Cross Cultural Matters

WHAT WENT WRONG?

1. I went to Korea and I lifted my plate to my mouth.

2. I went to Japan and passed a piece of food from my chopsticks to my husband's chopsticks.

3. After a nice lunch in Japan, I placed my chopsticks in the bowl with the ends sticking up.

4. In Japan, I bought an ice cream and went walking and eating it.

5. In France, I had a meeting with a supplier and I called him FranÐ"§ois.

6. I had a meeting with an Asian counterpart and I arrived 5 minutes late.

7. I wanted to be nice and I offered my Japanese supplier four white cups.

8. I gave a Mexican client some nice knives from Albacete. They are so famous around the world!

9. I was invited to my German supplier's house to dinner and I brought his wife a nice bunch of carnations.

10. I prepared a nice buffet for my Japanese clients at the company. It took hours to have everything ready. They came and they didn't touch a thing.

11. I invited some Arabian clients to have lunch. Nobody came.

12. In Thailand I was at a meeting and I crossed my legs so that the sole of my shoes was visible.

13. I was at meeting in Saudi Arabia. Suddenly, someone knocked at the door and a little boy came in to speak to his father ( of course, he was the president of the company). He stopped the meeting to speak to the child.

14. I was so happy with my meeting with the Japanese! They agreed to everything!.

15. In Singapore, a businessman gave me his business card. I took it ( with one hand) and kept it in my back pocket.

16. I went to Singapore to a meeting. Before starting, a man I had never met started asking me questions: How are you? Was your flight OK? Are you married? How much do you earn?

ANSWERS:

1. In Japan it is normal to lift your plate or bowl to your mouth, particularly your rice bowl and your miso soup bowl. In Korea you NEVER EVER pick up your bowl or plate. In China it seems like you can put the edge of your rice bowl to your mouth and practically shovel the rice in. In Japan, even though you can put the bowl closer to your mouth you are supposed to pick the rice up with your chopsticks, not shovel it. That's one reason why Japanese rice needs to be sticky which it is not in some other countries.

2. In Japan, passing a piece of food from your chopsticks to some else's chopsticks is a no-no. If you are going to pass it to them you either pass the plate so they can take it or you pick it up yourself and put it on their plate. The reason is that the only time you pass things from chopstick to chopstick is when you pass bones at a funeral.

3. Placing your chopsticks in a bowl with the ends sticking up is also a no-no in Japan as it as also part of the funeral ceremony.

4. In Japan you do not walk and eat or drink. If you buy a drink from a vending machine you stand by the machine, drink it gone, throw away the bottle/can in the waste basket next to the machine and the continue on. The same with