The Global Etiquette Guide to Asia
The Global Etiquette Guide to Asia
By Dean Foster
Published by John Wiley and Sons, 2000.
This is a 6" by 9" paperback running to 341 pages including the index.
This is not an academic book per se, but a handy guide to etiquette and customs for travellers to Asia, with a business slant to it. It is part of a series of similar guides for all parts of the world.
The book is divided into sections geographically - first into broad regions and then into chapters for individual countries. Each chapter begins with some background information on the country it's covering, including a summary of the historical context and short paragraphs on politics, education, and demographics. This is followed by a section discussing fundamental cultural orientations through specific cultural variables ("Other-Independent vs. Other-Dependent," "Hierarchy-Oriented vs. Egality-Oriented," "Rule-Oriented vs. Relationship-Oriented," etc.). These cultural orientations are in sections for how people relate to each other, how people view time, and what is the best way for society to work with the world at large. From there each section begins to go into the specifics of a society's customs: greetings and introductions; communication styles (including okay and not okay topics; tone, volume, and speed; use of silence; physical gestures; etc.); protocol in public (walking styles and waiting in lines; behavior in public places like airports and the market); dress; dining and drinking (including table manners; seating plans; etc.); being a good guest or host; gift giving; holidays; and business culture (including such things as daily office protocol; management styles; boss-subordinate relations; conducting meetings; and negotition styles).
Besides being an extremely useful book for travellers, it is very interesting as a quick source of insight into aspects of life that are culturally determined but seem to us to be simply natural, as well as sometimes revealing the greater development of Asian cultures in certain respects.
Westerner that I am, I can't resist copying down a brief paragraph to give you a sense of the kind of information the book is absolutely filled with. This is in the chapter on Indonesia, in the section on Communication Styles, under the heading, "Silence:"
"Passive silence -- allowing time to pass simply, without words -- can be a form of proactive communication in Indonesia. There may be long pauses between comments, but rarely extending over several minutes. When confronted with silence, for whatever reason, the best response is to remain silent yourself, although this may be difficult and appear unproductive for time-conscious Westerners. This is perhaps the most subtle form of communication, yet communication it is. If you must say something, bring up something positive, even if it is unrelated to the previous statement. Remember, in Asia, "silence is golden"; those who speak too much are considered immature, given how careful one must be with what one says. Because some Westerners find silence disconcerting, they may tend to fill up the space with more talk; resist this impulse, as it only enhances the effectivness of the silence, by forcing the Westerner to say more than he or she might be inclined to."
![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
referencebooks) wrote,
