translate” for him.

  I think having three professors from foreign countries last quarter was a good reminder that a language barrier can exist even when they speak our language fluently. I can’t imagine having to get up in front of a classroom and teach in a second language. Most of us get nervous enough to speak in front of people in our native language!

  And I hate baseball metaphors.

• 16. James McMillan  |  February 8th, 2009 at 5:44 pm

  I agree with Mark on Politician stating the US is the greatest country in the world. Greatest in what respects? While I have national pride, that’s just a straight up ignorant comment.

  As far as the “shut up and listen tactic” I don’t know that I agree that. I think most would agree that you learn most from your mistakes. If you are apprehensive about communicating or experiencing new things then it will take you longer to become a well rounded foreigner that does not fall into the category of a cultural knucklehead.

  The points the blog makes about what to say and not say in a foreign country seem pretty obvious but give yourself 6 month to a year in a foreign country and I’m sure you’ll catch yourself messing up a few times.

  While living in Madrid Spain for 5 months, I lived with a host parents that were very ethnocentric. Maybe it’s because their previous residents were your typical ugly Americans but I had to spend a fair amount of the dinner conversations trying to tone down their ethnocentrisms. I was happy to see nation pride come from someone other than an American but at times it really started to bother me. They were always so quick to point out why Spaniards were better in some way than Americans. I can only hope that I helped them see things from another point of view and made them realize that not all Americans are the same.

• 17. Jessica Harris  |  February 8th, 2009 at 9:59 pm

  The first article really made me laugh. Reading about some of the mistakes that people make when doing business overseas made me realize that there are quite a few knuckleheads out there, but I think that I could have easily made these same mistakes if I hadn’t read this article (especially since I am an avid baseball fan). Putting in the effort to make a metaphor that is easily relatable for the people you are presenting to might go unnoticed, but it will be very noticeable if they don’t understand. It seems like many of the points made should be common sense, but judging on her experiences abroad it isn’t.

  I think many people have already touched on this, but we are all going to be guests in the countries we are visiting. By just bring respectful I think that we are all going to be just fine.

• 18. Jimmy Spann  |  February 13th, 2009 at 2:22 pm

  I think that we need to make sure that we are getting our points across in a clear and concise manner. It is nice to use metaphors and connections to our cultures, but just make sure that everyone is getting the exact understanding that you want them to have. We learned in OB that one strategy is to have your listener repeat what you just said back to you in his or her own words. This way you get to see how they perceive what you just said. This might be a bit more difficult with a translator and language barriers. That is one reason that I will try to stay away from metaphors and comical side jokes during many conversations.

  I think that learning the culture and some of their own metaphors can really lead to better relationships between business people. We also need to get over how great we believe our country to be. We think so highly of it, when the truth is that America is not perfect, and there are many different aspects of our life that could be improved upon. I will not get into this at this moment. But it will behoove all of us to be humble while we are in China and India. I also think that this trip will humble us for when we return back to America and join the work force.

• 19. Justin Miller  |  February 15th, 2009 at 1:29 pm

  I really enjoyed the first article. It was funny and informative all at the same time. I really liked that she pointed out not to reference American sports and sayings with people from other cultures. While this may seem pretty obvious, I can see myself accidentally saying something just because we’re used to it. The information about how to include your time zone was something that I had never thought about and would also be very important to include in an email.

  The second article about the man in Nicaragua just shows how careful you need to be when traveling abroad. Even though there was substantial evidence to prove his innocence, he was still convicted. You can’t assume that other countries have a legal system similar to ours and it is very unlikely that they are going to go out of their way to help you. What can we learn from his mistakes? Don’t get too comfortable.

• 20. Mark Wegemer  |  February 16th, 2009 at 6:03 pm

  Just like in the blog for the interpreters, using phrases that everyone in California or the United States would know is not an appropriate way of communicating business discussions. I thought it was interesting about the baseball phrase considering everyone knows what “like hitting it out of the ballpark” or “threw me a curveball” means. This post gives me insight that will allow me to see things eye to eye.

  As far as ethnocentrism goes, it’s pretty sad that people don’t take things at face value and try to learn someone else’s way of life. If you are open to other people’s traditions or habits in another country, you are opening yourself up to new possibilities. I think it’s great to be open to new things. New things bring on the adventures.

• 21. Amy Cook  |  February 18th, 2009 at 9:16 pm

  I really liked the list of pointers Pamela Slim gave in her blog. Yes, some of them seemed a little obvious, but they are all good things to think about. Not long ago a neighbor of mine began dating a master’s student from St Petersburg. He had been in the United States for 6 years and spoke good English, (although his accent was quite noticeable). He seemed friendly but didn’t speak to me much although I saw him often. One day I asked Lindsey (my neighbor) about him and she was almost cracking up while she told me that he doesn’t like to talk to me because I talk too fast and he can’t understand me. Apparently, he also said I use too many hand gestures. I had no idea that I would be difficult for a foreign person to keep up with. I slowed it down a bit and we got along just fine.

