March 2002

The Translation E-Buzz
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Employee of the Month Robert Deike

Robert Deike has worked a year and half at the Ralph McElroy Translation Company. He began as a word processor, and then received special training in production process quality control and cross-training in all aspects of the Production process. In addition, he assists Sales with his work in the Estimates department, supplying sales estimates and quotes to clients.

Robert was born, raised, and schooled in Austin, Texas. As a home-town boy, he is one of a vanishing breed of native Austinite who proudly proclaims his German descent to anyone who'll listen. The majority of his family hails from the Hill Country of Texas (encompassing the small township of Fredericksburg and beyond, directly west of Austin), although he can also call Austria, specifically Salzburg, ancestral as well. He has lived the majority of his life in Austin, including a stint of college at the University of Texas at Austin, where he received a Bachelor of Arts in History.

Since college, Robert has worked in all manner of employments, spending time (in no particular order) as a land surveyor, bartender, office assistant, gas pumper, duplicator of diskettes for a video game company, typewriter repairman, shipper, UPS driver, office manager, general manager for a mixed drinks bar, pizza creator and delivery driver, and member of an acting troupe that toured Texas performing plays for children. He spent 5 months travelling all across the length and breadth of Europe, travelling from Amsterdam to Poland, Copenhagen to Crete, and Prague to London. His favorite European city was Salzburg, which coincidentally was his mother's birthplace.

Robert's passion is mainly for plays, and he has appeared in 42 productions. His first several were at the University of Texas Shakespeare at Winedale program, where he learned attention to language and the clear communication of language on stage. His Shakespeare roles have included: Falstaff ("Henry IV, Pt. 1"), Petruchio ("Taming of the Shrew"), Gloucester ("King Lear"), Bottom ("Midsummer Night's Dream"), Macduff ("Macbeth"), Prospero ("The Tempest"), Dromio of Syracuse ("Comedy of Errors"), Lorenzo ("Merchant of Venice"), Proteus ("Two Gentlemen of Verona"), Touchstone ("As You Like It"), and Sir Toby Belch ("Twelfth Night"). He is one of the founding members of The Bedlam Faction, a performing group that works without a director, which is currently riding a critical high based on the two plays, Volpone and The London Cuckolds, that they have produced. Their next project is Romulus, a play about the end of the Roman Empire, which will run in June 2002.

Robert enjoys being able to balance his life between work and play, and appreciates support and flexibility at RMTC as he pursues his passion for theater.

OLYMPIC GAMES

The Games have always brought people together in peace to respect universal moral principles. You can relive the emotion of previous Games by selecting a date or host city from the list below when you visit http://www.olympic.org/uk/games/
index_uk.asp.

Summer Games:

Athens 1896

Paris 1900

St. Louis 1904

London 1908

Stockholm 1912

Antwerp 1920

Paris 1924

Amsterdam 1928

Los Angeles 1932

Berlin 1936

London 1948

Helsinki 1952

Melbourne 1956

Rome 1960

Tokyo 1964

Mexico City 1968

Munich 1972

Montreal 1976

Moscow 1980

Los Angeles 1984

Seoul 1988

Barcelona 1992

Atlanta 1996

Sydney 2000

 

Winter Games:

Chamonix 1924

St. Moritz 1928

Lake Placid 1932

Garmisch-

Partenkirchen 1936

St. Moritz 1948

Oslo 1952

Cortina d'Ampezzo 1956

Squaw Valley 1960

Innsbruck 1964

Grenoble 1968

Sapporo 1972

Innsbruck 1976

Lake Placid 1980

Sarajevo 1984

Calgary 1988

Albertville 1992

Lillehammer 1994

Nagano 1998

Salt Lake City 2002

 

The Linguistic Olympics

by Thomas E. Payne  and the Russian and American Linguistic Olympics Committees

Copyright 1998-2000 Department of Linguistics, University of Oregon

http://www.uoregon.edu/~tpayne/lingolym/

The "Linguistic Olympics" is a fun and educational problem-solving activity designed for secondary school students (ages 11 through 18). Students compete by solving puzzles based on real languages they have never learned. The puzzles are of varying degrees of difficulty, but all are solvable using ordinary reasoning and analytic skills possessed by secondary school students. No special knowledge or resources are needed. The Linguistic Olympics has been a regular part of education in Russia since 1965, and has been implemented three times at the University of Oregon in Eugene, Oregon, USA.

