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The S. Korean students: When we summon someone to come, our hand is cupped, palming down and the fingers moving toward the palm.

The American students: When one beckons a friend or a peer to come, his/her hand will palm up and fingers move toward his /her body.

The Philippine students: We quickly nod our head downwards to signal someone to come.

The Japanese students: It is impolite to use gestures. We just call someone to come.

The American students also told me that the S. Korean gesture means “good-bye” in the U.S.A. In China, to a peer or a friend, one usually beckons like the Americans; to a junior, one does like the S. Koreans.

Time

Differences in time zones complicate international phone calls. But even more important are different concepts of time and approaches to time in different cultures.

People from the U.S.A as well as other North Americans believe “Time is money.” This value of time is rooted in their ancestors. Early in 17th century, their ancestors arrived on the Atlantic coast, a new, undeveloped land. To survive the tough environment, they had to struggle day and night. Time meant so much to them that they had not even one second to waste. After decades of struggle, they developed the value of efficient use of time, which is one of their most important values and has been passed down. Thus far, the Americans are still eager to finish things quickly and are impatient with too reflective people. Consequently, the Americans are often frustrated in negotiations with people who take a leisurely approach, such as the Indonesians, the Chinese, the Japanese, the Middle Easterners, the Latin Americans. Take the Japanese as an example： When negotiating with the Japanese, the Americans try to get right down to business. They can accept about 15 minutes of social talk, but not more than that, while the Japanese are comfortable with hours and hours, and even days and days, of conversation. In fact, the Japanese live at a very fast pace as well, but they place a much higher value on interpersonal harmony and uncertainty-avoidance. In negotiation, to establish a good personal relationship with the other side and obtain much knowledge of them the Japanese tend to move at a slow pace, talking with their counterparts about various neutral but valuable topics, asking for large quantities of details and planning. On many occasions, the Japanese businessmen deliberately move slow because they know well that long waits will compel the Americans to accept their requirements.

In some countries, American work style of speeding everything up will have no significance. For instance, in Ethiopia, the time spent on a decision depends on its importance. The more important the decision is, the more time it costs. So, the Americans are prone to downgrade their work in the local people’s eyes. In the Arab East, the more important you are, the faster service you get. Close relatives take absolute priority; non-relatives are kept waiting. In the Middle East, a deadline, which is often established to imply the degree of urgency or importance of work, will do nothing but stop the Middle Easterners from working, because they considered it rude, pushy and overly demanding.

Another aspect reflecting different concepts of time is the classif本论文由英语论文网提供整理，提供论文代写，英语论文代写，代写论文，代写英语论文，代写留学生论文，代写英文论文，留学生论文代写相关核心关键词搜索。