  The point is, it is easy to be a little culturally insensitive without even knowing it. While I hope we are all self-aware enough to not commit any overtly offensive acts of ethnocentrism (here or abroad), I think it would be easier than people think to slip-up and make a statement that rings of, “the way we do it is better”. In fact, it might be interesting to count the statements our first few days abroad because I bet some of us will do it without even realizing it. Those of us who are not very well traveled, (and I would include myself in that category) may really surprise ourselves in how comfortable and tolerant we are able to be on this trip, or how uncomfortable we are traveling abroad. For some of us, the lessons we will learn about ourselves on this trip may be just as important as the things we learn about global business or China and India.

• 22. Andre Ourthiague  |  February 22nd, 2009 at 10:26 pm

  Differing worldviews, not again! It’s funny how something that seems so simple and so obvious remains such powerful advice. We all come from different backgrounds and experiences. Its important that we remember this, and more importantly, it is important that we RESPECT this fact. It is not enough to simply tolerate different cultures when traveling abroad. It is the foreigners responsibility to recognize differing worldviews and respect the native culture enough to put forth the effort to understand why the differences exist. Respect and understanding appear to be the most common characteristics of successful experiences abroad.

  The best advice about being abroad was given to us by Dr. Hodge in fall: “Shut up and listen.”

• 23. Jason Larocco  |  February 23rd, 2009 at 9:14 pm

  I am very much looking forward to this trip and testing my ability to shut up, listen and observe. American culture tends to push brainstorming, creativity and collaboration sometimes to a fault. Often you can benefit from just being a fly on the wall. Whether in another country or starting out in a new field, being more of an introvert than an extrovert can help you prevent making some embarrassing mistakes, build a strong base and gain creditability with which to build on in the future. Come June we’ll see how well I do!

• 24. Michael Mossman  |  March 2nd, 2009 at 3:52 pm

  Interesting points on how not to be a cultural knucklehead. I would think that a speaker would take the countries culture into consideration before he or she speaks and ends up offending their audience. It is important to remember that there are appropriate things and inappropriate things to say depending on the group. I have learned that it is important to not offend anyone and it is also important to make sure the audience understands what I am saying and my message. I like the point on the time zone note on emails to make sure the receiver knows where in the world the sender is located. It is another one of the thousands of learning lessons on proper international business.

• 25. Scotty Hayes  |  March 3rd, 2009 at 8:28 am

  Some of the best advice I have ever received has been as simple as it gets. Ms. Slim’s article included. Please do more than read her advice but remember it. Yes, a lot of it seems obvious, but I guarantee it will be useful down the road. I used to work for a company of about 300 employees. I was one of two people who was not fluent in Spanish. A lot of what she says works, so pay attention.

  Also, remember you are a guest in another country. Case in point, Mr.Volz.

  It is extremely difficult to try and understand the world through someone else’s eyes, but give it a shot, you will be amazed at what you discover.

• 26. Matthew Neal  |  March 8th, 2009 at 3:38 pm

  There is definitely some good advice in these articles. It’s funny how something so easy and simple can cause so many problems. With culture it’s always the little things that make the difference. This is why preparing a presentation or meeting with someone from another culture it is that much more important to go through everything with a fine toothed comb. When preparing a presentation it’s vital to make sure that there are no cultural, generational or simple slang that someone else might not understand. The problems come when it is so engrained into our daily lives that we don’t even think about it. Another piece of advice that I got a kick out of in the article was saying that simply saying it louder will not make someone understand. I always like seeing people talking to someone who doesn’t understand them, so they simply start yelling back at the person as if that will help them be more clear. I guess the best piece of advice when dealing with another culture is to use the KISS strategy, (keep it simple stupid) the more you try to sound smart and know stuff the higher chance you have of losing someone. Of course, if all else fails simply just ask.

• 27. Jamie Hastings  |  March 8th, 2009 at 7:51 pm

  I agree with the rules put fort in the first article. Slang terms can mean one thing in one country and something totally different in another country. If you go to Australia, don’t ask somebody “Which team are you rooting for?” For Americans it is recognized as which team we support and in Australia, it can mean something pretty raunchy.

  As far as ethnocentrism goes, I agree with a lot of what has been said. For me, I believe I am more a victim of an extreme sense of pride and am not malicious towards other people. While I hold no grudges or believe that I am truly better than another, I still have my biased views.