History

The Linguistic Olympics was conceived by Russian linguist A. Zaliznyak, and in 1965 the first linguistic Olympics competition was held at Moscow State University. In 1996, over 450 students participated in the Moscow Linguistic Olympics and 350 in the St. Petersburg Olympics. Other Linguistic Olympics events have been held sporadically in other countries, but never in the United States until 1998. A "mini-" Linguistic Olympics was held in the Summer of 1997, with the help of Dr. Valentin Vydrine, the founder of the St. Petersburg Linguistic Olympics. Since then, an event very similar to the Russian Olympics has been held at the University of Oregon each Spring.

Detailed Description

In Russia there is a national Linguistic Olympics organizing committee, so that the competitions in Moscow and St. Petersburg are strictly coordinated and regulated. There is the possibility that someday an international competition may be arranged.

The Russian Linguistic Olympics takes place in two stages. In the first stage, students are made aware of the event via announcements in the schools, newspapers and radio. All students are invited to come to the University on a particular weekend to participate. There is no entry fee.

Puzzles are prepared and kept strictly secret by a committee of University linguists. All puzzles consist of real words, phrases or sentences from languages the students are not likely to know. Even if a student does happen to know one of the languages represented, it is unlikely that this knowledge would give that student much of an advantage. In order to solve the puzzles, the student must apply hypothesis generation, and analytic reasoning common to all kinds of intellectual tasks, as well as ordinary common sense. All puzzles are self-sufficient, i.e., one need not have special language ability or knowledge to solve the puzzles.

Students are divided by grade level, but all students receive the same set of puzzles. In Russia, students work for five hours without breaks. Afterwards, the University provides lunch and refreshments.

After the event, the puzzles are scored by committee members according to strict standards of accuracy and consistency. Students who score above a certain level are given prizes. In Russia, the prizes consist of linguistic books appropriate to the age level of the students. The highest scoring students return for the second, or "championship," stage of the event.

The championship phase is conducted very similarly to the initial phase. Of course, there is a much smaller group of students, and the puzzles are a bit more challenging. Grand prizes are awarded to the winners of the championship Olympics.

The US Linguistic Olympics event is still very much in the formative stages. Students only work for one to two hours, and there is no championship level. However, other than this the US event has followed the Russian model fairly closely. Gold, silver and bronze medals are awarded in two grade-level categories.

Benefits

What benefits do students derive from the Linguistic Olympics? The Linguistic Olympics is a unique activity that combines analytic reasoning and cultural awareness. Students learn about the richness, diversity and systematicity of language. Many of the puzzles highlight unique cultural features expressed by the languages represented. Students are often amazed when they discover the different ways that languages can express ideas. In the process, students overcome natural anxiety toward other languages and writing systems.

In addition to the cultural benefits, students also exercise their analytic and problem-solving skills. The puzzles require students to think carefully through different hypotheses and problem-solving strategies. The most successful students are those who are able to extend themselves beyond their usual thought patterns to discover ways in which speakers of different languages approach reality.

Cross-cultural

Web Site Design


Considerations for developing and strategies
for validating locale appropriate on-line content

E.F. SHERIDAN

Culture is often the most readily overlooked aspect of a Web site design or redesign project. Too often, companies get bogged down in the politics of “real estate,” artistic templates and brand messaging, and they do not consider how important a role culture plays in the very design of a Web site.

For example, a major Silicon Valley company redesigned its Japanese Web site within the last several months. All the contracts were signed, layout approved and verbiage coded. However, no one bothered to show the beta site to any Japanese employee within the company or even to share it with the firm’s office personnel in Japan. The site was launched, and it was soon discovered that a prominent design element was considered culturally offensive to the Japanese target audience. The site stayed “live” for only two days before the US and Japanese offices were deluged with e-mails in English and Japanese addressing the design flaw. Luckily, the site was taken off-line in time so that minimal damage was done to the image of the company.

This example illustrates that if companies oftentimes are so rushed to get content on-line, they might balk at doing any further research into something that they do not understand or that is quantitatively intangible: culture.

Let’s first define some key cultural elements to show how very important these factors are to successful global Web site design.

Culture Basics

Culture to many people means museums and fine wine. Culture, in terms of Web globalization, means how people from certain cultural orientations view and interpret specific images and messages.

