Doing business abroad

Forcet – TGCV – Língua Inglesa Aplicada à negociação e vendas

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When in Rome…
Doing Business Abroad

Different cultures

Formador: Pedro Vargas


Introduction
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To be successful in doing business abroad we have to learn about the customs and
practices of other countries. Here we look at some of the areas where such
differences are most noticeable. We also ask students to think about their own
country and what is normal for them.



Table of Contents

Reading Common cultural differences
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Exercise 1 Vocabulary

Grammar Adjectives

Exercise 2 Adjectives

Reading Focus on your country

Exercise 3 Vocabulary

Grammar Adjectives from verbs and nouns

Exercise 4 Adjectives

Grammar Proper nouns

Exercise 5 Proper nouns

Exercise 6 Questions about your company's culture

Final exercise 1 Choose the correct form of the adjective
Final exercise 2 Describe your country



Common Cultural Differences

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With English as the language of international business, communication between
people of different nationalities may seem more straightforward now than ever
before. But language is only a part of communication. We also send out powerful
unspoken signals from the way we dress, the expressions on our face and our
gestures. How can we be sure that these messages have been correctly
interpreted? To make sure that we are not sending out the wrong signals, we have
to learn about the culture and customs of the country we are visiting.

For example, some cultures, especially Latin ones, use a lot of physical contact:
shaking hands, putting a hand on the shoulder, even kissing. But in other
countries such informality would seem much too familiar among business
colleagues and would be inappropriate behaviour.

The main areas in which countries and businesses have different cultural practices
are:
- in the extent to which messages are openly expressed or more subtle,
- in attitudes to time,
- levels of formality,



- levels of individual freedom,
-all the patterns of behaviour that are associated with the religious or social
traditions of the region.

Plain Speaking
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Countries with what are called ‘low context’ cultures prefer plain speaking. Here,
people say what they mean and there are no hidden messages. But to people from
‘high context’ cultures, such directness can seem abrupt, even rude. Typically,
Scandinavian business people are likely to be more direct than, say, British
people, who often use understatement and hints rather than say clearly what they
mean. If a British person says ‘there could be a slight problem with deliveries’, he
or she will expect you to understand that it is really serious!

Always Late?

Some cultures are ruled by the clock while others don’t really notice time. In some
countries it is fine to be 15 minutes late for meetings – it is even expected, but if
you go to Switzerland or Germany, for example, punctuality is essential.

You Can Call Me Al
People from cultures with fewer social hierarchies are usually more informal in
the way they address each other. They will probably use first names immediately
they meet someone. In many countries, however, this is considered disrespectful,
especially to more senior staff or older people, who will expect to be addressed by
their title and their family name.



Who makes the decisions round here?
Levels of individual freedom vary greatly from culture to culture. If decisions are
normally taken collectively, then you cannot expect your business contact to sign
a deal on the spot. He or she will have to report back to the wider team so that a
full discussion can take place and a group decision can be taken.
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Doing As the Romans
The English expression, ‘when in Rome, do as the Romans,’ is good advice for
travellers thinking about dealing with a culture that has strong religious or
traditional values. If dress codes are very strict, if certain foods are taboo, it is
important to respect these customs in order not to offend your business partners.

Finding out about different cultures is very helpful in business. Although each of
us usually believes our personal perspective is the normal one, in the wider world
there are many different attitudes and points of view. This diversity can
complicate business deals but it is also what makes the world such a fascinating
arena.



Exercise 1
Choose the best answers: A, B, C, D

1. Another word or phrase for ‘the way we dress, the expressions on our face and
our gestures’ is: 7

A. signals
B. illustrations
C. body language
D. feelings

2. ‘informality’ means:

A. lack of respect
B. rudeness
C. friendliness
D. a relaxed and casual attitude

3. ‘Plain speaking’ means

A. using jargon
B. saying exactly what you mean
C. telling lies
D. making long speeches

4. Choose the best idiom to complete the sentence, ‘British people are more
likely than Scandinavian people to’:
A. beat about the bush
B. hit the nail on the head
C. call a spade a spade
D. make a mountain out of a molehill

5. Punctuality means:
A. arriving on time
B. arriving late
C. arriving early
D. postponing


6. Disrespectful is:
A. an adverb
B. an adjective
C. a verb
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D. a pronoun

7. A ‘deal’ is:
A. a bargain
B. a business transaction
C. a sale
D. a purchase

8. ‘When in Rome, do as the Romans,’ means:
A. learn from the past
B. try to be clever
C. behave like a tourist
D. try to copy local customs