  For example, when I was cowboying in Nevada, we were taught that our methods were better than say the Texas cowboys. Our roping, cattle handling, colt starting, and finished horses were so different than the Texans. We were just taught that our methods and traditions were in general better and I still hold that bias. Perhaps it is not ethnocentrism, but an extreme sense of pride.

  I agree with keeping your mouth shut for a while. You can’t go into a place and start raising hell. You should be respectful of others culture as they would be of your own. I am going to try and keep an open mind throughout our trip.

• 28. Josh Hickman  |  March 9th, 2009 at 12:24 am

  I tend to be on the quieter side, so shutting up and observing will not me that hard for me. It seems that too many people don’t do their homework before going into a different country and culture whether it may be for business or pleasure. I feel that simple fact finding like we are doing with this blog and the articles/videos attached can help avoid making silly mistakes like Pamela mentioned. If given the opportunity to go on a business trip abroad, I will be researching all I can so I would be prepared.

  Regarding the man in Nicaragua, this is another example of how sometimes you have to realize that you are a guest in someone’s home so try to be courteous and cautious so you don’t get into trouble. Sometimes it is just better to say nothing.

  Its comical to me that people say that “We are number one” and feeling better than someone just because of where they are from. What have you done to make the country better off? I just think people should live their life for themselves and not compare their success or failure, their richness or poorness, especially across cultures which could form negative opinions toward our entire population.

• 29. Ashley Breneman  |  March 10th, 2009 at 12:45 pm

  I think the biggest mistake any of us could make while in China or India is to assume policies and laws are very similar to what we are used to. While there are many things to be thankful for in the United States, including the ability to speak freely and not be concerned about being persecuted for it, there are also flaws in our laws. Not only would it be foolish to approach these situations assuming everything to be the same, but as evidenced by the article about Eric Volz, it is downright dangerous! This is not to say that all of us should walk on eggshells while we are abroad, but we do need to be cautious with how we approach interactions with the local people.

  Along the lines of the first article, it is important to also avoid any sort of colloquial language. As college students, I feel we are exposed much more to everyday slang and it can become habit. The good part of this is that most of us can “turn off” these phrases when in a situation where these are clearly not appropriate. Any situation in China or India will be much more formal, so hopefully this will not be an issue. After reading this article I feel I will be much more cognizant of the metaphors I use on a regular basis, so they will be much easier to eliminate from conversations by June.

• 30. Xiaofei Song  |  March 11th, 2009 at 10:43 am

  I really enjoy the tips in the first article. People make these mistakes all the time when they travel around. I used to have to strong feeling that when my American classmates talk together, especially all boys, it is very hard for me to follow what they are saying. I really have hard time making friends with Americans when I first came here. It takes me almost a year get use to the way they talk. I can tell that most of my friends I had in my undergraduate are either immigrates from other countries or Americans who travel a lot. So I agree with Dr. Carrs, just shut-up for the 6 months, (I actually keep quite for almost a year

  For the ethnocentrism, I think this is not the problem just with Americans. Chinese proud of themselves, that why we call our country 中国 in chinese, means the center of the world. When people has ethnocentrism talk to other people with ethnocentrism but from different country, conflicts may arise.

• 31. Matt Eves  |  March 12th, 2009 at 6:54 pm

  These articles had some great advice. To communicate your message it makes sense that you would need to contextualize your presentations or whatever you are trying to say to the culture you are in. I’m sure this takes some research and careful preparation that we need to be willing to do. Anyone who goes abroad for significant periods of time makes blunders, it is bound to happen. I agree with James that it is important to really try to get to know people and not let fear get the best of you. I think you can still let your words be few and actively listen.

  Ethnocentrism: whoever said it is ugly - I think that’s a great way to describe it. One of my roommates in college used to make fun of me all the time because of my interest in France. When he said “freedom fries” I had to leave the room.

  If something or some “way” is better than another than let people decide for themselves… there is SO much to learn from other cultures and the way people live in other parts of the world. I nevertheless think that having firm convictions or beliefs about things is a good thing and provides stability and direction to one’s life.

  Does anyone remember from Professor Singh’s presentation about packaging the mistakes some of these HUGE companies made in their marketing in different countries? If they have made them, I’m sure it is possible we will too. Be Careful!

• 32. Andrew Welborn  |  March 12th, 2009 at 9:57 pm

  Respect for another culture is an important first step to actually learning anything about a culture. If you have no respect for a different way of doing things, you will never be able to see the differences and even more importantly the reasons behind the differences. In an earlier Pre-Departure meeting Dr. Carr mentioned the frequent use of toilets that you have to, well, hover over. From a close-minded ethnocentric viewpoint you will immediately think that is disgusting and your way is far superior. Only by looking to the roots of their reasoning do you find that they believe that is cleaner than actually sitting on a toilet. That respect is crucial to understanding culture differences and increasing your positive interactions with a foreign culture.