The most often quoted cultural source is Geert Hofstede, who published a landmark cultural study of hundreds of IBM employees in 53 countries over a six-year period from 1978 to 1983. Hofstede later published another version of this research in the book Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind. Hofstede analyzed how patterns of acting, feeling and thinking are often ingrained in people by late childhood, and any differences in these cultural patterns are displayed in the choice of symbols, rituals and values by a culture.

Hofstede defined five dimensions of culture, and the 53 countries surveyed were rated for each dimension, usually on a scale of 1 to 100. Hofstede’s five dimensions of culture include long-term vs. short-term orientation; femininity vs. masculinity; power-distance; collectivism vs. individualism; and uncertainty avoidance.

Long-term vs. short-term orientation. Long-term orientation countries emphasize practice and practical value. Short-term orientation countries focus their content on truth and the certainty of beliefs.

An example of a site that reflects long-term-orientation country values is the Mercedes Germany-specific Web site. This site has a clean, functional navigation with few choices to click.



Mercedes’ German page



Mercedes’ Japan-specific Web site reflects short-term-orientation country values. This site requires more patience to achieve navigational goals.



Mercedes’ Japanese page



Femininity vs. masculinity. Femininity and masculinity are defined as gender roles, not physical characteristics. High-femininity countries blur the lines between gender roles, while high-masculinity countries display traditional differences in how age, gender and family are viewed. High-masculinity countries, therefore, will respond to more visually appealing Web sites that speak directly to traditional gender roles. An example of a high-masculinity country would be Japan, while a low-masculinity country would be Sweden.

Power-distance. Power-distance relates to members of a country and the differences in how each member accepts or expects access to power. In terms of site design, a high power-distance country, like Malaysia, displays customers and average citizens less prominently. Authority roles are enforced by such images as official certification logos. A low power-distance country would emphasize equality among social and age groupings.

An example of a Malaysian Web site with power-distance elements is the Malaysian Association of Hotels, where awards and authority figures are featured.



Malaysian Association of Hotels’ site

Collectivism vs. individualism. Collectivism deems that people are integrated into strong groups that protect them in exchange for unbridled loyalty. Individualism in a country reflects a person’s strong sense of self and that of his or her immediate blood relations. A collectivist country would show groups of people in images, while individualistic countries would most likely find site content and images with a single person accomplishing a challenge more appealing. The United States is an example of an individualistic country.

Uncertainty avoidance. Finally, it is important to analyze uncertainty avoidance. The tolerance for ambiguity defines whether a country possesses either a high uncertainty avoidance or a low uncertainty avoidance. In terms of site design, high uncertainty-avoidance countries would respond better to a simple manner of navigation. A low uncertainty-avoidance country would find more appealing a site that has a complex navigation with a multitude of link choices. An example of a high uncertainty-avoidance country would be Belgium; a low uncertainty-avoidance country would be Singapore.

Now that some basic elements of culture have been examined, how does a company know that its Web site is culturally acceptable to its target clients? Testing is the answer.

Testing

When it comes to software beta testing, most companies use a set methodology to go from alpha to beta to final release. However, there have not been many clearly defined methodologies to beta test Web sites, particularly for cultural adherence. A clear set of logical steps, however, can be followed in order to assure that a company’s Web site speaks a clear message to its local target audiences.

Do the company’s research. Who are a company’s target site visitors? What countries are they in? What languages do they speak? What cultural patterns do they follow? Many of these answers are readily available.

Define the demographics of the target market. If a company has chosen Brazil, Germany and Japan to aim its on-line messaging, then the relevant details of each country and its cultures need to be known. For example, if Brazil is chosen, most likely the Web site would then be translated into Brazilian Portuguese.

Translate content. The first step is to translate the company’s content into the target languages. At this point, the in-house product localization department should be consulted. This department can provide a wealth of information, including who currently does the product localization for the company, what costs are involved and what are some of the pitfalls of the translation process. As translation costs can run quite high, volume discounts can be achieved if Web site translation efforts are combined with those of other internal departments.

Beta test site with in-country personnel. Much too often, companies cannot “think outside of the box” or, as we like to say, “think outside of the country.” This means that many US company personnel do not realize that their foreign office colleagues are valuable resources. Many companies do not even share their foreign-language or country-specific Web site plans with their foreign offices, perhaps for time constraints or for political reasons. When in-country staff are allowed to view the Web content from a culture-specific viewpoint, they can provide insights that only natives to the culture can do. The colors, images and particularly the translation of any messaging are clearly understood when a company performs beta testing in-country. Just as personalization has been the buzzword in the United States, culturization is important around the world.

