If you’re doing business in China, meeting with people from China, or planning to work there, you’ll want to avoid certain missteps. Calvin Sun explains a bit about Chinese culture and provides a heads-up on a few common mistakes and misconceptions.
– You walk into the party wearing jeans — and everyone else is black tie.
– You’re the emcee at a banquet, and as you’re introducing the speaker, you forget the speaker’s name.
– You write a check to your mother-in-law — and it bounces.
Gaffes are bad enough in your own circle of friends, associates, and family. They’re infinitely worse when they occur in the context of another culture. According to the Everest Group, the market for outsourcing of information technology and other business processes to China is growing at 38% a year. By 2010, according to Everest, that market could reach $7 billion.
These numbers mean huge opportunity, but also huge opportunity to make mistakes. If you’re doing business in China, or meeting with people from China, or want to work in China, watch out for these trouble areas, and avoid problems.
Note: This information is also available as a PDF download.
[to read the entire entry, please visit http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/10things/?p=385]Someone posted a comment in reaction to the article, discussing how in fact there IS a written form of Cantonese. One learns something new every day...
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