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Communication Differences Between America and China MEMORANDUM To: Kevin Garrison From: Betsy Lewis Date: March 7, 2006 Subject: Clarifying differences in business Etiquette between America and China Knowing that the business etiquette is going to be different, you should always prepare yourself by studying the culture you are about to communicate with. I chose to learn more about the Chinese culture and the contrasts they have with the U.S Addressing others with Respect First of all, Chinese names are very different in order than the U.S They have more than just one name. They have a family, a generational, and then a first name; the generational and first names are often just written as one word. Most business people in China like to be addressed using their professional title and if they happen to not have one then you just use “Mr.” or “Mrs” just like the US General Guidelines when Communicating The Chinese like to make small talk before actually getting down to

business whereas Americans would rather just get down to business and get things worked out. This can be known as ‘small talk’ and anything from Chinese scenery, to traveling, to the weather, or to Chinese art is appropriate small talk. The Chinese are also a very collectivist community whereas Americans are very individualistic. After getting down to business, negative replies are considered to be really impolite. You should just say ‘maybe’ or ‘we’ll have to think about that’. American’s would rather just get to the point and say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ and be done with it. The Chinese on the other hand kind of move around in the gray areas of the specific topic. If they happen to say that “hey, there is really no big problem here’ there will usually be a big problem. Visual Communication Even if you are giving an oral presentation, be sure to take plenty of copies of your proposal to hand out. It would also be a smart idea to get your proposal translated and

put in Chinese; maybe having one side in English and the other in Chinese. Any printed presentations should be just in plain black and white. Some colors used might be offensive to their culture and so avoid adding color. The only color that would possibly be appropriate for certain documents would be gold. Gold in China is considered to be very prosperous and prestigious. Revising my own instructions I think that I would be more specific in explaining exactly what a razor is and what it does. Writing these instructions for American’s, it is already implied that they know the function of a razor. I think that I would also get it translated into Chinese, with one side having English and the other having Chinese. I really don’t think that any of my wordings would become offensive to their culture