Beta test the site with in-house foreign personnel. One of the key successes to Yahoo! India has been the promotion of the site by Indian personnel working at Yahoo! in the Santa Clara headquarters. As we all know, word of mouth and personal recommendations can greatly influence the success of a Web site. If a company wants to find out what some of the popular culture/country-specific sites are in a target locale, it should ask in-house staff from these backgrounds. For example, if a company is developing a site for Taiwan, it should do some research and see if there are any Taiwanese-born employees in the firm. Despite what some may designate as “political correctness,” many foreign-born people are more than eager to share their cultural backgrounds and expertises. These in-house resources are often overlooked as valuable cultural test groups.

A classic case of this is a large software company in Silicon Valley. A large majority of the employees, many located in the firm’s Utah offices, had international exposure to many cultures and languages during their missions for the Mormon Church. Many of these employees often said that they wished they could use their language skills and cultural experiences in their jobs, even if they weren’t directly related to their specific roles. In this case, it is recommended that a company e-mail be sent to all employees asking if someone has lived in a target country or is native to a specific culture. In doing so, the company could quickly gather a beta tester group for the Web site project.

Hold culture/country-specific focus groups. Once in-country and in-house culture/country-specific staff have reviewed the site, it is important to get one more opinion. What is necessary to define is how certain generations of a culture view a site. For example, if a site is targeted to France, the company should want to test the site by having as testers native-born French people living in France, persons living in the United States who speak French whose parents are from France and persons living in the United States who speak French whose grandparents are from France. In doing so, the company gains a full generational perspective on the site’s cultural content and visuals. The Japanese even have words for generational differences, including nisei or second-generation Japanese.

Hire a cross-cultural consultant or global design consultant. It is interesting to note that there is actually a cottage industry in cross-cultural consulting. Many consultants may specialize in a certain region of the world or in a certain methodology of training. When choosing a consultant, a company should know two important things. First, there is a difference between diversity and cross-cultural communications. Diversity consultants will more likely deal with gender differences and racial patterns, while cross-cultural consultants will focus on country-specific advice on a global scale rather than on gender/racial-specific information. However, there are actually only a handful of firms in the market today that offer quality cross-cultural analysis of Web site design and content.

Second, it is important to note, though, that what has worked in the traditional consulting world of cross-cultural communications translates to the Web space. For example, if a cross-cultural consultant knows that the Belgian culture has a very high uncertainty-avoidance factor, then designing a Web site where people have too many navigation choices would not be favored. Again, bricks-and-mortar methodology and knowledge can be transferred to the Web arena, even in terms of cultural awareness.

These are just some very simple, yet often missed, opportunities to test a company’s Web site for cultural correctness.

On-line Resources

If a company does not have a large budget and would like to do some of the cultural research to define the background elements of its target population, one basic resource is the CIA World Factbook (www.odci.gov/cia/
publications/factbook/indexgeo.html). A company should not be scared that the information comes from the CIA. This is truly one of the best sources of international information on the Web today. Each country of the world is listed along with pertinent details, including languages spoken, population, telephone use and even how many ISPs are active in the nation. Many leading consulting firms actually use the CIA World Factbook for economic and technical forecasting purposes in many countries. With such demographic information readily available free of charge, a company can begin to understand the makeup of potential site visitors. For example, when finding out that the official language of Brazil is Portuguese, a company will then know that delivering its site in Spanish for its Brazilian customers would not be a wise decision overall.

Other on-line references for culture include three currently available Web-based tools which teach basic cultural elements and can then be transferred to a company’s design strategy.

One resource is Country.net (http://www.countrynet.com/) by Arthur Andersen, the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) and Craighead.com. The tool is described as “an essential, long-sought-after resource for answers to social, political, cultural and frequently complicated tax questions often posed by business professionals working abroad.” It is a subscription-based Web site with extensive information on 84 countries. While culture is not the main point of focus, there is enough cultural information per country to warrant the 14-day trial membership.

Andersen has also partnered with another firm, Terra Cognita, which strictly concentrates on cultural products. Founded by former Berlitz employees, Terra Cognita offers an on-line tool called Culture Savvy (http://www.culturesavvy.com/). The product concentrates on such topics as communication styles, time, status and hierarchy and ways of reasoning. For example, if a company knows that within a certain culture hierarchy is very important and that people are accustomed to being directed to where to find information, then its Web site design should reflect this and not leave any navigation open to be interpreted solely by intuition. Labeling directly and pointing things out even to an almost overdone manner will work better in a hierarchical culture.

