Foreign Negotiations, Cross-Cultural Sensitivity and Language Barriers

This book explores and highlights the effects of cultures and foreign languages when negotiating with foreign partners. The paper evaluates crosscultural influences, linguistic issues, communications and behavioural aspects within an international business context. Simultaneously, it focuses on the importance of knowledge about the practices, ethics and culture of the foreign negotiators as an important factor of positive influence in international trading negotiations. The book covers typical cultural issues such as: differences in behaviours, bodylanguage/silent-languages, translation, practices and procedures as well as the negotiation process itself; It emphasizes the need to study the culture of the partner in order to develop more ¿cultural sensitivity¿, aiming to build trust and stronger relationships and avoid the common cross-cultural pitfalls.