  I am ready to try the watch and learn approach. As most of you know I am not very outspoken, unless I have had time to understand my surroundings. I don’t think I will have a huge problem in China with saying something that is ethnocentric, but we are all so entrenched in our ways that we will all make mistakes along the way. The list and comments under Pamela Slim’s article were very insightful. Most of us have a handle on a good number of the items, but the items on interaction level with the audience and providing written notes only seemed obvious after I read them. The body language points that were brought up may be especially hard to break, since most of us have little idea how much we actually use it during the course of a normal conversation.

  And I don’t even want to get close to a jail while in any foreign country. Knowing as much as possible about the cultural norms will help in this effort, but good old fashion common sense doesn’t hurt either.

• 33. David Caldwell  |  March 13th, 2009 at 11:54 am

  I would hope that the tips from the linked article would be common sense by now, but I know that they’re not. Each foreign culture that I’ve come into contact with has their own traditions, which they can get quite upset about if you ignore. Have you ever seen a 70 year old Russian man cut his tie in half because the 3rd toast wasn’t to the women?

  I appreciate how the article addresses not only the content of what you talk about, but the [i]way[/i] that you say it (i.e. using metaphors, colloquialisms, baseball analogies).

  I’m curious about what exactly Eric Volz did to incur his girlfriend’s mother’s wrath, and why he wouldn’t have known about it after spending so much time in the culture.

• 34. Cece Reyes  |  March 14th, 2009 at 10:08 am

  So important to take the initiative to find out about things that are specific to a particular culture and to be sensitive to the culture with which you are dealing. Don’t presume to know the appropriate way to address someone or how to introduce them. There is nothing worse than getting it wrong. People are much more open to being asked about what is appropriate - it can be nice to share your culture with a foreigner. Be sure that if you use “Tanaka-San”, you are using it correctly.

  When I was in Costa Rica and learning Spanish, every taxi driver and store owner was willing to slow down and speak clearly to me in order to communicate. (When they didn’t try their English.) I know I speak very fast and when I was in South Africa I was told I have a think California accent and that I use a lot of slang - who knew? So if I were doing business overseas, even with people who speak English, slowing down a bit, enunciating, and providing visuals are little things that are some important to keep in mind.

• 35. Logan J Travis  |  March 15th, 2009 at 9:29 pm

  I love that the Knucklehead blog lead with the baseball analogy problem. I grew up playing soccer in AYSO not baseball. While I think my high school sponsored a baseball team I can’t even picture our uniforms. Yes, I know the sport and get the basic colloquialisms. They don’t carry any weight with me though. Or in more certain terms, baseball analogies do not communicate any meaning to me.

  Communicating meaning in a foreign culture is potentially a big problem for us greenhorn (anyone know where that word comes from?) MBAs. I personally will keep my ears open and my mouth shut as much as possible. Better to let one person at a time solve the problem of conveying information than have two attempting conflicting methods.

• 36. Alex vanDalen  |  March 19th, 2009 at 3:06 pm

  Eric seems to be getting a book deal from his experiences; I suppose we can at least credit him for turning a bad situation into profit?
  I really don’t know who is to blame in this situation. Looking at the pictures, I do not feel that I would be happy is he was dating my daughter either. As for him being a criminal, there really isn’t too much way can say either way as the criminal justice and investigation methods of Nicaragua are not exactly the most impartial.
  The old saying holds true “When in Rome do as the Romans”. People should consider themselves citizens of the world”, yet this should imply that they are willing to adapt to a variety of cultures, rather than expecting those individual cultures to adapt to their way of living. In the end Eric’s biggest crime seems to be arrogance, something that he still seems to posses quite a great deal of judging from his photo shoots, blogging, and book deal.

• 37. Victoria Rodriguez  |  March 19th, 2009 at 9:57 pm

  In the book Billions of Entrepreneurs, there was a section describing China’s hard power – economic, military and cultural influence in Burma, and I realized that many countries throughout history who have invaded another country has tried to push their ways onto the invaded. Recently, we are more familiar with the Western push, but ethnocentrism – “our way is the best” seems to occur on a global scale to include religion, politics, ethics, morals, or culture.

  With globalization and the communication technology availability making the world effectively smaller, countries are becoming more interdependent and with that mindsets are hopefully changing. Businesses, government institutions and people are beginning to see that we need to collaborate to succeed. Collaboration requires understanding, sharing and transferring information and knowledge. Eventually the world might become a big melting pot of ideas and people.

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