Quote:
Originally Posted by cromag
I heard a similar story back in the 80s. An American jeopardized a deal when he said he was sure that their companies had "parallel goals." Parallel lines never meet.
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In fact, that story was used as an example in one of my post-grad classes in International Business. Even after almost 20 years together, my wife and I often find that we are not 'communicating' on the same channel. We will both look at the same situation and see very different things. Then when we try to talk about them, the cultural language problems emerge and it often becomes a huge mix up. Add in the difficulties with Japanese hearing 'l' or 'r' and things really go askew. 'Bleeding' and 'breeding' can really change a conversation...
When asking something of a Japanese, and they say 'hmmm... that would be a bit difficult,' most American business people would say something like, 'OK, how can I make it easier, perhaps expedite it?' not realizing that what the Japanese really meant was 'There is absolutely no bloody way in hell of this EVER happening in your lifetime or mine!' He just said it in a more polite way.
Stitchawl