In the business world, communication is the key to have a successful business operation. It
is imperative to understand that there can be cultural differences and that to overcome
language barriers should be considerate as well in order to do business with people of
different cultures. Many people have lost business deals because they didn’t take the time
to learn bout the other people’s culture before interacting with them.
At some point we might all have been confronted with cultural differences. These types of
misunderstandings can impact our career and can cause us to lose an important business. I
remember the first time I had a misunderstanding while doing business from a person from
China. My surprise was that they do business very different and I had no clue about that.
“China is believed to have the oldest continuous civilization. China has over 4,000 years of
verifiable history. Beijing is the capital of China and is the focal point for the country”
(2012). The representative language for everyone is mainly Chinese. Obviously there are
many people that speak English otherwise business couldn’t be made around the world.
The main issue with China is that they have a communist form of government. This type of
government supports atheism, which means they have freedom of religion.
Now I know that when business in China is means that people have to frequently in touch
with Chinese business people. It is important that people should learn about China’s
business culture, etiquette, negotiation techniques, and most important code of behavior.
Chinese can be somewhat difficult to make business with since they don’t know how to
speak English really well, but they are nice people in general.
The first thing that every business man should know about Chinese is that Chinese people
put a lot of emphasis on the requirement of switching business cards. They normally give
you their business cards in both hand and they expect you to receive them with both hands.
They measure how much respect you have for them basing how you receive their card.
The business card should never be putted away into your wallet. People should put the
card on the table and take the time to read it.
I remember the first time I had a Skype meeting with a Chinese Business man. He told me
why I Looked so serious. Chinese people want you to smile. For them to smile is a way of
communicating and also a friendly gesture. One of the things that kind of bothered me at
