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Business communication culture in Amazonas / Brazil - with Gleska de Andrade

From which place (village, city, region) and which country are you? From Manaus, Amazonas-Brazil   What is your current job title or position?   Business English teacher How many years of work experience do you have in your own country? Over 20 years. What language(s) are foreign business people expected to know when doing business with and in your country? Brazilian Portuguese (and its variations) What languages do business people in your country typically know? Portuguese, English, Spanish, Chinese, Korean, French and Japanese. What are foreign languages people in your country typically struggle with? English. How difficult is it for foreigners to understand the regional accents of Portuguese? Very difficult. How do locals react when foreign business people try to speak in the local language(s)/accent? They normally react to it trying to understand as much as possible. What would be considered an acceptable gift to bring if a foreign business contact v
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Business communication culture in Turkmenistan and Turkey - with Guncha Annayeva

From which place (village, city, region) and which country are you?  Ashgabat, Turkmenistan What is your current job title or position?   Online English language tutor/ entrepreneur/ graduate student at Marmara University/Turkey How many years of work experience do you have in your own country?  7 years in Turkmenistan and 4 years in Turkey. What language(s) are foreign business people expected to know when doing business with and in your country?  for Turkmenistan - Russian, Turkmen and English and for Turkish - Turkish, English, and Arabic.  What foreign languages do business people in your country typically know?   for Turkmenistan - Russian, English, Turkish, others; and for Turkey  - Russian, English, Arabic, others. What are foreign languages people in your country typically struggle with?  In Turkey, they are better in German, but have some problems in English. If the language is English, how difficult is it for foreigners and locals to settle issues of dialects or regional ac
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Business communication culture in Moldova - with Vitalie Popa

From which place (village, city, region) and which country are you? Chisinau, Republic of Moldova What is your current job title or position? Vice-director for AXA Management Consulting How many years of work experience do you have in your own country? I have been working since 1996. What language(s) are foreign business people expected to know when doing business with and in your country? In the first place, English. If you come from a country of the former Soviet Union, people would probably expect you to be able to speak Russian. In general, native speakers of Russian would more likely expect that you speak Russian. Native speakers of Romanian would expect you to speak English. Normally, nobody would expect members of a business delegation to speak Romanian. What foreign languages do business people in your country typically know? Almost certainly they know Russian – around 95%. More and more business people know English – about 30-40%. The younger they are, the mo
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Business communication culture in Curaçao - with Lysandro Inacio

From which place (village, city, region) and which country are you? - Willemstad, Curaçao. What is your current job title or position? - Director of the National Library / Business owner / Entrepreneur How many years of work experience do you have in your own country? - 17 years What language(s) are foreign business people expected to know when doing business with and in your country? - English / Spanish What foreign languages do business people in your country typically know? - English, Spanish and Dutch What are foreign languages people in your country typically struggle with? - Dutch If the language is English, how difficult is it for foreigners and locals to settle issues of dialects or regional accents, so that they can understand each other?  - Not that difficult. Most professionals are proficient in English. Do some foreign business people learn the local language Papiamento, and if so, how do people react? - Some foreigners do their best to learn the local language. Papia
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Welcome!

 Hi, my name is Gerhard Ohrband. I am  a psychologist, communication coach, author and polyglot from Hamburg/Germany. This blog helps you hone your international communication skills by local insider information from virtually every region of the world. Even if you do not intend to do business in and with most of the countries featured here, you will become sensitive for the plurality of perspective people have. This will certainly be helpful also for communicating with people from your own country, as every human being is different. On the other hands, it will allow to see certain commonalities, certain patterns, that appear among various countries and individuals. Enjoy! Gerhard P.S. If you want to be featured on this blog, or you know of someone whom I should feature, please contact me at: gerhard.j.ohrband@gmail.com  
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