When silence doesn’t mean the same thing in different cultures

“Speech is silver. Silence is golden” This is a widely-used saying that many people in many countries are familiar with. And silence also has many different meanings in cross-cultural communication. Silence can be used to intimidate; or to save face; to show respect; or it can simply suggest that the other person is relaxed enough in your company to enjoy a …

How you can improve your foreign language skills – in 15 minutes a day

No global success without sufficient language skills You are working on foreign assignment. You are an expert in your field. Your success at home was one of the main reasons why you are here today – working for your company abroad. Your ability to speak and understand the language of your host country is improving. But you are in another culture …

Culture matters NOW for economic developers – just ask Amazon

Global readiness to decide biggest site selection deal of the decade Ever since Amazon announced that the company is looking to build a second headquarter (HQ2) in North America the race is on among site selection professionals and communities in the United States and Canada. Aside from hard economic and infrastructural factors, cities will now experience that cultural readiness isn’t …