taking the time to identify communication barriers at the beginning of a relationship can pave the way for effective adaptions. I found with the Arabic students, having an intermediate helped immensely. Also, learning about their culture and the education systems of Arabic nations, at least, revealed more relevant ways of engaging dialogue, learning and sharing.

In the very beginning, take the lead from your counterparts and do pretty much what they do – while considering the culture involved. I have a friend that was taken to dinner in Morocco by a sales team consisted only of women. Once seated he had to make all the decisions because men do that in the Arabic cultures. To get around this he first had the women say things phonetically, which he intentionally messed up. Then asked a waiter if he would listen to one woman to speak on his behalf. Everyone agreed and this worked easily.

Stumbled and linked to your post in my post yesterday (seen here: http://cindyking.biz/international-marketing-review-27/). Your website URL like does not accept long URLs.

I also have talked to many cultures online and in my locality and cultural sensitivity is a huge factor in maintaining those relationships. Over time, you can relax many of the cultural protocols in favour of a more egalitarian approach, however it really does depend on the person and situation.

well done!

Well done

You might enjoy a book by Fons Trompenaars who is (or was) a highly sought after cross cultural guru/advisor to the Fortune 500. He had some great research and conclusions you might enjoy too.

Bottom line: Many of the assumptions we make as Americans are worthless the minute we cross the border or the water. Better to know that before you buy the plane tickets than to figure it out when you get there. The latter can be most expensive and embarrassing.