We live in a big, big world and while we may have one universal language, we have numerous cultural norms. Mark McCrum’s Going Dutch in Beijing, How to Behave Properly When Far Away From Home is a handy and easy-to-read guide that explains why a culture and its people do the things that they do so you don’t make a no-no when you are a guest in their home.
McCrum has traveled to six of the seven continents so he has experienced his fair share of cultural do’s and don’ts and provides them all in this book. McCrum covers what is socially acceptable across business trips, weddings, gestures, greetings, meals, and holidays. You will also find pages within each chapter giving you the essential vocabulary to get by if you’re not familiar with the language in any given country.
To stress his point of why or why not to do something in a particular place, McCrum throws in historical anecdotes such as former President Clinton’s mistake to incorrectly address the South Korean president’s wife by her married name instead of her maiden name. Little mistakes like that can make a big difference especially when our world is becoming smaller and smaller. It is important to understand and respect one another to make the day to day of travel a little bit more pleasant and this book is just one helpful way to widen our perspectives.
<a href=”http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0805086765?ie=UTF8&tag=wanderbooklu-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0805086765″>Available on Amazon</a><img src=”http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=wanderbooklu-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0805086765″ width=”1″ height=”1″ border=”0″ alt=”” style=”border:none !important; margin:0px !important;” />
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