9. To offend means:
A. to help
B. to deceive
C. to displease
D. to cheat

10. Diversity means:
A. Variety
B. eccentricity
C. uniformity
D. strangeness



Grammar
Adjectives

Adjectives tell us more about nouns and have the following characteristics: 9

most adjectives may be used before or after the noun (a sick man/the
man [he] is sick)

most adjectives can be graded
(small/smaller/smallest; beautiful/more beautiful/most beautiful)

many adjectives are derived from verbs or nouns (enjoyable, attractive,
distant)
most adjectives can themselves be modified (very late, quite pretty)



Grammar Guide

• To grade adjectives we can add these suffixes to words of one syllable:

-er (comparative); -est (superlative)
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tall taller the tallest

• With adjectives that end in –y, we add –ier and –iest

happy happier the happiest

• With multi-syllabic adjectives we use more and the most

Interesting: more interesting the most interesting

• Some adjectives have irregular forms:

good better the best

bad worse the worst

• We use the definite article with superlative forms:

It is the tallest building in the world

• To make comparisons using negatives we use not/as/as for single syllable
adjectives:

my office is not as big as yours

• We can use the same structure for multi-syllable adjectives, or we can use
less/than:

my computer is not as powerful as yours vs my computer is less powerful than yours.

• For superlatives we use the least preceded by the definite article:

this must be the least interesting job in the wor



Exercise 2
Fill in the gap with the correct form of the adjective.

1. Companies with dress codes are ……….(formal) than companies that allow casual
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clothes.

2. Many western people find Japanese is the ……. (hard) language to learn.

3. Northern European cultures are ……. (direct) in their way of speaking than Asian
cultures.

4. Latin people tend to be ……(punctual) than Northern European people.

5. Mediterranean people often speak ……. (loud) than British people.

6. You can travel by air, coach or train; the air service is the most frequent with
several flights a day; coaches are less frequent and, with only one train a week,
the train service is …….

7. I prefer my office chair because it is ………. (comfortable) than yours.

8. This model is not only the biggest it is also …..(expensive) costing almost twice
as much as the others.

9. I think he finds foreign travel…….. (interesting) than he did in the past.

10. I regret taking this new job, the salary is ……(bad) than in my previous one.



Focus on Your Own Country and Culture
How would you describe your own country and its customs? When we think
of a particular country we often think first about its capital city: 12

Brussels, Rome, Moscow, Tokyo. For many visitors, the capital, with its
famous landmarks such as Big Ben, the Eiffel Tower, or the Coliseum, may
be the only place they see but sometimes the capital city is not typical of the
rest of the country. In big cities, such as London or Paris, life can be very
stressful and people are often in a hurry and not always relaxed and friendly.
Is your capital city like that?
But cities are not the heart of a country. What people do, the way they think
and their general attitudes to life are what make each country unique. We can
think about the clothes people wear, especially in their jobs. Does the bank
manager wear a suit and tie or can he wear casual clothes? Do women wear
western dress or more traditional forms of clothing? The food people eat quite
literally helps give us a flavour of the country: raw fish, spicy food, rice,
potatoes, croissants? What are the favourite foods in your country?
Climate is another feature that influences a country’s way of life. Think of
Spain and the way that people have a long break in the middle part of the day,
when it is hottest. It is a time to relax and to enjoy a good lunch.
In more northerly countries, working people often take a much shorter lunch
break and perhaps just eat a sandwich in the office.
How do people in your country spend their leisure time and their holidays?
How much free time do they have? In many countries public holidays, such as
Christmas, Easter, are based on events connected to religion, but important
historical and social events are often marked by holidays too. What events
does your country celebrate?
When we do business with other countries we have to observe and understand
and respect the differences between cultures in order to be successful. In the
words of Mark Twain: ‘Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-
mindedness, and many of our people need it solely on these accounts. Broad,
wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by
vegetating in one corner of the earth all one's lifetime.’



Exercise 3
Choose the best answer: A,B, C or D.

1. Brussels, Paris, London, Tokyo are all examples of: 13

A. common nouns
B. collective nouns
C. abstract nouns
D. proper nouns

2. We associate croissants with which country?
A. Japan
B. France
C. Germany
D. Saudi Arabia

3. Christmas and Easter are examples of:
A. Christian holidays
B. Muslim holidays
C. Hindu holidays
D. celebrations of political events

4. In Spain
A. workers do not take lunch breaks
B. workers take short lunch breaks
C. workers stay in the office and eat a sandwich
D. workers take a long, leisurely lunch break

5. Mark Twain believes travel is important because…
A. we need holidays abroad
B. it helps us to understand other cultures and customs
C. we have to speak foreign languages
D. we can try different foods.



