Intercultural Business Communication

INTERCULTURAL BUSINESS COMUNICATION

Activity 2

Ask a member of the class who is from another culture to discuss how cultural norms and rules in his or her culture differ from those in Mexico.

In Germany I used to ask a Mexican exchange-student what is different in our country compared to Mexico. She answered ,Everything!’ and I was only thinking ,Thank you for the conversation, couldn’t it be any more detailed?!’ but as soon as I arrived here I immediately

understood what she meant.  ,Everything’ described pretty good HOW different Mexico is. Everything looks different, tastes different and smells different, the streets are fuller, bigger and full of wholes in the ground, the houses are smaller, more colorful, and have flat roofs and above all the food is spicier.

Moreover the people are different, every stranger turns into a neighbour and welcomes you way warmer than I am used to from Germany. They do not shake hands, they give you a ‘beso’ on your cheek. In addition to that the Mexicans always invite you to their home ,Mi casa es tu casa’ is what I hear very often.

Another obvious difference is the traffic here in Mexico, it seems to me as if there wasn’t any existing rule and that Darwinism according to ‘The strongest will survive’ holds the power on the Mexican streets. In addition to that punctuality must have a different defintion here. Mexicans may be in time on official meetings but what concerns meetings with friends or in particular parties at night it would already be impolite to arrive before at least 1,5h after the official start and furthermore you should never come to a party alone without asking some not invited friends to join you.

I guess these points sum up the best how different these two cultures are and I am convinced that this is just the beginning of an exciting half-a-year-lesson about that cultural clash.

Activity 4

Interview a foreign student on roles of women and children in his or her culture. In a report to the class,...