How to Behave Abroad
The Wall Street Journal has an article discussing the latest effort to change the international image of the American people. Supposedly, after 9/11, the newly appointed undersecretary of state for public diplomacy tried to do this with a short lived publicity campaign describing the integration of muslisms in the U.S. It didn’t get picked up outside the US.
This effort instead aims to inform traveling American business people of some basic cultural and behavioral differences between their homeland and the rest of the world: what shouldn’t you say or do.
This past Saturday, while on my morning run, I had a long discussion with an acquaintance about her time visiting Paris last Fall. Somehow, many Americans I speak to are convinced that the French hate them and will mistreat them. Yet, whenever the topic comes up with someone that has traveled to France, there are few complaints. The WSJ has a 9 point sample list from the non-profit running the new campaign. It’s fascinating since most of the suggestions you could come up with yourself or, at least, you could find in any good travel book. They are exactly what I heard this weekend. For example:
No slang: “Even casual profanity is unacceptable.”
Religious restraint: In many countries, religion is “not a subject for public discussion.”
Political restraint: “Steer clear… if someone is attacking U.S. politicians or policies. Agree to disagree.”
No great secret here: when in a foreign land, use common sense.
On a different note, I liked this one:
Slow down: “We talk fast, eat fast, move fast, live fast. Many cultures do not.”
Since I moved here, I’ve learned to slow down when speaking English. English in the US is spoken at a slower rate than Spanish or French. Food for thought: I also believe that French in Montreal is spoken faster than French in many other places.
WSJ article.
April 17th, 2006 at 1:33 pm
And please do not stick a Canadian flag on your luggage (yes, I’ve seen USians do this). It annoys real Canadians. Brand dilution and all that…
Move fast: last time I checked, the limit was 60mph on US highways. Is it higher in some places? That’s about 97 Km/h right? Its 80 in most places in Europe. And trains that travel around at 300 Km/h every hour? And a crapload of budget airlines that manage to turn a profit? All that with major cities that often less than 200 Km appart?
Live fast maybe, but move fast I’m not so sure.
Now of course, it all depends on your frame of reference, but since you were talking about France…