A Treatise on the Hungarian Cheek Kiss
Foremost, let us establish the fact that this is not written from a Hungarian point of view. No doubt, as small children, Hungarians are taught this overly familiar type of greeting and see nothing wrong with placing their lips on the cheeks of the most far-flung acquaintances. Read more »
American Friendships
According to many Europeans and Asians, American friendships are superficial: Americans do not know what true friendship is; they seem very friendly at first, but the friendships do not grow.
Recently, I was away from home on a business trip. My husband suddenly had to go away too. There would be one afternoon when neither of us would be home with our children. Read more »
Business People About Hungarians
One European businessman said, “Hungarians are wonderful people socially, but you better be careful when you do business with them. They do not have the same kind of ethics as in the West. Culturally and socially they are western, but in the way they do business they are more Eastern than Western. Read more »
Global View Of Corporal Punishment
Is it right to discipline kids with spanking and other forms of corporal punishment?
Opinions vary greatly from country to country and the subject is often a source of great debate. Read more »
Living on the Borderlines of Europe
Where do the fundamental traits of the different European cultures come from?
The dotted lines on the map of Europe are in many cases the product of historical accident: primarily acts of violence, but also dynastic marriages or sheer happenstance. Still, our frontiers rarely conform to the cultural realities. Read more »
Europe of Frontiers
It helps to understand the differences in European values and attitudes by thinking in geographical terms, what Richard Hill calls the ‘Macro-Divides’. There are at least three: the Island-Continent Divide, the East-West Divide and, for want of a better description, the ‘South-North Incline’. Read more »
Uncertainty Avoidance Defined
People vary in the extent that they feel anxiety about uncertain or unknown matters, as opposed to the more universal feeling of fear caused by known or understood threats. Cultures vary in their avoidance of uncertainty, creating different rituals and having different values regarding formality, punctuality, legal-religious-social requirements, and tolerance for ambiguity.
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Individualism vs. Collectivism Defined
Individualism in cultures implies loose ties; everyone is expected to look after one’s self or immediate family but no one else. Collectivism implies that people are integrated from birth into strong, cohesive groups that protect them in exchange for unquestioning loyalty. Read more »
Power Distance Defined
Power distance (PD) refers to the extent to which less powerful members expect and accept unequal power distribution within a culture. Read more »
Hofstede’s Dimensions of National Cultures
Cultural differences manifest themselves in a culture’s choices of symbols, heroes/heroines, rituals, and values: essential patterns of thinking, feeling and acting that are well-established by late childhood. Read more »
Task and People-Orientation Compared
The West is, by in large, a goal-oriented society while the East is relationship-oriented. In other words, a Westerner gains value from the product, while the Easterner gains value from the relationship. Read more »
Attitude to the New and the Unknown
Cultures with a high level of uncertainty-avoidance prefer stable rules and long-lasting relationships. Any uncertainty can express itself in higher anxiety than those from low uncertainty avoidance cultures. Read more »
Time and Cultures
Hall’s first distinctions were between what he calls monochronic and polychronic time. Read more »
Feedback & Self-Esteem
There is an obvious cultural difference between European and North American cultures, is feedback and in relation to this, the concept of self-esteem.
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Beyond Words - Communication in Cultures
Understanding cultural differences is fascinating and challenging. One sometimes hard-to-understand difference is between low-context and high-context cultures, a concept introduced by American anthropologist Edward Hall.
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Cultures: Quality and the Perfect Cup of Coffee
The “perfect” cup of coffee is served a different way in virtually every part of the world. Each person’s definition of high quality is determined by their home culture.
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