The last on-line tool regarding cultural content which is culture-focused and shows how to effectively deal with customer relationships worldwide is GlobeSmart (www.meridianglobal.com/webtools.html) by Meridian Resources. GlobeSmart is similar to Country.net in that it lists basic demographic information for certain countries around the world, but GlobeSmart has a companion product called Peer Notes which “is a company-specific database in which the collective experience of your experts is gathered, organized, and delivered directly to the desktop or laptop of anyone in your organization who needs it.”

For example, if a company has a staff member who has lived or worked for the firm in Mexico, he/she can add his/her cultural experiences to Peer Notes and have the information accessed across the firm’s enterprise.

In terms of Web site design, a company could access the information of both US and local staff, have them answer cultural questions and even serve as the first tier of beta testers for a relevant version of a new Mexico-specific site.

Off-line Resources

If a company prefers the more traditional face-to-face consulting style for its cultural research, George Simons International and Aaron Marcus and Associates are two resources of value.

George Simons International, based in Silicon Valley but with offices also in Europe, is a firm that seeks to provide expert intercultural advice. It has a new Web-enabled product called Diversophy.com (http://www.diversophy.com/), which states that it is “intercultural expertise on-line.”

For example, the current question on the Diversophy.com homepage is, “All in all, Germans are becoming far more disposed to laughing than in their more serious past. True or False?” The answer is “False. Studies show that the average German laughs for only six minutes a day, down from 18 minutes in the 1950s. To combat this, some Germans are joining a Lachclub (laughing club). These are growing in number around the country.” In terms of cultural acceptability, perhaps a site that shows images of people constantly smiling and laughing may be deemed “excessive” by a German visitor who may then have a negative perception of the site visit.

Perhaps the best off-line consulting for cultural Web adaptability is the firm of Aaron Marcus and Associates in California. Its site at http://www.amanda.com/ shows some of its recent work in how cross-cultural communications affect Web site interpretation. It concentrates on how the theoretical work of cultural researchers such as Geert Hofstede can be directly applicable to current live Web sites. It also works on other software applications, including mobile phone user interfaces.


This article reprinted from #43 Volume 12 Issue 7 of MultiLingual Computing & Technology published by MultiLingual Computing, Inc., 319 North First Ave., Sandpoint, Idaho, USA, 208-263-8178, Fax: 208-263-6310.

March Special

Spring is just around the corner! Are you preparing for spring cleaning, gardening, and home improvements? To help you buy the household and garden items you might need, we are offering a $100 gift certificate to any home improvement store for the lucky winner of our Spring Promotion! 
To participate click here.
A winner will be selected and notified March 25. Results will also be posted to the web site. A random number generator will be used to select the winner from an ordered list of entries.  

Windows on the World Country Profile: Russia

    The People

    Russia has had a long history of totalitarianism, which has resulted in a rather fatalistic approach to living. The desire to work individually under personal initiative was suppressed by the Czarist and Communist states. With the advent of perestroika (restructuring), the Soviet/Communist value system has been scrapped, but the pace of reform has been slow and many are finding it very difficult to adapt to the Western values of individualism and profit maximization. Older Russians are generally quite pessimistic and don't have much faith in a better life in the future. Younger urban Russians have adopted a more Western outlook on life.

    Meeting and Greeting

    • Initial greetings may come across as cool. Do not expect friendly smiles.
    • A handshake is always appropriate (but not obligatory) when greeting or leaving, regardless of the relationship. Remove your gloves before shaking hands. Don't shake hands over a threshold (Russian folk belief holds that this action will lead to an argument).

    Body Language

    • Russians are a very demonstrative people, and public physical contact is common. Hugs, backslapping, kisses on the cheeks and other expansive gestures are common among friends or acquaintances and between members of the same sex.
    • Russians stand close when talking.
    • Putting your thumb through your index and middle fingers or making the "OK" sign are considered very rude gestures in Russia.

