Multicultural Manners

Both highly informative and entertaining, Multicultural Manners gives readers the understanding they need, the perfect words to say, and the correct behavior to use in a wide range of cross-cultural situations. This incisive and award-winning guide to etiquette features completely updated etiquette guidelines with special emphasis on post–September 11 culture clashes as well as a brand-new section that demystifies unfamiliar cultures in the news. Norine Dresser identifies key cross-cultural hot spots and suggests methods that foster respect for diversity. Readers will discover the dos and don’ts of successful business and social interaction, detailed tips on avoiding embarrassment in a variety of social settings, amusing firsthand accounts of cultural gaffes, a breakdown of customs, religions, languages, and ethnicities for seventy different countries, and appropriate etiquette for innumerable settings. Acknowledgments xvii

Introduction 1

1 The New Rules of Communication Body Language 11

Child-Rearing Practices 29

Classroom Behavior 37

Clothing and Jewelry 51

Colors 63

Foodways 71

Gifts 91

Health Practices 101

Holidays 115

Luck and Supernatural Forces 123

Male/Female Relations and Gender Issues 141

Miscellany 151

Prejudice 167

Time 177

Verbal Expressions 183

2 Clearing Cultural Confusions A Quick Reference Guide 201

Map 202

Africans 204

Asians 216

South Asians 220

Southeast Asians 226

The Balkans 233

Independent Members of the Former USSR 238

Middle Easterners 249

Bibliography 259

Index 271

NORINE DRESSER is a professional consultant, speaker, folklorist, and educator. From 1993 to 2001, she wrote the award-winning “Multicultural Manners” column for the Los Angeles Times. Dresser has been interviewed on the Voice of America and numerous other radio and TV shows.

Your friend’s mother-in-law is visiting from Korea. When greeting her, do you bow, shake hands, or kiss her on both cheeks?

The meeting with his international customers is going well for the corporate president—until he gives the thumbs-up sign. Why?

You welcome your new neighbors with a bouquet of your prizewinning daffodils. Yet your beautiful yellow blossoms are met with looks of shock and horror. Why?

Discover the answers in this incisive, award-winning guide to etiquette, now thoroughly revised to reflect today’s truly multicultural society. Both highly informative and entertaining, Multicultural Manners gives you the understanding you need, the perfect words to say, and the correct behavior to use in a wide range of cross-cultural situations.

The book features completely updated etiquette guidelines with special emphasis on post–September 11 culture clashes as well as a brand-new section that demystifies unfamiliar cultures in the news. Norine Dresser identifies key cross-cultural hot spots and suggests methods that foster respect for diversity. You’ll discover:

• The dos and don’ts of successful business and social interaction with people from different cultures
• Appropriate etiquette regarding body language, food, child rearing, clothing, word choices, colors, entertaining, romance, and gift giving
• Detailed tips on avoiding embarrassment at work, in the classroom, in health care settings, on business trips, at meals, at weddings, at funerals, and on vacations and holidays
• Amusing firsthand accounts of cultural gaffes that illustrate how miscues happen—and how to avoid them
• A breakdown of customs, religions, languages, and ethnicities for seventy different countries