Grammar
Forming adjectives from verbs and nouns

We can make adjectives from verbs and nouns in the following ways: 14

By using the present participle;
examples are:

cooking pots, writing paper, running water, a boring film

By using the past participle;
examples are:

I am interested in languages; he was surprised by the food;

By adding or changing suffixes;
examples are:

enjoy/enjoyable, permit/permissible, hope/hopeful, attract/attractive
history/historic, distance/distant.



Grammar Guide
The choice of present participle or past participle as an adjective has an
important effect on meaning.

The –ing form is used to describe activities, events or objects. 15

Examples:

a boring meeting; an interesting journey; a tiring job

The –ed form is used to describe the reactions of the people to an activity,
event or object.

Examples:

he was bored by the meeting; she was interested in the journey; they are tired of their
jobs.

A change of suffix alters the meaning of an adjective.

Examples:

Latin people are often more excitable than northern people.

Discovering new countries is exciting.

My boss said she was impressed by my excellent report.

Landmarks such as Big Ben are very impressive.



Exercise 4

Select the correct form of the adjective: 16

1. Travelling can be very tiring/tired.

2. It is exciting/excitable to travel to new places

3. He was pleasing/pleased to win the new contract.

4. The bright new offices are delightful/delighted.

5. It is illegitimate/illegal to travel without a ticket.



Grammar
Proper Nouns

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Proper nouns are unique names rather than general names always have a
capital first letter. Proper nouns include:

continents, countries, states, cities and town, seas, lakes, mountains, rivers:

Asia, Turkey, Virginia, Berlin, the Mediterranean, Lake Windermere, Everest,
the Tagus river

Personal names with or without titles:
Romano Prodi, President Bush, Paul McCartney, Dr Watson, Professor Jones

Calendar events including festivals, names of months and days of the week:
Christmas, Passover, January, Tuesday

Names of books, newspapers, films, magazines:
Great Expectations, The Times, Gone with the Wind, The Economist

Institutions:
The Bank of England, the Houses of Parliament



Exercise 5
Match the proper nouns below with their definitions by writing the correct number
next to the name:

a. The Stock Exchange
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b. The Royal Mint
c. Bank Holiday
d. The Budget
e. The Financial Times
f. Wall Street
g. Copenhagen
h. The House of Commons
i. Whitsun
j. The Trevi Fountain

i) site of the New York Stock Exchange
ii) a place where stocks and shares are traded
iii) a public holiday in the UK
iv) a UK daily newspaper focusing on business
v) the capital city of Denmark
vi) the seventh Sunday after Easter
vii) tourist attraction in Rome
viii) one of the Chambers of the houses of Parliament in the UK
ix) the UK’s annual announcement of its financial plans
x) where money is coined in Britain



Exercise 6

Answer the questions below to build a picture of your country’s company
culture. Try to give explanations of your answers wherever possible. 19

1 Do you address colleagues, superiors and subordinates by their first names?

2 How seriously is punctuality taken in your company?

3 What procedures exist for appraising people's work?

4 Are meetings usually formal, with an agenda, or more casual?

5 Do people make personal telephone calls from the office?

6 Are individuals encouraged to make suggestions to improve the way the company is
run?

7 Are workers consulted before major decisions are taken?

8 Are flexible working hours permitted?

9 Are employees encouraged to acquire new skills?

10 Is your company open to change and innovation?

11 Does your company rely heavily on computerized systems?

12 Is the relationship between management and employees co-operative or
combative?

13 Does you company organize social events for its staff?

14 Do people stay with your company for a long time?

15 Do staff understand and participate willingly in the company's administrative
systems?



Final exercise 1
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Insert the best form of the adjective in the text.

When you travel abroad on business it is a good idea to carry a few small gifts

to give to your overseas business partners. Your new/newer/newest contacts

will be very appreciative/appreciable of such gestures and this helps to create a

relaxed/relaxing atmosphere. Always be willing to try the

traditional/traditionalist foods of your host country, even if you are not sure if

you will like them or not; your hosts will be delightful/delighted that you are

interested/interesting in their cuisine. Of course you will find some customs

difficult/more difficult/most difficult than others to accept. But don’t forget

that you often practise some of them before your trip. For example, if you will

have to use chopsticks, try a few visits to your near/nearer/nearest China town

so that you can learn how to use them. Even if you use English for business,

will seem very polite/politer/politest if you can say a few words in the

language of your hosts. And don’t worry if your pronunciation is

funny/funnier/funniest. If you make your business partners laugh, you well

help create a much friendly/friendlier/friendliest atmosphere.



Final exercise 2

Read text 2. Then write a description of your country, its customs and traditions
(250 - 300 words). 21


Doing business abroad

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