    Corporate Culture

    • Russians appreciate punctuality. Business meetings generally begin on time.
    • Under Communism there were no incentives for bureaucrats to perform well or to even be pleasant toward clients; this meant that the usual answer to any question was "No." This practice is still found in Russian society today, but "No" is usually not the final word on an issue. One has to bargain and be persistent to get what he or she wants.
    • Business cards are handed out liberally in Russia and are always exchanged at business meetings. The ceremony of presenting and receiving business cards is important. Don't treat it lightly.
    • Representatives of the Russian company or government body are usually seated on one side of a table at meetings with guests on the other side.
    • Your company should be represented by a specialized team of experts. Presentations should be thoroughly prepared, detailed, factual and short on "salesmanship."
    • Russians usually negotiate technical issues very competently, directly and clearly but, being newcomers to capitalism, often do not fully understand Western business practices and objectives. You may have to explain the reasoning behind some of your demands.
    • Russians find it difficult to admit mistakes, especially publicly. They also find it difficult to risk offending someone by making requests or assertions.
    • Trying to do business in Russia over the telephone is generally ineffective. The Russian telecommunications system is inadequate, but improving quickly. The telex is widely used.
    • Personal relationships play a crucial role in Russian business.
    • Business negotiations in Russia are lengthy and may test your patience. Plan to be in for the long haul.
    • No agreement is final until a contract has been signed.

    Dining and Entertainment

    • When dining in a restaurant, arrive on time.
    • Russians are great hosts and love entertaining guests in their homes. They will often put more food on the table than can be eaten to indicate there is an abundance of food (whether there is or not). Guests who leave food on their plates honor their host. It means they have eaten well.
    • If you're invited for dinner, don't make other plans for later in the evening. You are expected to spend time socializing after the meal.
    • An invitation to a Russian dacha (country home) is a great honor.
    • Do not turn down offers of food or drink. Given Russian hospitality, this can be difficult, but to decline such offers is considered rude.
    • At formal functions, guests do not usually start eating until the host has begun. At such functions, no one should leave until the guest of honor has left. If you are the guest of honor, do not stay too late.
    • Know your limits when drinking alcohol in Russia. Drinking is often an all-or-nothing affair -- moderation is not understood.
    • Toasts, which are sometimes lengthy and occasionally humorous, are common. The host starts and the guests reply. Do not drink until the first toast has been offered.
    • After a toast, most Russians like to clink their glasses together. Do not do so if you are drinking something non-alcoholic.

    Dress

    • A "serious" businessperson is expected to look formal and conservative. Wearing very light or bright colors might make you appear lazy or unreliable to a Russian.
    • Men should wear suits and ties. Women should wear suits and dresses or pantsuits.

    Gifts

    • A small business gift is always appropriate, but its value should correspond to the rank of the Russian businessperson with whom you are meeting.
    • As a general rule, do not give items that are now easily obtainable in Russia.
    • Bring a gift for the hostess when visiting a Russian home. A small gift for a Russian child is always appropriate (and appreciated).

    Helpful Hints

    • Russians are very proud of their culture and enjoy opportunities to talk about their music, art, literature and dance. Knowledge about art, music and some Russian history is appreciated.
    • Learn Russian! Learning the language is of incalculable value, and is the best way to win friends for yourself, your company and your country. If that simply isn't possible, try to learn at least a few phrases in Russian. It doesn't have to be perfect; Russians greatly appreciate any attempt by foreigners to speak their language.
    • Never refer to a Russian as "Comrade."
    • Do not expect to find smoke-free areas anywhere. A standard joke among foreign businesspeople in Russia is that Russian buildings have two sections: "smoking" and "chain-smoking."

    Especially for Women

    • Women are initially regarded with skepticism and may have to prove themselves. Before you visit, have a mutually respected colleague send a letter introducing you. Your business cards should clearly state your title and academic degree. If you establish your position and ability immediately, you will encounter far fewer problems.
    • Be feminine. Allow men to open doors, light cigarettes, etc. Even if you think such customs are antiquated or silly, respect the cultural background of your Russian colleagues.
    • Foreign businesswomen can use their femininity to their advantage. For fear of not appearing a gentleman, many Russian businessmen may allow foreign businesswomen to get away with some things (requests for meetings, favors, etc.) that foreign businessmen aren't allowed.
    • A woman can invite a Russian businessman to lunch and pay the bill, although it might be interpreted by some men as an invitation to flirt.

      -- Excerpted from the "Put Your Best Foot Forward" series by Mary Murray Bosrock. These publications are available for the U.S., Asia, Mexico/Canada, Russia, Europe and South America.

Reach RMTC at

910 West Avenue
Austin, Texas 78701
800 531 9977
512 472 6753
512 472 4591 fax
sales@mcelroytranslation.com

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